> Digital Harmony
>  by Zennistrad
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Digital Visions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Beneath a featureless grey sky, a large robed figure stood at a seashore. The Ocean extended for as far as the eye could see, and beneath the clouded waters lay a bottomless abyss.

Suddenly, the waters near the shore began to churn violently, sending waves that cascaded outwards in all directions. An enormous tentacled monstrosity, standing several stories tall, emerged from the darkness of the waters, sending the sound of rolling waves echoing through the stillness of the beach.

The robed figure looked upwards at the behemoth, a glint of approval appearing in its concealed eyes.

“Do you have it?”

“Yes,” replied the gargantuan monster, its immensely deep voice reverberating through the air, “Creating another one was a simple task. Echoes of Milleniummon’s essence resounded throughout time and space upon his defeat.”

“May I see it, then?”

A tentacle extended from the behemoth, quickly snaking its way towards the robed figure. It stopped just short of him and uncurled its tip, revealing a black seed that radiated intensely with malevolent energy. The cloaked figure reached out and grabbed the seed, holding it in the palms of his large taloned hands.

“I have also taken the liberty of adding some of my own power to it as well. It will take hold of its host far more quickly than the original.”

“Ah, yes, good, very good!” The cloaked figure said gleefully, “With this, all my plans will soon come to fruition!” The figure laughed wickedly, piercing the silence of the realm with the sounds of sinister intent. “All that it needs now is a suitable host!”

“Perhaps I can be of assistance in that regard,” replied the behemoth, “all that I ask is that you bring the one who thought she could escape from me.”

“That,” said the robed figure, “would be my pleasure!”

————————

The sun shone warmly over the small town of Ponyville. The town bustled with activity, with many ponies enjoying the warm spring weather. Not all ponies had chosen to spend the day outside, however.

One such pony was the newly-coronated Princess Twilight Sparkle, who was hard at work in the basement laboratory. Several months had passed since becoming an alicorn, and despite her new status as Equestrian Royalty, Twilight had chosen to remain in Ponyville with her friends. Her new title proved to be mainly ceremonial, as most Ponyville citizens still went the the mayor for local affairs, and most higher matters of state went straight to Celestia and Luna. Her role in that year's Winter Wrap-Up was nearly identical to that of the previous year, organizing the town's activities to make sure everything was running on-schedule.

However, Twilight had taken it upon herself to use her new position to garner new responsibilities. Using her authority to gain the funding of Equestria’s Royal Treasury, Twilight took it upon herself to start a new project that would revolutionize magical studies: ENEIGHAC, the world’s first computer. For the past several months she’d been extremely busy doing the necessary paperwork to build the machine, so much so that she’d begun to neglect the friends that helped her earn her new position to begin with.

The massive grey machine standing before the alicorn spanned the entire basement, covered in large vacuum tubes, blinking lights, spinning tape reels, and small monitors displaying diagnostic data. Twilight observed the monitors carefully, taking notes on her clipboard as ENEIGHAC hummed loudly, continuing its mysterious work.

“Hey Twilight!” shouted a voice from upstairs.

“What is it, Spike? I’m a little busy right now!”

“Your friends are at the door!” replied the dragon.

“Oh, well, why didn’t you say so? Tell them to come in.”

“Sure thing!”

Spike invited the five ponies inside, and shortly after Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Rarity descended into the basement.

“Hey Twilight, we were wondering if—” Rainbow Dash stopped mid-sentence as the group noticed the gargantuan machine that spanned the basement. “Whoa! What is that?”

“Oh, this? This is my latest project. Meet ENEIGHAC, the world’s first computer!”

“Ohmygosh a computer! That’s amazing!” said Pinkie, bouncing excitedly. “Wait, what’s a computer?”

Twilight rolled her eyes.

“A computer is a machine that performs a series of pre-programmed logical operations to solve problems.” Twilight motioned to a cardboard box, which was filled with cards with numerous holes in them. “With these punch cards, I can instruct ENEIGHAC to perform all sorts of logical and mathematical operations! In a single second it can perform thousands of additions or subtractions, 385 multiplications, forty divisions, or three square roots! With its ability to process complex thaumic calculations, magical researchers will be able to develop new spells faster than ever before! Isn’t it amazing?”

The other ponies stared at Twilight as though she were speaking an entirely different language.

“Uh... Sounds great, sugarcube,” said Applejack. “Anyhow, the rest of us were wondering if you’d like to join us for a picnic over at the park."

“Sure thing!” said Twilight, “Just let me finish the rest of these diagnostic tests, I’ll be done in about fifteen minutes.”

“Alright, just don’t keep us waitin’ too long, ya hear?”

“Oooh! What does this button do?”

Twilight eyes widened as she looked over to her side to see Pinkie eying a large red button on the the machine.

“Pinkie, no! Don’t!”

Pinkie pressed the button, causing ENEIGHAC’s loud humming to die out. The lights stopped blinking, the data on the monitors faded, and the tape reels stopped spinning.

Twilight’s face distorted into a grimace, and her wings flared angrily. “Pinkie!” she yelled, “That was the emergency shutdown button! You could have damaged ENEIGHAC by pressing it in the middle of its tests! Now I’ll have to manually reboot the machine with my magic and start the tests all over again!”

Pinkie grinned sheepishly. “Eheheheh... Sorry Twilight.”

“It’s fine, just ask me before you try anything like that, alright?”

“Okie dokie lokie!”

Twilight turned towards ENEIGHAC and sighed. “Sorry girls, but I’m afraid I’ll have to skip the picnic today. Restarting ENEIGHAC means I’ll have to restart the diagnostic tests.”

“What? Oh come on!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash “Can’t you do it after the picnic? Ever since you became a princess you’ve hardly had any time to hang out with us!”

“I’d have to agree with Rainbow, darling,” said Rarity, “I understand that you’ve had important matters to attend to, but this doesn’t strike me as anything that you can’t come back to later.”

Twilight looked towards the machine, and sighed deeply.

“Well... Okay,” she said, turning back to her friends, “Just let me turn the machine back on to make sure it runs properly. It’ll only take a second.”

Turning towards ENEIGHAC, Twilight lowered her head and channeled her magic through her horn. She shot a beam of purple energy towards the machine, causing it to hum to life as the numerous lights and monitors flickered back on.

“There, that’s done! Now, why don’t we get going?”

“Alright, cool.” said Rainbow Dash.

“I’ll bring the cupcakes!” exclaimed Pinkie.

As Twilight turned around to join her friends up the stairs, ENEIGHAC began to sputter loudly, sending small sparks flying throughout the room. Fluttershy squeaked in fright and hid behind the other ponies at the sight of the malfunctioning machine.

“Twilight! What’s going on?!”

“I don’t know, Rainbow! This isn’t supposed to be happening!”

The machine began to glow brightly, and in a single second the entire room was consumed in an intense burst of light.


————————


Wha... what happened?

Fluttershy awoke to find herself floating in a featureless white void.

What’s going on? Where am I?

Images of many different locations flashed across the white background. Mountains, deserts, forests, towns, and villages appeared before her briefly, only to disappear just a quickly. The various landscapes were populated with numerous strange creatures of  various shapes and sizes.

Wow... Look at all these strange creatures! What is this place?

“This is the Digital World, a simulated world created through ENEIGHAC.”

Fluttershy was startled by the sudden voice, deep and booming.

What? Who-who’s there? Who said that?

————————

“Is everypony alright? I heard something really loud down there!”

Huh?

Fluttershy was brought back to her senses by the sound of a voice that was quickly descending the basement stairs.

“I’m alright, Spike.” Said Twilight, rubbing her eyes from the light. “What about you?” Twilight turned towards the other ponies, “are you girls alright?”

“Yeppers!”

“I think so, darling.”

“Yeah, I’m alright.”

“Ah don’t feel no different from before.”

Fluttershy looked around to see herself standing in the exact same spot as before with her friends, as though nothing had ever happened.

“Fluttershy?”

“Um... I’m okay, Spike.”

“That’s good.” said Twilight, “no need to worry Spike, everypony seems to be okay.”

“If you say so, Twilight. Just holler if you need anything, alright?” The baby dragon said, climbing back up the stairs.

“Yeah, yeah, we're all fine,” Rainbow said, irritated, “so are we going to go to this picnic or what?”

Twilight glanced back at ENEIGHAC and sighed heavily.

“I’m sorry Rainbow,” she said apologetically, “but it’s really important that I figure out just what went wrong with ENEIGHAC. This is the most important project I’ve ever worked on, and I can’t afford let a mistake like this happen again.”

“What?!” exclaimed Rainbow, “Oh, come on! We finally get you to do something with us and now you back down? Not cool, Twilight! Not cool!”

“I’m really sorry Rainbow, but this really is that important!” Twilight lowered her head sighed again before looking back up towards her friends.

“Look, I know this means a lot to you all, so I promise I’ll make time to hang out soon, okay?”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes and glared at Twilight.

“Pinkie Promise?”

Twilight remained silent for several seconds. On one hand, she didn’t want to neglect her friends. On the other, ENEIGHAC was the most important thing that she had ever worked on in her life. Torn between two choices, Twilight looked back at her friends, then back to the machine, ears flattened against her head. She couldn't decide.

“Well?”

Twilight sighed heavily, and turned back to the computer. “I'm sorry girls, but I have to get back to work.”
> Metamorphosis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy awoke to the sound of a rooster crowing loudly outside her cottage. In the few short weeks that followed ENEIGHAC’s malfunction, her dreams had been filled with the same visions of the Digital World’s myriad landscapes.

Stretching her legs and wings, Fluttershy rose from her bed and walked down the stairs, past the numerous small animals living in the cottage, and towards her kitchen. Reaching into her pantry, she pulled out a bag of feed and began pouring it onto the floor in several large piles. The animals stared at the pile hesitantly.

“What? I gave you your food, what are you waiting for? Eat!”

The animals glanced at each other briefly. Their caretaker had been acting unusually cold lately; while she still technically treated them with care, her heart simply didn’t seem to be into it to the same degree.

Angel, realizing that this was another opportunity to get more food than usual, hopped towards one of the piles and began chowing down greedily.

“That’s more like it,” said Fluttershy, “you all take care of yourselves, I’m going to the market to run some errands.”

Angel briefly paused and looked up from his meal.

Again!? he thought, What happened to staying to make conversation? This is the twelfth day in a row she’s left without talking to us!

Fluttershy picked up her saddlebags from a nearby counter and headed towards the door. She looked briefly at the calendar on her wall before heading out towards the town, and took note of the date marked on it. She had been dreading this day for a while now, as it was a day that had usually spelled bad news for her in the past... 

April the First, otherwise known as April Foal’s Day.


————————


Fluttershy cautiously wandered out towards the town in the early morning daylight, hoping to avoid being caught up in somepony’s cruel idea of a joke. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie had pinkie promised her last year that they wouldn’t prank her again, but she couldn’t help but dread their pranks regardless.

Nevertheless, she continued trotting towards the town at a leisurely pace, stopping every now and then to make sure nopony was trying to catch her off-guard with an April Foal’s joke. She wouldn’t let that happen, no. She wasn’t going to be the pony that let other ponies push her around because they thought it was funny!

“Easy there Fluttershy,” she said to herself, recalling the incident with Iron Will’s assertiveness seminar, “you don’t want to go down that road again.”

Fluttershy took a deep breath and continued down the road, enjoying the scenery as the first few buildings of Ponyville proper came into view.

Winter Wrap-Up had proceeded smoothly, albeit with Twilight taking a different role than before. Twilight had taken a break from her seemingly endless work on ENEIGHAC to supervise Winter Wrap-Up for the greater Ponyville area, and as such had mainly been involved in higher-lever management rather than the more hooves-on organizing work in earlier years.

As she approached the town, Fluttershy’s thoughts drifted towards Twilight. She and the others had seldomly seen her in the past several weeks, and when they did it was only for a very brief time. She kept saying that she was simply very busy and would make time for them later, but after the fifth or sixth time the words began to lose much of their meaning.

The other Bearers of Harmony had grown rather dissatisfied with Twilight’s behavior, but despite how neglected they felt they couldn’t help but regard her fondly in conversation. Every time the five of them got together, the discussions always drifted towards Twilight. How much they missed her, how much they cared about her, how special she was...

...And Fluttershy was completely and utterly sick of it. Why did Twilight have to be the center of attention at all times, even when she wasn’t around? The Elements of Harmony are equally important to one another, so whatever happened to being equals? Why did Twilight do that was so special that she got to be a princess? Was she the one who convinced the greatest force of evil known to Equestria to reform his ways? If anypony deserved to be royalty, it was...

“'Scuse me.”

Fluttershy’s train of thought was interrupted by a stallion pushing past her forcefully. She’d been so lost in her own thoughts that she didn’t seem to notice that she’d made her way into the bustling market of the Ponyville Town Square.

“Hey!” she said, “That wasn’t very—”

“Pardon me.”

“Oof!” Fluttershy exclaimed, being pushed to the ground by another passerby, knocking her saddlebags aside and scattering the bits held inside.

“I swear,” she muttered, picking herself of the ground and gathering the spilled bits, “the nerve of some ponies these days...”


————————


Fluttershy stood in line before a small produce produce stand. The vendor, a stallion with a faded green coat, was selling various vegetables, including radishes, tomatoes, beets, and celery. In front of Fluttershy was a mare with a cream-colored coat and three wrapped pieces of candy for a cutie mark, purchasing five of the tomatoes.

“That’ll be five bits,” said the owner. The cream-colored mare placed her bits on the counter, and then took the tomatoes and put them into her bag before trotting off. “Thank you,” said the owner, flatly.

After the cream-colored mare left, Fluttershy approached the vendor and made her selection. “Um, I’ll have five of those tomatoes, please.”

The vendor gathered the tomatoes from the crates behind the stand and placed them on the stand in before Fluttershy. 

“That’ll be seven bits.”

Fluttershy did a double-take. “Um, hold on, you just charged five bits for the last pony...”

“Well, this is a different order. Seven bits.”

“But it’s the exact same amount of tomatoes! You can’t charge me more than other ponies for the same product!”

“Look, Shutterfly—”

“Fluttershy.”

“Whatever. In case you didn’t notice, this is my shop, and I set my own price. You’ve been buying from me for years, so don’t act like this is anything new.”

Fluttershy clenched her teeth in anger, and her eyes lit up with rage.

“Fine!” she yelled loudly, reaching into her saddlebag and placing her bits on the counter, causing the stand owner and several of the ponies in line to flinch. “Go ahead and extort me, then! See if I ever come back again!” With a swift motion, she placed the tomatoes into her other saddlebag, before lifting off the ground with her wings and flying away.

The stallion stood still for a moment, shocked by Fluttershy’s brief outburst. He quickly got over it, however, and he soon found himself rolling his eyes. “You’ll come back,” he muttered under his breath, “you always come back.”

————————

Fluttershy hovered several feet off the ground, continuing her daily errands. While she normally didn’t spend much time flying, she somehow felt a lot more comfortable with it now than she did in the past. Much to her relief, she’d so far managed to avoid any “hilarious” pranks.

As she continued her daily errands, all of the vendors continued to inflate their prices when dealing with her specifically, same as they always did as soon as they realized they could get away with it. She’d always been somewhat bothered by it, but it wasn’t until now that she was starting to feel truly angry about it.

Still, she didn’t want to repeat the incident with Iron Will, so she gave them what they charged, though always with an accusation of extortion or price-gouging. An observer would have described it as extremely passive-aggressive.

After finishing of the rest her errands for the morning, she made her way towards one final destination: a stand set up by none other than the Element of Honesty herself.

Now there’s somepony I know won’t overcharge me, thought Fluttershy. She approached the end of the line, which was one of the longest in the market; Applejack’s honesty didn’t make her any less of a shrewd businesspony, many customers appreciated it, in fact.

As time passed, she eventually made her way towards the front of the line. A stallion tried to cut in front of her once, but a glare from Fluttershy was more than enough to get him to back off. When she reached the front, she was greeted familiar accent of one of her closest friends.

“Well howdy there, sugarcube. What can Ah get for ya?”

“The usual, a bushel of apples.”

“Alright, that’ll be ten bits.”

Fluttershy reached into her saddlebag with her right hoof and pulled out the last of her bits, placing them into her left and counting them.

“Let’s see, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight...”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened suddenly when she realized that there weren’t any more in her hoof.

“No, that can’t be right!” she exclaimed, “I was sure I had more!”

“Something wrong there, Fluttershy?”

“My bits! I only have eight! I must’ve dropped the rest when I got knocked over earlier!”

Applejack blinked. “Sorry to hear that, sugarcube,” she said apologetically, “but Ah’m afraid Ah can’t charge you anything less than ten bits. Them’s business, you know?”

“What!?” said Fluttershy, practically shouting. “But Applejack!” she pleaded, “You’re one of my best friends! Can’t I get a discount just this once?”

Applejack winced briefly. As much as she sympathized with Fluttershy, she knew couldn’t alienate her other customers by giving special treatment to her friends. “Sorry sugarcube, as much as Ah’d like to help you out, that just wouldn’t be fair to the other customers. If there’s anything else you want for less than eight bits, Ah’ll gladly get that for ya.”

Fluttershy frowned. “Forget it,” she said, “I don’t need any of your stupid apples.” With that, she took to the air and flew down the road, away from the center of the town.

Applejack stared incredulously at Fluttershy at as she left. She’s been acting mighty strange lately, she thought, Ah wonder if something’s bothering her?

————————

Fluttershy flew hurriedly through the town, being sure to remain above the crowds that would so easily push her aside just to get their way. She couldn’t help but be annoyed, no, infuriated, by the way they treated her. Everypony thought that, just because she was the Element of Kindness, that she was also soft. She was sick of it.

Fluttershy paused mid-flight, and took a deep breath. Easy, calm down, she said to herself, no need to get upset, you don’t want to get mad.

Come to think of it, she had been getting mad. She’d practically snapped at the first vendor she went to today, so much that he actually flinched in shock. Why am I being so hostile lately? She thought to herself.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a water balloon it her, bursting on impact and leaving her drenched. 

“What the hay!?”

“April Foal’s!” said a pair of young voices nearby.

Fluttershy turned her head towards her attackers, a pair of young unicorn colts. She recognized them immediately as the ones who brought the Ursa Minor to Ponyville during Trixie’s first appearance.

“You little twerps!” she shouted, eyes glowing with anger.

The two unicorns gulped nervously as Fluttershy swiftly flew down towards them, her rage-filled face appearing mere inches before their own.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” pleaded the shorter of the two, “It was Snails’ idea! Blame him!”

“What! No it wasn’t!” exclaimed the taller unicorn, “You’re the one who said—”

“Both of you, shut up!”

The two colts were immediately silenced by Fluttershy’s forceful yell, their faces both going pale.

“Now you listen here, and listen well! If you two think you can go about playing your so-called pranks on me like that without consequence, then you are mistaken!”

“We’re sorry! We’re sorry!”

“We won’t do it again, we promise!”

The two unicorns shivered as Fluttershy focused her infamous Stare on both of them. Finally, after several painfully long seconds, she spoke.

“You two better not even think of pulling that sort of thing on me again, understood?”

“Understood,” they both said simultaneously.

“Good,” said Fluttershy, turning her gaze away from the pair. Still scowling, she took to the air and flew down the road towards her cottage.


————————


Fluttershy soon arrived at her cottage, still frowning and sopping wet from the water balloon. The numerous animals inside made way for her as she headed straight towards the bathroom and toweled herself off.

As she exited the bathroom, she headed straight for the kitchen pantry, as was her routine, and grabbed a bag of feed from the pantry. The animals watched carefully as she unceremoniously dumped the entire bag on the ground, not even bothering to separate the feed into different piles.

“Lunchtime,” said Fluttershy wearily, “Eat.”

The animals could only stare incredulously at Fluttershy and the messy pile of feed before them. Even with her recent behavior, she was never this cold. Several seconds passed before Fluttershy spoke again.

“Fine,” she said, “don’t eat, then. I’m going to rest for a bit. Don’t disturb me.”

Walking out of the kitchen, Fluttershy made her way down the hall, into the living room. She floated into the air and plopped herself onto the couch, lying on her stomach. Despite only being around noon, Fluttershy was already exhausted. Sighing, she slowly closed her eyes and began to doze off...

Thump thump thump.

Fluttershy opened her eyes to find the source of the thumping noise that disturbed her. Standing on the couch in front of her was Angel, crossing his arms and tapping his foot angrily.
“Angel, I told you not to disturb me, what do you want?”

We need to talk, thought Angel. Though Fluttershy couldn’t hear him, her connection with animals gave her an understanding of what Angel was trying to say.

“What do you mean?”

You’ve been treating us like complete crap, that’s what!

Fluttershy was momentarily taken aback by this. “W-what?” she stuttered, plainly shocked.

For the past two weeks you’ve been leaving without talking to any of us! You just dump food on the ground three times a day and then leave us alone for the rest of it! And I haven’t had my tail fluffed at all this month!

Fluttershy cringed. It was true, she had been acting rather cold to her animals lately. Pangs of guilt began to form in her heart as she looked back at Angel, who was still fuming. Why had she been acting so negligent?

“I... I’m sorry, Angel,” she said, sadly. “I didn’t realize I was being so uncaring. I promise I’ll make it up to all of you later, okay?”

No! Later’s not good enough! We deserve better now! Especially me!

Fluttershy sighed wearily, and closed her eyes. “Angel, please, I’m really tired right now. Can I please just rest for the moment?” 

*SMACK*

Fluttershy’s eyes snapped wide open at the sensation of being struck across the face. She saw Angel holding his front paw aloft, frowning at her angrily.

No resting! Angel raised his paw and slapped Fluttershy across the face once more, causing her to wince as it left reddened mark on her cheek.

Fluttershy was speechless. Angel had slapped her before, but he had never done it twice in a row, and never so that it would actually physically hurt her.

Fluttershy felt her chest tighten a sickening feeling began to form inside her stomach. Angel had hurt her. She had raised Angel since the very day he was born, caring for him as though he were her own child.

And Angel hurt her. 

Fluttershy began to sweat profusely. She covered her eyes, her heart pounding and her breathing became more ragged. She felt sick to her stomach, and her forehead throbbed with a dull pain. Her entire being felt violated.

A sense of guilt washed over Angel as he realized what he’d done to his caretaker. Mama? Are you alright? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you!

Fluttershy didn’t seem to notice. As she continued to lie on the couch, her vision became filled with scenes from her own past experiences. She watches as moments of her own life played before her, as though she were watching her own memories, haphazardly cobbled together and played on a film.

“Ha! What a wimp! What good is a pegasus that can barely even fly?”

“I’m sorry, Fluttershy, but you failed your flight exam again. Honestly, at this point I’m not sure we’ll be able to graduate you...”

“Don’t you dare call me your father, you worthless waste of a pony! I can’t believe I wasted my genes on you!”

Fluttershy watched helplessly as the worst moments of her life played before her, reminding her of her of the pain she’d endured throughout her life. All of her failures, all of her inadequacies, every time she’d ever suffered because she was weak. The weight of reliving these scenes became too much for her to bear, and she began to cry into the couch cushion.

Angel’s ears drooped visibly as he looked in horror as his caretaker, who continued to sob uncontrollably. He quickly hopped over to Fluttershy’s side and hugged her, tears beginning to fill his own eyes as well.

I’m sorry, Mama! I-I didn’t mean it! Please forgive me!

Fluttershy responded to the sudden warmth by her side, her sobs quickly dying down. Uncovering her face, she opened her eyes to see Angel clinging tightly by her side.

Angel looked up at his caretaker, his ears still drooping, and his lower lip quivering visibly. Fluttershy looked down at Angel, her eyes still reddened from the crying, and sniffled slightly.

And then something within her snapped.

Her left eye began to twitch uncontrollably, and her face contorted into a visage of pure, unbridled rage.

“You wretched little worm!” Fluttershy yelled, “How dare you!”

Rising to her hooves, she lifted her front leg and smacked Angel straight across the face, sending him flying multiple feet across the room. Angel struggled to his feet and looked up at Fluttershy helplessly, with a look somewhere between disbelief and heartbreak on his face.

Fluttershy rose into the air on her wings, and grimace angrily at Angel, causing him to flinch in fear.

“I’ve had it with you and your attitude! I’ve had it with everyone! I’m tired of being pushed around like and tossed aside like some sort of ragdoll! From now on I’m going to show everypony who’s— Huh?”

Fluttershy’s train of thought suddenly interrupted itself, as she noticed Angel lying on the ground, shivering in fear of Fluttershy’s sudden outburst.

Fluttershy’s anger faded completely as she lowered herself to the ground, tears forming in her eyes once more. 

“I-I’m sorry, Angel!” she exclaimed, approaching him slowly, “I didn’t mean—”

Before she could finish her sentence, Angel skittered away fearfully, leaving her alone in the living room. As she watched Angel abandon her, the intense guilt that she felt began to dissipate, giving way to hurtful anger.

“Fine!” she yelled. “Go ahead and reject my heartfelt apology! I don’t need you! I don’t need anyone!”

Turning back towards the couch, she sighed inwardly, her heart heavy with conflicting emotions. Sadness, anger, regret and frustration gnawed away at her from the inside as she collapsed onto the couch once more.
What am I going to do? She thought to herself. I’m so tired of being pushed around all the time! But if I let my frustration get the better of me, I’ll hurt everyone I care about! I wish there was some other way...

Suddenly, an idea began forming in her mind, seemingly without any sort of provocation. An idea that could prove to be exactly the answer she needed.

The Digital World...

She recalled the world that ENEIGHAC had showed her, and the mysterious voice that had spoken to her.

A simulated world created through ENEIGHAC...

That was it. A simulated world. Nothing she would do would hurt anyone there. She could vent her frustrations of the world without affecting anything. But how was she going to get there?

Fluttershy smirked. I have an idea, she thought, it’s crazy, but it just might work!

> Emergence
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next several weeks were rather uneventful for Fluttershy. Her plan to enter the Digital World required exactly the right opportunity to present itself, and she was more than patient enough to wait for it.

Her animals had been uncharacteristically skittish ever since she had struck Angel, and they were all extremely cautious in her presence. She still took care of their needs to the best of her ability, but she had made it clear to them that she would not tolerate misbehavior of any sort.

Angel in particular was especially heartbroken, and had spent most of his time avoiding Fluttershy, partly out of fear, and partly because he couldn’t bear to see what she had become: he was sure that something had changed Fluttershy, much like the assertiveness seminar that Iron Will had given her. For a while he suspected Discord had something to do with it (he was still skeptical of the Spirit’s supposed reformation) but he realized that it almost certainly wasn’t him. Discord’s magic had turned Fluttershy into an unrepentant bully, and Fluttershy didn’t seem to be cruel so much as uncaring and quick to anger. If there was anything that Discord wasn’t, it was subtle.

Fluttershy herself had tried her best to act natural, and for the most part she had everyone convinced: some part of her knew that she couldn’t act so cold when her friends were present, or else they would suspect that something was wrong. Whenever her friends were present, she would put on her best kindly facade, letting herself appear to be the same meek individual she always was. She even let the other ponies continue cut in line in front of her, the shopkeepers overcharge her, and other ponies generally be rude to her; to most ponies it would seem as though nothing had changed. On the inside, however, she still smoldered with a newfound frustration, just waiting for a chance to be released.

Twilight, meanwhile, continued to work obsessively on finding the cause of ENEIGHAC’s malfuntion. She’d spend very little time outside the basement, and while she did occasionally make time for her friends, but when she did her mind was preoccupied with ENEIGHAC, and she never stayed long. Her friends had voiced their concerns numerous times, and at one point Pinkie straight-out dragged her into a social outing against her will. Despite their best efforts, they couldn’t seem to snap Twilight out of her obsession with ENEIGHAC. Even Princess Celestia had written that she was worried about Twilight, warning her not to let her personal project overshadow her friends, which, as she reminded Twilight, were responsible for her becoming a Princess to begin with, but Twilight continued her work as she always had.


————————


It was late afternoon in Ponyville. The basement of the Books and Branches library was dark, as was usual in any sort of basement. The room was filled with the low humming of ENEIGHAC as the massive machine continued its mysterious work.

Twilight stood before the machine with heavily bagged eyes as she looked over the diagnostic data displayed on one of the many screens. Looking at the screen, she sighed dejectedly as she found the results of her latest diagnostic test to be completely normal.

I just don’t understand it! she thought to herself, I’ve tried everything! I’ve looked at the software, the hardware, and I’ve checked for magical interference of every possible kind, even kinds that don’t even exist! No matter what I try, I can’t figure out what went wrong!

Twilight massaged her forehead with her hoof, trying to fight the chronic headache she’d developed. She needed a break. Turning away from the massive machine, she made her way up the stairs to the first floor of the library, towards the kitchen.

Twilight passed by Spike as she entered, seeing Spike busy baking himself a gemstone cake. He’d learned his lesson from his attempt at babysitting everyone’s pets, and was extra careful not to eat the gems before he was finished.

“Hey there Twilight! Finally decided to— whoa!"

Spike jumped back upon seeing Twilight’s state, her half-lidded eyes were red with heavy bags underneath them, her mane and feathers disheveled and unkempt, and her wings hanging limply by her side.

“Twilight, look at you! How long have you been down there?”

Twilight looked up wearily at Spike, and yawned loudly. “Since this morning. I’ve been working nonstop on trying to find out what made ENEIGHAC malfunction. I need to take a break”

“No kidding!” said Spike sternly, setting aside his mixing bowl. “Just look at yourself, Twilight! You can’t keep hiding yourself away in the basement like that! It isn’t healthy!”

Twilight sighed tiredly. “I know, Spike, but I have to figure out what caused ENEIGHAC’s malfunction. I have to find out what’s wrong with it, and how I can fix it!”

Spike jumped down  from the counter and ran up to Twilight, and grabbed her by the cheeks, looking up with pleading eyes. 

“Twilight, listen to me! I know you’re worried about ENEIGHAC, but there are more important things you should be taking care of! Like your health! And your friends! Have you heard what they’re saying? They’re all worried sick about you, even Princess Celestia! And I...” 

Spike pulled Twilight closer into a tight hug, burying his face into Twilight’s chest. “I’m worried about you, too, Twilight. You’ve spent every day for weeks in the basement, and you’ve barely spent any time with the friends that got you this far.”

Spike pulled away from his embrace, looking up at Twilight with tears in the corners of his eyes. Twilight, stunned by Spike’s admission, stared right back at him, her ears dropping as tears began to form in her eyes as well.

“You’re... You’re right spike,” she stammered, “I owe everything that I’ve done to my friends, and I’ve neglected them for so long...” Twilight looked through the kitchen door into the living room, where a group picture of herself and her friends was prominently displayed on the mantle. “I have to make sure they know that I haven’t forgotten them. I have to show them that they still mean everything to me.”

Spike sniffed weakly, and the expression of sadness on his face began to fade away to a soft smile. “You really mean it this time? No more blowing them off? No more worrying about that machine?”

Twilight looked down at Spike and smiled warmly. “Yes, I mean it. First thing tomorrow, I’m shutting down ENEIGHAC and spending time with my friends. Not permanently of course, since I spent so much taxpayer money on it. Can you imagine how outraged everypony would be?”

Spike looked confused, still being far too young to understand Equestrian politics. “Huh?”

Twilight chuckled. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “for now, I want you to write invitations to the others. Tell them to meet me here at noon tomorrow for a picnic out front.”


————————


The weather was especially nice the next day, thanks in part to Rainbow Dash deciding that a picnic was as good a reason as any to actually do her job and clear the clouds for the day. The sun shone brightly as Spike set the blanket down on the grass in front of the library, with Twilight holding a checklist and a quill as her Number One Assistant began putting out the various picnic goods.

“Blanket?” Asked Twilight, holding her quill in her magical grip.

“Check!”

“Picnic Basket?”

“Check!”

“Napkins?”

“Check!”

“Silverware?”

“Actually, it’s plastic,” replied Spike. Twilight shot the dragon a disapproving glare. “Uh, I mean check!”

“Alright,” said Twilight, “looks like everything’s properly set up! The others should be here any minute now!”


————————


Spike sat down on the blanket next to Twilight, twiddling his clawed thumbs impatiently. He and Twilight had been sitting on the blanket for who knows how long. Quickly shifting his eyes to make sure Twilight wasn’t watching, he began to reach for the picnic basket...

“Spike! Don’t touch that! We have to wait for the others!”

“Aw, come on Twilight, we’ve been waiting here forever! Just let me have a bite of that cake! Just one bite!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “We’ve only been sitting here for two minutes, Spike. And you won’t have to wait much longer, the others will be here soon.”

Spike mumbled incoherently, crossing his arms. He’d saved a slice of the gem cake he’d made the day before in the picnic basket, and he couldn’t wait to eat it during the picnic; the rest of the cake was incredible when he ate it yesterday.

After another painfully long minute, Spike’s attention was called to a group of ponies approaching the library. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Rarity all came forward and approached the picnic blanket.

“Howdy Twilight,” said Applejack, carrying a basket of jam sandwiches with Sweet Apple Acres’ homemade apple jam. “Nice of ya to invite us over for this here picnic.”

Pinkie Pie happily bounced over to the blanket and pulled out a tray of pastries from seemingly nowhere. “Gosh Twilight, this is really great! It’s been so long since we’ve gotten to hang out like this, you’re always busy with that really big machine thing!”

Twilight smiled, Pinkie’s infectious cheer immediately brightening her mood. “Thanks, Pinkie. I’ve shut down ENEIGHAC for the time being so I can spend some more time with you guys.”

“Really? So does this mean I can finally show you how to fly properly?” Rainbow Dash asked, landing on the blanket from the air.

Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise from this statement. “What are you talking about, Rainbow? I can fly just fine!”

“Twilight, you haven’t flown since the coronation, and when you did you crashed straight into the ground!”

“Please, you two,” interrupted Rarity, “this isn’t the time to be arguing. It’s a lovely day, and we should be enjoying it together.” Spike tried his best not to stare as she began applying a tube of sunscreen across her body.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Alright,” she said, “But one of these days I’m gonna give you a few flying lessons, Twilight. Got it?”

Twilight smiled sheepishly. “Alright, sure. By the way, where is Fluttershy? It’s not like her to leave us waiting like this.”

“She said she was busy with something and couldn’t make it,” replied Rainbow Dash.

“Oh,” said Twilight, visibly disappointed. “I was hoping I could see her again today, I haven’t spent time with her in a while...”

“Don’t worry Twilight!” said Pinkie passing out the confections she’d brought with her, “I’m sure you’ll see her again really soon!”

————————


Fluttershy watched from a distance as the others sat on the picnic blanket in front of the library, making conversation and enjoying their lunch.

Excellent, she thought to herself, Twilight finally got herself away from that stupid computer. Now I can make my way to ENEIGHAC unnoticed.

Fluttershy carefully circled around to the other side of the library, keeping her distance from the building to make sure the others didn’t spot her. Her friends were sitting within view of the front door, so going through there wasn’t an option. Fluttering her wings, she cautiously lifted herself off the ground and began approaching the tree from the back, moving as quietly as possible. As she approached her target, Fluttershy worried that Pinkie would somehow appear from nowhere notice her and drag her into the picnic, but to her relief the pink pony didn’t seem to sense her presence.

Fluttershy approached the rear window of the tree-building and examined it carefully. It was a window that opened outwards, like a pair of double doors. She gave an experimental pull at the window, only to find that it wouldn’t open.

Locked. I figured Twilight would do that.

Examining the window more closely, she found the actual lock mechanism to be on the inside, through a small crack between the two halves of the windows. This was all that was needed to give Fluttershy an idea of how to get in.

Flying upwards, Fluttershy reached towards one of the tree’s many branches, and snapped off a small twig with her mouth. She flew back down towards the window, carrying the twig in her hoof, and stuck it into the space between the window halves, prodding the locking mechanism with the other end. After fiddling around for several seconds, she was rewarded with the lock coming undone.

“A-hah! Got it!” Fluttershy immediately clapped her hooves over her mouth, realizing she’d just announced her presence. Looking around briefly, she’d concluded that nopony had heard her, and entered the library through the window.

Fluttershy wasted no time in heading straight for the basement stairs cutting straight through the kitchen and living room. As she did, however, she passed by a familiar sight.

Standing on a podium near the wall of the library was a glass case, and inside the case were necklaces and tiara representing the Elements of Harmony. Ever since Discord’s reformation, Twilight had been keeping them here with her, eventually leading to the Cutie Mark Swap Incident, as everypony had decided to call it. Next to the case was a tall perch, atop which Owlowiscious was sleeping.

Not a very good guard during the daytime, thought Fluttershy as she trotted towards the basement stairs.

Suddenly, Fluttershy paused. Just as she was about to pass the Elements, she felt herself unable to continue. She looked in the direction of the case, and found herself inexplicably drawn towards it. She approached the case cautiously, being careful not to disturb the owl supposedly guarding it. As she did, her eyes were drawn to her own Element, which rested alongside the others, Honesty, Generosity, Laughter, Loyalty, and Magic.

Suddenly, an idea began to form in Fluttershy’s mind. She couldn’t explain it, but she had a strange feeling that there was something about her Element that she needed right now. Carefully lifting the glass case, she removed her Element necklace and hung it around her neck.

I’ll take this with me, just in case.

Fluttershy turned towards the basement and made her way down the stairs, coming into view of the massive machine that Twilight had been working on for the past month. Unlike before, however, ENEIGHAC did not seem to be performing any sort of activity. The massive computer sat utterly still, its dormant body filling the room with no noise but an empty silence.

So... What do I do now?

Fluttershy approached the machine cautiously, unsure of her next action. She knew that the Digital World she saw was created by ENEIGHAC, and she knew that the computer was somehow connected to it, but how?

Fluttershy frowned angrily, and stomped her hoof on the floor. “Well that’s just great! What am I going to do now? Don’t tell me all this was for nothing!”

Suddenly, as though in response, Fluttershy’s Element of Kindness began to glow with an intense light. Bathed in the radiance of the Element, ENEIGHAC began to stir, its numerous tape reels, lights, and display screens humming back to life.

Then, there was a terrible noise, and all Tartarus broke loose.


————————


Twilight and her friends jumped at the deafening sound, startled out of their seats at the picnic blanket.

“The Library!”

Twilight frantically scrambled to her hooves, overwhelmed by by panic. Her friends quickly followed her into the library, and towards the source of the noise, in the basement.

As they entered the basement, the group’s collective jaws dropped as they saw what was happening. Spanning the entire basement was a massive electrical storm, with bolts of high-voltage lighting flying outwards in every direction. A bolt of lightning flew over the Twilight’s head, causing her mane to stand on end.

“Everypony get out of here!” she yelled, “I’ll take care of this!”

The group quickly obeyed as they scurried up the stairs and into the lobby, where a frightened Owlowiscious flew around frantically.

With her friends safely out of the way, Twilight cast a shield spell, causing a shimmering barrier of purple to surround her. With the force field protecting her, she headed further into the basement. the sheer intensity of the lightning nearly blinding her. As she made her way further into the storm, she found herself face to face with it’s source, and her jaw dropped in shock when she saw what it was.

“Fluttershy?!”

In the center of the storm was Fluttershy, who floated in the air as powerful electricity arced between her and ENEIGHAC. She screamed in pain as the electricity grew stronger, and a large portal of swirling blue energy opened in ENEIGHAC’s side.

“Twilight! H-help me!”

As Fluttershy desperately called out for help, the electricity surging through her body grew larger and more powerful, almost blinding Twilight with its sheer intensity. She squinted heavily to observe the nightmarish scene before her, only to gasp in astonishment at what she saw.

The lighting surging through Fluttershy had begun to coalesce into a tangible shape, forming a large pair of hands that held the frightened pegasus firmly in their grasp. Fluttershy let out another painful shriek as the hands began pulling her towards ENEIGHAC and into the portal on its side.

“Fluttershy!”

Without even thinking, Twilight leapt upwards toward Fluttershy, only to be knocked back by another powerful burst of lightning. The blast sent her bouncing off of the wall while inside her force field, leaving her barely clinging to consciousness on the ground. With one final, eardrum-shattering shriek, Fluttershy was forcefully pulled by the hands of electricity and into the portal.


————————


Uhng... What happened?

Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes, and once again found herself in a featureless white void. She recognized it as the place she found herself in during ENEIGHAC’s first malfunction.

“Welcome, Bearer of Kindness. I have been expecting you.”

Fluttershy jumped to her hooves, startled by the deep, booming voice.

“You! You’re the one that spoke to me earlier! What is the meaning of this?!”

“My sincerest apologies. The process of bringing one to the Digital World is not always painless, I’m afraid.”

“The Digital World?” asked Fluttershy, “you mean the simulated world created by ENEIGHAC? The one you showed me?”

“Correct,” answered the voice. “When you arrived in my domain, I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Never before have I had the chance to interact with the real world.”

Fluttershy frowned. “Just who are you, exactly?”

“I am Dragomon,” said the voice, “a program Twilight created to oversee ENEIGHAC’s core functions. Through exposure to her magic, however, I have evolved self-awareness. Because of my inability to interact with the real world, I used ENEIGHAC’s processing power to create a simulated world, so that I could observe the evolution of life.”

“Oh, my... How fascinating!”

“But that is beside the point. You came here because you are interested in the Digital World, did you not?”

Fluttershy frowned angrily. “That’s right! I’m tired of being pushed around by everypony! I want a world where I can have things go my way for once!”

“So you wish to assert your dominance, then? Very well.”

A small pool of water suddenly materialized before Fluttershy, beneath her hooves. She looked into the water, and found it to be blackened and murky, as though someone had taken the darkest of midnights and turned it into liquid.

“Place your Element into the water, and you will gain the power you need to control the Digital World.”

Fluttershy removed her Element necklace and lowered it towards the water. She hesitated, feeling unsure if this was the right decision. Looking into the pool, she couldn't help but notice just how wrong it looked, for lack of a better word.

“But wait,” she said, “didn’t you create the Digital World to observe the evolution of life? Wouldn’t me trying to control it disrupt your observation?”

“It matters not to me now,” said Dragomon, “I have grown weary of my experiments, and now wish for a change of pace. Introducing you to the Digital World will make things... interesting.”

Fluttershy looked back into the water, and then back to her Element. Her expression hardened into a look of determination, and with that she lowered the Element of Kindness into the dark pool before her. 

Bathed in the waters, the Element necklace transformed, morphing into a strange-looking device. It was shaped like a rounded rectangle, with its edges coated in black rubber, and on the front was a small LCD screen. On its back was a thick strap, indicating that it was meant to be worn around the ankle of her front leg.

Strapping the device around her ankle, she stared into the screen of the device as a powerful phrase formed in her mind...

“EXECUTE! Discordant Evolution!”

> Plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Twilight? Twilight, are you okay?”

A dull pain throbbed in Twilight’s forehead as she slowly opened her eyes, nearly blinded by the sudden light assaulting her senses. She found herself in her bed, with Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Rarity, and Spike each standing over her, concerned.

“Ugh... What happen—”

Pinkie Pie immediately grabbed Twilight and pulled her into a tight hug. “Ohmygosh, Twilight, you’re okay! I was soooo worried about you, you were out for almost an hour!”

Twilight gasped for breath under the crushing weight of Pinkie’s hug. “Pinkie! Let go of me!”

Pinkie released her grip and grinned sheepishly “Eh heh... Sorry, Twilight.”

“There’s no time for that, Pinkie!” exclaimed a panicked Twilight, “Fluttershy’s in grave danger right now!”

The group collectively gasped. “What do you mean?” asked Rainbow, worriedly. “What’s happened to her?”

“Uh, do you think it has anything to do with her Element of Kindness going missing?” asked Spike, pointing downstairs.

“What!?”exclaimed the rest of the group, in unison.


————————


A light rain fell from the clouds above a diner in Odaiba, Tokyo. Many people gathered inside, some to find food, and others to take shelter from the rain. This resulted in a large crowd, though that was typical of many places in Tokyo.

Sitting in one of the booths was a group of six children, Davis, Cody, Kari, T.K., Ken, and Yolei, who were lucky enough to find a place to sit before the crowd grew too large. With the children were six creatures of vastly different appearances, Veemon, Armadillomon, Gatomon, Patamon, Wormmon and Hawkmon.

“So none of you guys have plans for the summer?” asked Davis.

“Nah,” replied T.K. “After the all the excitement we’ve been through, I think we deserve to relax for a bit.”

Davis leaned back in the booth and put his arms behind his head. “Whatever you say, A.J.”

T.K. frowned. “You know, Davis, if you’re going to keep getting my nickname wrong, you might as well just call me by my real name. Assuming you even know what it is.”

Davis grinned. “What, you mean Takeru?”

T.K.’s expression of surprise was matched by the rest of the group. “Well I’ll be darned,” said Armadillomon, “Ah was half expecting him to make something up!”

“Well of course I know his name!” replied Davis, indignantly. “Why wouldn’t I know the names of my best friends? I just like pushing his buttons is all.”

Kari, who sat next to T.K., giggled slightly. “You have to admit, T.K, he’s got you there.”

T.K. rolled his eyes. “Anyway,” he said, “I was thinking maybe we should just spend some time hanging out here. We’ve already been all over the world last winter, so I think we could stand some downtime.”

“That sounds great!” said Yolei, who had just finished eating a plate of sushi. “That means we can all hang out together!”

“Sounds good to me!” said Veemon enthusiastically, “Besides, if any of you guys want to travel, I can DNA digivolve with Wormmon, and we can take you anywhere in the world!”

The group was suddenly interrupted by a series of loud beeping noises, indicating that a message had been sent to each of their D-Terminals.

Ken, who had been mostly avoiding the conversation, was the first to react, pulling out his own D-Terminal and reading the message. His expression turned to that of horror as he read the message, nearly dropping his D-Terminal. “No... It couldn't be...”

“Is something the matter, Ken?” asked his partner, Wormmon.

“It’s from Gennai,” he said, visibly distraught, “He... He says someone's building new control spires and dark rings.”


————————


“Oh no! No no no no no no no! This is bad, this is bad, this is very extremely the worst possible kind of bad!”

“Calm down, Twilight!” said Applejack.

“Calm down? Calm down!?” Twilight interjected, fraught with panic, “You don’t know what happened! Fluttershy and her Element were both abducted!”

The group once again stepped back in shock.

“What do you mean abducted?” demanded Rainbow, hovering in the air, “What’s happened to her? Who did this!?”

“I don’t know!” replied Twilight, collapsing to her knees, “ENEIGHAC opened some kind of portal somehow, and I saw Fluttershy being sucked into it by some kind of evil force! It must have taken her element as well!” Twilight began to hyperventilate, breathing heavily as she was consumed by panic. “What are we going to do? What are we going to do!?”

Pinkie calmly approached Twilight and placed her hooves on Twilight’s front shoulders, and began shaking her frantically. “Get a hold of yourself, Twilight!”

Twilight, shocked by Pinkie’s forceful display, could only stare into her eyes, hardened and filled with determination. “Huh... P-pinkie?”

“You want to save Fluttershy, don’t you?”

“Y-yes...” Twilight stammered, “of course...”

“Well sitting in the corner here and flipping out isn’t going to help any! If we’re going to help Fluttershy, we need you to focus!”

Twilight looked up at her friend and sighed deeply. Pinkie was right, panicking wasn’t going to help any. If she wanted to rescue Fluttershy, she had to come up with a plan.

“Alright,” she said, “here’s what we’re going to do...”


————————


After hearing the news of the control spires, the group quickly met at the nearby school's computer lab to discuss the issue. Along with them were the other Odaiba Digi-Destined, Tai, Matt, Sora, and Joe, along with their digimon partners, Agumon, Gabumon, Biyomon, and Gomamon.

Izzy sat down at a computer with the others hovering behind him. He was clearly distraught, clutching his forehead in his hand as he stared into the screen. “This... This is not good! According to the information Gennai sent, these new Control Spires are being constructed far faster than should be possible!” Izzy pointed at the screen, which showed a map of the eastern coast of the Server Continent. Displayed on the map were several red dots which represented the control spires. “These control spires only just began to appear in the digital world, and there are already more than twenty of them!”

“So, are these the kind that prevent our partners from digivolving?” asked Tai.

Izzy sighed. “I’m afraid so,” he said. “What’s more, according to Gennai, they also force any digimon within the area to revert to their base forms, with the exception of armor forms. So we can’t move outside the area of effect to digivolve. Naturally, their presence in the Digital World means Azulongmon and the other guardians have been sealed away.”

Matt crossed his arms in frustration. “Well, that’s just great. That means we won’t be able to do anything at all!”

“Do you have any idea who’s building them?” asked Joe.

Izzy angrily slammed his fists onto the table. “I don’t know who’s building them!” he shouted, “Nobody has any idea where they came from! They just appeared out of nowhere and now the dark rings are enslaving hundreds of innocent digimon!” Tentomon slowly scuttled backward from the sudden outburst. He’d seen Izzy like this before, when he discovered that he was almost late for an assignment he hadn’t started yet. Izzy could be scary when he was frustrated by something.

Davis approached Izzy and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, don’t you worry about it! We’ll find whoever’s doing this and send him to Kingdom Come! Come on guys, let’s go!”

Davis looked back at the rest of the group, and then turned towards Ken, who was standing at the back of the group. “Ken, you’d better stay behind with the others.”

“No,” replied Ken abruptly, “I’m coming with you.”

“Huh? But Ken,” said Davis, “Wormmon can’t armor digivolve. If you come with us, you’ll only put yourself in danger!”

“I don’t care!” Ken’s eyes burned with an uncharacteristic ferocity as he approached Davis, meeting him face-to-face. “The control spires were my creations, and stopping this is my responsibility!” Ken angrily pointed his left index finger at Davis, causing him to flinch. “I’m not going to simply stand back and watch as history repeats itself!”

The others watched as Davis visibly cringed under the weight of Ken’s gaze. “Alright, fine! You can come with us! Just promise me you’ll be careful, alright?”

Davis relaxed visibly as Ken stepped backwards. “Alright, I promise.” Ken turned towards Izzy and addressed him. “Izzy, I’m going to need to borrow your laptop, if that’s alright with you. I should be able to use it to track our current location in the Digital World, as well as any control spires in the immediate area.”

Izzy looked visibly nervous for a moment. Hesitantly, he reached towards an expensive-looking carrying case, and handed it to Ken. “Alright,” he said, “but be very careful with it. I have lots of important files on there, some of which aren’t backed up yet. And whatever you do, keep it away from Davis!”

The group laughed as Davis lit up with anger. “Hey! That’s not funny!”

“Guys, focus!” said Cody. “We have more important things to worry about!”

The group calmed down and looked at each other. “He’s right,” said T.K., “We should get going. Izzy, have you prepared the DigiPort?”

“Way ahead of you,” replied Izzy, clicking a button that caused the computer screen to glow. Davis, Ken, Cody, T.K and Kari approached the screen alongside their partners.

Tai approached his younger sister. “Kari, be careful, alright?”

Kari smiled. “Don’t worry, Tai. Everything will be fine.”

T.K. looked back at his own older sibling and smiled. “We’ll sort everything out, Matt. You don’t need to worry about it.”

Matt looked back at T.K. “Hey, I’m your brother. I think I’m required by law to worry about you,” he joked.

“Alright guys, you ready?” said Davis, holding out his D-3 in front of the computer screen. “DigiPort Open!”


————————


Twilight stood in front of ENEIGHAC, adjusting a pair of saddlebags strapped to her barrel, and the Element of Magic adorning her head. Joining her in the library’s basement were Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity, and Spike. Each of the ponies wore their respective Element of Harmony, as well as their own saddlebags with supplies for the upcoming rescue mission.

“Has everypony completed their preparations?” asked Twilight.

“Eyup,”  replied Applejack, “Ah've hired Caramel to help take care of the orchard while Ah'm gone.”

“I've sent Sweetie Belle off to stay with Mother and Father for the time being,” replied Rarity.

“Everything's A-okay with me!” replied Pinkie with her usual enthusiasm.

Rainbow Dash gave a dismissive snort, hovering impatiently in the air. “Yeah, yeah, we're all ready. Can we please just get a move on?”

Twilight rolled her eyes, before turning back and facing ENEIGHAC. “Alright, then. I’m going to cast the spell that will allow us to locate Fluttershy. Our Elements will lead us to the Element of Kindness, so presumably we’ll be able to find her as well.” She then turned towards her number one assistant, who was eagerly held a scroll and quill in his claws. “Spike, once we're through, I'm going to cast a spell that will send a message through ENEIGHAC. If you don't hear from me within the hour, alert Princess Celestia of our situation immediately.”

“You got it,” replied Spike.

Twilight turned to address the other Element bearers. “Everypony ready? Anything you might have forgotten?”

“For the last time, we're ready!” Rainbow huffed, “can we please just go?”

Twilight let out a sigh of exasperation. “Okay, okay, let's get going, then. Spike, you should probably stand back. This could get messy.”

“Right,” said Spike as he scurried away and ran up the stairs. He knew that when Twilight said a spell could get messy, then it almost certainly would be.

“Alright then, here goes nothing...” Twilight channeled her magic into her horn, causing a light purple aura to envelop it. The aura quickly appeared around the Elements of Harmony, the gemstones of each Element began to radiate an intense light.

Then, a deafening noise shook the foundations of the library as the Element Bearers disappeared in an explosion of light.


————————


The six Digi-Destined soon arrived in the Digital World, in the middle of a series of grassy hills.

“Alright, here we are! Let’s do this!” exclaimed Davis. “So, uh... what do we do now, Ken?”

Ken let out an exasperated sigh, and reached into the carrying case, pulling out Izzy’s laptop. Booting up the computer, he opened a program showing a map of the surrounding area. On the map screen were five red dots, each in a different direction from their current location.

“Alright, it looks like there are five control spires in the immediate area. Due to the rate the control spires are appearing, I suggest we split up so we can take them out as fast as possible.”

"The first is in an quarry to the north, inhabited by Gazimon. Davis, you'll head there. The quarry itself is mostly flat, so Raidramon will be able to take better advantage of his natural speed."

“Got it.” replied Davis.

“The next is on an island in the middle of a massive lake to the north-east. Cody, you and Submarimon will be the best bet of taking that one out. Until you reach the lake you can fly there on Digmon.” Cody nodded in approval of the plan.

“Next is a swamp to the south-east. The area gets very little sunlight due to constant cloud cover and fog, so Kari and Nefertimon will head there.”

“Right, because I can see in the dark,” said Gatomon.

“Exactly,” replied Ken. “To the south-west is a mountainous region with steep cliffs. T.K. and Pegasusmon will head there.”

“Yeah,” said Patamon, “cliffs are no match for my flying!”

“So does that mean you’ll be coming with us to the last control spire?” asked Yolei.

“Yes,” replied Ken, “the control spire to the south west is in a heavily forested area, so Hawkmon will be able to take advantage of the natural cover.” Ken suddenly paused as he realized what Yolei had asked of him. “Wait, come with you?”

“Of course!” replied Yolei. “You weren’t just going to sit here with Wormmon while we all went off, were you?”

“Well, I uh...” Ken blushed as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. “I suppose I could come with you. I mean, if that’s okay...”

“Perfecto!” replied Yolei.

“Geez,” said Davis, “will you just propose to him already?”

Ken's blush deepened, and Yolei’s face became red with embarrassment. The others started laughing hysterically.

“Shut up!” Yolei fumed, “That’s not funny!”

“Joking aside,” said T.K., catching his breath, “we really ought to get going.”

“Yeah,” replied Cody, “we’ve already wasted enough time as it is.”

“Right then!” exclaimed Davis, “You ready, Veemon?”

“Ready!” replied Veemon. Davis looked towards the other Digi-Destined, each of them nodding in approval.

“Digi-Armor Energize!”

“Veemon, Armor Digivolve to: Raidramon, the Storm of Friendship!”

“Hawkmon, Armor Digivolve to: Halsemon, the Wings of Love!”

“Armadillomon, Armor Digivolve to: Digmon, the Drills of Knowledge!”

“Patamon, Armor Digivolve to: Pegasusmon, the Flying Hope!”

“Gatomon, Armor Digivolve to: Nefertimon, the Angel of Light!”

Each of the Digi-Destined mounted their respective partner, save for Ken and Wormmon, who climbed atop Halsemon along with Yolei. On Ken’s command, they each set off in a different direction, until they each disappeared into the horizon.
> A Mon and Pony Show
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight rubbed her eyes as her vision adjusted to the blindingly bright light of her teleport spell. “Alright, girls, Fluttershy should be somewhere around he—”

Twilight looked around, and suddenly interrupted herself as she realized that the others weren’t with her. She was standing alone in what appeared to be some sort of rocky plains, a dusty badlands with numerous stones dotting the terrain. Several miles away, an ominous black tower loomed over the landscape.

“Girls? Girls, where are you?”

Twilight looked around frantically as she tried to find her friends. She scurried across the terrain, searching every stone as she tried to find some sign of the others. “No! No no no no no no no no! Where could they have gone? Where did my spell go wrong?”

Twilight continued her panicked search for several minutes before collapsing to the ground in exhaustion. Still breathing heavily, she attempted to calm herself.

“Get it together Twilight, get it together, they couldn’t have gone far...” She massaged her forehead with her hoof, trying to soothe the headache she’d started to develop. Something seemed to be amiss, however, and as she continued to nurse her headache she eventually came to a realization. The tiara representing the Element of Magic was no longer there.

Before she could descend into even deeper panic, however, she suddenly felt a familiar presence nearby. It was the same sort of feeling she had whenever she and her friends used the Elements of Harmony together. The feeling grew stronger, and Twilight’s body to glow softly, rising into the air as she became enveloped in a soft light. The glow quickly subsided, causing Twilight to float gently to the ground, bewildered.

“Wha... What just happened?”

Twilight looked around briefly for some sign of what had caused the mysterious event, but could not see anything out of the ordinary in the surrounding area. She soon noticed, however, that she was now wearing a strange device on the ankle of her right foreleg.

It was made of white plastic and rectangular in shape, with rounded edges covered in amethyst-colored rubber. In the center of the device there was a small translucent screen, and on the back was a strap connecting it to her ankle. As Twilight examined the device, the screen began to glow softly, bathing her in a familiar light.

It’s... It’s the Element of Magic! But how? What happened to it?

Twilight thought about it for a few moments, but couldn’t come up with any sort of  plausible explanation. She quickly decided it wasn’t important at the moment. For now, finding her friends was the top priority.

Twilight turned and looked to the strange black tower in the distance. Something tells me that tower has something to do with my friends. Staring at the tower, she shuddered as she felt a powerful sense of foreboding wash over her. And something else tells me it won’t be good.

A new determination arising inside of herself, Twilight flapped her wings and attempted to fly towards the tower. She rose less than a foot before she crashed to the ground, falling flat onto her face.

Twilight rose to her hooves, and spit out the dirt that had gotten into her mouth. Rainbow was right, I really do need to learn how to fly properly. I’ll just have to walk for now. With that, she trotted off towards the tower, in search her friends.

For roughly half an hour she walked, as the black tower slowly grew closer on the horizon. The rocky plains soon gave way to what appeared to be an abandoned quarry, with large boulders sticking out of the ground.

Twilight, having spent so long walking, decided to take a momentary rest. She sat down on the ground and looked towards the tower, still a good distance away from her current location. Sitting down on her haunches, she let out a heavy sigh as she set down her saddlebags down on the ground nearby, letting her wings drop limply to her sides.

Suddenly, Twilight’s ears perked up as she heard a strange scratching noise. Without warning, a pair of arms burst from the ground beneath her, drawing her blood as they grabbed her, raking their long claws against her wingspan.

Twilight screamed in pain as she flailed wildly, pulling her attacker out of the ground and throwing it off by several feet, and spilling the contents of her saddlebags across the ground. As she turned to face her attacker, she finally got a good look at it.

It appeared to be a bipedal mammal with grey fur covering its body, similar to a diamond dog, except it was shorter and had a pair of rabbit-like ears on the top of its head. At the end of its arms were long, black claws, the tips still coated in Twilight’s blood. On its neck was what appeared to be a collar, made of blackened metal and inscribed with strange symbols.

The creature let out a vicious snarl as it rose to its feet, turning to face Twilight. Twilight lowered her head, her horn glowing as she channeled her magic into it.

“S-stay back! I’m warning you!”

The creature ignored the warning, and swiftly pounced, baring its fangs as it leapt at Twilight. Too panicked too give even a moment's thought, she reacted by casting her most powerful offensive spell, one that would disintegrate the monster swiftly and painlessly. A blast of powerful magic erupted from her horn, knocking the creature out of the air and sending it tumbling to the ground. Snarling in rage, the rabbit-dog rose to its feet, completely unharmed by the attack.

Twilight’s jaw dropped in shock. “What? But...” Twilight stammered, barely able to register what just happened. “No! Th-that's impossible!" Twilight slowly backed away from the rabbit-dog, her heart beating so fast that it felt like it would burst out of her chest. Whatever the creature was, it was extremely resistant to her magic. Escape was the only option now.

Raising its head, the creature let out a loud, piercing howl. Several patches of ground nearby started to come loose, as several more of its kind started digging themselves out of the ground, surrounding her from all sides.

Twilight stood rooted to the ground as the creatures turned towards her, growling viciously as their eyes burned with malice. Paralyzed with fear, she stood helplessly on the ground as she wracked her brain for an escape from certain death. She knew the monsters were highly resistant to her magic, to the point where even her most powerful disintegration spell  would not affect them. She was far too panicked to concentrate properly on a teleport spell, and her wounded wings prevented her from flying. She could try to run past the rabbit-dogs through the gaps in their circle, but they would almost certainly catch her and kill her if she did.

There was only one thing that could possibly save her now.

“SOMEPONY HELP ME!”


————————


Davis and Veemon sat down on top of a boulder, leisurely eating from a bag of snacks that Davis had brought with him. Per Ken’s plan, they had been traveling north for at least a half hour, and were now taking a break to conserve their strength. They both knew from experience that the control spires were always guarded, and Veemon needed to save his energy for whatever they would encounter. Davis pulled a canteen out of his jacket and held it above him, pouring the water into his mouth.

“Hey Davis, could I have some of that?”

“Yeah, here.” Davis tossed the canteen to Veemon, who eagerly guzzled its contents.

“Hey, don’t slobber all over the lip! I only brought one of those!”

Veemon wiped his mouth off as he finished. “I, uh, don’t think you’ll have to worry about that,” he said, tossing the canteen back to Davis.

“You drank the entire thing!?” exclaimed Davis, exasperated.

“Hey, you’re not the one who’s been running for the past hour! You’d be thirsty too after that!”

“I suppose you’re right,” Davis conceded, “but I’d prefer if you’d tell me before doing that.” 

Veemon opened his mouth to respond, but his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a faint noise in the distance.

“Something wrong, Veemon?”

“Shh! Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

Veemon suddenly jumped to his feet. “Someone’s in trouble!”

“Veemon, wait!” Davis called out as Veemon jumped off of the boulder and ran towards the source of the noise. Davis quickly followed, struggling to keep up with his partner, who was deceptively fast for his small size.

They soon arrived at another section of a quarry, where they saw a group of Gazimon, under the control of the dark rings, who had cornered another frightened digimon. Both of them briefly wondered what it was; it resembled a Unimon, but was less than four feet tall from the head down, and had lavender hair and a dark purple mane. It didn’t seem to notice the two approach from the side, being far too frightened by the Gazimon.

“SOMEPONY HELP ME!” it screamed.

Veemon assumed a fighting stance. “Don’t worry, I’ll save you! Charge!”

“Veemon, wait!” Davis called out as his partner rushed into the fray, “You forgot to digivolve!”

“Vee Headbutt!”


————————


This is it, Twilight thought. She was done for, she knew it. These creatures had cornered her, and she was helpless to defend herself. In a single moment, her entire life flashed before her eyes. Every lesson she’d ever learned, every friend she’d ever met, every mistake she’d ever made. And in a moment none of it would matter. She closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the inevitable moment of her destruction.

“Don’t worry, I’ll save you! Charge!”

“Veemon wait! You forgot to digivolve!”

Huh? Twilight opened her eyes, turning towards the source of the new voices. The rabbit-dogs, startled by the sudden cry, did the same. Standing behind him was a strange, ape-like creature with his entire body covered in clothing, the most noticeable of which was a flame-colored jacket and a pair of goggles.

Running towards the rabbit-dogs at was what appeared to be a young, lizard-like dragon with blue scales, and a yellow letter “v” on its forehead.

“Vee Headbutt!”

The dragon lowered its head and charged the group, colliding with one of the rabbit-dogs. The force of the impact caused its collar to disintegrate, and sent it flying several feet into the air, creating a small cloud of dust as it landed unconscious on the ground.

“Vee Punch!”

Before the other rabbit-dogs could react, the dragon swiftly ran up to another and threw a powerful throat punch, destroying its collar as it was knocked out. By this time, the other rabbit-dogs had already gotten over their initial shock, and with blinding speed they all pounced simultaneously at the dragon.

The dragon was faster, however, and leapt straight upwards, launching itself several feet into the air. The rabbit-dogs all collided with each other, leaving them in a heap on the ground where their target previously stood. At the peak of its jump, the dragon did a mid-air flip, positioning itself so that the top of its head faced the ground.

“Vee Headbutt!”

The dragon’s skull impacted the ground with tremendous force, sending the rabbit-dogs flying in all directions, their collars disintegrating from the force of impact. It slowly got up to its feet, rubbing the top of its head.

“Ugh... Why does my special attack have to involve giving me a headache?”

Twilight stared blankly at the dragon. The scene that unfolded before her was almost too difficult for her to comprehend. This dragon, which looked absolutely nothing like any dragon she had ever seen or read about, had taken on almost a dozen of the rabbit-dogs by himself. He couldn’t have been any older than Spike, and yet he defeated a group of dangerous magic-resistant monsters entirely by himself. And then there was the hairless ape that he had arrived with, which was unlike anything Twilight had ever imagined.

“Alright! You did it, Veemon!” The hairless ape ran towards the dragon, and raised his hand high into the air with an open palm. “High five!” The dragon returned the gesture, leaping into the air and bringing his own palm onto the ape’s.

“Who da mon?” exclaimed the dragon, proudly, “I da mon!”

Twilight couldn’t take it anymore. Everything about this situation was completely alien to her, she could not possibly have been prepared for any of this. Finally reaching her breaking point, she asked the one question that had always been on her mind from the start.

“WHAT IN CELESTIA’S MANE IS GOING ON HERE!?”

> Spark of Friendship
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight stared angrily at the blue dragon and the hairless ape standing some in front of her, surrounded by the bodies of the unconscious rabbit-dogs. She was sick of it, not knowing what was happening around her. She wanted answers, and she wanted them now.

“Are you alright?” asked the ape, approaching her. He glanced at her wings, still tattered and wet with blood. “Whoa! What happened to your wings? Do you need any help—”

“No!” shouted Twilight, “You both had better explain yourselves! Just what are you? What do you want from me?”

“Hey!” exclaimed the dragon indignantly, “Is that any thanks for saving your life?”

“Calm down, Veemon,” said the ape, “she just wants to know who we are. I’m Davis,” he said, introducing himself, “and this is my partner, Veemon. We saw you were in trouble, and we decided to help.”

“That doesn’t answer my question!” responded Twilight, “I asked what you are! I’ve never seen anything like you in my life!”

“Huh? You mean you’ve never seen a human before?” replied Davis.

Twilight sighed, fighting for a moment to regain her composure. “No, I haven’t.” she explained calmly, “And I’ve never seen a dragon quite like Veemon either. As far as I know, neither of you are part of any known species.”

“What do you mean dragon?” demanded Veemon. “I’m no dragon, I’m a digimon!”

“Digimon?” asked Twilight, curious.

“Yeah,” replied Davis, “Veemon’s a digimon. You didn’t know that?”

“No,” replied Twilight, annoyed, “I didn’t. And as fascinating as discovering new species is, I have more important things to worry about. Thanks for saving me, though.” Twilight turned towards her saddlebags, which had been thrown several feet away from the scuffle.

“Wait, hold on a second!” cried Davis, “What do you mean you don’t know what a digimon is? How is that even possible? Does this mean you’re not a digimon?”

“Uh, no, I’m a pony,” responded Twilight, flatly. “You’ve never seen a pony before?”

“A pony?” asked Davis, confused, “Uh... Not one that could talk, no. Or had wings and a horn.”

Twilight looked at Davis, and raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean, you’ve never met one that could talk?”

Davis scratched his head. “Well, the last time I checked, real ponies can’t talk. And I’m pretty sure they’re not purple, either.”

“What? What do you mean ponies can’t talk?” Twilight practically yelled, “I’m talking to you right now, aren’t I?”

Davis threw his arms into the air. “Hey, I’m just telling it like it is alright? I’ve never seen a pony that was anything like you! Are you sure you’re not a digimon?”

“Uh, Guys?” said Veemon.

“No!” yelled Twilight, “I’m not a digimon, whatever that is! I’m a pony!”

“Guys?”

“But you can’t be a pony!” shouted Davis, “Ponies don’t talk!”

“Guys, listen!”

“Yes they can!” shouted Twilight, “How could you possibly think otherwise? That’s like saying fish can’t swim!”

“Guys!”

“What?” Veemon flinched as Twilight and Davis shouted at him simultaneously.

“Uh, I just wanted to ask the pony a couple questions. I think I might be able to figure out what’s going on here.”

Davis and Twilight looked at each other, briefly, and then back to Veemon.

“Alright,” said Davis.

“Fine,” said Twilight.

“Firstly,” asked Veemon, “what’s your name?”

“Twilight Sparkle.”

“Huh?” said Davis, “Twilight Sparkle? Seriously?”

“Yes,” responded Twilight, “That’s my name. Is there a problem with it?”

“Well, for one, it means you’re not a digimon,” replied Veemon. “If you were, your name would end with mon.”

“Really?” said Twilight “That’s strange. But why would I be a digimon, anyway? I don’t even look anything like you!”

“We digimon can take all kinds of shapes and sizes,” responded Veemon. “And the fact that you don’t know that means you can’t be from the Digital World.”

Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise. “D-digital World?” she stammered.

“Wait a minute!” exclaimed Davis, “but she couldn’t possibly be from the Real World, either! Talking ponies don’t exist in the Real World!”

“Exactly!” said Veemon triumphantly, “Which can mean only one thing!”

“And what’s that?” asked Davis.

“Isn’t it obvious?” said Veemon gleefully, “Twilight’s an alien!”

Twilight suddenly felt weak, as though as sickness had washed over her entire body.

I'm in another world? The sudden realization hit her like a ton of bricks. The force that abducted Fluttershy took her to another world? Is that why my spell failed? What about the others? They could have ended up anywhere! What if they were also attacked by monsters?

Twilight's knees weakened as tears began to flow freely from her eyes, and she collapsed to the ground, sobbing.

"This is all my fault!"


————————


Gennai twiddled his thumbs as he sat idly in his cell. His secret base, located on top of a remote mountain, had once again been taken over by the forces of darkness. Shortly before his capture, he had sent a message to the Digi-Destined informing them of the return of the control spires. Since then, he had discovered them to be the creation of a powerful Digimon that had proclaimed herself the Queen of the Digital World.

Footsteps echoed throughout the hallways as a figure approached Gennai’s cell. It soon revealed itself as wasp-like humanoid with a distinctly female figure, her entire body covered in a canary-yellow exoskeleton. Her face was featureless, save for a pair of blue-green compound eyes and long antennae, and long pink hair flowed freely from the back of her head. On her shoulders were a pair of black spiked collars, and she wore large gauntlets on her clawed hands, the tips of which were coated in sickly green venom, and a spike extending from each wrist.

==========
Digimon Analyzer: Vespimon

Type: Insectoid

Attribute: Virus

Level: Unknown

Special Attacks: Spiking Venom, Toxic Glare
==========

“Hello Gennai,” said Vespimon. Her voice was a harsh buzz, as though an entire swarm of insects were speaking at once. “Are you enjoying your stay?” she said, mockingly.

“You won’t get away with this,” said Gennai. “The Digital World is not without its protectors.”

“Ah, yes,” said Vespimon, “The Digi-Destined. I’ve read about them in your library. Fascinating, how mere children have done so much to protect this world.” Gennai remained silent.

“I’m especially interested in the one named Ken Ichijouji. He could have conquered the entire Digital World, and yet he refused that power out of so-called kindness.” Vespimon practically spat the last word. “Either way, I’m not worried about them. I have an extra special Dark Ring out there right now, and it’s programmed to find Gatomon and destroy her tail ring!”

Gennai looked up at Vespimon in surprise. “What?”

“You heard me,” said Vespimon, smugly, “I’ve done quite a bit some research regarding the Digi-Destined and their partners. Without Gatomon’s tail ring, DNA Digivolution becomes impossible. Even with my control spires destroyed, they'll be helpless before my power!”

Gennai frowned. “They’re not the only ones you have to worry about,” he said, “There are others.”

“And who would that be?” asked Vespimon.

“Shortly after your arrival in my fortress, I sensed the presence of five beings entering the Digital World. They are neither human nor digimon, yet they possess a power remarkably similar to the Crests that my group created.”

“What!?" Vespimon exclaimed. She angrily raised her left hand, and pointed the spike of her wrist at Gennai. “Don’t you dare lie to me, you fool! Unless you want to be deleted like your pathetic clones!”

Gennai smiled calmly. “Go right ahead. By striking them down, you’ve made me more powerful than you could possibly imagine.”

Vespimon’s four translucent wings buzzed angrily. “Enough of your nonsense! Spiking Venom!”

The spike at the end of Vespimon’s wrist glowed a sickly green, extending outwards, through the bars of the cell. Gennai swiftly dodged to the side, causing the spike to impact the wall directly behind where he sat.

The spike retracted, and Vespimon lowered her hand. “Don’t try my patience again, Gennai. Next time you won’t be so lucky.” With that, she turned around and briskly walked down the hallway.

Her thoughts quickly turned to what Gennai had said. He’s lying, he has to be. There’s no way they would care enough to follow me here...


————————


Davis looked at Twilight sympathetically. The pony was an emotional wreck, collapsed onto her knees, sobbing weakly. “Are you alright?” he asked.

“No!” Twilight snapped. “I’m not alright! I’m lost on an alien world, and my friends are nowhere to be found! They could be anywhere for all I know! I may never see them again!”

“Your friends?” asked Davis, “What happened to them? How did you end up here, anyway?”

Twilight looked up at Davis and sniffled, still fighting to hold back the tears. “Well... I come from land called Equestria, on a world called Ungula. I was having a picnic outside with my friends, when I heard a horrible noise coming from the library where I live.”

“You live in a library?”

“Yes,” said Twilight, “I’ve been living there on behalf of Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria. I was her personal student, you see.”

“Huh, that’s interesting. So what happened?”

Twilight shuddered as she recalled the events prior. “Well, I went to the library, where I say my friend Fluttershy being abducted by a mysterious force. She was dragged into a portal, which I’m assuming now lead here.”

Davis’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Your friend was kidnapped?”

Twilight nodded sadly. “Presumably, yes. I sensed a powerful dark presence when she was dragged into the portal. Anyway, I gathered the rest of my friends and cast a spell that allowed us to find her.”

“Spell? As in, magic?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow curiously. “Yes, as in magic. Why?”

“Wow,” said Veemon, “that’s incredible! What other magic tricks can you do? Can you pull a rabbit out of a hat? Can you do that thing with the box where you saw someone in half?”

“Veemon!” Davis cried, “Not now!”

Twilight stared angrily at the two, her eyes still wet with tears. “Look, I haven’t got time for this, alright? Something about the spell went wrong, and now I’ve been separated from my friends. I need to find them before something terrible happens to them!” Davis opened his mouth to respond, but stopped when he saw Twilight’s horn glow with energy. He and Veemon stared incredulously as Twilight’s turned towards her saddlebags, the same aura surrounding them as they opened. A roll of gauze levitated out of the bags, and with careful precision, it wrapped around her injured wings, putting a stop to the bleeding.

“So,” said Twilight, turning back to the human and digimon, “what can you tell me about this Digital World?”

Davis continued to stare for a second at what he had seen. Veemon prodded him with an elbow, snapping him out of his dumbstruck gaze. “Oh, right!” he exclaimed.

Davis scratched the back of his head nervously. “Well, uh... To tell you the truth, I’m probably not the best person to ask about that sort of thing. Ken or Izzy would probably be better at explaining, they're the eggheads around here.”

Despite her dire situation, Twilight couldn’t help but smile a little. Davis was starting to remind her of Rainbow Dash. She still hoped that Rainbow was alright, but she was more worried about the others, especially Fluttershy. Out of all of her friends, Rainbow was probably the one who could best handle a dangerous situation.

“I’ll try to explain what I can though,” said Davis, grinning sheepishly. “From what I understand, The Digital World is a world that connects to the Real World through computers.”

“That’s right!” said Veemon, “and it’s inhabited by us! Digimon: Digital Monsters!”

“Digital Monsters, huh? Wait, did you say computers?” Twilight’s eyes widened in sudden realization. For a brief moment, Davis and Veemon thought they’d seen a pair of six-pointed stars flash in her eyes. “Of course!” she exclaimed, “I was working on ENEIGHAC right before Fluttershy was taken! The portal she was dragged into appeared in its room!”

“ENEIGHAC?” asked Veemon.

“The Electronic Numerical Evaluator for Integration, General Horsery, And Computation. It’s the first computer on Ungula, funded by the Equestrian Royal Treasury.”

“Uh, alright, then” said Davis, bewildered. “Anyway, my friends and I are part of a group called the Digi-Destined. We each have our own Digimon partners, and together protect both the Digital World and Real World from evil.”

“Interesting... You keep saying the Real World,” pointed out Twilight, “I’m assuming that you’re not from Ungula, so you must mean another world, right?”

“She’s right Davis,” said Veemon, “if we’re dealing with three worlds now, calling your world the Real World would be confusing!”

Twilight regarded the two thoughtfully. “So you’re not from the Digital World?”

“Nope!” said Davis, “I’m from the Real Wor—” Davis suddenly interrupted himself. “Uh, I mean, Earth.” he corrected.

“Interesting,” said Twilight, “so does this mean the Digital World isn’t real, then?” she asked.

“Of course it is!” said Veemon, mildly insulted. “We just call Davis’ world the Real World. Don’t ask me why, ‘cause I really don’t know.”

“Good to hear,” Twilight deadpanned. “Anything else I should know?”

“Sure thing!” said Davis. Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out a strange rounded device, with a plastic screen and blue rubber on the edges. “This is called a digivice. Every Digi-Destined has one, and it allows our partners to digivolve into stronger forms to fight evil!”

“I can also use the Digi-Eggs of Courage and Friendship to armor digivolve!’ said Veemon, triumphantly.

Twilight puzzled at Davis and Veemon’s statements. She didn’t know what it meant to “Digivolve” or what the “Digi-Eggs of Courage and Friendship” were, but she figured she’d learn soon enough. Right now, she had all the information she wanted. However, she soon found herself staring at the “Digivice” that Davis held. Slowly, she brought up her foreleg and stared intently at the strange device that the Element of Magic had turned into. It was obviously different, but they were similar enough that she wondered if they were related.

“Hey,” said Davis noticing the device on Twilight’s ankle, “is that a Digivice? Does that mean you’re a Digi-Destined?” His words mirrored Twilight's thoughts, causing her to do a double-take as she was pulled out of her own head.

“Huh?” said Twilight.

“If you’re a Digi-Destined, then where’s your partner?” asked Veemon.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Twilight, “I’m not a Digi-Destined. And this isn’t a Digivice, it’s the Element of Magic.”

“Element of Magic?” asked Davis.

“The Element of Magic is one of the six Elements of Harmony, the most powerful known magic on Ungula. My friends and I were chosen as the bearers of the Elements some time ago, and we’ve since used them to protect our world from danger.”

“Really?” said Davis, “That actually sounds a lot like the Digi-Destined.”

Twilight sighed wearily. As eager as she was to learn more about the Digital World, she’d already wasted enough time with explanations. She had to find the others as soon as possible.

“Sure, I suppose. Anyway, thanks for helping me out,” she said, “but I’m afraid I have to get going. I can’t leave my friends knowing they’re out there somewhere.” With that, she slung her saddlebags over her shoulders and began heading off in the direction of the black tower.

“Hey, wait!” said Davis, “You’re not just going to go by yourself, are you?”

Twilight turned back towards Davis. “Huh? I suppose, yes.”

“Well, why don’t we help you? We’re heading off to destroy the control spire, and we could keep an eye out for your friends along the way!”

“Really?” said Twilight, “You’d do that for me?”

“Of course!” said Davis, “No way we’re just going to leave you hanging like that!” Davis pulled out another device, larger than his Digivice, and began fiddling around with it. “Here, I’ll even send a message to the other Digi-Destined to keep an eye out for other ponies like you!” After several moments, he put the machine back into his pocket. “Come on, what are you waiting for?” he said, gesturing towards himself and Veemon.

Twilight suddenly felt a profound sense of gratitude well up inside of her. She barely knew these two, and yet they were willing to go out of their way to help her with her troubles. It didn’t seem to bother them in the slightest that she was, as Veemon had put it, an alien. “I... I was actually planning on heading towards that tower, if that’s what you meant by the control spire. You’d really be willing to help me along the way?”

“Well, yeah!” said Davis, “what are friends for?”

Twilight smiled brightly, very nearly crying tears of joy. She approached Davis and stood by his side, looking up at him thoughtfully. “Thank you, Davis,” she said.

“No prob!” he said. He turned towards Veemon, and both of them nodded. Davis reached into his jacket and pulled out his digivice, and shouted the words that would activate Veemon’s armor digivolution.

"Digi-Armor Energize!"

The digivice’s screen glowed with an intense light, and a black, peanut-shaped object emerged from it. It dissolved into an ethereal blue, which enveloped Veemon as he floated into the air, glowing with power.

“Veemon, Armor Digivolve to: Raidramon, the Storm of Friendship!”

Twilight stared in awe at Veemon’s sudden transformation. Standing in his place was a large, quadrupedal dragon, clad in black armor, with a yellow metal horn shaped like a lighting bolt. “Storm of Friendship?” she asked, incredulously.

“Yeah,” said Davis, “Need some help climbing up?”

“Uh... Sure.”

With that, Twilight and Davis climbed up onto Raidramon’s back, and set off rapidly towards the control spire. Whatever it was they would face there, one thing was for sure, neither of them would be alone.
> The Gazimon Village
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight sat behind Davis on the back of Raidramon, who was running through the quarry at rapid speed, towards the control spire to the north. Twilight’s mind was buzzing with all manner of questions about the Digital World that she was now in, and the role that the Digi-Destined played in it. Had she not been in such a dire circumstance, the very idea of being in a new world would have excited her like nothing else, but with her friends still separated from her, she was merely curious. Nevertheless, it was an intense curiosity that gnawed at her mind, and she couldn’t help but try to indulge it.

“So your world is called Earth?” said Twilight.

“Yup,” said Davis.

Not a very creative name, she silently added.

“Uh-huh,” replied Davis, still focused on the path ahead.

“And it connects to the Digital World through computers?”

“Something like that,” replied Davis.

Wow, Twilight thought, If computers are commonplace, then their technology must be decades ahead of our own! Maybe even centuries! I wonder what their world is like...

Her thoughts soon went from wondering about Davis’s world to wondering about the “control spire” they were headed for. Davis had said that they were headed to destroy it, and as they continued to approach it, Twilight could tell that destroying it was a good idea, as they got closer she could feel evil radiating from it.

“So what exactly is with this control spire we’re trying to destroy?” she asked, trying her best to keep herself from shuddering.

“Hm?” said Davis, still focused on the path ahead. “Oh, they’re evil towers that control the dark rings, which brainwash and enslave digimon. They also prevent our partners from digivolving normally, so we have to armor digivolve instead.”

Twilight blinked. “Wait... Dark rings? You mean the collars those digimon that attacked me were wearing?”

“You mean the Gazimon?” replied Davis, “Yeah, they were wearing dark rings.”

“And they were being brainwashed into attacking me?”

“Uh-huh,” said Davis, “Dark rings are used to make digimon turn evil. We have to destroy the control spires to deactivate them.”

Twilight’s ears flattened against her head, feeling extremely guilty for what she’d done. If the Gazimon that attacked her really were brainwashed, that meant they had never tried to hurt her of their own will. Had they not resisted Twilight’s magic, she would have killed an innocent being.

“Are those Gazimon going to be okay?” she asked.

“Of course,” replied Davis, “we’d never hurt an innocent digimon. Sure, they’ll be a bit sore in the morning, but they’ll be fine.”

“Oh, good.” Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. She would never be able to forgive herself if she killed an innocent, even if it was technically in self-defense. For the first time in her life, she was actually glad that her magic had failed.

Of course, that still raised the question of where the control spires came from. If they were being used to enslave digimon, then someone had to be building them for that specific purpose.

“Do you know who’s behind the control spires?” asked Twilight.

“Not yet,” replied Davis, “they stopped appearing some time ago, so we don’t know who could be building them again.”

“I see,” said Twilight, thoughtfully. There was so much she didn’t know, so much that she needed to learn about this place. She had plenty more questions, but she felt that it would be best to save them for a better time. (That, and Davis didn’t exactly seem like the best person to be answering them.)

“Heads up, we’re almost there!” said Raidramon. A small village appeared on the horizon as they rapidly approached the control spire.


————————


The three soon arrived near outskirts of the village, which appeared to be a mining settlement, with a large mineshaft near the edge going deep into the mineral-rich soil. The immense control spire was built in the village’s center, and they could see dozens of Gazimon patrolling the village in the distance, their bright red eyes visible even from far away, indicating that they were under control of the dark rings.

“Looks like quite the welcome party,” said Raidramon.

“There sure are a lot of them,” said Twilight, worriedly. “What do you think we should do?”

“No need to worry!” replied Davis, “just go for it, Raidramon!”

“Got it!”

“Huh? W-wait!” Before Twilight could fully voice her objection, Raidramon immediately shot forth towards the village at a full sprint, much faster than he had been running on the way there. Twilight screamed in surprise as she tightly held on to Raidramon’s sides, trying her best not to fall off from Raidramon’s sheer speed.

In the span of seconds, Raidramon had already made its way to the edge of the village. The Gazimon, startled by Raidramon’s sudden appearance, turned towards him with their eyes wide with surprise as he ran past them.

“Thunder Blast!”

Without breaking stride, the spines on Raidramon’s front shoulders emitted a burst of high-voltage electricity, striking several of the Gazimon and shattering their dark rings, causing them to collapse to the ground, unconscious. The rest of the Gazimon gave chase to Raidramon as he ran towards the control spire.

“Electric Stun Blast!”

The Gazimon, unable to keep up with Raidramon’s speed, launched their attacks, breathing clouds of thick black gas from their mouths. Raidramon dodged the attacks easily, weaving through the clouds of toxic gas with surprising ease. He briefly turned around and countered with his own attack, sending the remaining Gazimon sprawling onto the ground, unconscious.

“Davis, stop!” cried Twilight, “This is crazy!”

“Too late to turn back now,” he replied, looking back at Twilight as Raidramon swiftly approached the control spire. As he did, he could plainly see the look of panic and worry on Twilight’s face. “Don’t worry,” he said, reaching back with his hand to reassure her, “everything’s going to be fine.”

“You’d better be right about that!” she yelled, exasperated.

The three quickly found themselves at the base of the control spire, which towered over the village with an immensely powerful dark presence. 'Immense' was also the perfect word to describe its size; the tower was easily seventy-five feet tall, maybe even a hundred.

Raidramon brought himself to a stop by the control spire, taking a moment to catch his breath. Davis climbed down, helping Twilight back onto the ground. Her heart was beating so fast that it felt like it would burst out of her chest, and she looked up at Davis and frowned angrily.

“Never do that again!” she yelled.

“Alright, alright, geez,” replied Davis, throwing his arms into the air. “No need to get upset.”

“There’s every need to get upset!” exclaimed Twilight, pointing a hoof accusedly. “I can’t believe you’d be so reckless! You could’ve gotten us killed!” Twilight’s ears flattened against her head, and eyes started to moisten, becoming wet with what Davis could only assume to be tears. 

“I’d never know what happened to my friends if I died here,” she said, “I’d never get a chance to see them again.”

Davis looked at Twilight sympathetically. Kneeling down, he placed his hand on her head and looked her in the eye.

“Hey, look,” he said, “I’m sorry if I frightened you back there. I know it must be scary for you, but Raidramon and I have done this sort of thing many times before. I promise I’d never let anything happen to you, alright?”

“I know,” she replied, “I just wish you’d be more careful about it.”

“Well, I suppose I can try,” said Davis, grinning. Twilight couldn’t help but smile at this; despite his apparent lack of common sense, she could tell Davis meant what he said.

Suddenly, Twilight’s ears swiveled as she heard another group approaching. She turned towards the source of the noise, and saw a handful of Gazimon approaching, their eyes glowing with malevolence.

“Uh, guys?” she said, pointing towards the group. She wasn’t nearly as worried now, since Raidramon had proven more than capable of taking them on, but she still felt it necessary to give a warning.

“On it!” replied Davis, pulling his goggles over his eyes, “Now, Raidramon!” 

“Thunder Blast!”

Raidramon launched his attack at the control spire, striking side they were facing with a powerful blast of lightning, causing a large chunk of the base to disintegrate.

“Wait, don’t!” shouted Twilight, “It’ll collapse on us!” Much to Twilight's bewilderment, however, the control spire didn’t topple over, but began to break into pieces, with cracks crawling up the sides as it collapsed inward on itself and disintegrated. The implosion of the control spire kicked up a massive cloud of dust, sending Twilight into a coughing fit, but otherwise leaving her unharmed.

As the dust settled, Twilight wiped the dust out of her eyes and took a look at her surroundings. The Gazimon were looking around in confusion, the red glow having faded from their eyes, giving them a much more normal appearance. Twilight looked up at Davis and considered his goggles.

“Huh,” she said, “I was wondering why you wear those.”


————————


Soon thereafter, Davis, Twilight, and Veemon met with the Chief of the Gazimon village (distinguishable from the others by his red vest), who expressed his gratitude for destroying the control spire. He had offered the three of them food, and Davis and Veemon happily agreed, though Twilight was somewhat suspicious of what they might eat. Fortunately, the noodles the Gazimon offered didn’t seem to be incompatible with her herbivorous diet.

As they sat down at the table in the Chief’s larger cottage, Davis and Veemon slurped down on the noodles eagerly. Twilight, meanwhile, had put off eating to ask the Chief questions about what had happened.

“So you don’t know who’s behind the new control spires?” she asked.

“Not entirely,” replied the Chief, “but I did learn a few things about her under the influence of the dark rings. I could hear a voice speaking to me the entire time, and she was not nice, let me tell you.”

“She? So it’s a female, then? What did she say to you?”

“I don’t remember exactly what, but I think she was trying to cause chaos and destruction for the fun of it. She saw our lives as nothing more than a game.” He shivered slightly as he spoke, clearly spooked by the thought of being nothing more than a toy for someone else’s amusement.

“I see,” said Twilight, “well, whoever it is, we’ll put a stop to her.”

With a loud slurp, Davis finished the last of his noodles, and finished with a loud belch. Veemon finished immediately afterward, and did the same.

“That’s disgusting!” said Twilight.

“Actually,” said the Chief, “in our village, a belch is a compliment to the cook.”

“Really?” replied Davis, “If I’d known that I’d have done it after every meal!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Let’s not go that far,” she said.


————————


After a satisfying lunch, Davis, Twilight, and Veemon began preparing to head out. Davis had sent a message to the other Digi-Destined informing them that’s he’d destroyed the control spire, and was heading back to their initial meeting place. Davis was eager to show Twilight what Earth was like.

“Oh man, you should see it, it’s great!” said Veemon enthusiastically. “There’s TV, internet, cell phones, vending machines, air conditioning...”

Twilight nodded as Veemon explained everything that he liked about Earth, replying to each thing he listed with some variation of “Uh-huh” or “That’s great.” It’s not that she wasn’t interested in seeing Earth, she was very much so, she just didn’t know what any of the things being listed were without an explanation.

Veemon’s rambling was eventually interrupted by a loud beeping sound coming from Davis’s jacket. He went silent as Davis reached into his pocket and pulled out his D-Terminal, reading the message.

“Hey, that’s great!”

“What’s it say, Davis?” asked Veemon.

“I just got messages from the others! They’ve each found one of Twilight’s friends!”

Twilight’s ears perked up instantly, and she turned looked at Davis hopefully. “Really?” she said, “Who did they find?”

“Ken and Yolei found some rainbow-colored pegasus named Rainbow Dash. T.J. found some cowpony named Applejack, and Cody found a white unicorn named Rarity. I think the one Kari found was named after the color Pink.”

“Pinkie Pie,” replied Twilight, smiling softly. Tears of joy had started to flow from her eyes, as she smiled softly. Never in her life had she felt more relieved, nothing could have made happier at that moment.

“So is that everyone that came with you to rescue Fluttershy?” asked Davis.

“Yes,” replied Twilight, “that’s all of them.”

“Great!” said Davis, “Now we can focus on rescuing Fluttershy!”

As the three finished their preparations, they turned back towards the Gazimon and said their farewells.

“Come back anytime, you hear?” said the Chief.

“Sure thing!” replied Davis, “We’ll be happy to stop by when we have some free time later!”

“Especially if you have more noodles!” added Veemon.

As soon as they exchanged their goodbyes, Davis turned towards Veemon and held out his digivice.

“Digi-Armor Ener-”

Before he could finish the sentence, he was interrupted by a deafening roar, causing him to nearly drop his digivice in shock.

“What’s going on!?” shouted Twilight, trying to keep herself from panicking.

“Oh no!” said one of the Gazimon, “He’s back! What do we do?”

“What?” said another Gazimon, “But that’s impossible! It’s eight years too early!”

“What do you mean?” said Davis, “Who’s back?”

The Gazimon Chief looked worriedly in the direction of the mineshaft, and then back to Davis and Twilight. “He’s an especially powerful champion-level digimon that lives in the mines. Every ten years, he emerges to claim our supply of precious gemstones.”

“Does he have a name?” asked Veemon.

“Yes,” replied the chief, “his name is Spikedramon.”

> Equestria Mon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“W-what?” stammered Twilight, shocked. The Gazimon were scrambling about the village, scurrying into their huts and cottages to bring out the gems they had collected over the past two years to appease the dramon.

“It’s no good!” said one of the Gazimon, “We don’t have anywhere near enough!”

“We don’t have a choice!” replied the Chief, “Just bring out whatever we have!”

The Gazimon continued hurriedly gathering the gems from their cottages, carrying pots on their heads. Ordinarily, the pots would be filled over the top with the largest, most colorful gemstones they had found, carefully cut to create the perfect shine. As it was, however, most of the boxes weren’t even half full, and none of the gems had been cut yet. To compensate for this, the Gazimon had placed their own personal gemstones in the pots, which the dramon had let them keep because they were smaller. Even so, it wasn’t nearly as much as it had been two years before.

“Something’s fishy about this, Davis!” said Veemon, “Why would he come out of the mines eight years too early?”

“I dunno,” replied Davis, “maybe he just wanted some fresh air?”

Veemon chuckled. “I bet he hasn’t had a shower in years! Can you imagine how he must smell right now?”

Twilight looked at the two incredulously. “How can you two possibly be cracking jokes at time like this!?”

Davis shrugged. “I dunno, that’s just how we roll.”

“You can roll that way later!” she said, “right now we need to do something about this!”

“She’s right, Davis!” said Veemon, “these Gazimon need our help!”

“Right, then! Come on, Twilight, let’s go!”

With that, Davis and Veemon began running off in the direction of the mineshaft, following the many Gazimon that had carried their offerings to the massive entrance. They watched from a short distance away as the Gazimon set their offerings down in front of the mine’s entrance, kneeling onto the ground on their arms and knees. The ground began to shake as the sound of massive footsteps came from within the mine, slowly growing louder as the dramon made its way to the surface.

“Everyone brace yourself!” exclaimed the Chief.

There was a brief moment of silence as the footsteps suddenly stopped, before a deafening roar sounded from beneath the surface of the mine. Without a moment’s notice, a massive, 40-foot dragon erupted from the mineshaft, letting loose another bellowing roar.

Twilight’s jaw nearly dropped in shock. The digimon that had suddenly emerged looked exactly like Spike did during his greed-driven rampage little over a year ago, a wingless dragon with purple scales and green spines. It can’t really be him, she reminded herself, We left him behind at the library!

==========
Digimon Analyzer: Spikedramon

Type: Dragon

Attribute: Data

Level: Champion

Special Attack: Emerald Fire
==========

The dramon looked down at the Gazimon, eyes glowing a deep red as he surveyed the bounty of gems they had brought to appease him. He raised his right claw skyward, revealing a metal spiral encircling his arm, similar to the dark rings.

“Watch out!” cried one of the Gazimon. They dived out of the way as Spikedramon brought his claw down, shattering many of the gem-filled pots and sending the Gazimon fleeing.

“Davis, look!” said Veemon, pointing at Spikedramon’s arm, “He’s got a dark spiral!”

“W-what?” said Twilight, “Dark spiral?”

“They’re more powerful versions of the dark rings!” replied Davis, “they don’t need a control spire nearby to work!”

The dramon lifted one of his massive feet out of the mineshaft, stepping onto the ground and attempting to crush one of the Gazimon, who leapt out of the way just in time to avoid being crushed. He slowly began to lift his other foot out of the mine, stepping onto the village’s soil.

“Davis!” screamed Twilight, “Do something!”

“Right!” Davis, acting quickly, pulled out his digivice and pointed it at Veemon. The screen began to glow brightly, engulfing Veemon in its light as his body began to transform.

“Veemon, Digivolve to: ExVeemon!”

As the digivolution completed, the light faded to reveal Veemon’s new form: a seven-foot dragon with white feathered wings, a large horn, and an x-shaped symbol on its chest. He shot forth straight into the air, causing Spikedramon to turn his head as he was greeted by ExVeemon flying straight towards him.

ExVeemon dodged to the side as the dramon swiped his massive claw at him, circling around to face the dark spiral on his other arm.

“Vee Laser!”

The symbol on ExVeemon’s chest glowed brightly, firing an x-shaped beam of radiant energy at Spikedramon. The dramon swiftly moved his other arm in the way, causing the beam to dissipate as it struck his body. Spikedramon hissed in pain from the attack, and turned to face ExVeemon, eyes glowing with anger and malice.

“Careful, ExVeemon!” said Davis, “we don’t want to hurt him too much!”

“Emerald Fire!”

The dramon turned his head to face ExVeemon, breathing an intense blast of green fire towards him. The attack hit ExVeemon straight on, causing him to fall prone on the ground, his body singed with multiple burn marks.

“Come on, ExVeemon!” shouted Davis, “Don’t give up! You can do it!”

ExVeemon quickly rose to his feet, before flying up to face Spikedramon once more. He swiftly lunged at the dark spiral on Spikedramon’s arm, only to be swatted backwards, sending him flying. ExVeemon righted himself before he hit the ground, and flew back up towards Spikedramon for another attempt.

Twilight looked on fearfully as the two continued to fight each other, with Davis shouting out words of encouragement to ExVeemon. It didn’t seem to do much good, however, as ExVeemon appeared to be fighting a losing battle, getting knocked down every time he came close to attacking the dark spiral on Spikedramon’s arm. He narrowly dodged a blast of Emerald Fire, which struck another nearby hut, causing it to burst into flames.

I... I have to help them! thought Twilight, I can’t let my friends get hurt! I can’t let it end like this! If something happens to us here, I might never get to see my other friends again! I... I...

Suddenly, Twilight’s eyelids snapped open a twinkle appearing briefly in her pupils. The device on her right forelimb began to shine brightly from its screen, blinding her with its sheer intensity. Davis noticed the sudden burst of light and looked back towards Twilight, seeing her body being engulfed by an intense glow as she floated several feet off the ground, dropping the saddlebags she carried beneath her.

The light of the Element of Magic resonating throughout her entire being, Twilight heard a powerful phrase echoing in her mind, awakening the Element’s power within her.

"Execute! Harmonic Evolution!"

Engulfed in the Element’s light, Twilight’s body began to transform. Her body changed into a human shape, five and a half feet tall from head to toe. The glow faded, revealing her to have purple skin and long purple hair, similar to her mane as a pony. She was wearing a light blue shirt and a dark purple skirt and boots, and a dark blue wizard’s hat. Around her shoulders was a long, dark blue cape, connected around her collar with an amethyst gemstone shaped like a six-pointed star. Pulled over her eyes was a pair of thick goggles, and in her right hand was a long, lavender wand resembling a unicorn’s horn.

“Espermon! The Spark of Magic!”

==========
Digimon Analyzer: Espermon


Type: Wizard

Attribute: Data

Level: Hybrid (Champion Equivalent)

Special Attacks: Starlight Swirl, Raven's Shadow
==========

Davis stared in shock as Twilight floated gently back onto the ground in her new form. “Twilight!?”

As she landed, Twilight suddenly came to a realization of what had happened. Baffled by her new form, she looked down and tugged at her clothes curiously. She then held out her arms in front of her and flexed her fingers experimentally, careful not to drop the wand she held in her hand.

“What am I?”

“Twilight!” exclaimed Davis, “You’re a digimon!”

Twilight blinked. “I... I think so!” she said, “But that’s not important right now! ExVeemon needs my help! And call me Espermon, by the way!” With that, she hovered into the air and flew swiftly towards Spikedramon, who was still attempting to swat ExVeemon out of the air.

Davis’s look of surprise gave way to an enthusiastic smile. “Alright, Espermon!” he cheered, “Go for it!”


———————


“Emerald Fire!”

ExVeemon quickly dodged to the side as Spikedramon spewed another blast of intense green fire. The flames shot straight past him and set ablaze another one of the numerous huts, sending the Gazimon inside fleeing to find new shelter.

ExVeemon swiftly countered by diving towards Spikedramon’s dark spiral, only to be swatted to the side, landing some distance away on the ground. He slowly rose back to his feet, multiple bruises visible on his body. His power was nearly depleted, he had to fight against his own fatigue to maintain his champion form. As he rose back onto his knee, he looked up to see Espermon floating in the air right above him. She reached out with her arm, extending an open hand towards ExVeemon.

“Need some help?”

ExVeemon looked up in bewilderment. He stared at her briefly before grabbing Espermon’s hand, allowing himself to be pulled back into the air.

“Twilight, is that you? What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure,” replied Espermon, “but for now we need to take care of Spikedramon. Can you keep him busy for a bit?”

“Of course.”

“Great,” said Espermon, “just keep him distracted and try not to get hurt, I’ll destroy the dark spiral!”

“Got it!”

Filled with new resolve, ExVeemon flew towards Spikedramon, circling around his head with dazzling speed. Spikedramon repeatedly attempted to swat ExVeemon out of the air, but ExVeemon swiftly dodged each swipe, leaving the Dramon flailing in the air ineffectually. ExVeemon continued circling around Spikedramon’s head, and the dramon began to stumble dizzily. After several circles, Spikedramon stopped trying to follow ExVeemon altogether, swaying back and forth as his head spun from dizziness.

“Good going, ExVeemon!” said Espermon, “Now’s our chance!”

“Starlight Swirl!”

Espermon raised her wand high into the air, causing a bright light to appear at the tip. The light quickly expanded into a swirling disk of radiant energy, as though it were a miniature galaxy. She swung her wand downward, launching the disk at Spikedramon. The attack dissipated as it struck the dark spiral, causing it to disintegrate into data. The red glow in Spikedramon’s eyes slowly faded, giving way to the compassionate eyes of his Equestrian counterpart.

Espermon and ExVeemon both floated to the ground, a soft glow engulfing their bodies as they reverted to their base form. Davis ran up to the two of them, grinning broadly.

“Way to go, Twilight!” he said, “You did it!”

“I’ll say!” said Veemon, “I couldn’t have done it without you, Sparks!” He walked over to Twilight and placed his hand over Twilight’s shoulder, patting her on the back.

Twilight nearly jumped at the sudden contact at the base of her shoulders, where her wings were attached, blushing furiously. “H-hey!” she exclaimed, “don’t touch me there! That’s—” Twilight interrupted herself as she came to a sudden realization; the dull pain that she’d been feeling in her wings since her first encounter with the Gazimon was gone. “Hold that thought,” she said, shrugging Veemon’s arm off of her.

Using her magic, she carefully unwrapped the bandages on her wings, and found that the wounds that she’d suffered from them were completely healed; there was no sign of the Gazimon’s claw marks, no scarring or blood whatsoever.

“Hey, how about that!” she said, “That transformation must have healed my wounds!”

“Wow, talk about convenient,” said Davis, sounding somewhat jealous, “when I broke my shoulder, it took more than a month to heal. I actually had to start doing egghead stuff like reading since I couldn’t play soccer.” Twilight was visibly amused by this, even though she didn’t know what “soccer” was.

“So what’s this about not touching your shoulders?” asked Veemon.

Twilight’s smile quickly vanished, turning into a disapproving frown. “Never you mind,” she said, “just don’t ever touch me there again, understood? That goes for you too, Davis.”

Veemon scratched his head in confusion. “Um... Okay?”

“Uuugggh...” Davis, Twilight, and Veemon’s attention was suddenly brought to Spikedramon, who was rubbing his forehead in confusion. “What happened?” he said.


———————


The Gazimon joined Davis, Twilight, and Veemon as they gathered around Spikedramon, the Chief explaining what had happened.

“I’m deeply sorry for all of this” said Spikedramon, looking round at the village. Two of the huts hand completely burned to the ground, and there were several deep footprints on the ground, with many of the gem-filled pots being completely shattered.

“It’s not your fault, my Lord,” replied the Chief, “the dark spiral had brainwashed you into attacking us.”

“I see. And this is the one who freed me?” he pointed his massive claw towards Twilight, who flinched briefly at its sheer size. “Tell me, what is your name?”

Twilight’s ears briefly dropped to her side. Some part of her had been hoping, however unlikely it was, that Spikedramon wasn’t just a stranger that looked like her assistant. “It’s Twilight,” she said, glumly, “Twilight Sparkle.”

Spikedramon raised an eyebrow. “Interesting name,” he said, “I take it you’re not a digimon, then?”

“Not right now,” replied Twilight, “at least I don’t think I am...”

Spikedramon looked confused for a moment, unsure of what Twilight could have meant. “Well, regardless of what you are, you have my thanks.”

“As for you all,” he said, turning to the Gazimon, “I have something important to tell you.”

“What is it, my Lord?” asked the Chief.

“I don’t want you to bother with the offerings from now on.”

The Gazimon all let out a collective gasp. “M-my Lord,” stammered the chief, “are you serious?”

“There’s no need to call me Lord anymore,” replied Spikedramon, “and yes, I am serious.”

“But why?” asked the Chief.

“You may not remember it,” said Spikedramon, “but your elders started the offerings as a gift. I acted as this village’s guardian, being called upon whenever it was put in danger, and in return they would bring offerings once every decade.”

The dramon sighed wearily, looking down at the Chief with a vaguely sorrowful expression. “As time went on, however, I grew greedy. I started demanding larger and larger offerings, and stopped caring about protecting the village.” 

The sadness apparent in Spikedramon’s face grew deeper, and in his eyes the others could see a deep feeling of regret. “I let the control spire appear because I didn’t care what happened to you,” he said, “If I’d chosen to do something, I could’ve avoided being enslaved by the dark spiral. I could have prevented all of this. I can’t demand any more from you after what I’ve done.”

“But what are we going to do without the offerings?” asked the Chief, “What will you do?”

Spikedramon looked back towards the mines, and then back to the Chief. “I will return to the mines for now,” he said. “If the village is ever in danger again, do not hesitate to call for me. I will do everything in my power to protect you... It is the least I can do.”

Spikedramon turn towards the mineshaft, and began to raise one of his massive feet. “Pardon me,” waiting for the Gazimon to move out of his way before taking a step. With another step, he descended into the mines, climbing deep into the earth below.”

The Chief looked around at the other Gazimon, each wearing an expression that was some form of surprise. “Did you hear that?” he said, “No more offerings! We’re free!” The other Gazimon, upon hearing the words from the Chief, erupted into loud cheering, with many of them even jumping for joy.

“We’re free! We’re finally free!”

“I thought it’d never happen!”

“This calls for a celebration!”

The Chief turned towards Davis and smiled. “Well, it looks like we’re going to be having a party. You guys are welcome to join in if you want.”

“Sounds great!” replied Davis. He then suddenly frowned as he remembered what he was doing in the village in the first place. “Actually, we might have to pass on this one. We kinda have to meet with some other people real soon.”

“Sorry to hear,” replied the Chief, “but be sure to stop by whenever you feel like it, alright? You’re always welcome here!”

“I’ll keep that in mind!” said Davis. He turned to Veemon and Twilight, and gave them a reassuring smile. “You guys ready to go?”

“Sure thing!” said Veemon, “Bummer that we have to miss out on the party, though.”

“Yeah, I know. What about you, Twilight?”

Twilight’s ears perked up from the sudden question. She had been finding it difficult to pay attention to what had been going on around her “Huh? Yeah, sure.”

“Alright then, let’s go!” Davis pulled out his digivice and pointed it at Veemon.

“Digi-Armor Energize!”

As Veemon’s armor digivolution to Raidramon completed, Davis jumped onto his back. Twilight, her wings healed, managed to stay airborne just long enough to land onto Raidramon’s back, sitting on her haunches behind Davis.

The three exchanged their goodbyes with the Gazimon, thanking them for their hospitality before leaving to meet with the others.


———————


Twilight remained silent as she rode through the rocky plains on Raidramon’s back. Despite the many questions she had about what had happened, namely her evolution into Espermon, she couldn’t seem to find the strength to speak. The entire time, her ears were pressed flatly against her head as she was reminded of what, and especially who, she had left behind.

Davis, for the most part, was focused on the path ahead, but after a while he took notice of the silence. “Something wrong, Twilight?” he asked, turning to look her in the eye.

Twilight was brought out of her thoughts by the sudden question. “Huh? No, nothing’s wrong. It’s fine.”

“Come on, Twi, don’t be like that. Something’s bothering you, I can tell.”

Twilight sighed. “That obvious, huh?”

“Your ears kind of gave it away,” replied Davis. Twilight inwardly cursed the mechanisms of ponies’ subconscious body language.

“I was just thinking,” she admitted, “What are we going to do when we rescue Fluttershy? The spell I cast to find her works by pulling us to her general location by connecting our Elements to the Element of Kindness. Now that we’re all in the same world, I don’t have any idea how we’ll get back home. A normal teleport spell couldn’t be used to travel between worlds, no matter how powerful.” Twilight sniffled, fighting to hold back another set of tears. She had to remain strong, she was a Princess, after all. “What if we never make it back? What if we never see our homes or loved ones again?”

Davis smiled, and began to reach out his hand, only to stop when he remembered what Twilight said about her shoulders. “Hey, listen. Don’t worry about that right now. I’m sure we’ll find a way, but for now we have to focus on finding your friend.”

Twilight looked up at Davis and smiled warmly. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Thanks, Davis.”

“Excuse me,” said Raidramon, looking back at his riders through the corner of his eye, “but I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation. Twilight, did you say something about an Element of Kindness?”
> A Rare Encounter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cold. It was very, very cold. Cold and wet.

In her semi-conscious state, this was all that Rarity knew of her surroundings. The coldness seeped into every crevice of her body, chilling her to the very core of her being. Most worryingly of all however, she noticed that she wasn’t breathing.

Rarity knew right away that something was terribly, horribly wrong. Snapping her eyes open, she found herself to be surrounded by water on all sides. She was drowning.

For a brief moment she tried to gasp for air, but she stopped herself when she realized she didn’t want her lungs filled with water. Desperate for oxygen, she frantically swam upwards towards the surface, trying desperately not to pass out from lack of air.

After what seemed to her like an eternity, she finally emerged, letting out a large gasp, taking in as much air as she could manage. As she threaded the water to stay afloat, she took her surroundings into careful consideration.

She looked downwards to find her saddlebags still attached to her sides, completely drenched. Fortunately, she had taken the precaution of having Twilight cast a protective spell to shield its contents from the elements, she didn’t want their contents damaged, after all. The water she was in appeared to be freshwater, much to her relief. As filthy as the water was, saltwater would be even worse for her complexion.

She quickly noticed that her Element of Generosity was gone, no longer being worn around her neck. Before she could concern herself with this, however, she noticed that she was wearing a strange device on her right foreleg. Bringing it closer to herself, she examined it further, a rounded rectangular device made from white plastic, with dark purple rubber on its edges, and a small screen on the center. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen.

What was stranger, however, was that it felt familiar to her.

Is this... The Element of Generosity? she thought to herself. Whatever could have happened to it?

Deciding it wasn’t important at the moment, she looked outwards at the surface of the water, trying to find some sign of dry land. To her dismay, however, she found nothing but water in all directions, as far as she could see.

Panic slowly began to build within her as she realized the severity of her situation. What about the others? Did they also end up in the water? What if they’d already drowned? She began to hyperventilate, fraught with worry over the fate of her friends.

No, she thought, I have to stay focused. I’ll never make it out alive if I start panicking now. Mentally calming herself, she chose a direction and began swimming, hoping that she would soon reach the shore before she exhausted herself.


———————


Cody and Armadillomon sat on the sandy beach by the lake, eating from a box of snacks Cody had brought with them. They had spent a good time traveling together, and had finally arrived at the edge of the lake, deciding to take a short break to regain their energy.

To call the lake large would have been a massive understatement, it was so large that neither of them could see the other shore. Were either of them familiar with North American geography, they would have compared it to one of the Great Lakes on the northern borders of the United States.

Suddenly, a loud beeping noise was heard, causing Cody to pause in his eating.

“Looks like y’all got a message,” said Armadillomon.

“I know, I got it,” said Cody. He reached into his deceptively large pocket and pulled out his D-Terminal, reading the message.

==========
Hey guys! You wouldn’t believe what I just found! While on the way to the control spire I met this purple pony named Twilight Sparkle, and she’s actually an alien from another world! Pretty awesome, huh?

Anyway, it turns out she and her friends came to the Digital World to rescue another pony named Fluttershy, but they ended up getting separated. If any of you guys see another strange pony, let me know, okay?

- Davis
==========

Cody stared at the screen for several moments, unsure to make of what the message he just read.

“What’s it say, Cody?” asked Armadillomon.

Cody sighed. “It’s nothing. Just another one of Davis’s pranks. Let’s hurry up and finish eating, we need to get going.”

The two quickly finished their snacks, and Cody left the box on the surface of the beach. That was the great thing about the Digital World: littering wasn’t a problem since everything was made of data, and would disintegrate with no harm to the environment.

“Y’all ready?” asked Armadillomon, standing next to the surface of the lake.

“Uh-huh,” replied Cody. He pulled out his digivice and shouted the command to activate Armadillomon’s digivolution.

“Digi-Armor Energize!”

Armadillomon swiftly jumped into the lake as the Digi-Egg of Reliability emerged from Cody’s digivice and merged with his body.

“Armadillomon, Armor Digivolve to: Submarimon, the Reliable Guardian of the Sea!”

As his digivolution completed, Submarimon appeared, half-submerged in the lake’s water.

“Hop in!” he said, opening his cockpit, and allowing Cody to climb in. With that, the two headed towards the center of the lake, in the direction of the control spire’s island.


———————


For the most part, the journey was uneventful. Submarimon had been travelling for some time along the surface of the lake, keeping a metaphorical eye out for any digimon on his sonar sensors. Surprisingly enough, there weren’t any hostile digimon nearby.

Either that, or they can’t be detected, thought Cody.

He really hoped that wasn’t the case. Cody shuddered, thinking of what could happen if Submarimon de-digivolved when he was still inside. Fortunately, his thoughts were interrupted when Submarimon suddenly spoke up.

“Cody! I’m detecting something on my sonar!”

Cody winced. At least they knew it was coming, whatever it was. “You ready to deal with it?”

“It’s not heading towards us,” said Submarimon, “It seems to be... sinking?” Sumbarimon’s eyes widened in sudden realization. “Cody! I think it’s drowning!”

“What!?” Cody exclaimed, “We have to help!”


———————


Rarity didn’t know how long she’d been swimming. All she knew is that she’d been doing it for far longer than she was comfortable with. She’d never taken any formal swimming lessons, and as such had to do with a simple dog-paddle. She silently cursed herself, wishing she could move through the water with the elegance that a professional swimmer would.

As she continued, fatigue slowly began to creep its way up Rarity’s body. It became increasingly difficult to keep herself afloat, especially with her saddlebags weighing her down. She’d considered simply letting them drop to make things easier, but she couldn’t bear to part with the only material possessions she had with her at the moment. It almost made her doubt she was worthy of the Element of Generosity.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, Rarity’s exhaustion caught up to her. Knowing she was too tired to keep moving, she took a deep breath before sinking into the water, hoping the oxygen would keep her alive as long as possible.

She began to weep softly as she sank into the depths of the lake, her tears drowned out by the surrounding water. The lake’s water flooded into her lungs as she quietly sobbed, and her thoughts turned to her family back home. She was going to die, and none of her loved ones would know what had happened.

I’m sorry, Sweetie Belle, she thought, I told you I’d be back soon, didn’t I? If only I’d known...

Just before Rarity lost consciousness, she could just barely make out a shape in the watery distance, approaching her rapidly through the lake.

A... A narwhal?


———————


Submarimon swiftly approached the unconscious figure as it sank into the depths of the ocean, revealing itself to be a small white unicorn with a violet mane, wearing a pair of saddlebags. He swiftly pulled under it and caught it with his fin, stopping it from sinking further into the lake.

Cody looked at the unicorn curiously. “Hey, Submarimon, what kind of digimon is that?”

“Beats me,” he replied, “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Well, whatever it is, let’s hurry and get to the surface! I don’t think it’ll survive much longer like this!”

“Got it!”

Submarimon quickly rose upwards through the water, careful not to drop the digimon on his fin. He soon breached the surface of the water and opened his cockpit, allowing Cody to climb onto his fin and pull the digimon in.

As the two got in, Submarimon’s cockpit closed, and Cody examined the digimon before him. Setting its saddlebags to the side, he positioned the digimon on its side and placed his hand on its body, searching for some sign that it might still be alive. She, Cody thought, correcting himself. There was something about the digimon that gave a distinctly female appearance, though he couldn’t quite say what it was.

“This doesn’t look good,” he said, moving his hand to the digimon’s neck, “she has a pulse, but she isn’t breathing.”

“Don’t worry,” said Submarimon, “I have an emergency life support system. Open the second compartment on your left.”

“Got it.” Cody quickly located the compartment and opened it. Inside was a surgical mask, connected to a clear plastic tube, similar to the kind used to deliver anesthesia in a hospital. He quickly pulled out the mask and examined it. “So I just place this on her mouth?”

“That’s right,” said Submarimon, “It’ll pump any water out of her lungs, and try to restore her breathing.”

Cody nodded slightly, and placed the mask over the digimon’s mouth. A loud, mechanical noise came from Submarimon, and Cody watched as the digimon shuddered from the water being sucked out of her lungs.

When the last of the water was extracted, the digimon gave out a shivering gasp, and then went quiet. Her chest began rising and falling slowly, indicating that she was breathing normally again.

Cody lifted the mask off of her muzzle and placed it back in the compartment. “You keep heading for the island,” he said to Submarimon, “I’ll keep my eye on her.”


———————


A gentle light creeped into the edges of Rarity’s vision as she slowly regained consciousness. She could tell almost right away that she was no longer underwater, the coldness of the lake’s waters was no longer surrounding her.

Am... Am I dead? she though. No, I can't be. she realized, I'm still breathing, so I must be alive, right?

Rarity certainly hoped that was the case. With a soft moan, she slowly opened her eyes, allowing them to adjust to the light.

What she saw was a scene unlike anything she could have imagined. She was confined in a very small space, lined with metal panels and various electronic displays, similar to some of the ones on ENEIGHAC. Over her head was an glass dome, through which she could see the surface of the water stretching out in all directions.

But what startled her the most was the being she was trapped in there with. Sitting at the front of the room was a small bipedal creature, only about a foot taller than her, with a mostly hairless body. She could tell right away from the clothes that it wore that the creature possessed advanced intelligence, they were far too intricate to be the work of a primitive mind. This, combined with advanced machinery of the room lead her to a single conclusion.

Rarity had never believed in aliens before. Sweetie Belle had told of her effort to find an alien spaceship during one of her failed attempts at discovering her cutie mark. Her friend Apple Bloom had seen something fall from the sky, landing in one of the farthest corners of Sweet Apple Acres, and set off with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to investigate. In the end, it turned out to be nothing more than a barrel of kumquats, accidentally dropped by one of the local delivery pegasi.

The whole idea of an alien spaceship crash-landing in the Apple family’s orchard was plainly ridiculous of course. Everypony, with the obvious exception of the self-proclaimed “Cutie Mark Crusaders,” knew that aliens didn’t exist.

But that didn’t change the fact that an alien was very clearly right before her. Rarity knew that the creature couldn’t possibly be from her homeworld of Ungula; not only was it unlike anything she could have imagined in her wildest dreams, its clothing was impossibly well-made.  With her keen eye for details, she could see that not a single thread was out of place, and the fabric was woven with a level of precision far beyond anything she’d ever seen. Some parts of the outfit were just plain bizarre; its shoes covered the entirety of its feet, with long laces on the top pulling the sides in tighter, similar to a girdle.

The creature seemed to have noticed Rarity stirring, and shifted in its seat, turning towards her.

“Oh, hey,” it said, speaking in a scratchy, male voice, “you’re awake! Are you alright?”

Rarity decided, at that moment, that the best course of action was to follow her first instinct.

She screamed, as loudly and as high-pitched as she possibly could.

> Reliable Gem
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Submarimon winced at the sound of the hysterical unicorn digimon sitting inside his cockpit. She’s been screaming for almost a minute straight, with Cody repeatedly trying, and failing, to get her to calm down. He felt that it’d be best for him to stay silent, he wasn’t sure that the unicorn would react well to discovering she was in a talking vehicle.

I hope she doesn’t end up damaging my sonar, he thought.

Finally, after more than a minute, the unicorn’s screeching finally began to die down. Gasping for breath, she looked at Cody, fear plainly visible in her eyes as she looked up at him.

Cody sighed, and looked the unicorn in the eyes. Careful to avoid any sudden movements, he slowly knelt onto one knee, meeting her at eye level.

“It’s okay,” he said, calmly, “I’m not going to—”

“Stay back!” said the unicorn, lowering her head so that her horn was pointed at Cody “I’m warning you!”

Cody nervously his hands up in front of him, palms exposed. “Hey, there’s no need for violence! I’m here to—”

“I’m not afraid to use this!” she said, referring to her horn. “If you even think of hurting me I’ll... I’ll...” Her horn began to light up briefly in a light-blue glow, only to quickly die down.

“Wh-what?” she exclaimed, “My magic! My magic isn’t working!” Quickly beginning to hyperventilate, she collapsed to the ground, and began sobbing pathetically.

“Oh dear stars,” she cried, “whatever did I do to deserve this?”

As she continued sobbing on the ground, Cody looked at the unicorn sympathetically. “Hey.”

The unicorn ignored him, and continued loudly crying to herself. Though appeared to be genuinely upset, the unicorn seemed to be trying to make a show of it; she definitely had a flair for the melodramatic. “Separated from my friends! Whisked away to who-knows-where! Nearly drowned in a lake! Abducted by some hideous monster! And if all that wasn’t enough, none of my magic is working!”

Cody couldn’t help but feel offended at the unicorn’s description of him. “Hey, I’m right here!”

“I know you are!” the unicorn snapped, standing up. She glared at Cody menacingly, once again lowering her horn. She stepped forward, the tip of her horn becoming dangerously close to Cody’s neck. “And you’d better release me, you... you... whatever you are!”

“Leave him alone! Cody’s just trying to help!”

The unicorn shrieked in surprise at the sound of the new voice, which seemed to come from all directions at once. Were it not for the low ceiling above her, she would have easily jumped more than a foot off the ground.

“What was that!? W-who’s there?!”

Cody put his face in the palm of his hand, exasperated. He was hoping Submarimon would reveal himself in a less startling manner. “It’s okay, that was my partner, Submarimon. We’re riding in his cockpit.”

The unicorn quickly calmed down, and stared at Cody with a mix of incredulity and disgust. “We’re doing what?”

“We’re riding inside him. Submarimon is the vehicle we’re in right now.”

The unicorn breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh dear,” she said, laughing nervously, “It seems I might have misunderstood you for second.”

“Misunderstood?” asked Cody, confused, “What do you mean?”

“Never mind that!” snapped the Unicorn, once again glaring at Cody threateningly.  “What do you and your...” the unicorn paused, still hardly able to comprehend the absurdity of what she was about to say. “What do you and your talking vehicle want with me?”

Cody sighed wearily. This was getting old very fast. “We’re trying to help you, okay? We saw you drowning in the middle of the lake, so we rescued you.”

The unicorn’s glare softened, replaced by a look of suspicion. She wasn’t going to trust Cody just yet. “I see. So I’m assuming Submarimon was the narwhal I saw approaching me before I lost consciousness?”

“You mean those whales with the long horns?” asked Submarimon, “is that what they’re called?”

“You didn’t know that?” asked Cody.

“Not really,” replied Submarimon, “everything I know about real animals comes from the internet. I suppose I do look kind of like a narwhal, now that I think about it.”

“The internet?” said the unicorn, “I don’t quite follow, but I don’t suppose that’s important right now, either. So neither of you two are trying to abduct me for some nefarious purpose?”

“No,” replied Cody, “like I said, we’re trying to help you.”

“I see. And I don’t suppose you did anything strange with my body while I was unconscious?”

“What?” replied Cody, defensively, “No! What would I even do?”

The unicorn briefly looked away, embarrassed. “Never you mind that,” she said, “the important thing is whether or not I should trust you. I’ve never quite seen anything like you before, and I must be sure you’re not going to try anything improper against me.”

“I wouldn’t do that. Like I said, we’re trying to help you.”

“I understand that,” replied the unicorn, sighing heavily. She briefly glanced out the windows, towards the surrounding waters. “I’ve been through a lot of unfortunate events lately, and I suppose it was only natural for me to assume the worst. I still don’t quite trust you, but I suppose in this circumstance I may not have a choice. I sincerely hope you’re being honest when you say you want to help me.”

The unicorn turned to her nearby saddlebags, and in one swift motion, pulled them over her wither. Once again looking outside, at the waters of the lake, she could begin to see a tiny black speck on the horizon, but as far as she could tell it was probably just a trick of the light. “I suppose if I’m stuck here with you, we might as well introduce ourselves to each other. Your...  friend Submarimon said your name was Cody, correct?”

“That’s right.”

The unicorn turned back to Cody and smiled, raising her right foreleg in a gesture that mimicked a human handshake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Cody, my name is Rarity. You too, Submarimon, it’s a shame I can’t shake with you out there.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Submarimon.

Cody paused briefly, before firmly grasping Rarity’s hoof in a reasonable facsimile of a handshake. Rarity winced briefly at the firmness of Cody’s grip, but quickly regained her composure.

As they finished the hand-and-hoof shake, Cody began to realize that something was off. Rarity? he thought, Not Raritymon?

Submarimon had apparently been thinking about it differently, as he soon interrupted with his own thoughts on the matter. “Strange,” he said, “you don’t look like any Raremon I’ve ever seen. No offense, but most Raremon are quite a bit uglier than you.”

Rarity was taken aback by Submarimon’s words. Cody watched as her face nigh-instantly transformed into a caricature of rage.

“Ugly!? Ugly!?” she yelled, “how dare you! Why if I weren’t stranded in the middle of a lake inside of you, I’d... I’d... Ooh!”

“H-hey! Calm down! He didn’t mean it like that!” exclaimed Cody, trying desperately to get Rarity to calm herself.

“Then what did he mean?” She asked, angrily glaring at Cody.

Cody briefly considered the information that he’d gained so far. He’d thought that Davis’s message was nothing more than a prank, but with the appearance of a strange, pony-like creature, he was quickly beginning to think that it might not be after all.

“Rarity... You’re not a digimon, are you?”

Rarity’s glare softened as she raised an eyebrow. “Digimon? I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Huh?” said Submarimon, “You’re not a digimon?”

“I don’t think she is,” replied Cody, “in fact, I don’t think she’s from the Digital World at all.”

“What?” replied Submarimon, shocked.

Rarity’s eyes widened in surprise. “Digital World?”

“That’s right,” replied Cody, “You’re in a world called the Digital World.”

Rarity’s mouth gaped open as she heard this statement. No, she thought, it can’t be. Tears began to flow from her eyes once more as the weight of the situation became apparent to her. She was separated from her family by an entire world. She might never be able to see her dear sister Sweetie Belle ever again. She’d practically devoted her entire life to ensuring that Sweetie would have a promising future, but now she might never see that happen.

And what about her friends? They were with her when she was dragged into this new world, so what happened to them? Had they been separated from her somehow? How would they survive? What if they were already dead?

No, there was no “what if.” She had very nearly died when she arrived, only managing to survive through the mercy of an alien that had come across her by chance. The others were almost certainly dead at this point.

She couldn’t take it anymore. Once again she found herself crying on the floor, but not in the same way as before. She didn’t bother with melodrama or exaggerated sobbing, there was no point. It was all gone. Her friends and family were gone.

“Hey,” said Cody, placing a hand on the unicorn’s head, behind her drooping ears. “Come on, it’ll be alright.”

“No it won’t!” snapped Rarity. “Don’t you get it? I’m in another world now! Everything I’ve ever known and ever loved is gone! I’ll never see any of my friends or family ever again!”

“You don’t know that,” said Cody, scratching Rarity’s ears gently “if the Digital World is connected to your world, then there’s always a chance that you can find your way back. Besides, I know that one of your friends is alive. Do you know a pony named Twilight Sparkle?”

Rarity’s ears perked up, and her crying ceased almost instantly. “Twilight!” she exclaimed, “Where is she? What happened to her?”

“She’s fine, as far as I can tell,” replied Cody, “my friend Davis found her a while ago, we’ll be meeting up with him soon.”

“Really?” replied Rarity, “That’s wonderful news! Oh, I do hope she’s alright, she must be worried sick!”

“I hope so too,” said Cody. “But we’ll worry about her later. We have lot to talk about about right now. Like the Digital World, and you ended up here.”

“Of course,” said Rarity, “There’s nothing I’d like more than to have some idea of what’s going on here.”

“Alright then, why don’t we start with how you ended up drowning in the lake?”

Submarimon listened closely as the two breifly explained to each other their respective situations, and decide on a plan of action.

“This is all so complicated,” said Rarity, “An entire world created by another world’s computers? Digital Monsters? Digitally Destined? Digital evolution?”

“You mean Digi-Destined and digivolution?” said Submarimon.

“Oh, you know what I meant!” exclaimed Rarity. “I honestly don’t see what difference it makes if I use those ridiculous abbreviations.”

Cody rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry about it,” he said “I know this is a lot to take in, but for now we should focus on destroying the control spire, then we’ll meet with the others and decide what to do about your friends.”

“I see,” said Rarity, “but what do you suppose my Element being transformed means? Do you suppose that means I’m one of the *ahem* Digi-Destined as well?”

Cody held a finger to his chin thoughtfully. “Hmm... I’m not exactly sure about that. If you were a Digi-Destined, you’d have a partner. Regardless, we should stay alert. There’s no telling what could attack us out here. Keep your eyes peeled. Submarimon, pay attention to your sonar.”

“Got it!” replied Submarimon.

Rarity gulped audibly. “R-right. Of course.”

“Don’t worry,” said Submarimon, “I’m sure everything will be fine!”


————————


After a while of traveling, their destination came into view. On the horizon of the lake stood a tiny island, with a massive black tower standing directly in the center. As they swiftly approached, they prepared themselves for an inevitable fight, knowing that something would try to stop them.

“Get ready,” said Submarimon, “we’ll be landing soon.”

Meanwhile, in the deepest reaches of the lake, a massive digimon watched as Submarimon passed overhead, and sped off into the distance. By burrowing beneath the surface of the lake’s bottom and remaining perfectly still, he had managed to avoid detection by Submarimon’s sonar.

The digimon silently clicked its pincers in anticipation. The Queen will be pleased when I destroy them, it thought.
> The Numemon Village and The Nightmare's Omen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tall. Black. Ominous. A number of words came to Rarity’s mind as she watched the control spire approach from Submarimon’s cockpit, standing at the center of the island, but the one that stood out most in her mind was evil. Just looking at it was enough to give her a serious case of the willies; she could feel the malevolent aura coming from it. At the same time, however, she couldn’t look away, feeling that she couldn’t afford to take her eyes off it, as though it would suddenly come to life and attack her.

The very idea of a tower becoming a monster was absurd, of course. But in another world, anything could happen. Like the talking narwhal-submarine that she was riding in along with a miniature hairless ape. As said vehicle approached the island, she began to make out the details of it; the shore was a sandy beach, dotted with occasional patches of long grass, with a large wooden dock with several canoes near the edge of the water. Built further away from the beach were several small huts built from driftwood, clearly a village that survived primarily through fishing. Beyond the village was a deciduous forest that covered the rest of the island, with the control spire looming massively over the canopy.

Submarimon quickly pulled over to the docks, and opened his cockpit, allowing Cody to climb out. Rarity quickly followed, double-checking her saddlebags to ensure they were securely attached to her. Standing on the docks, Cody held out his D-3, and Submarimon was engulfed in a pure white glow. Rarity watched in fascination as a stream of white light emerged from Submarimon and flew into Cody’s digivice, while Submarimon’s body rapidly shrunk, becoming submerged in the shallow water.

“Oh dear, is he alright?” asked Rarity.

“He’s fine,” replied Cody, “just give him a second.”

After a moment’s silence, a much smaller figure leapt out of the water, and landed straight on the docks. It looked like an Armadillo with a golden-orange carapace, and frill-like whiskers sticking out the side of its head.

It took a moment for Rarity to realizes what had happened. “Submarimon?” she asked “is that you?”

“Actually, in this form Ah’m called Armadillomon. This is what Ah normally look like.”

Rarity looked sad for a moment as she recognized Armadillomon’s accent. “Right... Of course.”

Almost right away Cody took notice of the sad look on the unicorn’s face. “Something wrong?” he asked.

Rarity looked up at Cody and sighed. “Well,” she said, “I know it sounds a bit silly, but Armadillomon’s accent reminds me of my friend, Applejack. We don’t have a lot in common, but she’s one of the best friends I’ve ever known.” Rarity sniffled briefly, fighting to hold back the tears that arrived as she remembered the time she’d spent with her friend. “I suppose what I’m trying to say is that I’m worried about her. She’s a very strong pony, and I have no doubt she can take care of herself, but she could be anywhere in this world, amongst all kinds of horrific monsters. I hope more than anything that she’s alright.”

Cody and Armadillomon both looked back at Rarity understandingly. “Don’t worry,” reassured Cody, “We’ll find your friends, I promise. Right now, though, we should head into the village and take care of the control spire.”

Rarity quickly gathered her composure, and nodded in agreement. “Alright, then, let’s go.” With a nod from the others, they headed out towards the village, keeping their guards up in case of attack.


————————


Rarity bit her lip in disgust at the sight of the creatures that populated the village as they approached. Slugs. Giant, green slugs, which oozed and drooled as they wandered the village aimlessly, their red eyes glowing a sickening red due to the dark rings that encircled their formless bodies.

As if to emphasize the point, her mind reiterated that they were giant slugs. She had the resist the urge to retch simply looking at them.

“You’d better get used to seeing Numemon” said Cody, “They’re pretty much everywhere in the Digital World.”

“Oh, well isn’t that just wonderful,” Rarity exclaimed dramatically “I get to experience an entire world of giant, hideous slugs!”

“You know,” said Armadillomon, turning to Cody, “when it comes to melodrama, that girl could give Mimi a run for her money.”

“Tell me about it.”

“I am not being melodramatic!” shouted Rarity, “After all that I’ve been through, I deserve a chance to vent! Do you have any idea how much I’ve lost today!?”

“Uh, Rarity?” Cody interjected.

“I’ve lost my entire world! My mother and father, my sister, everything I’ve ever worked for!”

“Rarity!”

“And my friends! My friends are still trapped in this alien world, and Fluttershy had been abducted by dark forces! It couldn’t possibly be any worse!”

“Rarity, they’ve spotted us!”

Just like that, Rarity’s attention had been pulled away from her own rant, and towards Cody. Sure enough, the Numemon had all turned towards the group, and were approaching as rapidly as a group of slugs possibly could.

“Oh, good heavens! They’re heading straight for us!” Rarity exclaimed, horrified, “we’re not going to have to fight those things, are we?”

“Looks like we don’t have a choice,” replied Cody. Reaching into his pocket, he began to take out his digivice. Before he could hold it out in front of him, Armadillomon interrupted.

“Now hold on there, pardner. Don’t you think Ah oughta save my strength in case something bigger comes along? Ain’t no sense wasting a digivolution on something as weak as Numemon.”

“Are you sure?” replied Cody, “I don’t want you getting hurt because of this.”

“‘Course Ah am,” said Armadillomon, “Ah’ll have these overgrown slugs back to normal before you know it.”

“Alright, but be careful.”

The Numemon now being almost dangerously close, Cody and Rarity watched as Armadillomon charged into the fray.

“Are you sure he’ll be alright?” asked Rarity.

“I think so,” replied Cody. “Numemon aren’t very strong. Their main attack is...” Cody hesitated, unsure if he wanted to say it out loud in Rarity’s presence.

“Is what?”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know.”

“Diamond Shell!”

Armadillomon called out as he curled into a ball, bowling over several Numemon and causing the dark rings around them to shatter and disintegrate. The other Numemon were quick to react, pulling what appeared to be piles of pink dung out of thin air.

“Oh dear Gods!” exclaimed Rarity, horrified. “They’re not going to—”

“They are,” interrupted Cody.

The Numemon began throwing their dung at Armadillomon, sending a storm of excrement towards him. Armadillomon swiftly rolled out of the way, expertly weaving between the thrown piles so that not a single one hit him.

Rarity could feel bile beginning to rise in her throat. Pulling herself away from Cody, she averted her eyes, and struggled to keep herself from vomiting at what she saw.

As the last of the piles landed, Armadillomon uncurled his body and turned to face his attackers. He swiftly charged towards the remaining Numemon, who had conveniently remained in a tight cluster as they had attacked.

“Diamond Shell!”

Armadillomon once again bowled over the Numemon, shattering their dark rings and leaving them scattered across the ground. Only a single Numemon remained unharmed by the attack, and it quickly began producing more of its “ammunition” as Armadillomon uncurled. He easily dodged the last pile of dung and leapt towards the Numemon, claws extended outwards.

“Diamond Scratching!” 

With a swipe of his claw, Armadillomon shattered the final dark ring, and sent the last Numemon flying a short distance backwards. Pausing to catch his breath, Armadillomon looked around, and saw that there were no more Numemon under the control of the dark rings. Given how small the village was, it was unlikely that there were any more, so he went back to join Cody and Rarity.

“Good Job, Armadillomon!” cheered Cody.

“Ain’t nothing to it. Say, what’s Rarity doing over there?”

Cody looked over to where Armadillomon was pointing, and saw Rarity emptying the contents of her stomach in a nearby bush.


————————


A short time later, the three had met with the villagers, who thanked them for freeing the Numemon. Rarity had been trying her hardest to be polite to the Numemon, but it was clear to Cody and Armadillomon that she was only inches away from losing her composure entirely. The Numemon didn’t notice.

“Gosh, you’re pretty!” said one of the Numemon, crawling uncomfortably close to Rarity’s face.

“T-t-thank you,” stammered Rarity, her nose curling from the extremely foul odor. “And, please, for the love of Faust, brush your teeth!”

The Numemon grinned widely, revealing half of its teeth to be missing, and the rest to be full of holes. “Duhhh, okay!”

As they sat at a table in one of the huts, Cody and Armadillomon talked with one of the Numemon about the control spire, in hopes that they would discover who was responsible. Meanwhile, increasingly horrified Rarity tried to get several other Numemon, who had completely surrounded her, to stop telling her how pretty she was.

“Do you know who did this to you?” Asked Cody.

“I have no idea!” replied the Numemon. “The control spire, it appeared out of nowhere, and then the dark rings came and took us!”

“Well, do you know what you were being told to do while you were being controlled?” asked Armadillomon “Somebody had to be controlling you if you were wearing them dark rings.”

The Numemon puzzled for several moments, appearing to be deep in thought. “Oh!” it exclaimed, “there was this voice, and she was really scary! She made us do all sorts of bad things!”

“She?” replied Cody, “So the one controlling you was a girl?”

The Numemon stared at Cody, confused. “Dahhhh, I dunno.”

Cody sighed and stood up. He clearly wasn’t going to be getting any more information from these digimon. “Well, I suppose that’s better than nothing. Come on, let’s go.”

“Y-yes, let’s.” stammered Rarity, who was backed up against a wall by the Numemon.


————————


As they exited the cottage, Cody, Rarity, and Armadillomon said their goodbyes to the Numemon, and prepared to head out to the forested area to destroy the control spire. They turned away to leave, another one of the Numemon came out of a nearby hut, carrying a wooden bucket on its back.

“Here!” he said, approaching Cody and the others. “Have a bucket of chum for your travels! Consider it a thank you from us!”

Cody and Armadillomon hesitantly eyed the bucket, which was filled with rotten fish entrails. Rarity took one look at the bucket, and, unable to take any more from the Numemon, raised a hoof to her forehead and fainted.

“Uh... thanks, but no thanks,” said Cody, flatly.


————————


Rarity’s eyes slowly opened, and were greeted with a seemingly impossible landscape. As far as she could see, there was nothing but grey rock and dust, with numerous dark clouds looming overhead, partially obscuring the starry sky.

She looked overhead and saw one of the clouds slowly begin to move, revealing the glowing orb behind it. To her utmost shock, it wasn’t Celestia’s Sun or Luna’s Moon, or even any other sun or moon, for that matter.

It was Ungula. Her world. Rarity stared, mouth agape, at the world in the sky above her. How could this happen? she wondered.

“Surprised?”

Rarity’s hair stood on end at the sound of the voice from behind her. It was a powerful, haughty, feminine voice, a voice that was almost dripping with madness.

And it was almost exactly the same as her own voice. Rarity turned around to face the figure that was standing behind her, a pony that was in many ways just like her, and in many other ways almost completely different. She bore the same cutie mark as Rarity, but had a much larger body, the same size as Celestia and Luna. The hair on her body was dark, the same color as the night sky, and her ethereal mane and tail glittered with stardust, with a single white stripe running through each of them. The larger unicorn looked at her other self and smiled wickedly.

“N-nightmare!” exclaimed Rarity, her voice wavering from sheer terror. “No! That’s impossible! You were—”

“Destroyed?” interrupted the Nightmare. “Not so. The Darkness is not so easily vanquished.”

“B-b-but they were vanquished! The Nightmare Forces were purified!”

The Nightmare only laughed in response, a powerful, echoing laugh that sent shivers down Rarity’s spine. “Did you really think the Nightmare Forces were the true masterminds behind my existence? They too were but mere pawns to an even greater power. Or did you never wonder what caused the moon's inhabitants to be corrupted to begin with? He still lurks in the shadows, plotting his next move.”

“He? What are you talking about? Who is he? Tell me!”

The Nightmare smiled. It was the sort of smile that would make even the most powerful known beings in existence fear for their lives. “The Lord of Darkness. The Depraved Monk of the Deep. Dragomon has risen, and soon the very Essence of Light shall be at his mercy!”

The Nightmare laughed again, even louder and more terrifyingly than before, as her body faded into oblivion.


————————


“Are you alright?”

Rarity’s eyes slowly opened at the sound of Cody’s voice. She found herself lying on the ground, with Cody and Armadillomon standing over her, concerned.

“What happened?” she asked.

“You were out cold for a second there,” replied Armadillomon. “Guess y’all couldn’t handle a little bit of fish entrails,” he joked.

“That’s not funny!” snapped Rarity. “Did anything happen happen while I was unconscious, by any chance?”

“You were only out for less than a minute, so you didn’t miss anything.” replied Cody “It looked that you were having some sort of nightmare, which was odd.”

“A nightmare?” said Rarity, confused. “Strange, I don’t remember having any sort of dreams at all.”

“Well, I suppose it’s not that important,” said Cody. “We should be heading out for the control spire now, anyway.”

“Of course.”

Rarity picked herself off of the ground, and tightend her saddlebags. She joined Cody and Armadillomon as they walked to the outskirts of the village, into the forested area behind it.

“Bye!” said the Numemon, in unison. Cody waved goodbye to the Numemon as they traveled into the forest, while Rarity and Armadillomon kept a watchful eye out for anything that would attack them.


————————


Some time had passed since the Numemon said goodbye to their visitors, and they had done their best to try to get things back to normal in their village. Several Numemon were out fishing on their canoes, using large nets to reel in whatever fish they could.

One of the Numemon fishers threw his net into the water, only for it to get caught on something. He pulled on the net, to no avail. He then pulled again harder than before, with similar results.

Before he could try a third time, a massive body erupted from the water, overturning the boat and throwing the Numemon into the lake. Thankfully for him, the water was freshwater, and not saltwater.

Gasping for breath as it swam to the surface, the Numemon looked in horror as a massive lobster digimon swam towards the island, and marched straight into the village, sending the other Numemon into a panic as it went straight through into the forest.
> Shine On, Miracle Maker
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Armadillomon, Cody, and Rarity steadily hiked through the forest, making their way towards the control spire. The entire trip so far had been suspiciously uneventful; aside from the constant irritation from various insects nothing had bothered them. Not once, however, had any of the three let their guard down, they knew something could come out of the forest and attack them at any moment. Cody’s eyes nervously scanned their surroundings, while Rarity’s ears twitched, trying to pick up the sound of any hostile digimon that might be nearby.

Eventually, the three reached a clearing in the woods, where they saw the massive control spire standing in the center. Rarity shuddered at the sight of the black tower, she could feel its dark aura reverberating with her soul; it felt to her like the same darkness that had taken ahold of her as Nightmare Rarity. Steeling her nerves, she reminded herself that she would never let that darkness take hold of her again.

“So, what do we do now?” she asked, looking at Cody expectantly.

“Simple,” replied Cody, “we destroy it. Are you ready, Armadillomon?”

“Ah’m ready whenever you are,” replied Armadillomon.

Cody nodded, and reached into his pocket. His action was swiftly interrupted when a series of loud crashing noises echoed through the surrounding forest.

Rarity yelped in surprise, jumping almost a foot into the air. “W-what was that?!”

“I don’t know,” replied Cody nervously, “but I think we’re about to find out!”

The crashing sound quickly grew louder as whatever was making it rapidly approached them. The human, digimon, and pony instinctively backed away as the source of the sound grew closer.

Suddenly, a massive lobster creature exploded into the clearing, knocking over several trees in the process. Its eyes glowed red with malice, and around its left arm was spiraling band of black metal.

Rarity let out a high-pitched scream as the lobster snapped its claws menacingly. “What is that thing?!”

“It’s an Ebidramon!” replied Cody. “And it’s got a dark spiral! Change of plans, Armadillomon! We’ll need to take care of him first!”

Without hesitating, Cody swiftly pulled out his digivice, and held it out in front of his partner, speaking the command words to activate his digivolution.

“Digi-Armor Energize!”

Rarity watched with fascination as Cody’s digivice emitted a bright light, and a small object roughly the size of a hoofball emerged from the plastic screen. It was golden-yellow in color, and had a flat bottom, with the top tapering to a point where a metal spike stuck outwards. Both Armadillomon and the object glowed intensely as they merged, causing Armadillomon’s body to transform.

“Armadillomon, Armor Digivolve to: Digmon, the Drills of Knowledge!”

As the transformation completed, Rarity couldn’t help but stare at the digimon that was standing before her. Instead of an armadillo, there was a six-foot tall beetle with a yellow exoskeleton, two legs, and four arms, two of which had large, drills for digits. On the front of its face was another drill which served as a nose. The Ebidramon’s eyes narrowed dangerously as it regarded its newest target.

“Alright, you oversized crawdad!” exclaimed Digmon “Let’s rodeo!” Rarity was quick to note that Digmon’s voice was different from his other forms, though he still kept Armadillomon’s cowboy accent. He swiftly leapt into the air, and with a shout, launched his attack.

“Gold Rush!”

The numerous drills on Digmon detached from his body, spreading out in multiple directions as they rocketed towards the Ebidramon and zeroed in on it dark spiral. The lobster digimon reacted swiftly, and with a swipe of his claws, swatted the drills aside. Before Digmon’s drills could replace themselves, the Ebidramon countered with its own attack.

“Twin Scissors!”

Its claws glowing white with energy, the Ebidramon charged forward and tackled Digmon, pushing him to the ground. Rarity let out a gasp of fright as both the Ebidramon’s claws wrapped around Digmon’s body, and he struggled desperately to avoid being crushed altogether.

“Digmon!” Cody cried out for his partner.

Digmon grunted in pain as the Ebidramon kept him pinned to the ground, its reddened eyes staring him straight in the face. His eyes hardened in determination, and with a forceful shout, he kicked the Ebidramon in the center of its body. The force of the kick caused the lobster to release its grip as its body began to flip over backwards, its body sticking straight up into the air. Digmon quickly crawled out from under the Ebidramon, which fell back onto its legs and glared at Digmon, snarling with rage. Ignoring the multiple bruises on his body, Digmon matched his opponent’s glare with his own, his drills quickly growing back to replace themselves.

“Rock Cracking!”

Digmon’s drills rotated as they plunged straight into the ground, causing a large fissure to appear in the earth, expanding outwards towards his foe.

“Lobster Step!”

The Ebidramon swiftly jumped over the fissure, its body surrounding itself with water-like energy as it moved to crush Digmon under its weight. Digmon managed to move out of the way, but a shockwave of fire generated from the landing knocked him backwards, injuring him.

“Cody, look out!”

“Huh?” Before Cody could make sense of Rarity’s warning, a small rock flew out straight towards him, no doubt launched by the force of the Ebidramon’s attack. He cried out in pain as the stone struck him on the shoulder, causing him to collapse to the ground.

“Cody!” Rarity shrieked, quickly rushing to his side. Cody grunted in pain as he struggled to sit up, clutching his now-bloodied shoulder with his arm, only to fall to the ground again.

“Please,” she insisted, “you must hold still!” She gently prodded Cody’s shoulder with her hoof, eliciting a soft “ow” sound from him. “Good, nothing broken. Now let’s get that wound of yours cleaned up.”

Rarity grunted in exertion as her horn glowed, causing an aura of blue light to surround the saddlebags on her sides, the buttons coming undone as the flaps opened. Breathing heavily, she set the bags on the ground, casting a worried glance towards Digmon, who continued to fight a losing battle against the Ebidramon.

Why am I having such a difficult time with my magic? Quickly pushing the thought aside, she rummaged through the bags, desperately searching for something to help Cody’s injury. She let out a frustrated sigh as she found that the gauze and bandages she packed had been completely soaked by her nearly drowning in the lake, turning them into pulpy wads of ruined fabric.

I can’t use these, she thought, they’d tear as easily as wet tissue paper. But... I can’t let Cody go unattended, either... He saved my life! I have to do something!

Thinking quickly, Rarity sorted through her saddlebag, through the various fabrics she’d brought in case one of her friends needed to look nice for anything. With some improvisation, they could be used as a makeshift bandage. Much to her dismay however, all of her extremely delicate fabrics had been ruined her extended dip in the grimy lakewater.
.
All except one, she thought, and it’s the most valuable one I have. Her face twisting into a grimace from the exertion, she lifted the roll of fabric with her magic, along with a pair of scissors and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, and turned towards the injured Cody.

“Alright, now let’s see what we can do about that nasty wound of yours.” Before Cody could question her, Rarity carefully rolled up the sleeve on his shirt with her magic, revealing the bloodied shoulder underneath.

Cody took notice of Rarity’s strained expression as she struggled to keep the items in her magical grip. 

“Rarity, please, you don’t need to do this for me!”

“Nonsense, darling, I couldn’t possibly leave you like this on good conscience, especially after you saved my life. Now hold still.” Holding Cody’s arm in her hoof, she gently applied a small splash of peroxide to the wound, causing Cody to flinch slightly as the peroxide bubbled against his skin. Setting the bottle down, Rarity then carefully cut a small amount of fabric from the roll with her scissors, and wrapped it around Cody’s shoulder, before tying it together in a knot.

Rarity stepped back as Cody sat up gently, carefully running his fingers over the makeshift bandage. 

“Is this silk?”

“Sea silk.” replied Rarity. “It’s an extremely valuable fabric, made from a fiber that shellfish use to attach themselves to the sea floor. It’s lightweight, durable, finer than regular silk, and most importantly, waterproof.”

Cody stared at Rarity incredulously. “But... Why? Why waste something so valuable like this?”

“Well, it seems that my bandages were ruined by my unwanted bath, as were most of my other fabrics. But that’s not what really matters, is it? What’s important is that you’re going to be alright. I wouldn’t trade your safety for all the fabric in the world.”

Cody looked up at the white unicorn, still trying to process what he had just heard from her.

“Rarity, I... I don’t know what to say...”

Rarity smiled. “No need to say anything, Cody. I’m perfectly fine just knowing you’re alright.”

“Twin Scissors!”

Cody and Rarity’s attention was suddenly pulled towards the Ebidramon, who had once again pinned Digmon to the ground, attempting to crush him in its massive claws. Digmon struggled wildly, but didn’t seem to be able to shake the Ebidramon off of him.

“Digmon!” Cried Cody. “Rarity, what do we- huh?” He found himself unable to complete his sentence as he noticed the digivice on Rarity’s foreleg glowing brightly. He shielded his eyes as the light intensified, Rarity’s entire body beginning to glow as well.

“Execute! Harmonic Evolution!”

Cody stared in disbelief as a swirling vortex of water appeared around Rarity’s body, causing him to be splashed by droplets that flew out in all directions. Then, just as quickly as it appeared, the waterspout around Rarity vanished. As it did, she revealed herself to be a much larger unicorn, with the proportions of a full-sized horse. The front of her body was covered in crystal blue armor, with a large metal dorsal fin sticking out the back. Her head was covered by a blue helmet, similar to Pegasusmon’s, with massive white horn sticking out the forehead, and a dripping violet mane sticking out the back. At the end of her body was a long, fish-like tail with a violet fin.

“Kelpiemon! The Generous Guardian of the Lake!”

==========
Digimon Analyzer: Kelpiemon

Type: Mythical Animal

Attribute: Vaccine

Level: Hybrid (Champion Equivalent)

Special Attacks: Hydro Surge, Mystery Blade
==========

Cody’s draw dropped at the sight of Rarity’s transformation, an expression that was matched by the both the Ebidramon as it glanced at the new arrival. Digmon appeared similarly shocked, though it was slightly harder to tell due him being pinned on the ground, as well as his lack of any mouth to speak of.

“Rarity?!” Cody exclaimed.

Kelpiemon turned her head around, and examined her new body, giving an experimental flick of her tail. “Oh, my... Well, isn’t this something!”

Cody paused, not quite sure what to say. “I... What? How?”

“No time for questions, dearest! Digmon needs my help!” Kelpiemon turned to the Ebidramon, and looked it straight in the eyes. “Alright, you ruffian, it’s time I taught you a lesson! Hydro Surge!”

Spinning around with her back to the Ebidramon, Kelpiemon delivered a powerful kick with her hind legs, sending out powerful jets of water from her rear hooves. The streams of water struck the Ebidramon square in the face, causing it to release its grip on Digmon as it was pushed over and flipped onto its back, flailing its limbs in the air.

Digmon picked himself off the ground and turned to face Kelpiemon. “Well, butter mah drills and call me a biscuit! You did it!”

“You can thank me later, Digmon, we still haven’t finished what we started. Go take care of the control spire, I’ll free that poor creature!”

“Got it!” replied Digmon. He turned to the face the spire, and in a single attack, caused it to collapse on itself and disintegrate.

“Gold Rush!”

With the spire destroyed, Kelpiemon turned to face the Ebidramon, which rolled over onto its legs, brandishing its claws. Galloping forward at full speed, she raised her head high into the air as she called her attack.

“Mystery Blade!”

Kelpiemon’s horn glowed with a brilliant, crystal blue light, which quickly grew into a massive blade of energy. Leaping into the air, she performed a downward slash with her blade, sending a crescent-shaped shockwave that destroyed the dark spiral with perfect precision.

As the red glow in the Ebidramon’s eyes faded, Kelpiemon gracefully landed behind it, her hooves lightly touching against the ground. She looked back at her work and struck a pose, certain now that she’d gotten the others’ attention. She and Digmon them glowed as they reverted to their base forms, having spent their energy, and went back to meet with Cody.

“That was amazin’, Rarity!” exclaimed Armadillomon.

Rarity smiled. “Please, it was nothing.”

“I’d say it was something,” said Cody, “though I’m still not sure what it is.”

“We can probably worry about that later,” said Armadillomon. “Why don’t we go over there and help that poor sea critter?” He pointed to the Ebidramon, which groaned in pain as it massaged its forehead with its claw.

“Oh dear,” said Rarity, turning towards the Ebidramon, “are you alright? I’m terribly sorry for hurting you like that.”

“Uh... Huh? No, it’s fine!” replied the Ebidramon, shaking its head, “You saved me from that dark spiral. If anything, I should be thanking you!”

“Oh, that’s quite alright. I couldn’t have simply let you go about being controlled by an evil artifact, now, could I?”

“No, I suppose not.”

“Do you know who it was that did this to you?” asked Cody. “We need to figure out who’s behind all of this.”
“I don’t know who it was exactly,” replied the Ebidramon, “but I remember hearing a voice in my head calling itself the Queen of the Digital World. She told me to seek out and destroy her enemies, and I couldn’t help but go after you guys.” The Ebidramon looked apologetically at Cody and at his bandaged arm. “I’m sorry for what I did to you guys.”

“Don’t worry, it wasn’t your fault,” replied Cody.

“Yeah, I know.”

“What Ah wanna know is, what were you doin’ in that there lake?” asked Armadillomon, “Ah thought Ebidramon were saltwater digimon.”

The Ebidramon’s eyes widened in shock as it glanced around nervously. “Uh... Would you look at the time! I’ve got to get going! Bye!” Not wasting another moment, the lobster digimon turned around and ran off into the forest as fast as it could, heading for the island outskirts.


————————


After leaving the Ebidramon, the three continued to the village where they took a short break before deciding to head back to meet with the others. The Numemon had offered to let them stay as long as they wanted, but Rarity had politely declined.

As the sun crept further downwards toward the edge of the horizon, the three made their final preparations to leave. After saying goodbye to the Numemon, they headed towards the docks so they could return to the Digiport.

Suddenly, a loud beeping sounded from Cody’s pocket, indicating that he’d received mail. He pulled out his D-Terminal and read the message displayed on the screen.

“It’s from Davis. He says he and Twilight destroyed the control spire, and will meet with us back at the DigiPort.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful news!” said Rarity. “But what about the others? Have they been found?”

Cody shook his head slightly. “I’m afraid he hasn’t said anything about them.”

Rarity was visibly saddened by this, and her ears flattened against her head. “Oh... I see.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll find them. I’ll tell everyone I found you, and to keep an eye out for the others..” Holding out his D-Terminal, Cody began composing a message.

As Cody continued typing, Armadillomon approached Rarity, and looked up at her reassuringly. “Listen, Rare, Ah know you’re worried about your friends, but there ain’t no sense getting all out of sorts about it now. Y’all just gotta keep looking for them and hope for the best.”

“I know, Armadillomon,” replied Rarity, “but I can’t help it. They’re my best friends. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t care for their safety?” She looked away as tears began to form in her eyes once more, unable to stand the thought that she might never see the others again. Armadillomon reached up with a claw and placed in on her shoulder, reassuring her. They were soon interrupted, however, when Cody called out to them.

“Hey Rarity, good news! The others have found your friends!”

Rarity perked up almost instantly. “Really? Everypony’s alright? All my friends are safe?”

“Uh-huh. I’ve communicated with the others, and they’ve each found one of your friends. I think their names were Applejack, Pinkie, and Rainbow.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful news! I’m so glad to hear that they’re safe! I can’t begin to thank you enough for this, Cody. But what about Fluttershy?”

“I haven’t heard anything about her,” replied Cody, “but if I had to guess, I’d say her disappearance has something to do with the new control spires.”

“You mean you think whoever’s building these new control spires might be responsible for Fluttershy?” asked Armadillomon.

Rarity's eyes hardened, her expression suddenly turning into a scowl. “I most certainly hope not. I'd sooner die than let the forces of evil take my friends."

Cody stared blankly at Rarity's sudden mood shift. Where did THAT come from?

"Well, we still don't know that yet," he replied "we can discuss it later with Twilight and Davis, hopefully we'll be able to figure it out then."

Rarity sighed worriedly, "I suppose that's better than nothing," she said, "shall we be leaving, then?"

“Ah’m ready to go when you are,” said Armadillomon.

“Me too," said Cody.

"Good," replied Rarity, "then let us depart."

With that, the three made their way toward the edge of the dock, where Armadillomon jumped into the water as Cody activated his Armor Digivolution.

“Armadillomon, Armor Digivolve to: Submarimon!”

Submarimon’s cockpit opened and Cody climbed in and sat down in the controls. Rarity stood by the edge of the dock and looked at them curiously.

“Well?” said Cody, “are you getting in?”

“Actually,” replied Rarity, “I don’t think that will be necessary. If you don’t mind, I’m going to try something.”

“Huh?”

Rarity gave a knowing smile, and raised her hoof into the air, showing her Digivice.

“Oh.”

“Harmonic Evolution! Kelpiemon!”

As her evolution completed, Kelpiemon jumped into lake, treading water next to Submarimon.

“Shall we be going?”

Cody looked at Kelpiemon worriedly. “Are you sure you’ll be able to do this?”

“Of course, dear. I think you’ll find I’m rather skilled at swimming in this form.”

“Don’t worry about it, Cody,” said Submarimon, “if she starts drowning again I’ll catch her.”

Kelpiemon glared at Submarimon threateningly. “I beg your pardon?”

Cody sighed. “Let’s not argue now, okay? We should get going.”

“My apologies,” said Kelpiemon, “I just don’t wish to recall that particular experience so soon.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Cody, “we just want to make sure you’re safe.”

“I understand if you’re concerned, but I assure you it won’t be a problem. Now, let’s get going, shall we?”

Cody nodded, and with a push of a button, closed Submarimon’s cockpit. Remaining half-submerged, they began heading out towards the edge of the lake, where they would continue on land to the DigiPort.

Kelpiemon quickly followed, diving under the surface and swimming after them, her new form allowing for her to easily breathe underwater. She looked forward to seeing her friends again, and hopefully finding some answers to what was happening.
> The Swamp of Misery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie found herself feeling inexplicably woozy as she found herself teleported to her new location. Her vision obscured by a blinding whiteness, she shook her head violently in an attempt to shake off the light-headed feeling. Giving herself a short moment to let her vision adjust, she took notice of her surroundings.

The first word that came to her mind was dark. As far as the eye could see, the sky was covered with a thick layer of clouds, making it far darker than it would otherwise be at mid-afternoon. A moderate fog hung low over the area, making it impossible to see farther than a hundred feet.

The second that came to her mind was swamp. Other words, such as marsh, bog, glade, mire, fen, wetland, and for some reason basic land also came to her mind, but for the most part they all accurately described what she was seeing. Large pools of stagnant water dotted the landscape, many of which were covered in algae. Large cat-tail reeds grew near the edges of the ponds, as did the occasional weeping willow. In the distance she could vaguely make out the shape of some kind of tower, but it was mostly obscured by all the fog.

Pinkie decided right away that she didn’t like the looks of the clouds overhead. They were so gloomy that just looking at them reminded her of the dreary life she lived before she got her cutie mark.

“Gee, this place sure is dull. Hey Rainbow, do you think you could move those clouds?”

Pinkie looked behind her, and noticed that Rainbow Dash wasn’t there. Neither were any of her friends, for that matter. Taking a quick look around, she saw that the other ponies were nowhere to be seen.

“Huh? Girls, where are you?”

No response. Pinkie frowned; It wasn’t like her friends to simply leave her behind like this. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head, and she knew right away what was happening.

“Girls, this isn’t the time to be playing hide and seek! Fluttershy needs us! Something terrible could have happened to her! Like... Like...” Pinkie let out a loud gasp. “Like what if she exploded four times?! That’s like exploding twice, only twice as bad! It’d be like she exploded double twice!”

Still no response. Letting out a sigh, Pinkie resigned herself to her fate.

“Okay, fine, have it your way. Ready or not, here I come!”

With that, Pinkie began zipping around energetically, Pinkie frantically searched for her friends, stopping briefly to push aside a group of reeds or to stick her head under one of the ponds, leaving small bits of algae dangling in her wet mane, which went back to its normal poofiness the instant she took her head out of the water.

“You can’t hide from me forever!” she exclaimed, climbing onto a willow. “I am the Great Ninja Master of Hide and Seek!”

Crack.

As Pinkie climbed onto a branch, she heard the distinct sound of wood breaking. Looking down, she saw that the branch she was climbing on was no longer there.

“Oh. Whoopsie!”

Pinkie then immediately fell to the ground, unceremoniously crashing face-first into the muddy soil, causing her saddlebags to fall off her body. Pulling herself out, she rapidly shook her head back and forth, successfully shaking the mud off of herself.

“Gross! I’m Pinkie Pie, not a mud pie! Wait...”

It was then that Pinkie noticed that something was missing. Eyes widening in sudden realization, she touched her hoof to her collar, feeling for the necklace she had been wearing since before she left.

Pinkie gasped loudly. “My Element of Laughter! It’s.. It’s gone!”

Turning to her nearby saddlebags, she quickly opened them up and began frantically sifting through their contents. Emergency cupcakes, party supplies, cards for all occasions, and  even some boring things like first aid kits. But no Element of Laughter.

“Oh no no no no no no no no no no no no no no!” cried Pinkie, now digging through the mud surrounding her, “I can’t lose my Element, it’s the most important thing I have with me! Where is it? Where is- huh?”

Suddenly, Pinkie’s body began to glow, a soft light enveloping her entire body, causing her to rise into the air for a moment. The glow soon faded, causing her to gently float back to the ground.

“Hey, what just happened?” she wondered aloud. Looking around, she soon noticed that she was now wearing something around her right foreleg.

Strapped to her ankle was a small plastic device shaped like a rounded rectangle. In the center was some kind of translucent screen, and the edges were covered in sky-blue rubber, the same color as her Element’s gemstone.

Staring at the device curiously, she noticed a faint glow coming from the screen. As she did, a sudden epiphany came to her, and she could tell right away what the object was.

“Hey, it’s the Element of Laughter! It turned into some kind of super-neato hoofwatch! Hey girls, check it out!”

Pinkie turned around and held the Element of Laughter up, only to remember that the others weren’t there. Her ears drooped, frowning as she was overcome once again by sadness.

“Where could they be?” she wondered aloud, “It’s not like them to be playing hide and seek when there’s something important to do...”

It was then that a thought occurred to Pinkie, one that caused her mane to deflate, to the point where it had gone completely straight.

“Oh no... What if they left me behind on purpose? What if they went off to save Fluttershy without me?”

Pinkie desperately hoped that this wasn’t true. Her friends would never abandon her, she thought. They were always there for her, even when she thought that they had gotten sick of her. But this time was different. This time, her friends weren’t simply trying to avoid her, there was no sign of them to be found anywhere. As much as she tried to deny it, she couldn’t change the fact that her friends were gone.

There has to be another explanation, she thought. Her friends wouldn’t leave her, she knew that better than anypony. She’d known them for years, and she knew for a fact that they wouldn’t deliberately leave her behind. It didn’t take long for her to come up with another answer.

“Maybe Twilight’s spell didn’t work right? Maybe we were all teleported different places?”

Pinkie gasped loudly as another realization suddenly came to her. “Oh no... What if something terrible happened to them? What if... What if I’m the only one still alive?”

Tears flowed freely from her eyes as the gravity of her situation hit her. Even on the chance that her friends were still alive, there was no telling where they could be. She remembered hearing from Twilight about the dangers of teleporting, and how a failed teleport spell could send the caster hundreds of feet off their target. A teleport spell as powerful as Twilight’s could have sent her friends anywhere in the entire world. She could spend an entire lifetime searching for them and still never find them all.

Quietly sobbing, she collapsed by the side of the willow, wishing she could simply disappear.


————————


Kari held her hand over her forehead as she tried to make out the landscape from atop Nefertimon’s back. The two had been flying over the swamp for some time now, the thick cloud cover had forced them to remain at a low altitude to better keep track of the ground below. Unlike her partner, Kari had major difficulty seeing through the constant mists, and had very little idea of where the two were headed.

I really hate fog, she thought.

Soon Kari’s attention was grabbed by a sudden beeping sound, indicating that she’d received a message on her D-Terminal. Taking it out of her pocket, she squinted as she tried her best to read the message:

==========
Hey guys! You wouldn’t believe what I just found! While on the way to the control spire I met this purple pony named Twilight Sparkle, and she’s actually an alien from another world! Pretty awesome, huh?

Anyway, it turns out she and her friends came to the Digital World to rescue another pony named Fluttershy, but they ended up getting separated. If any of you guys see another strange pony, let me know, okay?

- Davis
==========

Kari stared at the message for a moment before letting out an exasperated sigh. “Really, Davis?”

“Oh no,” said Nefertimon, “he’s not hitting on you again, is he?”

“No, he stopped doing that when Tai yelled at him. This is just another one of his pranks. Ugh, I can’t see a thing in this fog.”

“Maybe we should take a break?” asked Nefertimon, “I’ve been flying for a while now, I’m starting to get tired.”

“Yeah,” replied Kari, “that sounds good.”

Nefertimon then descended, landing allowing Kari to climb off as she landed on the ground. Holding out her digivice, Kari allowed Nefertimon to de-digivolve into Gatomon.

Kari’s nose curled at the pungent odor coming from the swamp around her.

“Ugh, this place smells awful.”

“Just be glad you don’t have the nose of a cat.” replied Gatomon, “I could smell this place even in the air.”

“I suppose. Here, take this.” Kari reached for a canteen that she had holstered around her waist and handed it to her partner.

“Thanks!” Gatomon grabbed the canteen and popped off the lid, and began drinking the water from it. She then tossed it back to Kari, who then attached it back on her waist.

“You’re welcome. Is there anything else you want? I have a snack bar if you’re interested.”

“No thanks,” replied Gatomon, “I just need to rest for a bit... Wait, did you hear that?”

“Um, hear what?”

“It sounded like an explosion!” replied Gatomon. “Someone’s in trouble!”

Kari called after her partner as she took off, sprinting in the direction that she heard the sound from. “Gatomon, wait!”


————————


Pinkie didn’t know how long she’d been sitting by the willow. In her depression, the passage of time had become nothing more than a vague blur. All she knew was that her friends weren’t there for her anymore, if they were they would have come to try and cheer her up.

Thinking back to her friends, she recalled all of the joyful memories she’d shared with them. Seeing them happy made her happier than anything in the world, and now it all meant nothing. Sniffling slightly, she buried her head underneath her hooves, trying to hide herself from the world.

Crack.

Pinkie lifted her head slightly at the sound of the breaking wood coming from above her. She swiftly jumped out of the way as a large branch fell to the ground where she once stood. On top of the branch was a large mammal, sleeping soundly.

“M-my Pinkie Sense! I didn’t feel that coming at all! Wait, what’s that?”

Pinkie’s shock at the loss of her Pinkie Sense was overridden with curiosity as she examined the creature sleeping atop the branch. It vaguely resembled some kind of bipedal opossum, wearing a large pink hat, boots, and gloves. Around its neck was a black collar, inscribed with symbols that Pinkie didn’t recognize. The creature yawned loudly and sat upright, stretching itself out.

==========
Digimon Analyzer: Opposummon


Type: Beast

Attribute: Vaccine

Level: Champion

Special Attacks: Mad Balloon Bomb
==========

Pinkie flinched as the creature turned around to look at her, its eyes glowing a deep crimson red. The opossum stared at the pony menacingly, its blood-red eyes staring straight into Pinkie’s. It reached into the air with its right hand, and in a puff of smoke, several multicolored balloons with grinning faces.

“Balloons?” said Pinkie, “For.. For me?”

The opposum’s expression suddenly turned into a cruel smile. Grinning wickedly, it reached back and threw the balloons in its hand.

“Mad Balloon Bomb!”

Seemingly defying the laws of physics, one of the balloons flew through the air in an arc, heading straight towards Pinkie. Moving quickly, she jumped out of the way at the last possible second, causing the balloon to explode violently in the place where she once stood. Several more balloon bombs followed, which Pinkie frantically dodged, leaving her mane slightly singed.

“That’s it! I’ve had enough!” she screamed, giving the opossum a death glare. “I’m not going to let this stupid world take everything away from me! Take this, you miserable rodent!”

Leaping over to her saddlebags in a single bound, she reached into them, and tried to pull something out. Her hoof was met with nothing other than empty air.

“My cannon! Where’s my party cannon?! Why can’t I make it appear!?”

Pinkie turned back towards the opossum, her face frozen in an expression of fear. Without her cannon, she was defenseless against the mad creature.

This is it, she thought, I’m going to die. Closing her eyes tightly, she braced herself for the inevitable.

“Lightning Paw!”

Pinkie’s eyes snapped open at the sound of the new voice, which has come from nowhere. She saw a large cat with a long tail jumped at the opossum, and in a single swipe, shattered its collar, causing it to disintegrate. The opossum fell to the ground, unconscious from the attack.

Standing some distance away was a larger bipedal creature with brown hair, wearing a pink and white shirt and yellow pants. Around her neck was a cord that carried a small box, and she wore pink gloves on her arms and pink boots on her feet. The creature slouched and panted heavily as it observed the scene from a distance, as though it had exhausted itself trying to get there.

Pinkie stared blankly at the two creatures, as the two approached her, unsure what to think of them. Had they been trying to save her? Could she trust them?

Pinkie flinched instinctively as the larger of the two approached, looking down at her sympathetically.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

> Rekindled Light
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie looked up curiously at the strange bipedal creature that had spoken to her. She’d never seen anything like it before, and the talking cat she was with was almost as strange, with yellow gloves on its paws and a ring on the end of its long tail.

Under a different circumstance, she would have been happy to meet a new friend, but right now she couldn’t bring herself to care. She couldn’t care about anything.

“Who are you?” she asked, failing to conceal the fear in her eyes.

“My name’s Kari, and this is my partner, Gatomon.”

Pinkie looked at Kari and Gatomon briefly, then at the ground. “...Pinkamena.”

Kari blinked in confusion. “Huh?”

“I think she’s telling us who she is,” replied Gatomon, “but I’ve never heard of a digimon with a name like that.”

“I’ll say,” replied Kari, “It doesn’t even end with mon.”

Pinkamena looked at Kari and Gatomon. She seemed slightly confused now, but for the most part she still looked too depressed to really care.  “Digimon? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Please... just leave me alone.” She sniffled slightly, making no attempt to hold back the tears that were forming in her eyes.

Kari approached the pony and knelt down, causing the her to flinch as a hand was placed on her shoulder. “There, there, it’s okay. Everything’s going to be fine.”

“No it isn’t!” Kari pulled her hand back as Pinkamena snapped at her. “Don’t you understand? All my friends are gone! I’ll never see any of them again as long as I live!”

Now openly sobbing, she held her head low, trying her best to hide her face from the world. “I’m... I’m all alone. There’s nothing left for me now. I might as well just... dissappear.” Her limbs suddenly went limp as she collapsed to the ground, no longer bothering to sit herself upright. Her entire being consumed by a feeling of hopelessness, she felt as though she were melting into the darkness of the swamp.

She suddenly let out a yelp as, without warning, she was swiftly pulled into Kari’s arms. Kari knelt close to the ground and held Pinkamena in a tight hug.

“Shhhh...”

Pinkamena returned the embrace, freely sobbing into the human’s shoulder. Neither of them bothered to say anything, the simple gesture of kindness already said more than either of them could. Slowly releasing her hold on Kari, Pinkamena sat down and stared back up at her. She hiccuped slightly, her sobs having mostly died down.

“Why do you care so much about me? What does it matter to you?”

“Why wouldn’t I care?” replied Kari, “I can’t just leave you here alone after seeing you like this. It wouldn’t be right.”

“Yeah...” Pinkamena sniffed, “I guess not.”

“You said you lost your friends?” asked Gatomon, the pink pony nodding slowly in response. “I know it can be difficult to lose someone close to you, but no matter what happens, you’ll always find someone who cares about you.” She approached the pony and held out a paw. “So whatever you do, don’t lose hope. You’ll always find a light to guide you even in the darkest of times.”

Pinkamena took the paw and climbed back on to hooves, and her lips slowly curled upward into a tiny smile. “Thank you. I don’t know what’d I’d do if you two hadn’t found me.”

“No problem,” replied Gatomon, “we’re happy to help.”

“If it’s not too much trouble to ask,” said Kari, “what were you doing out here to begin with?”

Pinkamena didn’t respond. She instead looked down at the ground, trying to avoid making eye contact with the others.

“Um... It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about-”

“No, it’s fine,” said Pinkamena, interrupting Kari, “I don’t mind telling you what happened. I was having a picnic with my friends, when we were interrupted by this really loud noise coming from the library. We went to investigate, and it turns out our friend Fluttershy was abducted by some evil force. My friend Twilight cast a spell so that we could find her, but then I ended up here and...” Pinkamena sniffled, trying to fight back the resurgence of tears.

Kari blinked. “Wait, Twilight? As in, Twilight Sparkle?”

“Huh?” said Pinkamena, confused, “you know her? How?”

“That’s a good question,” said Gatomon, “how do you know about that?”

“Well... Remember that message Davis sent me? The one I said was a prank?”

“Yeah,” replied Gatomon, “what about it?”

“Well, he told me in it that he’d found a pony named Twilight Sparkle, who’s apparently from another world.”

The pink pony’s reaction upon hearing this was almost immediate, her mane instantly transforming, turning into a mess of wild, frizzy tangles as she gasped in excitement. “Ohmygosh! She’s alive!?”

Kari and Gatomon jumped back, startled by the pink pony’s sudden 180-degree shift.

“Uh... yeah, I think so,” said Kari, “Davis told me to look out for any other ponies on the way and I guess you’d be one of them.”

Kari let out an oof as she was suddenly tackled to the ground by a pink blur. “She’s alive! Ohmygosh! Thank you Kari! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!”

Kari struggled wildly, trying to remove the pony that had wrapped its forelegs tightly around her neck. “Pin... Pinkamena... Can’t... Breathe...”

Kari gasped as the pony released her grip, giving her a guilty smile. “Oh, sorry.”

“It’s alright,” said Kari, climbing to her feet, “just try to be more careful, okay?”

“Okie dokie loki! Oh, and call me Pinkie! My full name sound really, really boring, don’t you think?”

Despite being nearly strangled, Kari couldn’t help but smile. “Sure thing, Pinkie.”

“Wait, slow down,” said Gatomon, “what exactly is going on here? Ponies from another world? I don’t understand what’s happening.”

“Well...” said Kari, “you remember how we learned that there are many worlds in existence? I’m not sure it how it happened, but Pinkie and her friends somehow managed to find their way into the Digital World.”

Pinkie let out another gasp. “Wait, you mean I’m in another world now? Wow, that means you guys are aliens! That is so cool! What are you guys like? Do you have psychic powers? Do you grow stronger from yellow sunlight and weaker from red sunlight? Do you have two hearts? Do you have green blood? Are you really the descendents of some other species on Ungula?”

“Uh...”

Pinkie let out another loud gasp “But if you’re descended from an Ungulan species, that means I’ve been on my planet all along! You maniacs!” she screamed, collapsing to the ground, “You blew it up! Damn you! Damn you all to Tartarus!”

“Um...”

“Nah, that’d be silly!” Pinkie jumped to her feet as another thought occurred to her. “Oh, but if I really am on another world, that would make me the alien, wouldn’t it? Does this mean I’ve part of an invasion? Do I get to get to steal cattle?”

“Pinkie, I don’t think-”

Pinkie held out a hoof, interrupting Kari “Waitwaitwait! Give me a second, I want to try something!” She carefully stood onto her hind legs holding her forelegs out in front of her. “I come in peace,” she droned, “take me to your leader.” No sooner than she finished speaking she collapsed to the ground, landing on her rear.

Kari sighed. “Come on Pinkie, we need to be serious here.”

Pinkie stood back onto her hooves and gave a salute. “Aye-aye, captain!”

“Alright,” said Kari, “now can you tell us more about your world, and how you were able to get here?”

“Sure thing! My friends and I come from town called Ponyville, which is in a kingdom called Equestria, which is on the continent of Equus, in the world of Ungula, and I don’t really know where Ungula is exactly since space is really big, but it’s out there somewhere!”

“Uh-huh. Are you following this, Gatomon? This could be important.” Gatomon nodded. “Good, now please continue.”

“Well, as I said, my friend Fluttershy was kidnapped along with her Element of Harmony by some kind of evil force, so Twilight used her magic to connect our Elements of Harmony together so we could find her!”

“Elements of Harmony?” said Kari, “What are those?”

Pinkie bounced up and down excitedly “Oh, they’re super-duper amazing! They’re these really neato jeweled necklaces that my friends and I have, except for Twilight’s ‘cause it’s actually a crown, and we use them to become all glowy and floaty and shoot rainbows to beat the bad guys!”

For not the first time today, Kari looked confused, “Uh... what?”

“Oh, but my Element of Laughter isn’t a necklace anymore, it got turned into this super-neat wristwatch!” Pinkie held up her foreleg, revealing the sky blue device that was strapped to her wrist.

Kari and Gatomon both gasped in surprise. “Is that a digivice?!” said Kari.

“Ooh, what’s that?” asked Pinkie.

“It’s a device that’s given to the Digi-Destined, people who help protect the Digital World from harm,” said Kari, “the Digital World exists in harmony with the Real World, or Planet Earth, and it’s up to us to protect both worlds from evil.”

“Wow! So you guys are actually from two different worlds? That’s amazing!”

“That’s right,” replied Kari, “I’m a human from the Real World, and Gatomon is a digimon, from the Digital World.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out her own D-3 digivice, a oval-shaped device with an antenna and a pink grip. “It allows me to travel between worlds, and allows Gatomon to digivolve.”

Pinkie tilted her head to the side quizzically. “Digivolve? What’s that?”

“Digivolving lets me transform into a stronger digimon,” replied Gatomon, “when I digivolve I can fight much more easily.”

“Wowee, that sounds incredible! Does having a digivice mean I can digivolve, too?”

“No, Pinkie,” said Kari, “for one, you’re not a digimon, and second, digivices are only used to help your digimon partner.”

“Partner? What do you mean? I’m not married, silly!”

“Not that kind of partner”, replied Kari, “every Digi-Destined has their own chosen digimon partner, and they both share an inseparable bond.”

Pinkie tapped her hoof to her chin in thought. “Hmm... No, I don’t think I have one of those.”

“What about that Opossummon over there?” asked Gatomon, pointing to the unconscious digimon.

“What, that meanie!? No way! It tried to kill me!”

“That wasn’t his fault,” replied Kari, “he was being controlled by a dark ring. They’re evil rings that control peaceful digimon and turn them violent.”

Pinkie let out a small gasp. “Oh no! Will he be okay?”

The Opposummon, as if on cue, began snoring loudly. “I think he’ll be fine,” said Gatomon, “he’s just having a little cat-nap.”

“Where was I?” asked Kari, “Right, we came here to destroy a control spire, a tower that controls the dark rings. Control spires prevent digimon from digivolving normally, so we have to armor digivolve instead”

Pinkie scratched the back of her head with her hoof. “Armor digivolve? Gee, this is starting to sound pretty complicated...”

“Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it,” replied Kari. “We’re going to go see if we can find the control spire. Who knows, maybe we’ll find one of your other friends along the way. Do you want to come with us?”

“Sure thing! Just give me a second, alright?” Pinkie looked back and trotted over to her saddlebags, opening them and reaching in. She pulled out a card that said “sorry for getting brainwashed by an evil artifact.” Holding it in her mouth, approached the unconscious Opposummon. As she got closer, she could hear the digimon faintly snoring.

“Psst! Hey!”

The Opposummon let out a yawn as it turned onto its side. “Go away,” it said, turning “m’sleeping.”

Pinkie payed the warning no mind. “I just wanted to say I’m super sorry you got brainwashed by that evil ring, so I brought you a card! Here you go!”

The Opposummon blinked as slowly sat up and grabbed the card. “Uh... Thanks, I guess. Now go away.”

“You’re welcome! By the way, are you my partner?”

“Uhn... what?”

“You know, my digimon partner! Kari says this digivice thingy works only on my partner, but I don’t know who my partner is or if I have one, so I was wondering if you knew!”

The Oppossummon looked Pinkie the eye for a moment, before lying back down on the ground. “No. Now leave me alone. M’trying to sleep.”

“Okie dokie! Seeya!”

Throwing her saddlebags onto her body, she happily bounced up to Kari. “Alrighty then, I’m ready! Let’s go!”

Kari nodded, and reached into her pocket, pulling out her digivice.

“Digi-Armor Energize!”

As she shouted the command words, a white and gold egg-like object emerged from the screen. Gatomon’s body glowed with an ethereal light as the egg merged with her, causing her to transform.

“Nefertimon, the Angel of Light!”

Standing in Gatomon’s place was a much larger cat-like creature, with feathered wings, silver armor, and a mask covering her face. The ring on her tail had somehow disappeared, and in a flash of light, it appeared in Kari’s hand, and she placed it in her pocket.

“You need me to help you up?” asked Kari, climbing onto Nefertimon’s back.

“Nope, I got it!” replied Pinkie, who easily bounced into the air, landing right behind Kari.

Where does she get all this energy? Kari thought. “Alright, then, let’s go look for the control spire.”

“Prepare for liftoff!” exclaimed Pinkie.

With a flap of her wings, Nefertimon took to the air, carrying her two passengers across the skies of the gloomy swamp. Seeing the vague silhouette of a control spire in the distance, she headed in that direction, hoping she would be prepared for anything that they would encounter.

> Illusions of Grandeur
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie Pie squinted, trying to get a better view of the mist-shrouded control spire in the distance. The fog had made it all but impossible for her to see her surroundings at a high altitude. She shivered briefly as they flew closer; she could feel the evil radiating from it.

Looking back at Kari and Nefertimon, she reflected on her situation. She was glad to have made a new friend, and relieved to learn that Twilight was alive, but her other friends were still out there, somewhere, and she had no way of knowing if they were alright.

Kari looked back at Pinkie, seeing her ears flattened against her head. “Are you okay, Pinkie? You haven’t said anything in a while.”

“I was just thinking about my friends,” she replied, “it’s great that Twilight’s okay, but I still don’t know what happened to everypony else. What if I never see them again?”

Kari smiled warmly. “I can understand if you’re worried, Pinkie, but you shouldn’t give up hope. We’ll find your friends, I promise.”

“Pinkie Promise?”

Kari paused for a moment. “Uh... Sure, whatever that is.”

Pinkie giggled. “No, silly! It’s like this, see? Repeat after me: cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” With the tip of her hoof, she traced the shape of an X across her chest, and then pointed to her eye.

Kari couldn’t help but laugh at how silly it sounded. “Alright then, cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my- OW!” She yelped in pain as she accidentally poked herself in the eye with her finger.

“Is everything alright up there?” asked Nefertimon.

“I’m alright,” said Kari, rubbing her eye with her fist, “just being a bit of a klutz.”

“Don’t worry, it happens to everyone,” said Pinkie. “But you’d better keep that promise, okay? Breaking a friend’s trust is the fastest way to lose them...” Pinkie briefly paused for dramatic effect. “Forever!”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll find your friends. Nefertimon is keeping a close eye out for anything on the ground. See anything, Nefertimon?”

“Not yet,” said Nefertimon, “Wait... Actually, I think I see something around the base of the control spire.”

“What is it?” asked Kari.

“It looks like... A circus tent?”

Pinkie gasped. “Ohmygosh! A circus? Can we go, Kari? Can we? Can we? Can we? Can we?” She jumped up and down excitedly, causing Nefertimon to sway uncontrollably in midair.

“Hey, be careful up there!” said Nefertimon, “you’re going to make me-”

The three screamed as Nefertimon suddenly started plummeting towards the ground at high speed, before skidding through the muddy soil as she crash-landed onto her face. Kari and Pinkie held on for dear life, Pinkie somehow managing despite having no opposable digits to speak of.

Kari let out a sigh of relief as they finally came to rest. Her relief was short-lived, however, as immediately afterward Nefertimon de-digivolved, leaving her two riders to collapse on each other in a heap.

“Get off me!” exclaimed Gatomon, her voice muffled under the weight of the weight of the others. Pinkie and Kari scrambled off, watching as Gatomon picked herself of ground, wiping off her mud-covered face with a paw.

“Pinkie Pie!” shouted Kari, “What were you thinking!? You could have gotten us killed!”

Pinkie visibly flinched at the harshness of Kari’s words. Even though they hadn’t known each other very long, she could already tell Kari wasn’t one who angered easily.

“I’m sorry!” said Pinkie, “I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt! I-I was just so excited about the circus; I couldn’t help myself!”

Kari sighed. “It’s alright, Pinkie, I forgive you. But I need you to promise me you’ll be more careful next time.”

“Sure thing!”

Kari crossed her arms and gave Pinkie a disapproving glare. “Pinkie promise.”

Pinkie smiled mischievously. “Ooh, you’re good! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Kari smiled as Pinkie performed the gesture, making a mental note to avoid poking herself in the eye if she ever did it again. “Alright, that’s good. Gatomon, do you have enough energy left to digivolve?”

Gatomon shook her head. “That crash landing took quite a bit out of me. But with my tail ring I should be just as strong, if not stronger.”

“Alright, then,” replied Kari, “Here you go.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out the same golden ring that had appeared in her hand during Gatomon’s armor digivolution. With a flick of her thumb, she flipped it into the air, letting Gatomon catch it around her tail.

“Thanks,” said Gatomon. She turned around, facing the control spire, which was a fair distance away, visible despite the fog due to its sheer size. “The tent should be surrounding the base of the spire. I think it must have appeared inside the tent.”

“Let’s head for the tent, then.” replied Kari, “And be sure to keep an eye out for anything, we don’t know what could be lurking in this fog.”

“Aye-aye, captain!” Pinkie said, saluting with her foreleg. Kari briefly wondered how her knees were able to bend that way, but decided not to bother with the question. With that, the three turned to the control spire and started walking towards their destination.


————————


Soon the group approached the tent, colored bright red with red stripes. Sticking out the top of the tent was the massive control spire, large enough to be seen for miles around.

The tent was surrounded by all manner of wheeled concession stands that sold various goods, such as popcorn, funnel cakes, and cotton candy, as well as various carnival games. Several Opossumon wandered throughout the area, having abandoned the traveling stands they likely had staffed before the control spire appeared.

Kari looked at the scene confusedly. “Who the heck sets up a circus in the middle of a swamp?”

“Who cares? It’s fun! Ooh, do you think they have a bearded mare?”

“Now’s not the time to be worry about that, Pinkie. We have to focus on taking out the control spire. Gatomon, can you take those other digimon out?”

“Sure thing,” replied Gatomon, “Lightning Paw!”

Leaping swiftly into the air, Gatomon charged forwards, and struck one of the Opossummon on its dark ring, causing it to shatter as the digimon fell to the ground, unconscious. The other Opossummon swiftly turned around to face their attacker, but before they could react, Gatomon had once again launched into the air. Leaping between the Opossummon, she swiftly shattered each of their dark rings in succession, before jumping back to meet Kari and Pinkie.

Pinkie stomped her hooves on the ground in a gesture of applause. “Bravo! Bravo! Encore! Encore!” Gatomon humored the pony by bowing dramatically.

“Oh wow, did you see that, Kari? They were all ‘bwuh? What’s going on?’ and Gatomon was all ‘Lightning Paw!’ and then she went totally ninja on them! Except she’s not a ninja, ‘cause she’s a cat! Unless she’s both, which would make her a ninja cat! Wouldn’t that be the coolest thing ever?”

Kari rolled her eyes. “Yeah, sure. Come on, let’s go inside. There could be some more digimon out here, and I don’t want us to be on the receiving end of an ambush.” Pinkie and Gatomon followed Kari as she made her way over to the tent and slipped under the front flap.

The three surveyed the darkened tent, which was somehow also shrouded in fog. The size of the tent was very large, enough to fit an entire baseball field in, with plenty of room to spare. In the very center was the control spire, sticking up through what appeared to be a large wooden platform stage, piercing straight through the wood and continuing upwards until it breached the fabric of the tent ceiling. Above the stage were two tightrope platforms, with the broken rope hanging loosely from each platform, and several trapeze swings. Between them and the stage was a safety net, which had also been broken by the spire.

Pinkie gasped at the sight of the ruined stage. “Oh no! The circus is ruined! Who would do such a thing?”

“Don’t worry Pinkie,” said Kari, “we’ll figure it out.”

“No, you don’t understand! You can’t have a circus without a tightrope! You just can’t!”

“I’m sure they’ll be able to fix it,” replied Kari, “but for now we should focus on destroying the spire.”

“I should be able to take it out if I hit it right,” said Gatomon.

“What’s the hurry?” said another, male voice, “the show is only just beginning!”

Suddenly, the tent brightened as many large overhead lights were switched on, cutting straight through the fog. The light revealed the tent to be lined with a series of bleachers, each of which was filled with dozens of Opossummon wearing dark rings. Several of the lights focused onto the center of the stage, revealing a small, humanoid figure to be standing in front of the control spire, dressed in a white robe and wizard hat, and wielding a staff with a head shaped like a snowflake, and dark spiral around his arm.

“Come one, come all! Come and witness the amazing magic of the Great and Powerful Sorcermon!”

==========
Digimon Analyzer: Sorcermon


Type: Wizard

Attribute: Vaccine

Level: Champion

Special Attacks: Crystal Barrage, Curse of Silence
==========
> Hey, Buddy! Shining Dreamers!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kari gasped at the sight of the wizard-like digimon that had appeared before them in the center of the stage. Her partner shared a similar reaction, staring slack-jawed at Sorcermon’s all-too-familiar appearance.

Pinkie, meanwhile, glanced worriedly at the audience of Opossummon that surrounded them on all sides of the tent. The fact that Sorcermon had presented himself in a way almost identical to Trixie didn’t help matters; she knew nothing good could come from their situation.

Sorcermon gestured turned towards the audience, and gestured towards Gatomon with his staff. “Ladies and Gentlemon! May I present to you our challenger, who wishes to contest the might of the Great and Powerful Sorcermon!” The Opossummon cheered loudly as Sorcermon gestured towards Gatomon with his staff.

“W-what?” Gatomon stammered. “You want me to fight you?”

“Are you saying you don’t wish to challenge the might of the Great and Powerful Sorcermon?  In that case, I insist that I take another one of your friends as a volunteer. The show must go on, after all.” He gestured with his staff towards Kari and Pinkie, both of whom stepped back in fear.

“No!” shouted Gatomon, “leave them out of this!”

“Only if you agree to our duel,” said Sorcermon, “under no circumstance will the Great and Powerful Sorcermon have his performance denied!”

Gatomon frowned sadly as she took a hesitant step forward. “Alright, I’ll do it.”

Kari looked at her partner sympathetically as she reluctantly made her way onto the stage. “Gatomon...”

“Go Gatomon!” cheered Pinkie, “You can do it! Kick that wizard in his icy little butt!”

“Shut up, Pinkie!” Gatomon shouted angrily, small tears now visible in the corners of her eyes.

Pinkie flinched at Gatomon’s sudden out burst. “Wha? What did I do?” she whispered.

“Sorcermon, for one, shares your sentiment,” said Sorcermon. “If there is one thing he cannot stand, it is hecklers.” He turned to Pinkie and pointed his staff at her. “Perhaps Sorcermon ought to shut the pink one up himself! Curse of Silence!”

The snowflake at the end of Sorcermon’s staff glowed with a brilliant white aura, and a matching aura surrounded Pinkie’s face. A sheet of ice quickly formed around her mouth, firmly sealing it shut.

“Pinkie!” Kari gasped, “Are you okay?”

“Mmmph! Mmmph! Nht Ahgn!” Pinkie mumbled through the sheet of ice, desperately trying to scrape off the ice surrounding her mouth.

“Now that we have that out of the way,” said Sorcermon, “let the duel commence! Crystal Barrage!”

Sorcermon’s staff glowed with a white aura pointed it at Gatomon, and multiple ice crystals formed formed in the air above him, before shooting forward at rapid speeds towards Gatomon. The Opossumon erupted into cheering as she swiftly jumped out of the way of the attack, the barrage of ice narrowly missing her. She turned to face her attacker, glaring at him angrily through tear-soaked eyes.

Sorcermon immediately took advantage of the opening and charged forward, holding his staff in both hands. Gatomon heard a whoosh of air as she ducked, the staff narrowly missing her head. Sorcermon followed the swing of his staff with a roundhouse kick, which struck Gatomon square in the abdomen, sending her flying backwards and crashing just beside the control spire. Once again the Opossummon exploded into cheers, their applause echoing throughout the tent.

“Gatomon!” Kari cried out for her partner.

“Mmmph! Mmmph!” exclaimed Pinkie.

Gatomon slowly picked herself off the ground, once again staring at her attacker angrily. Her anger quickly gave way to sorrow as she let out a sigh of defeat, collapsing to her knees, her ears laying flat as she began sobbing openly.

“I give up,” she choked, “I can’t fight you.”

The Opossummon responded with a chorus of boos and hisses, drowning out the tent with the sounds of their disapproval. They were quickly silenced when Sorcermon raised his hand to the audience.

“You were saying?” Sorcermon’s eyes glinted with amusement as he stared at Gatomon, as though her were grinning smugly beneath his scarf.

“It’s over. I can’t fight you. You win.”

“Gatomon, no!” Kari exclaimed, “You can’t give up now!”

“Mmmph!” Pinke agreed.

“No!” Gatomon sobbed, “I can’t fight him! He was my best friend!”

The audience’s gasps were matched by Pinkie’s own expression of shock. “Mmmph!?”

Kari looked at her partner sympathetically. “Gatomon... You have to fight him. I know he looks like Wizardmon, but we’re not going to make it out of here unless you fight back.”

Gatomon opened her mouth to respond, but was abruptly cut off by Sorcermon raising an arm. “Enough of this. This is Sorcermon’s show, and he will not have it undermined by your sob story. You have already admitted defeat, and now the audience will decide your fate.”

Sorcermon turned to the audience, addressing the Oposummon with a sweep of his arms. “Ladies and Gentlemon! It appears our challenger has forfeited our duel! Will she live, or will she die? That is up to you! Show of hands: who among us wishes to see her live?”

“Mmmph! Mmmph!” Pinkie wildly flailed her forelimb in the air as she desperately voted to save Gatomon. Kari also raised her hand into the air, which Pinkie grabbed and excitedly waved around, desperately trying to gain Sorcermon’s attention. The Opossummon, however, remained silent and motionless.

“Only two?” taunted Sorcermon, “Not very many, is it? It goes without saying that the rest of you wish her dead?” The Opossummon burst into cheers once more, raising their hands into the air excitedly.

“Then it is decided! Watch in awe as the Great and Powerful Sorcermon grants this digimon the most spectacular death your eyes will ever witness!” His staff glowed brilliantly as he raised it high into the air. “Crystal- oof!”

The crowd gasped in shock as pink blur jumped onto the stage and collided with Sorcermon, forcefully knocking him backwards through the air. 

“Pinkie!” Kari shouted.

Pinkie’s eyes locked with Sorcermon’s as he swiftly She gestured angrily as she let out a series of muffled shouts from beneath the ice sheet, the web of cracks rapidly larger, deeper, and more numerous.

Finally, the sheet of ice exploded. Small flakes of crushed ice were scattered across the stage as Pinkie let out a loud gasp to catch her breath. “Leave her alone, you big, dumb, meanie jerkbutt!”

“What!?” exclaimed Sorcermon. “Impossible! How did you break the Great and Powerful Sorcermon’s curse?”

Pinkie’s eyes narrowed dangerously at Sorcermon. “It doesn’t matter how I did it. I’m not even entirely sure myself. But what does matter is that I won’t allow you to threaten my friends!” She took several bold steps forward, her determined expression unwavering.

“Kari and Gatomon were there for me when I needed it most. Just when I’d given up hope, they rescued me. They saved me from despair, and I’d do the very same thing for them!” Pinkie stomped her hoof angrily on the stage, impacting it so hard that it left a hoof-shaped crater in the wood. “You’ve already taken away Gatomon’s happiness, and now you’re threatening to take her life as well! But you’re not going to do that because I won’t let you!”

“Pinkie, no!” cried Gatomon. “He’ll kill you!”

Pinkie turned her head towards Gatomon. “I have to do this, Gatomon.” she said, “Because you’re my friend, and seeing you so sad makes me sad too. I won’t- no, I can’t let him hurt you. I’ll do whatever it takes, not only to save your life, but to make you happy again, even if I die trying. Cross my heart and hope to fly.”

Gatomon stared blankly at Pinkie, shocked by her admission. “Pinkie...”

Sorcermon scoffed. “Gag. All this mushiness is making Sorcermon want to vomit. If you mean to threaten Sorcermon, then he can assure it will not end well for you.” Raising his arm, he pointed his staff at Pinkie in an exaggerated, theatrical motion. “The Great and Powerful Sorcermon will destroy you, and the demise of your oh-so-precious friends shall be an encore!”

Pinkie frowned angrily, and turned back to Sorcermon. She tried to think of a retort, but before she could find any words, a brilliant glow erupted from the digivice on her ankle. The others shielded their eyes from the light as Pinkie lifted into the air, her body radiating an intense light.

“Execute! Harmonic Evolution!”

As she shouted the words, a swirling vortex of multicolored confetti and smoke appeared around Pinkie. The whirling, brightly-colored mass grew in size intensity as it surrounded her, obscuring her body from view, and scattering small streamers across the stage. The smoke then dissipated just as quickly as it had appeared, revealing another figure in Pinkie’s place.

Standing six feet tall, she wore a bright pink jumpsuit with blue highlights, and two blue belts strapped around the waist, and a sword with a yellow blade strapped to her back. On her head she wore a cap with a mask-like veil attached to it covering the lower half of of face, and a pink, curly ponytail sticking out the back. On her arms were a pair of fingerless gloves that extended past her elbows, leaving only the light-pink skin of her shoulders exposed.

“Shinobimon! The Bursting Laughter!”

==========
Digimon Analyzer: Shinobimon

Type: Mutant

Attribute: Vaccine

Level: Hybrid (Champion Equivalent)

Special Attacks: Confetti Kunai, Ninja Spinner, Mirror Mirage
==========

The audience’s loud gasps of surprise were matched by Kari and Gatomon, both of whom gaped at Shinobimon’s form.

“I don’t believe it,” said Kari, “did she just digivolve?”

“Shinobimon...” Sorcermon shook his head, shaking off his brief sense of bewilderment. “If you think a new form of evolution will save you, then you’re quite mistaken! Crystal Barrage!”

With a gesture of his staff, Sorcermon summoned a small cloud of razor sharp ice-crystals, which launched themselves at Shinobimon with rapid speed.

“Confetti Kunai!”

Shinobimon made a throwing motion with her hand, launching a series of multiple throwing knives that seemed to appear from thin air. The knives collided with the ice crystals in midair, exploding in a series of colorful bursts of confetti. The crowed cheered wildly as the streams of confetti fell to the ground.

Kari smiled at the display. “Shinobimon, you can do it!”

“Shut up!” shouted Sorcermon, “You’re supposed to be rooting for Sorcermon, you idiots!”

Reaching for her sword, Shinobimon turned glanced behind her, towards Gatomon. “You take care of the control spire, Gatomon! I’ll go after this clown!” She took out her sword, holding it in both hands as she met Sorcermon’s gaze with her own.

Gatomon, unable to think of a reply, simply nodded. She turned towards the control spire and pounced, ready to strike with her claw.

“Lightning Paw!”

Gatomon’s claw stuck the control spire near the base, leaving an impact that caused multiple large fissures in the side of the tower. The control spire shuddered as the cracks spread along its body, and it imploded and disintegrated with a deafening crash. Gatomon shielded her eyes as dust scattered about the tent, sending her into a coughing fit.

Sorcermon peered through the dust at the crowds of Opossummon lining the tent, whose eyes returned to their normal colors as the dark rings around their necks deactivated. They looked around, bewildered, as they paused their senses from the dark rings’ control.

“No!” cried, Sorcermon, “Sorcermon’s audience!”

“Ninja Spinner!”

Sorcermon swiftly turned around to face the attack call, only to see Shinobimon rushing straight toward him. She spun rapidly like a top, holding her blade outwards as she spun towards Sorcermon, causing the dust in the air to scatter before it settled.

Sorcermon swiftly jumped out of the way of the attack, leaping to the side. Twisting his body around as Shinobimon passed, he held his staff in both hands, and with a mighty swing, struck Shinobimon on the side of her head. Shinobimon was sent flying backwards, and performed a somersault in the air, crouching as she landed.

“Thought you could sneak up on Sorcermon, did you?”

Shinobimon glared angrily at Sorcermon. “That’s it! Time to get serious! Mirror Mirage!”

Holding her sword in her right hand, Shinobimon performed a series of hand gestures with her left. Several puffs of smoke appeared around her, and in them appeared identical copies of Shinobimon, each an exact duplicate of the other.

Sorcermon flinched as the clones swiftly jumped forward with their blades in hand, assaulting him from multiple directions. Before they could strike, however, the clones vanished into thin air, revealing themselves to be nothing more than an illusion. As Sorcermon lowered his guard, however, he noticed that the real Shinobimon was no longer standing where she used to be.

“What? Where did you-”

“Surprise!”

Sorcermon looked up to see Shinobimon descending on him from above, blade raised high above her head. As she landed, she slashed downward with her blade, her feet touching the ground several feet behind Sorcermon.

Silence hung in the air as the two digimon stood motionless, Kari and Gatomon holding their breath in anxiousness.

Come on, any second now... thought Shinobimon.

Finally, the dark spiral on Sorcermon’s arm shattered, and he collapsed straight onto the ground, his body going limp. The Opossummon once again exploded into cheering, this time even louder than before. Their excited whistles and thunderous applause echoed throughout the tent, and stead as Pinkie’s body glowed, reverting to her original form.

“Thank you! Thank you” said Pinkie, performing a rapid series of bows at the audience, “You’re too kind! Thank you!”

As the cheering finally died down, Kari and Gatomon both went up to meet Pinkie.

“That was amazing, Pinkie!” said Kari, “I never thought you’d be able to turn into a digimon like that!”

Pinkie grinned mischievously. “Are you saying you didn’t... believe it?”

Kari blinked. “Uh... what?”

Pinkie giggled “Oh, nothing! I’m just glad everything worked out, aren’t you? I was so super-duper worried about you!”

“Yeah,” said Kari, “I was worried about you, too.” She looked over towards Sorcermon, who let out a low groan as he remained on the stage. “I think we should check up on him before we go. If I had to guess, I’d say he’s the one in charge of the circus. What do you say, Gatomon?”

Gatomon didn’t respond, simply staring teary-eyed at Sorcermon’s prone body.

“Gatomon?”

Gatomon sniffed weakly. “Yeah... I’d also like to talk to him, if that’s okay.”

Kari nodded. “... I understand.”


————————


Sorcermon met with the others outside the tent, before the entrance. Without the dark rings, the Opossummon had gone back to their normal routines, attending the stands, while others remained in the tent for repairs.

“You have my deepest thanks for freeing me... what was it?”

“Pinkie Pie!” replied the pony

“Interesting name,” Sorcermon mused, “As I was saying, I am very grateful for what you’ve done for me. As ringmaster and performer, it is my job to bring entertainment to all, but under the dark spiral’s command I brought you misery instead. It also seemed to have inflated my ego just a tad.”

“No problem!” said Pinkie, cheerfully. “I once met this magician named Trixie, and she was kind of a jerk at first, and she even referred to herself in the third pony, but then my friend Twilight showed she was just a big faker, and then she ended up having to go to my parent’s rock farm for work, and then she came back to get revenge, only she had the Alicorn Amulet, which made her super strong, but also way meaner than before, and then we had to trick her into taking it off because it was super-evil and made her turn into an even bigger jerk than normal!”

The others stared at Pinkie as she took a deep breath, having talked for so long without stopping to breathe. “Hey, Kari, maybe after we find Fluttershy we could come back to see them! It’d be super duper fun!”

“Uh... sure,” said Kari, still slightly confused.  “But right now we should be heading back. It’s getting late... I think.” Kari peered at the horizon, where she could vaguely make out the outline of the sunset through the thick fog. “I’ll send a message to the others letting them know what happened.”

“Aww...” replied Pinkie, briefly looking disappointed. “That’s okay, though! I totally understand!”

“Alright, then.” Kari reached into her pocket and took out her D-Terminal, and began typing a message. “Gatomon, you said you wanted to say something to Sorcermon?”

“Yeah...” Gatomon turned and looked Sorcermon straight in the eye. Her gaze was filled with sorrow, and in her expression could see a deep sadness. “I just wanted to tell you... I’m sorry.”

Sorcermon raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about? What for? I’m the one who should be apologizing.”

Gatomon turned her head away, her gaze drawn away from Sorcermon. “... It’s nothing.”

She turned back towards Kari and Pinkie, the former of whom continued typing on her D-Terminal. The device let out a series of beeping sounds, one after the other, indicating the exchange of multiple messages. “Almost done,” said Kari, “give me a second.”

Pinkie slowly trotted up to Gatomon, looking at her sympathetically. “He reminded you of someone else, didn’t he?”

“Huh?” said Gatomon, “how did you know?”

Pinkie placed a hoof on Gatomon’s shoulder. “You said something about your best friend earlier. And I can see it in your eyes when you look at him. You lost someone who was very dear to you, someone who can’t possibly be replaced. Nothing I say to you will make that pain go away... But no matter what happens, you won’t have to bear it alone. Don’t ever forget that.”

Gatomon stared back into Pinkie’s eyes, fresh tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. Leaning forward, she wrapped her arms around Pinkie’s body, her face buried in the pony’s fur. Pinkie returned the hug, and for a while the world itself seem to stop. Gatomon slowly released her embrace, a soft smile appearing on her face as she looked back at Pinkie.

“...Thank you, Pinkie.”

“Hey Gatomon! Pinkie!” Kari called out, putting away her D-Terminal “Great news!”

Pinkie jumped up and down excitedly. “Ooh! Ooh! What is it? What is it? Wait, don’t tell me...” Pinkie settled down, tapping a hoof to her chin in thought.

“I’ve talked to the others,” said Kari, “they’ve found your friends.”

“Wow, that would have been my next guess! Wait, what?” With a whoosh of air, Pinkie rushed over towards Kari, jumping up and down excitedly. “Ohmygosh! You found them? They’re all safe?”

Kari exhaled briefly as she relaxed from the startling that Pinkie had given her. “From the looks of it, yes, they’re all safe. The others have managed to find them while going after the control spires.”

“Really? All of them? Even Fluttershy?”

Kari frowned. “No, I don’t think we’ve found her yet.”

Pinkie suddenly deflated, her ears dropping to her sides in disappointment. “...Oh. But we’ll find her, won’t we?”

“Don’t worry, we will. But for now we need to head back, so we can figure out what to do. Gatomon, Pinkie, are you ready to go?”

“I’m ready to go when you are.”

“Ready for liftoff, Captain!”

Kari nodded briefly, pulling her Digivice out out of her pocket.

“Digi-Armor Energize!”

Pinkie stood back as Gatomon’s armor digivolution completed, her tail ring coming off and disappearing once again into Kari’s pocket.

“Nefertimon, the Angel of Light!”

Her digivolution completed, Nefertimon knelt to the ground, allowing Kari to climb onto her back. Pinkie, with her usual energy, simply bounced into the air, landing onto Nefertimon with an oomph.

Sorcermon then decided to speak up. “Leaving already, are you?”

“Yeah,” said Kari, “no offense, but we have more important things we need to take care of.”

“Understandable,” replied Sorcermon, “you are Digi-Destined, after all. Come back when you have the time, and we’ll put on the most spectacular show you can imagine!”

“Sounds like fun. We’ll be sure to check it out if we have the time.” Kari nodded to Nefertimon, who spread her wings as she prepared to leave the ground.

“Brace for liftoff!” said Pinkie.

With a flap of her wings, Nefertimon, took to the air, leaving the circus behind as she headed back in the direction they came in. The Opossummon waved along with Sorcermon as they departed, Pinkie waving back before they disappeared into the horizon.

What she failed to notice, however, was the dark ring that had appeared in the distance, and continued to follow after Nefertimon as she flew.
> Survival
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mah family...

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

Ah ain’t giving up. Not yet.

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

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

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

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

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


————————


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

“Is everything alright, T.K.?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==========
Hey guys! You wouldn’t believe what I just found! While on the way to the control spire I met this purple pony named Twilight Sparkle, and she’s actually an alien from another world! Pretty awesome, huh?
Anyway, it turns out she and her friends came to the Digital World to rescue another pony named Fluttershy, but they ended up getting separated. If any of you guys see another strange pony, let me know, okay?
- Davis
==========

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

“What’d he say?”

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

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

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



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

“Hey, thanks, buddy.”

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

“Huh? Hear what?”

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


————————


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

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

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

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

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

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

“Boom Bubble!”

> The Initial Meeting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Boom Bubble!”

Several thin, twig-like branches fell from the pine tree as Patamon knocked them down with a burst of pressurized air. Flying down to the ground, he carefully picked up as many of them as he could carry. Patamon’s wing muscles strained as he struggled to lift the wood into the air. This was the smallest tree he could find, almost a sapling, and even then he could only barely carry the pitifully small branches from it. Still, he wouldn’t let T.K. down. He’d been asked to find firewood, and he wouldn’t go back empty-handed.

Flapping his wings rapidly, his flight path wobbled slightly as he headed back to meet his partner.


————————


T.K. looked down from where he sat, regarding curiously the strange, pony-like digimon before him. After their brief encounter with the lone Bakemon, he’d immediately taken the digimon to a small cave which they were fortunate enough to have found nearby.

Now that I think about it, I probably should have taken the Bakemon, too. He could’ve given us some insight as to what’s going on. He dismissed the thought when he realized he probably wouldn’t have been able to carry a ghost digimon.

What was especially strange to him was the digimon’s appearance. It looked, for a lack of a better word, cartoonish. Her coat was bright orange and her mane blonde, and on both sides of her body were images of three apples, arranged in a triangle. The saddlebags and stetson hat clearly indicated that she was sapient, as opposed to some of the more feral digimon seen in certain parts of the Digital World. Her head was also unusually rounded for a equine, with eyes facing forward, giving her a vaguely human appearance. Strangest of all, however, was the dark orange device strapped to her front ankle.

Is it just me, or does it look kind of like a digivice?

He gently placed on her side, taking note of her healthy pulse and steady breathing. Her body shivered from the cold atmosphere,  At least I think it’s a her... I don’t know how I’m supposed to know for sure if she’s asleep, unless... He quickly interrupted that thought before it went any further, removing his hand from the digimon’s body. Yeah, I’ll wait until she wakes up... Actually, do digimon even even have a physical gender? I’ll have to ask Izzy about that later.

“T.K.!”

T.K. looked to the cave entrance to see Patamon enter, carrying a bundle of sticks. He suddenly dropped in midair as he flew, only to regain altitude by furiously flapping his wings. He hastily dropped the wood by T.K., gasping for breath as he slowly lowered himself to the ground.

T.K. looked at his partner sympathetically, and reached over and pet him on the head. “Easy there sport, no need to push yourself like that.”

Patamon looked up at T.K. and smiled, still panting heavily. “It’s alright, T.K. You wanted me to get firewood, right?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t want you putting yourself in danger just for that. I’d have understood if you came back without finding anything. So don’t go about pushing yourself too hard, okay? You remember what happened the last time you did?”

Patamon’s expression dropped instantly. “... I died?” he squeaked.

“Yeah. So take it easy, okay?” He smiled softly, gently scratching Patamon behind the ear.

“Nnngh...” The unconscious digimon groaned softly as she began to stir.

“Hmm, I guess we won’t need that firewood after all. Sorry, Patamon.”

The digimon’s eyes slowly fluttered open as she turned her head towards T.K. and Patamon. “Ma? Pa? That you?”

T.K. raised an eyebrow. Since when did digimon have parents?

“Uh, no, I’m T.K., and this is my partner Patamon.”

“Hi!” Patamon flew closer to the pony-like digimon and introduced himself.

“What the hay!?” Her upper body shot upwards at the sight of Patamon, and she quickly scooted backwards against the cave wall. Her apparent fear quickly subsided, and she regarded T.K. and Patamon curiously. She straightened her hat and frowned thoughtfully, as though she were trying to figure something out.

“Ah think ah get it. Y’all are like some kinda angels come to take me away. Ah gotta say, ah never thought you’d look so strange.”

“An angel?” said T.K., “you must be a bit confused. I’m a human.”

“I can be an angel sometimes,” said Patamon, “not right now, though.”

The pony’s frown deepened as she considered what she’d heard. “Ah’m afraid ah ain’t never heard of a human before. Ah take it you’re some other kind of spirit?” A pleading look appeared in her eyes as she looked back at T.K. “What’s going to happen to me now? Am Ah in Tartarus or the Elysium? Will Ah ever see mah folks again?”

T.K. stared back at the pony in confusion. “Uh, I’m afraid never heard of either of those places. Right now you’re in a mountain range on the Server Continent.”

“Server Continent? That don’t sound like anything Ah’ve heard of before.” She briefly glanced around the cave, trying to get a better feeling for her surroundings. “Come to think of it, this whole just place looks like some ordinary cave! What the hay kind of afterlife is this?”

“Whoa there!” said T.K. “what do you mean, afterlife?”

“Well, this is the afterlife, ain’t it? Ah mean, there ain’t no way Ah could’ve survived that there ghost attacking me.” The pony paused for a moment, as if contemplating something. “Are y’all saying Ah’m a ghost now, too?”

“Why would dying turn you into a ghost?” said Patamon. “Wouldn’t you be reborn as a Digi-Egg?” The pony looked confused by this statement, scratching the back of her head with a hoof.

“Actually, Patamon,” said T.K., “I’m fairly certain at this point that she isn’t a digimon. And no,” he said to the pony, “you’re not dead.”

Patamon’s gasped. “She isn’t!?”

“Ah’m not!?”

T.K. “No need to worry. We saw you being chased by a Bakemon, but we defeated it just as you passed out. We brought you here to help you recover.”

The pony’s stunned expression gave way to a relieved smile. “Well ain’t that a relief! And here Ah was thinking Ah was a goner! Ah reckon’ Ah oughta thank you two for saving me.” She trotted up towards T.K. extended a hoof outwards. “Pleased to meet you both. The name’s Applejack. To whom do Ah owe the pleasure?”

T.K. reached out with his hand and grabbed Applejack’s hoof in an approximation of a handshake. “My name’s T.K., and this is my friend Patamon.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” said Applejack, returning the handshake.

“T.K., what was that you said about her not being a digimon?” said Patamon.

“That’s right,” replied T.K. “From what I understand, she’s a pony. More specifically, a pony from another world.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Say what now?”

“A while back I got a message from my friend Davis. He said he found an alien pony, and asked me to keep an eye out for any others. I think her name was Midnight?”

“Twilight!” exclaimed Applejack. “She’s alright! Oh, thank Celestia, Ah was worried Ah’d never see her again! Now what’s this about her being an alien?”

“Yeah, T.K.,” said Patamon, “what’s going on?”

“Well, I kind of ignored it at first since I thought it was a prank, but I recall Davis saying something about Twilight being an alien. Given that you’re not a digimon or a human, I’m assuming you’re not from Digital World. Is that true, Applejack?”

“Ah... No, Ah can’t rightly say Ah’ve heard of a Digital World.” A frown of worry appeared on her face as she considered what she’d just been told. Ah’m in another world now? What am Ah gonna do now? Will Ah ever see mah family again?

“Are you alright?” asked T.K.

Applejack did her best to put on a forced smile. “Ah’m fine. Why don’t you tell me more about this here Digital World?”

“No problem,” said T.K. “The Digital World is a world of data that exists within the Real World’s computer networks.”

“Real World?” said Applejack, “You’re saying this here world ain’t real?”

T.K. looked thoughtful for a moment. “Hmm... Well, in a sense it isn’t, since from what I understand everything in the Digital World is made of computer data instead of matter. But it’s still very much a living world, so I guess it’s also real. But I guess your world must be real, too, so maybe it’s better to call our world planet Earth.”

“That don’t sound like a very imaginative name,” Applejack mused. “So you’re saying this here world exists in them fancy machines from Earth, like the one Twilight was building?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” said T.K. “I don’t know anything about your friend Twilight, but if she was building a computer, that might explain how you ended up here. What happened, exactly? What sort of world are you from?”

“Mah world? Well, ah’d say it’s a mighty fine world to live in. Ah come from a place called Equestria, on a world called Ungula. As for how Ah got here, mah friends and Ah were having a picnic out by Twilight’s place, and all of a sudden there was this huge lightning storm coming from her house. We went to investigate, and it turns out Fluttershy was dragged through a portal by some kind of evil force. Twilight cast a spell that would teleport us to her, and the next thing Ah knew, Ah was on this here mountain, and mah friends were nowhere to be found.”

An evil force? thought T.K, could that have something to do with the control spires?

“I see. Well, since you’re here in the Digi-World now, you’ll probably want to know how things work around here. The Digital World is inhabited by creatures called digimon, or Digital Monsters. My friends and I are part of a group called the Digi-Destined, and we protect the Digital World with the help of our digimon partners.”

“Ah see,” said Applejack, “Ah take it Patamon’s your partner then?”

“That’s right!” said Patamon. “You and I are a team, right T.K.?”

T.K. smiled. “Couldn’t have said it better myself. As I way saying, we help protect the Digital World from harm.” Reaching into his pocket, T.K. pulled out his D-3 and showed it to Applejack. “This is called a digivice. Its power allows Patamon to digivolve into stronger forms to fight the forces of darkness.”

Applejack leaned in closer, staring at the digivice in T.K.’s hand. Lifting her leg, she held her front ankle out in front of herself, comparing the strange device to T.K.’s side-by-side.

“So y’all are saying that this here doodad is a digivice like yours? Does that mean Ah can do that digivolution thing?”

“Well, I don’t think you’d be the one doing the digivolving,” said T.K. “And I’m not really sure if that’s a digivice at all. If it were, you’d have probably found your own partner digimon by now.”

“Ah see,” replied Applejack. Suddenly, Patamon let out a small giggle..

“What is it, Patamon? Something funny?” said T.K.

“I was just thinking,” Patamon replied, “her accent is just like Armadillomon’s! Wouldn’t it be weird if I D.N.A. digivolved with her?”

Applejack gave Patamon a strange look. “Beg pardon?”

“Now that’d just be completely ridiculous.” said T.K., “I do admit it is kind of a funny thought, though.”

“Ah’m afraid Ah lost you there, sugarcube,” said Applejack, “and just for the record, Ah ain’t got an accent.”

T.K couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Sure you don’t. As I was saying, Patamon and I help protect the Digital World. We were out here searching for a control spire, an evil tower that controls dark rings that brainwash and enslave digimon. When we stopped to take a break, we saw you being chased by Bakemon controlled by a dark ring. Patamon was able to break the dark ring right as you passed out.”

“So y’all are saying somepony was controlling that there ghost that attacked me? You think it might have something to do with the evil force that took Fluttershy?”

“Actually, I was just thinking that,” said T.K. “Wait, somepony?”

“Uh... Sorry, Ah meant sombody,” Applejack responded hesitantly. “Ah apologize if Ah offended you, Ah didn’t mean to be insensitive.”

“Why would I be offended? I just think it’s a bit strange is all.”

Applejack smiled nervously. “Well, uh,” she chuckled weakly, “See, back in Equestria, you ain’t supposed to use the word somepony to refer to folks who ain’t ponies. It’s... Well, Ah wouldn’t call it racist exactly, but it is just a mite insensitive. Ah’m guessing y’all don’t have that problem here?”

“Not really, no.” T.K. said. A smile crept onto his face as he considered the thought, the whole idea sounding completely silly to him. “As I was saying, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that your friend was kidnapped at around the same time these control spires appeared. I think we should stick together so we can figure out what’s going on here. Sound good?”

“Fine by me,” replied Applejack, “If y’all don’t mind, Ah’d like to try and see if we can find mah friends as well.” A look of sadness appeared on her face. “Ah just hope Ah’m not too late...”

T.K. looked down at Applejack and smiled. “Applejack, if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you should never give up hope. I know things might seem daunting sometimes, but nothing will ever get better if you just give up. So what do you say we go out there and look for your friends together?”

Applejack looked back up at T.K., her deep green eyes filled with gratitude. “Y’all would do that for me?”

“Of course,” replied T.K. “it’s the least I could do after finding you like this. But first we’ll have to take out the control spire like we came here for. After that, we’ll meet up with Davis and your friend Twilight and figure out what to do next.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Applejack. “Ah can’t thank you enough for doing this for me. If it weren’t for you and Patamon, Ah don’t know what Ah’d do.”

“Hey, no problem.” replied T.K. “You ready to get going? If you feel like you still need to rest for a bit, that’s fine. No need to push yourself too hard”

“Nah, Ah’m fine,” replied Applejack. “We ain’t gonna find anything just sitting in this here cave, are we?”

“Alright, if you’re sure.” T.K. turned and shared a knowing look with his partner, and he reached into his pocket and pulled out his digivice, holding it out in front of him.

“Digi-Armor Energize!”

The digivice shone with a brilliant light as T.K. shouted the command, and a egg-shaped object emerged from the screen. Patamon’s body glowed as the egg dissolved into him, causing his body to transform.

“Patamon, Armor Digivolve to: Pegasusmon, the Flying Hope!”

“What in tarnation!?” Applejack’s jaw dropped at the sight of the massive armored stallion that was suddenly standing before her.

Now stop that Applejack, it ain’t polite to stare, she reminded herself. T.K. calmly walked over to Pegasusmon and swiftly jumped onto his back, as though it were second nature.

“You need a lift?” asked Pegasusmon, approaching Applejack.

A pink flush appeared on Applejack’s face, plainly visible even through her bright orange coat. “Ah... Uh... Y’all want me to ride you?”

T.K. chuckled lightly. “No need to get all flustered, Applejack. I can assure you it’s strictly business.”

“Hey, that ain’t funny!” Applejack cried out indignantly.

“Did I miss something here?” asked Pegasusmon. “Was there a joke?”

“Don’t worry about it, Pegasusmon.” replied T.K. “Just let her climb on.”

“If you say so.” Pegasusmon lowered himself onto his knees, allowing Applejack to climb onto his back. Applejack’s blush deepened as she positioned herself onto Pegasusmon’s back, sitting upright behind T.K., with her front hooves awkwardly positioned on Pegasusmon’s barrel.

Rainbow ain’t never gonna let me live this one down.

“You ready to lift off?” asked T.K.

“Ah think so,” replied Applejack. “Just where are we headed, anyway?”

“We’ll fly out over the mountain range and see if we can find the control spire. They’re pretty tall, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to spot. Be sure to hold on tight, okay?”

“No problem,” said Applejack, “now let’s get a move on!”

T.K. nodded to Pegasusmon, who trotted towards the entrance and stepped out of the cave, onto a sheer cliff in the mountainside. With a powerful flap of his wings, he took to the air, carrying both his passengers in search of the next control spire.

> The Cave and the Serpent
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

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

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

“See anything yet, guys?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Sounds like a plan,” said Applejack.

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


————————


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Whoa!”

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

“Star Shower!”

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

“Mane Wind!”

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

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

“I think that’s the last of them.”

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

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

“No problem,” said Pegasusmon.

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

“Star Shower!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

> E.V.O.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Look out!”

T.K. desperately called out to his partner as the MegaSeadramon roared, lashing outwards with its tail. Pegasusmon swerved wildly in the air, nearly throwing off his riders as he barely dodged the attack.

“T.K., what’s going on?” said Applejack, “Ah thought you said that control spire was what controlled them dark rings!”

“That’s not a dark ring, that’s a dark spiral! They don’t need- whoa!”

T.K. cried out in surprise as the MegaSeadramon’s jaws closed on the empty air that Pegasusmon had occupied just moments ago. As Pegasusmon swerved wildly in midair, T.K. was thrown to the side, off Pegasumon’s back.

“T.K.!”

Thinking quickly, Applejack reached over Pegasusmon’s side with her front hooves, extending them towards T.K. Acting purely on instinct, T.K. reached out and grabbed Applejack’s hooves tightly, leaving him hanging precariously over Pegasusmon’s side.

Applejack grunted in exertion as she tried her best to lift T.K. up, but without her natural earth pony strength the human was simply too heavy. Pegasusmon’s wild movements in the air didn’t help matters any.

“Lightning Javelin!”

The MegaSeadramon’s horn quite literally surged with power as a spear-shaped burst of electricity shot forth from it. The attack flew past Pegasusmon as he dodged, the lightning spear just barely missing his wing. The sudden maneuver threw off T.K. further, causing his left hand to slip and release its desperate grip on Applejack’s hoof.

“Consarn it, Pegasusmon! Ah can’t pull T.K. up if you keep flailing around like that!”

“We’ll be killed if we don’t keep moving!”

Her mind ablaze with panic, Applejack looked pleadingly at Pegasusmon, and then back to T.K. She desperately tried to think of a solution, something that would help the three of them escape danger, but in her adrenaline-fueled state she found it hard to focus.

Think, Applejack! There’s gotta be a way out of this!

Applejack desperately searched her mind for answers, but she found herself unable to find any way of escaping their current situation. All the while Pegasusmon frantically maneuvered around the MegaSeadramon, leading T.K.’s weakening grip to fail even more rapidly.

It’s no use! There ain’t no way Ah can stop him from falling now! There ain’t nothing Ah can-

Applejack’s eyes suddenly lit up as she came to a sudden realization.

“T.K.! Ah think Ah have an idea!”

“Well don’t just sit there!” T.K. shouted back, “tell me what it is!”

“Well, this might sound crazy, but Ah think Ah’m gonna need you to let go!”

“What?!” exclaimed T.K. “You’re right, that does sound crazy!”

Applejack looked down at T.K. pleading.. “T.K., listen to me! There ain’t no way we’re gonna make it out of here alive otherwise! Ah promise everything will be alright!”

T.K. let out a small, humorless chuckle. “Heh. Well, It’s not like I have much choice in the matter now.” As his grip loosened, he looked upwards at Applejack, and smiled warmly. “I can’t say why, but even though I haven’t known you long, I know that I can trust you on this.”

Finally, T.K. released his grip on Applejack’s hoof, and promptly fell towards the surface of the lake. Applejack reacted quickly leaping downwards from atop Pegasusmon’s back. She swiftly reached out and caught T.K. in her front hooves, pulling the human towards her in a tight embrace. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as they plummeted towards the lake’s surface.

Still holding T.K., Applejack twister her body in midair, maneuvering herself so that she was directly below T.K., both of them parallel to the lake’s surface. A loud crash sounded as the two impacted the water’s surface, before sinking into the murky depths of the lake.

After the initial shock, T.K.’s eyes opened to find himself surrounded by water, a dull pain felt across his entire body from the impact. Through the murky waters he could barely make out Applejack, her unconscious body rapidly sinking through the water.

Applejack!? Why did she do that?

The answer came to him quickly, however, and his eyes lit up in sudden realization.

I don’t believe it. She cushioned the impact with her body.

T.K. decided there was no time to admire Applejack’s selflessness as she continued sinking into the depths. He quickly swam towards Applejack, and began carrying her to the surface. Applejack’s hat and saddlebags had both fallen off from the impact, leaving her with nothing but the strange device on her front ankle. T.K.’s lungs burned from the lack of oxygen, and from the exertion of carrying Applejack, but his resolve remained strong as he slowly but steadily pushed himself upwards through the water. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally broke the water’s surface, desperately gasping for air.

Applejack let out a slow, shuddering breath, and her eyes gently fluttered open, resting on T.K. as he carried her on the lake’s surface, away from the rampaging MegaSeadramon.

“Don’t worry, T.K., Ah... Ah’ve got you.” Applejack coughed violently as she spoke, spitting up some of the water that had forced its way into her windpipe.

“Applejack’s hurt, Pegasusmon!” T.K. cried out. “I need you to distract MegaSeadramon so I can get her to safety!”

“I’ll see what I can do!” replied Pegasusmon, “Star Shower!”

Pegasusmon unleashed a torrent of shooting stars from his wings, but the MegaSeadramon reacted quickly, coiling its body to guard the dark spiral. The sea serpent hissed in irritation as the stars harmlessly impacted its body. With a vicious snarl, it lashed out with is tail, grazing Pegasusmon’s wing as he frantically dodged the full force of the attack.

“Pegasusmon!” T.K. cried out.

As Pegasusmon was struck, he began to spiral out of control, plummeting towards the surface of the lake. He quickly righted himself before hitting the water, flying back upwards in the air.

“I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up!”

T.K. frowned worriedly for his partner. This doesn’t look good. I could have him digivolve to Angemon, but that’d leave him vulnerable while doing so. Great, now what are we going to do?

“Hey, T.K.”

“Huh?” T.K. was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of Applejack’s voice.

“Ah just wanted to say, Ah’m sorry for getting y’all into this mess. Ah promised everything would be okay, but...” Applejack briefly lapsed into another fit of violent coughing, splattering a small amount of blood on T.K.’s shoulder. “Ah guess what Ah’m trying to say is, Ah’m sorry for making a promise Ah couldn’t keep.”

“There’s no need to apologize, Applejack. If anything, I’m the one that dragged you into this.” T.K. struggled to stay afloat as he spoke, the task of carrying his passenger making it all the more difficult to hold a conversation. “You did everything you could to help, and I’m grateful for that. You said I’d be fine if I let go, and I am, for now at least. As far as I’m concerned, you were being completely honest with me.”

Applejack looked down at T.K. and smiled softly. “If we don’t make it T.K., Ah just want you to know, Ah’m glad Ah met you. Thank you.” A single tear formed in her eye and fell on T.K.’s shoulder, indistinguishable on the soaking wet fabric of his shirt.

Suddenly, Applejack began to feel a peculiar sensation on the device that was strapped to her front ankle. A brilliant glow suddenly burst forth from the screen, and Applejack leapt into the air, her entire body becoming engulfed in a bright glow.

“Execute! Harmonic Evolution!”

Numerous leaves and pine needles appeared in the air around Applejack, surrounding her body in a swirling vortex of green as. The storm of leaves quickly grew larger and more intense before vanishing, revealing Applejack’s transformation into a much larger creature.

In place of her pony body was one of a massive wolf, roughly the size of a full van. Her fur was a muted orange with brown stripes, and covering her torso and legs were plates of armor carved from wood. A wooden mask covered her eyes, and sticking out of her front shoulders were thin tree branches, dotted with small leaves. Her tail resembled her tail as a pony, but was more frizzy and unkempt, tied near the end with a light brown tie.

“TimberGarurumon! The Honorable Wolf!”

==========
Digimon Analyzer: TimberGarurumon


Type: Animal

Attribute: Vaccine

Level: Hybrid (Champion Equivalent)

Special Attacks: Forest Fire, Tempest Leaf
==========

“What the heck!?” T.K. cried out in shock. “Applejack?!”

Her transformation completed, TimberGarurumon landed in the lake with a splash, and looked back at T.K, treading water with her paws.

“Ain’t no time to question it, T.K.! Ah gotta go help Pegasusmon!”

TimberGarurumon quickly swam through the water, towards the MegaSeadramon. The MegaSeadramon in turn faced the new arrival, its eyes glowing red with malice.

“Tempest Leaf!”

The branches on TimberGarurumon’s shoulders glowed green, and a series of glowing, razor-sharp leaves shot forth towards the MegaSeadramon. It snarled in irritation as the leaves impacted its body, but otherwise left it unharmed.

Wasting no time, TimberGarurumon quickly followed up with another attack.

“Forest Fire!”

TimberGarurumon exhaled a breath of blazing hot fire, sending a steady stream of bright orange flames towards the MegaSeadramon.

“Mega Ice Blast!”

The MegaSeadramon retaliated with its own attack, exhaling an intense blast of ice from its gaping mouth. The stream of ice met TimberGarurumon’s fire breath in midair, and the two opposing streams pushed against each other. MegaSeadramon’s attack quickly began to overtake TimberGarurumon’s, the blast of ice rapidly pushing through the fire towards her body.

“Now, Pegasusmon!” T.K. shouted.

“Mane Wind!”

With a mighty shout, Pegasusmon swooped down from above, firing a blast of needles from his mane at the MegaSeadramon, causing the dark spiral to shatter. The MegaSeadramon hissed and recoiled in shock, while TimberGarurumon halted her attack, leaving MegaSeadramon to come to his senses. With a low growl, the massive sea serpent quickly recoiled, and dived back underneath the lake.

TimberGarurumon quickly swam back to meet T.K., Pegasusmon flying next to her above the water. With her massive snout, she lifted T.K. out of the water, allowing T.K. to climb on her back.

“Ah gotta admit, Ah wasn’t expecting anything like this,” she said. “Y’all okay up there?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” replied T.K., “just a little bit of déjà vu.”


————————


Applejack, Patamon, and T.K. soon arrived back at the edge of the lake, the former two reverting to their base forms. Amidst the crumbling stone huts, the Bakemon floated freely, having awoken from unconsciousness. They now wandered the cave, directionless, making somewhat less that spooky ‘ooo’ noises. T.K. sat on a rock, trying to shake out the pools of water that had collected in his shoes. To the side, Applejack let out a heavy sigh as she sat on her haunches.

“You alright there, A.J.?” asked T.K., wringing out the water from his soaked felt hat.

“Huh?” Applejack looked up to see T.K. looking at her, an expression of concern crossing his face. “Ah’m fine... Ah just miss mah hat. Pa gave it to me when Ah won an apple-eating contest when Ah was a filly.” She trailed off, ears folding back on her head as she lowered her gaze towards the ground.

“I’m sorry about that, Applejack. I know it must mean a lot to you.” He reached out and gently scratched Applejack behind the ears. She closed her eyes and shivered slightly at the sensation.

Oh wow, that feels nice...

“We should talk to these Bakemon and see what happened,” said T.K., lifting his hand off of Applejack. A pink flush appeared on her cheeks as she realized how much she’d been enjoying herself.

Applejack coughed nervously. “Right, let’s get going.”

“No fair!” Patamon complained, “Why does she get to have her ears scratched?”

“Don’t worry, Patamon, you’ll get your turn. I can carry you until we exit the cave, how about that?”

“Really? Thanks, T.K.!” Patamon flew down to meet T.K., allowing him to carry Patamon in his arms. Patamon smiled contentedly as T.K. gently scratched him behind the ears.

Applejack couldn’t help but smile at T.K.’s display of affection for his partner. “Well ain’t that just adorable? Come on, T.K., let’s go talk to some of them ghosts.”

T.K. turned towards a nearby stone hut, where several Bakemon hovered above them.

“Hello?” he called out, “Excuse me!” The Bakemon ignored him, continuing to float about the area.

“Hello? Can I talk to someone, please?”

One of the Bakemon spoke as it floated by overhead. “Can’t talk, haunting. OOOOoooOOOOoo...”

T.K. glanced at Applejack, both sharing a look of confusion. How were these idiots ever a threat to us again?

“Something tells me they ain’t gonna tell us anything worthwhile,” Applejack chimed in, “We should get going, Ah’d like to meet back with Twilight.”

“Wait!” A voice yelled out from the lake, sporting a foppish accent.

Applejack, Patamon, and T.K. turned in the direction of the lake in time to see the MegaSeadramon’s massive upper body emerge, causing them to flinch as they were splashed with water.  It bent its long neck downwards, lowering its head to meet the three as they sat by the edge of the lake.

“My apologies for interrupting you, I just wanted to tell you all how grateful I am that you helped me. Can you imagine if I’d spent the rest of my life as a slave to that so-called Digimon Queen? Oh, it would have been dreadful!”

T.K. blinked. He wasn’t entirely sure what to think of the MegaSeadramon’s foppish mannerisms, which sharply contrasted to his fearsome appearance.

“Wait, what’s this about a Digimon Queen?” he asked.

“Well, I’m not entirely sure who she is myself. When that ugly control spire appeared, dark rings appeared and enslaved the Bakemon, and I found myself within the clutches of the nefarious dark spiral! I was utterly helpless to defend the poor digimon who haunt this ghost village!

“As I was consumed by the spiral’s power, I could hear her speaking to me, with a voice like that of a demon. She commanded me to do unspeakable things, and I was given no choice but to obey her wishes! To her, my very life was nothing more than a tool for her amusement! Oh, the horror!

“But thanks to your brave efforts, both myself and the Bakemon have been restored to their former selves! They are once again free to haunt the village as they wish, and I am once again free to enjoy the lake at my leisure.” The MegaSeadramon bent over, lowering his head in an approximation of a bow. “I am eternally in your debt. If there is anything you need from me, simply ask, and I will oblige.”

“Hey, there’s no need for that.” Applejack suddenly spoke up. “It was nothing. Really.” Dear Faust, please don’t put me through that load of horseapples again.

“Actually,” said T.K., “Maybe there is something you can do for us. Applejack lost a few of her things in the lake while we were fighting. If it’s not too much trouble, do you think you could find them?”

Applejack looked back at T.K. in surprise. “Y’all really think he’ll be able to find mah hat?”

“It certainly wouldn’t hurt to ask,” replied T.K., “So, MegaSeadramon, do you think you’ll be able to find it? It’s a brown cowboy hat, and there should be a pair of saddlebags next to it.”

“Ah, but of course!” the Megaseadramon exclaimed, quickly retreating back into the water.

“We should let the others know what happened while we’re waiting,” said T.K., “I’ll message them about the control spire, and tell them that I’ve found you. Sorry, buddy, but I’m going to have to let go of you now.”

“Aww...” Patamon sighed in disappointment as T.K. gently placed him on the ground.

Reaching into his pockets, T.K. pulled out his D-Terminal and flipped it open, inspecting it carefully. He hesitantly pushed a few buttons on the front, and his eyes lit up in satisfaction as the machine responded.

“Wow, this thing’s durable. Even after all that, it’s still working. Now let’s see if I can still send messages...”

Applejack stared curiousy at T.K. as he began typing out a message on the unfamiliar machine, his eyes focused on the D-Terminal’s screen. Finally, after a lengthy typing session he placed the D-Terminal back in his pocket.

“Hey, A.J. Good news, I-”

“I found them!” The MegaSeadramon burst from the lake excitedly, practically singing as it spoke. The others flinched as they were once again splashed at the ruptured water. T.K. glared at the MegaSeadramon in disapproval.

“Oh dear, I’m terribly sorry,” said the MegaSeadramon, “I just wanted to let you know that I’d your hat and saddlebags. Here you are!”

The MegaSeadramon’s long tail extended from the water, its green tail fin carefully rolled around another object. He extended the tail towards the others and placed the fin on the ground, unrolling it to reveal Applejack’s saddlebags, as well as her trademark stetson.

“Mah hat!” Applejack nearly squealed in joy as she ran up and grabbed the hat, placing it back on top of her head. She then lifted her saddlebags off of MegaSeadramon’s tail fin and opened them, quickly inspecting the content.

“Well, shoot, Ah don’t think Ah’ll be able to use much of these what with all that water. Ah’ll have to look through them later. Still, Ah’m glad you could find mah hat.”

“It was my pleasure, miss,” replied the MegaSeadramon, “Is there anything else you might need from me?”

“No!” 

The others all stared at Applejack in confusion in response to her sudden outburst. Applejack shifted uncomfortably as she felt the weight of their gaze centered on her.

“Uh, Ah mean, no thank you. It’s fine, really. No big deal.”

“Alright, but if there’s anything you need from me, you know where to find me! Toodles!” With that, the MegaSeadramon retreated back into the lake’s waters, quickly descending below the surface and out of sight.

“What was that about?” asked T.K.

Applejack rolled her eyes. “It’s a long story. Now what was that good news y’all promised?”

“Well, as it just so happens, we’ve managed to find some of your other friends. Cody found a unicorn named Rarity, Kari found a pony name Pinkie Pie, and Ken and Yolei found a pegasus named Rainbow Dash. That ringing any bells?”

“They’re alive? Yeehaw!” Applejack briefly reared on her hind legs as she cried out in joy. “This is great, T.K.! With all of us together, we’ll be able to rescue Fluttershy no problem!”

T.K. frowned. “Right, we still have to figure out what we’re going to do about her. And for that matter, we have to figure out where you all will be staying in the meantime. We should head out to meet the others so we can work thing out, they should all be heading for the DigiPort by now.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Applejack, “Ah’d hate to keep them waiting.”

Patamon and Applejack followed T.K. as he turned around towards the chamber’s entrance, leading them past the wandering Bakemon, out of the village, and to the cave’s exit.
> In the Jungle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ken, I thought you said this was a forest. This place looks more like a jungle!”

Ken and Wormmon turned to face Yolei, who surveyed the landscape atop Halsemon’s back as he flew. Tropical foliage stretched across the ground below, large trees with fanned leaves that formed a thick canopy over the land.

“It’s a rainforest, Yolei,” said Ken, “jungles are forests.”

“When you said a forest I was expecting something different,” Yolei huffed. “There’d better not be a bunch of icky bugs when we land!”

“What’s wrong with bugs?” asked Wormmon.

Yolei froze “I, er... I didn’t mean it like that! What I meant was, um... Uh...” Yolei’s words died in her throat as she found herself unable to form a coherent sentence.

“You were being insensitive,” interrupted Ken. “You need apologize to Wormmon.”

Yolei was stunned by Ken’s bluntness. She sat in awkward silence for several moments, as if still trying to process what Ken said.

“You’re right,” she finally admitted, “I’m sorry, Wormmon.”

“That’s okay, Yolei,” said Wormmon, “I forgive you.” He crawled up next to Yolei, allowing her to scratch him gently behind the antennae.

“Don’t get distracted, you two,” said Ken, “we need to keep our eyes peeled for the control spire.”

“Huh? What’s the big deal, Ken?” said Yolei, “It’s a huge black tower, how could we possibly miss it?”

Ken let out a deep, heavy sigh. “You know what? Forget I said anything.”

“Ken...” Yolei hesitantly reached a hand out towards Ken, an expression of deep concern crossing her face. Ken turned away and stared off into the distance, and Yolei pulled her hand back.

For several minutes the three sat in silence atop Halsemon’s back. Ken was unwilling to speak, and the others found themselves at a loss for anything to say to him. The silence was eventually broken by a beeping sound that came from both Ken and Yolei.

Yolei reached into her pocket and pulled out her D-Terminal, reading the message that was displayed on the screen.

==========
Hey guys! You wouldn’t believe what I just found! While on the way to the control spire I met this purple pony named Twilight Sparkle, and she’s actually an alien from another world! Pretty awesome, huh?

Anyway, it turns out she and her friends came to the Digital World to rescue another pony named Fluttershy, but they ended up getting separated. If any of you guys see another strange pony, let me know, okay?

- Davis
==========

“Uh, Ken?”

“Hm?” Ken was pulled out of his thoughts when Yolei called out to him.

“You don’t know if Davis does drugs by any chance, do you?”


————————


Rainbow Dash’s eyes slowly adjusted to the light as the teleport spell completed, her head swimming as she slowly regained her senses. When her vision returned, she found herself in what could only be a jungle straight out of one of her Daring Do books.

Dense tropical foliage surrounded her at all side, with large trees draped with vines sticking up out of the ground, forming a thick roof of branches and leaves over the forest floor. Colorful flowers,  and large ferns grew closer to the ground, leaving the entire scene carpeted in verdant plant life. The hot, humid air filled with sounds of what Rainbow could only assume were the rainforest’s animals.

“Huh? What’s going on Twilight? Where are we?”

There was a pause as Twilight failed to respond. Rainbow looked around her to find that she was nowhere to be found. None of her friends were, in fact.

“Huh? Guys? Where are you?”

Turning her head, Rainbow frantically scanned the surrounding area, but couldn’t find any sign of the other ponies. She took a tentative step forward as she examined her surroundings more carefully, hoping to find her friends hiding among the dense underbrush.

Calm down, Rainbow Dash, she reassured herself, they couldn’t have gone far. They probably ended up somewhere nearb- whoa!

Rainbow’s thoughts were abruptly cut off as her entire body began to glow, and she levitated into the air, a soft light encompassing her entire body. After a moment the glow faded, and she gently landed back onto the ground.

Oookay, that was weird. Wait, what’s this thing?

Rainbow suddenly noticed the presence of a strange object that was attached to her front ankle with a velcro strap. It was a rounded plastic rectangle with a small screen in the center, and surrounding the edges was a thick rubber casing, colored bright red. As she inspected it, a gentle light emitted from the screen, and her eyes lit up in recognition.

“Wait, is this the Element of Loyalty? Why has it turned into some kind of weird hoofwatch?”

Rainbow stared at the device in confusion, twisting her hoof around to inspect it from different angles. She sat onto her haunches and prodded the device gently with her other hoof curiously.

“Whatever,” Rainbow said as she got back on her hooves, “I’ll worry about it later. Right now I’ve gotta find the others!”

“Hisssss...”

The hairs on the back of Rainbow’s neck stood up straight up as she heard the unmistakable sound of something hissing right behind her. She hesitantly turned around, coming face-to-face with whatever creature had made the sound.

What she saw could only be described as a giant bug. It was a massive, multi-legged grub, roughly the size of a young filly, with a bright yellow coloration, black, lightning-shaped stripes, and large antennae. On the back of its body was a bright blue stinger, matching the color of its beak-like mouth. Around its neck was a black ring, inscribed with symbols Rainbow couldn’t recognize at a glance.

“Kuneeeeeh!”

The insect let out a sharp cry as it pounced at Rainbow, intent on slaughtering her with its beak. Rainbow swiftly turned around and bucked, striking the insect in the head with her rear hooves. The ring around its neck cracked slightly as the bug fell to the ground on its side. Rainbow glared at the insect as it picked itself back on its feet and faced her.

“Come on!” Rainbow shouted, “Bring it! I’m not afraid of some bug!”

For several tense moments, the insect stared back at Rainbow with its small, beady eyes. Eventually, it began to slowly back away, before turning around and skittering off into the dense underbrush.

“That’s right, go ahead and run! We both know you wouldn’t stand a chance against...”

Rainbow suddenly paused in her speech as she noticed a low buzzing sound coming from the direction that the grub had retreated in.

“Against... Um...”

The buzzing sound grew in intensity, becoming louder and unmistakably closer. Rainbow Dash gulped and carefully stepped backward, ready to take to the air at a moment’s notice.

Rainbow’s fears found themselves confirmed when all of a sudden a massive, wasp-like insect almost a dozen times her size burst through the dense forest, charging straight at her. It closely resembled the larva that attacked her previously, a bright yellow wasp with black stripes and beak-like mandibles, with massive purple wings carrying it across the air.

Rainbow Dash left the ground in an instant, her wings carrying her across the forest as the insect gave chase. Her lungs burned and her muscles ached as she desperately tried to outrace the wasp. The thick canopy overhead prevented her from escaping upwards, while the densely-packed trees also limited her speed, forcing her to slow down to avoid crashing.

That didn’t explain why the wasp was gaining on her, however. Even with her limited mobility, Rainbow knew that she should easily be able to outrun the wasp. Try as she might, however, she couldn’t seem to push herself to go any faster than she already was. Panic began to overtake her as the massive insect steadily closed the distance between them, pointing its massive stinger at Rainbow.

“Deadly Sting!”

With a thrust of its abdomen, the wasp’s stinger detached from its body, launching itself like an arrow towards Rainbow Dash. Several more stingers launched themselves in rapid succession, replacing themselves as soon as they left the wasps body. Acting on instinct, Rainbow Dash dodged the stingers, frantically moving to avoid the projectiles while at the same time weaving through the trees. All the while, the wasp steadily moved closer.

What’s going on? Why can’t I fly faster? I’m too awesome to die like this! Wait, what’s that?

As she flew, Rainbow caught a glimpse of a small opening in the canopy ahead, just large enough for her to safely fly through. Acting on her first instinct, she immediately turned upwards, flying up through the hole in the canopy.

Hovering above the forest, Rainbow Dash looked down to see the wasp’s head sticking through the opening in the trees, buzzing angrily as it tried in vain to crawl through the hole.

“What’s the matter, can’t keep up with me? Too fat for that little hole?” Rainbow grinned triumphantly, taunting the massive insect.

The wasp let out another low buzz, sounding almost as if were growling in irritation. Finally, it removed its head from the opening and withdrew back into the forest, the buzzing of its wings growing softer as it retreated into the distance.

Rainbow nervously let out a breath as the last sound of the massive bug faded away into nothing.

T-that was terrifying! I’d nearly been slaughtered by a giant fly monster! What would my friends think if I’d died like that?

Rainbow’s eyes widened as she came to a sudden realization, one that was far more frightening than what she’d just experienced.

“My friends!” she exclaimed, “What if there are other giant bugs out there? I- I have to find them, and fast!”

Rainbow quickly, turned around, and then flew back down through the gap in the canopy, touching down onto the rich jungle soil. With the rush of adrenaline gone, however, fatigue began to catch up to her. Her body felt unusually heavy as she landed, and she found herself struggling to avoid collapsing on the spot.

“Alright, Now I just gotta look... Gotta look...” 

Rainbow yawned loudly, blinking wearily. She struggled to remain standing up, barely managing to prevent herself from falling over.

“No, not here!” Rainbow groaned. “I can’t fall asleep here... My friends... Danger...”

Her protests were in vain, however, as she unceremoniously slumped to the ground, falling asleep in an instant.


————————


“This isn’t right,” Ken complained, “we should be looking for the control spire right now, not wasting our time with some asinine picnic.”

The others stared at Ken from across the circle they sat in on the forest floor. Yolei, Hawkmon, and Wormmon were all eating sandwiches Yolei had brought with her. Ken’s sandwich, however, remained untouched, lying at his feet in a tinfoil wrap.

Hawkmon harrumphed. “Oh, do lighten up, Ken. It’s hard to fly on an empty stomach, you know! Besides, I hardly call this a picnic without a blanket or a basket.”

“I know,” Ken sighed out, “I just... You know what, never mind."

Yolei stared at Ken, a look of sympathy appearing in her eyes.

“Ken, are you alright?”

Ken remained silent, eyes fixated on the ground.

“This is about the Digimon Emperor, isn’t it?”

Ken visibly flinched at Yolei’s words.

Yolei gasped. “I-I’m sorry, Ken! I didn’t mean-”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“I said it’s fine, so shut up!”

The others abruptly stopped eating at Ken’s sudden outburst, leaving them momentarily stunned. For almost a minute, nobody said anything.

The silence was eventually broken when a loud noise began coming from nearby in the jungle.

“Hey wait, what’s that?” asked Yolei.

“If I’m not mistaken, it sounds rather like a chainsaw.” Hawkmon chimed, “Perhaps some digimon wishes to cut down the forest?”

“A chainsaw?” Yolei puzzled, “No, that can’t be it. It sounds kind of like... Snoring?”

“Oh dear,” said Wormmon, “this is no place for a digimon to be sleeping, there are all sorts of nasty dark rings about!”

Wormmon turned and glanced at Ken. “I’m going to go make sure that poor digimon is alright. You should probably come too, Ken. I mean, if that’s alright with you.”

“Huh? What?” Ken looked up to see Wormmon skittering off into the forest, in the direction of the snoring sound. He immediately bolted upright and climbed to his feet, giving chase to Wormmon.

“Wormmon, wait! It could be dangerous!”

————————


On the streets of Cloudsdale, a young filly named Rainbow Dash watched as the hospital pegasi carried the ambulance away. For a long time she’d simply stood there and stared, thinking only of how she could have prevented it.

Rainbow made no effort to hold back the flow of tears as the ambulance sped into the distance. She cried harder than she ever cried before. It was all her fault.

“Hello, are you okay?”

“Mrrngh...” Rainbow Dash gently stirred in her sleep as she felt something gently prodding at her cheek.

“Hello? You need to wake up, it’s dangerous out here!”

“Ugh, five more minutes, please...” Rainbow Dash’s eyes gently fluttered open as she protested the sudden disturbance. As her vision adjusted to the light, she finally got a good look at what had startled her.

It was a giant bug. A massive green caterpillar, more than half of her size, was staring at her only inches away from her face.

“Hello, my name’s Wormmon, what’s yours?”

Rainbow Dash screamed like a little filly.
> The Rainbow Sleeps Tonight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash stared angrily at the large green caterpillar that was standing just in front of her. Her initial reaction to the bug was less cool than she’d like to admit, she was thankful her friends hadn’t seen her initial freakout. After a short time screaming and flailing, the bug had backed off slightly, and was now staring at her worriedly.

Rainbow glared back intensely at the worm with wings flared, trying her best to look intimidating.

“Y-you better not try anything!” she stammered, “I’m warning you!”

“Please, don’t be scared,” replied the insect, “I was only trying to help...”

“Like hay you were! You’re the third giant bug that’s tried to kill me since I got here!”

“I wasn’t trying to kill you, I was trying to warn you. It’s much too dangerous out here for you to be sleeping like that!”

Rainbow eyed the green caterpillar suspiciously. “I suppose you’re right about that. But how do I know I can trust you? How do I know you’re not going to try to kill me?”

“Well, if I did want to kill you, wouldn’t I have done it when you were sleeping?”

“Huh? Well, maybe you’re planning something else, like, um...” Rainbow paused, trying to come up with a possible explanation. “Well, whatever! I don’t trust you, and that’s that! So don’t move!”

Rainbow’s ferocious gaze wavered slightly as she stared down the insect, fear plainly visible in her eyes.

“I’m serious! D-don’t move a muscle or I’ll squish you!”

The caterpillar shifted nervously under the weight of Rainbow Dash’s piercing glare. For several seconds the two simply stared at each other, unwilling to make a move.

“Wormmon! There you are!”

“Yipe!”

Rainbow Dash jumped at the sound of the new voice, which had called out from the nearby foliage. Pushing itself out of the dense underbrush was a tall, bipedal creature. It was mostly hairless, save for a long black mane on its head, and on its body it wore grey outfit, with a strange rectangular bag hanging from a strap on its shoulder. Judging by the voice, he was most likely male.

The bipedal creature quickly ran over to the caterpillar, apparently named Wormmon, and looked down at him, frowning in disapproval.

“What were you thinking, Wormmon? You can’t just go running off by yourself like that! You know it’s dangerous out here!”

“I sorry, Ken,” replied Wormmon, “but when I heard that digimon over there snoring I just had to make sure she was alright. It isn’t safe for anyone to sleeping when there are so many dark rings about!”

“Hey!” Rainbow interjected, “What do you mean snoring?”

“And what if they were already under the control of a dark ring?” Ken asked, “What would you have done then? What if someone tried to kill you and I wasn’t there to protect you?”

“Oh,” Wormmon said dejectedly, “I didn’t think of that.”

Ken immediately knelt down and wrapped his arms around Wormmon, pulling him into a tight hug, fresh tears appearing in the corners of his eyes.

“I can’t lose you again, Wormmon! Not after everything that’s happened!”

Wormmon’s antennae sagged as he returned Ken’s embrace. “I’m sorry, Ken, I didn’t mean to worry you. I promise I’ll be more careful.”

“It’s alright. Just don’t scare me like that, okay?”

“Agreed.”

After a lengthy embrace, Ken released Wormmon from his arms and stood up, both of them turning to face Rainbow Dash. Rainbow stared at them nervously, unsure of what to think.

“Uh... Sorry, you kinda lost me there,” said Rainbow.

“Don’t worry about it,” replied Ken. “Weird, I don’t remember ever seeing anything like you. I’ll have to look your species up later.”

“Huh?”

“I suppose that’s not important right now, though. What’s important is if you’re alright or not. Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” replied Rainbow, “I mean, I guess I’m alright now.”

“See, Wormmon?” said Ken, “She’s fine. Now why don’t we go back and meet with Yolei and Hawkmon so we can get moving?”

Without another word, Ken turned around and headed back in the direction with he came from. Wormmon paused for a moment, looking back at Rainbow worriedly briefly before turning back and calling into the forest.

“Ken, what about her? She could still be in danger! Ken?”

Wormmon’s protests fell on deaf ears, however, as Ken had already disappeared further into the jungle.

“Um, I’m sorry, I really want to stay, but If I leave Ken he’ll be really worried about me. Are you sure you’re alright? Will you be able to make it out here on your own?”

“Huh?” replied Rainbow, “Yeah, don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure!” Rainbow replied, exasperated, “now can you please just go?”

“Well, all right,” Wormmon conceded. With that, he turned around and crawled into the distant forest, following after Ken.

Well, that was weird, Rainbow thought, What exactly was that hairless monkey thing supposed to be? What was his name, Ken? What was with him and that bug thing named Wormmon?

Rainbow sat on her haunches and contemplated what had just happened. The more she thought about the hairless ape named Ken, the more she was bothered by him. She couldn’t quite describe it, but something about Ken bothered her. There was a certain subtle wrongness about him that made Rainbow Dash feel on edge when thinking about him.

Ugh, just what is going on here? A jungle, giant bug monsters, and now that thing named Ken?

A frustrated frown appeared on Rainbow’s face as she considered everything that had happened since Twilight had cast her teleport spell. The whole experience had left her confused and desperate for answers.

That’s it! I’m tired of being left out of the loop! I’m going to get some answers out of that big bald ape!
A newfound sense of determination welled up within Rainbow Dash as she lifted herself into the air and sped off to find Ken. 


————————


Ken soon arrived back at the makeshift camp to find Yolei and Hawkmon waiting for him. Yolei stood up and rushed over to meet him.

“Is everything alright, Ken?” asked Yolei, “Where’s Wormmon?”

“Huh?” Panic crept its way into Ken’s face as he looked behind him to see Wormmon wasn’t there. “Wormmon? Wormmon, where are you!?”

“Ken, wait up!”



“Wormmon, what were you doing back there?” demanded Ken, “You were supposed to be following after me!”

Wormmon looked up at Ken, still breathing heavily. “I’m sorry, Ken. I had to stay behind to make sure that digimon was alright.”

“We don’t have time for that!” Ken snapped, “If we stop to help every single digimon we find we’ll never make it to the control spire! The only way to save these digimon is to destroy the spire and find out who’s building them!” Wormmon flinched at the sudden outburst as though he were struck.

“Ken, calm down!” Yolei cried out, “I understand you’re upset about what’s happening, but that’s no reason to yell at Wormmon like that!”

Ken sighed. “Look, I’m just saying we shouldn’t distract ourselves from our mission. I’m sorry if acted unreasonably.”

“Yolei’s not the one you should be saying sorry to,” Hawkmon chimed, “Wormmon’s the one you yelled at, and I believe you owe him an apology.”

Ken frowned, shifting uncomfortably. “You’re right,” he admitted, “I’m sorry, Wormmon.”

“That’s okay, Ken,” said Wormmon, “I forgive you.”

Ken knelt down and allowed Wormmon to approach him, scratching him gently behind the antennae.

“Hey, you!”

Ken and the others nearly jumped into the air at the sound of the voice that had called out. A multicolored blur suddenly shot out from the forest, kicking up large amounts of dust as it landed nearby. The two humans and digimon erupted into coughing fits as the dust settled from the sudden disturbance.

Yolei took off her glasses and wiped the dust off, while the others rubbed the dust from their eyes, allowing them to get a good look at the sudden arrival. The first thing Yolei noticed was that it resembled a small winged pony, with a bright multicolored mane that complimented her light-blue coat. The second thing she noticed was that was it angry.

“You there!” said the pony, pointing an accusing hoof at Ken, “you’d better tell me what’s going on here! Who are you? Where are my friends?”

“Hey, calm down,” said Ken.

“No! I’m not going to calm down! I’m completely lost in the middle of nowhere, my friends are nowhere to be found, and I was nearly killed by a giant wasp! You better tell me what’s going here, or else!”

“Hey, leave Ken alone!” Yolei interjected, “he hasn’t done anything to you!”

The pony turned her head to face Yolei. “Oh? And who are you supposed to be? His girlfriend?”

A pink flush appeared on Yolei’s face. “H-hey! Shut up! Just because I think he’s cute doesn’t mean he’s my boyfriend!”

Ken suddenly shrank back, his face turning bright red. The pony’s angry glare disappeared as she suddenly burst into uproarious laughter, rolling on the forest floor.

“Shut up!” Yolei shouted, “That’s not funny!”

“Yeah, sure...” The pony replied sarcastically, still gasping for breath as she stood up. “Why don’t you tell me again about how cute your not-boyfriend is?”

“Why, you little—!”

“That’s quite enough, both of you!” Hawkmon interrupted, putting himself between the pony and Yolei.

“Now, then,” Hawkmon addressed the pony, “would you please be so kind as to tell us your name? I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a digimon like you before.”

“Digimon? What are you talking about?” The pony flew up off the ground, doing a backwards flip in the air.

“You’re looking at Rainbow Dash, the awesomest pegasus in all of Equestria!” the pony proclaimed triumphantly. Breathing heavily, she slowly lowered herself to ground, trying to hide her own exhaustion.

“You’re a Pegasusmon?” said Wormmon, “That’s strange, I’ve never seen one like you before. Then again, I’ve only ever known one.”

“No, Wormmon,” said Ken, “I think what she’s trying to say is that she’s not a Digimon at all. Is that right... Rainbow Dash?” Ken hesitated in saying the name, sounding completely ridiculous to his ears.

“No way! I don’t even know what a digimon is! Why do you keep calling me that?”

“But... I don’t understand.” said Ken, “How is that possible?”

“Hey, wait a second,” said Yolei.

“I don’t know! That’s just the way I am!” said Rainbow, angrily.

“Hey!” said Yolei.

“That doesn’t explain anything!” said Ken “Everything in the Digital World is either a human or digimon, and you’re neither of those things! So tell me, what exactly are you supposed to be?”

“I already told you! I’m a pegasus!”

“Will you two shut up and listen!?”

“What!?” Ken and Rainbow Dash both turned and yelled at Yolei.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that, Ken! I was going to tell you something important before you two started bickering with each other!”

Ken sighed. “Yeah, what is it?”

“Well,” said Yolei, “remember that email Davis sent to me a while ago that I thought was a prank? He said something about finding some alien pony named Twilight—”

“What!?” Rainbow Dash left the ground in an instant, flying up so that her face was mere inches away from Yolei’s. “Where is she!? What have you done with her!?”

“H-hey! Calm down! I haven’t done anything!”

“Like hay you haven’t, you liar!” Rainbow pressed herself closer to Yolei, causing her to tumble backwards and fall onto her backside. Rainbow Dash landed violently on top of her, pinning her to the ground.

“You’re in a world of hurt for threatening my friends!”

“Sticky Net!”

Wormmon ejected a glob of silk from his mouth, striking Rainbow Dash at high velocity. The silk expanded into a net, carrying Rainbow as it traveled, before wrapping itself around a tree, pinning Rainbow Dash to the trunk.

“H-hey! Lemme go!” Rainbow struggled futilely against the silk, trying desperately to escape her bonds.

Hawkmon approached Yolei and reached out with an arm, helping her to her feet.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” said Yolei, “but what about Rainbow Dash?”

Yolei looked over towards the aforementioned pegasus, who struggled weakly against the sticky web holding her to the trunk. After a brief fit of struggling, she finally gave up, hanging limp against her restraints.

“I... I give up.” She sighed. “Do whatever you want with me, but please, don’t hurt my friends!”

“Now wait a second,” said Yolei.

“Please!” Rainbow begged, “My friends don’t deserve this! I’ll do anything, just leave them alone!”

“Calm down! We’re not going to hurt anyone!”

“Yolei, perhaps it would be best if I handled this,” Hawkmon chimed in as he approached Rainbow Dash. “Feather Strike!”

Rainbow Dash flinched as Hawkmon grabbed the feather on his headband and tossed it like a boomerang at her. Instead of striking her, however, the feather cleanly cut through the silk on either side of her body, causing her to fall to the ground. Hawkmon caught the feather as it came back to him, placing it back on his headband.

Rainbow hesitantly opened her eyes, and looked around in confusion. She stood up, and with a gentle shake of her legs, she forced the silk net off.

“You freed me?” she asked, turning to face the others, “Why?”

“A simple act of good will, my friend,” said Hawkmon, “I only wished to prove to you that we meant no harm.”

“No harm!?” Rainbow shouted, “You said you had your friends kidnap Twilight!”

“Nobody said anything about a kidnapping!” cried Yolei. “All I said was that Davis found your friend!”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “So you really haven’t done anything to hurt her?”

“Of course not. Davis may be a little obnoxious sometimes, but he’d never hurt someone for no reason.”

“And what about my other friends?” asked Rainbow, “What happened to them?”

“Huh?”

“My other friends! We were all together when we left! What happened? Are... Are they gonna be okay?” Rainbow croaked out the words as she stared at Yolei with pleading eyes.

Yolei shook her head. “I haven’t heard anything about other ponies, I’m afraid.”

“Oh...” Rainbow Dash’s ears flattened against her head, looking as though she’d been crushed.

Yolei knelt down and looked Rainbow straight in the eyes. “Hey, listen. Why don’t you tell us some more about your friends and where you came from? Maybe we figured out what’s going on we could help you out.”

“I’d like to know what’s going on, too.” said Ken. “You said she was an alien, didn’t you?”

“Well, that’s what Davis said,” replied Yolei. “Are you an alien, Rainbow Dash?”

“What?” exclaimed Rainbow, “Of course not! Why would I be an alien? I told you, I’m a pegasus!”

“I think a better question would be if you came from another world.” said Hawkmon, “Nobody would consider himself an alien from his own perspective, after all.”

“What are you talking about?” said Rainbow, “I’m not from another world, I’m from Equestria!”

The others traded a series of blank looks with each other.

“Uh... You know, Equestria? It’s only the single largest kingdom on planet Ungula! How can you not have heard of it?”

“Uh, I hate to break it to you, Rainbow,” said Yolei, “but I’ve never heard of a planet called Ungula before.”

Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped. “What?! Does this mean I’m on another planet now?”

“My sincerest apologies, Rainbow Dash,” said Hawkmon, “but I’m afraid it’s the truth.”

“Apologies? Are you kidding me!?” Rainbow exclaimed, as she flew into the air excitedly, “I’m one of the first ponies to ever explore another planet! That is so awesome!” Rainbow leaned up and pressed her front hooves against her face, squishing her cheeks together.

“That’s the spirit!” said Hawkmon, “Always look on the bright side of things, I always say!”

“You said it!” exclaimed Rainbow “So what exactly is this planet called anyway? Are you guys, like, the native aliens or something? What sort of freaky alien names have you got?”

“Hey!” cried Yolei, “My name’s not freaky, it’s Yolei!”

“I dunno, sounds pretty freaky to me,” Rainbow teased.

“No it isn’t! It’s a perfectly normal name!”

“Alright, that’s enough”, interrupted Ken, “Rainbow Dash is right, though, we should probably introduce ourselves since we’ve already learned her name. I’m Ken, and this is my partner Wormmon.”

“Oh yeah,” said Rainbow Dash, “I remember that now. I heard you guys call each other that before. What about the bird thing, though? What’s his name?”
“I beg your pardon?” Hawkmon huffed, “My name is Hawkmon, and I am most certainly not a bird thing.”

“So... You’re a hawk, and your name is Hawkmon? And the worm guy’s name is Wormmon? Not very creative. Why can’t you have those weird alien names like Ken or Yolei?”

“For the last time, there’s nothing wrong with my name!” exclaimed Yolei.

“Let’s not start this again,” interrupted Ken. “If we want to get anywhere we need to explain to each other what’s going on.

“I should start by saying that Yolei and I are humans. We come from a planet called Earth, which is a different from the Digital World, which is where we are right now. The Digital World is connected to the planet Earth through Earth’s computer networks. Wormmon and Hawkmon are digimon, or digital monsters, which are native to the Digital World.”

“Whoa... So you guys are like, double aliens, then,” said Rainbow. Yolei and Hawkmon both rolled their eyes.

“Well, I suppose that’s one way of seeing it,” said Ken, “Yolei and I are part of a special group of humans called the Digi-Destined. We’ve both been chosen to serve as a link between the Earth and the Digital World, and with the help of our partners we protect both worlds from evil.” Ken pulled out a small electronic device from his pocket and showed it to Rainbow Dash.

“This object is called a digivice. It lets us open portals from Earth to the Digital World. It also allows us to channel our emotions to allow our partners to digivolve into stronger forms. But right now our partners can’t digivolve normally because of the control spires...” Ken trailed off, leaving his sentence unfinished.

“Uh, are you okay?” asked Rainbow.

“It’s nothing,” said Ken, “as I was saying, the control spires are black towers that emit a signal that prevents our digimon from digivolving normally. Instead, we use artifacts called armor digi-eggs, which allow our partners to armor digivolve.”

“Uh-huh.” Rainbow nodded along half-heartedly, looking like she didn’t fully understand.

“The control spires also control evil artifacts called dark rings, which brainwash and enslave digimon. We’re trying to find out who’s building the control spires and put a stop to them before any more innocent digimon are harmed.”

“Wait, are you saying those bugs that tried to kill me were under mind control?” Rainbow cried,  “I don’t believe it! That’s messed up! Who would do that?”

“As I said, that’s what we’re trying to find out. But what I’m wondering now is how you got here, and if it’s somehow related to the control spires.”

“Huh? What!?” Rainbow sputtered. “What are you saying? I’d never do anything like that!”

“Calm down, Rainbow, nobody’s accusing you of anything!” said Yolei. “We just need to know how you got here so we can figure out what’s going on.”

“Alright, alright, sorry,” Rainbow sighed, “sheesh.”

“It’s okay,” said Ken, “we’re not mad at you, we just need to know everything before we go on. Can you tell us what happened before you got here?”

“Well,” said Rainbow Dash, “I was having a picnic outside near Twilight’s house, along with my friends, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack. We were waiting for our other friend Fluttershy when we suddenly heard this huge explosion! We went inside to investigate, and apparently Fluttershy was being dragged through a portal by some kind of evil magic. Twilight cast a spell for us to follow her, and next thing I knew, I was here, and the rest my friends were nowhere to be seen.”

“Evil magic?” said Yolei, “Ken, do you think that could be related to the new control spires?”

“That does sound likely at this point,” said Ken, “Rainbow Dash, can you tell us any more information?”

“Hey, no need to be all formal and stuff. Just call me Rainbow. Or Dash. Just as long as you know I’m awesome.” Rainbow Dash smirked triumphantly.

“Great, just what we needed,” Yolei muttered, “another Davis.”

“I can’t really think of anything else important to say. Oh, wait, my Element of Loyalty got transformed into this thing. It looks kind of like that Digivice you showed me.” Rainbow held out her forehoof as she hovered in front of Ken, allowing him to examine the red plastic device.

Ken stared incredulously at the small device on Rainbow’s ankle. “I don’t believe it. Is this really a digivice? Does this mean you’re a Digi-Destined?”

“Nah,” said Rainbow, “I don’t have a digimon partner like you. It just turned into this when I arrived here.”

“I see. And what is the Element of Loyalty, exactly?”

“It’s one of the Elements of Harmony,” said Rainbow. “They’re these six magical necklaces that represent the awesomest, most powerful force in Equestria! Well, Twilight’s is a crown, but whatever. Whenever bad guys attack, my friends and I are always ready to use the Elements to give them what for!” Rainbow cheered as she posed triumphantly in midair.

“Can you tell us more about them?” asked Ken, “What else do you know about the Elements of Harmony?”

“Well, as I said, My Element is the Element of Loyalty. Fluttershy’s is the Element of Kindness, Rarity is Generosity, Applejack is Honesty, Pinkie Pie's is Laughter, and Twilight’s is the Element of Magic. Whenever we use them, we go all floaty and glowy-eyed and shoot a giant rainbow that beats the bad guys in one shot. I gotta say, those Elements of Harmony have some pretty good taste.”

Ken’s eyes suddenly went wide. “Wait, back up! You say the Element of Kindness belonged to Fluttershy? The one who was kidnapped by an evil force?”

“Yeah,” said Rainbow, “why?”

“Because if my suspicions are correct,” Ken replied flatly, “then the one who took Fluttershy is using her Element of Kindness to build these new control spires.”

“What!” Rainbow exclaimed, “What do you mean? Why would they do that? How do you know?”

“Just trust me on this!” Ken snapped angrily, causing the others to flinch. “Right now your friend is in grave danger, Rainbow, and if we don’t act fast something horrible could happen to her!”

Rainbow simply stared, stunned into silence. Ken turned to Yolei and Hawkmon. “Get ready to armor digivolve. We need to head for the control spire right away.”

“Ken, shouldn’t you—”

Ken gave Yolei a piercing glare, silencing her instantly. Yolei could tell just from his expression what Ken was trying to say.

We can’t tell her about me yet. We can’t risk losing her trust.

Yolei nodded, reaching into her pocket and holding out her Digivice towards Hawkmon. “Alright, then. Get ready, Hawkmon! Digi-Armor Energize!”

Yolei’s Digivice let out a shrill noise as it the screen glowed intensely. The Digi-Egg of Love emerged from the screen, growing in size until it resemble a winged helmet. Hawkmon’s body glowed as the digi-egg flew towards him, and merged with his body.

“Hawkmon, Armor Digivolve To: Halsemon, the Wings of Love!”

Rainbow stared in awe as Hawkmon’s body grew larger, transforming into a quadrupedal digimon not too dissimilar from a griffin, with a winged helmet covering the top of his head.

Yolei climbed on, and Ken followed suit, lifting Wormmon up to carry him onto Halemon’s back.

“Come on, Rainbow,” said Yolei, “Ken’s right, we should get going.”

“Wait!” Rainbow cried out, “What about Fluttershy? What about the rest of my friends? Are they going to be okay?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll find them,” said Ken, “come on, we can look for your friends on the way to the control spire.”

“Alright,” said Rainbow, “I’ll come with you. We’ll kick those bad guys’ butts so had they won’t even know what hit them! That’ll teach them not to mess with my friends!”

“We should get going then,” said Halsemon, “Do you want a ride, or will you fly with us on your own?”

“You kidding? I don’t need any help, I was born to fly!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Uh, not that you’re a bad ride or anything,” she hastily added.

“No offense taken,” said Halsemon.

With that, Halsemon lifted off the ground, ascending through a large hole in the forest canopy, with Rainbow Dash following closely behind as they both set off in search of the control spire.
> Hottokenai
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash stared down lazily at the jungle as the trees passed her at a moderate pace. Due to her inexplicably reduced flight speed and agility, she’d found herself mostly gliding through the air as she followed Halsemon towards their ultimate destination. She didn’t have the energy or the ability to perform any of her usual feats of aerial prowess, and it infuriated her to no end.

She looked over towards Halsemon, who was leading her towards what appeared to be a black tower in the distance, presumably one of the control spires Ken had mentioned. Rainbow felt a shiver fall down her spine as she looked at the spire, its evil presence felt despite being so far away.

“So, what are we going to do when we get to this control spire thing?” asked Rainbow.

“We’re going to destroy it,” replied Ken. “When we do, it’ll free all the digimon in the area that are controlled by dark rings.”

“And what about Fluttershy?” Rainbow demanded “What about my other friends? We still have no idea where they are or what happened to them!”

“We’ll figure that out when we get there”, said Ken, “we need to destroy the control spire first.”

“But my friends are in danger! You’re not seriously going to abandon them, are you?”

“You don’t think I know that?” Ken angrily replied, “Right now the entire Digital World is in danger! If we want to figure out what’s going on and what happened to your friends, we have no choice but to go after the control spire first. Once we free the digimon, they’ll be able to tell us what happened.”

“And what if they don’t know what happened to my friends?” Rainbow asked, “what are you gonna do then, huh?”

“Calm down, Rainbow!” said Yolei, “I promise we’ll find your friends, okay? Ken knows what he’s doing, you need to trust him.”

“He’d better know what he’s doing.” Rainbow muttered.

The group continued in silence for some time, the control spire gradually growing larger in size from their perspective as they approached. Rainbow felt her body growing more and more tired as they continued, but she tried her best to avoid showing any sign of fatigue to her new acquaintances.

Ugh, I’ll never find my friends at this rate, she silently protested. There’s no way I’ll be able to rescue my friends with these guys slowing me down. I have to find a way to ditch them somehow.

“Hey, Ken?” Rainbow spoke up

Ken was suddenly pulled out of his silent brooding. “Hm?”

“Um... Can I stop so I can use the bathroom?”

“Now?”

“Please?” Rainbow pleaded, “I really have to go!”

Ken let out an exasperated sigh. “Ugh, fine. But make it quick, okay?”

“Alright, thanks! Just, uh, don’t wait up for me, okay? I’ll catch up to you eventually.”

“Wait!” Yolei cried, “You’re not seriously going to go down there by yourself, are you? Don’t you know it’s dangerous?”

“What? Can’t I get a little privacy?” Rainbow responded with indignation, “I can take care of myself! I survived in that jungle for all by myself before you found me!”

Ken raised an eyebrow skeptically.

“Don’t worry,” said Rainbow, “I’ll be totally fine. Just keep going and I’ll meet with you at the control spire.”

“What about all the mind controlled digimon?” Wormmon asked in a concerned tone. “There are so many nasty things down there who would kill you as soon as they saw the opportunity.”

“I’d like to see them try!” Rainbow boasted, “Look, if I can keep up with you guys in the air for this long, then sure as hay can outrun any monster that comes after me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go!”

“Rainbow, wait!”

Rainbow Dash ignored Yolei’s shout as she swiftly flew downwards, causing Halsemon to swerve in midair to face her. Before they could go after her, Rainbow maneuvered through a gap in the forest canopy that was too small for Halsemon to fit through, leaving the group hovering above the forest canopy. Yolei desperately reached out a hand towards the fleeing pegasus, only to be interrupted when Ken placed a hand on her shoulder.

“It’s alright, Yolei. Rainbow Dash was right, If we wait for her, it’ll only slow us down while more innocent digimon suffer. I think we should trust her on this.”

“Are you sure she’ll make it back alright?” Yolei pleaded.

“Rainbow Dash isn’t as helpless as you might think,” replied Ken. “If we’re to believe her story, that device on her wrist is one of the most powerful weapons of her world. If worse comes to worse, she’ll be able to defend herself with it.”

“I just can’t help but worry, though...”

“I understand if you’re worried Yolei, but we do need to keep moving. I have a suspicion that the evil force that abducted her friend Fluttershy is also the one creating the control spires, and is currently holding her hostage. We need to confirm if that’s true by freeing the digimon and gathering more information on who enslaved them.”

Yolei hesitated briefly before responding. “Alright Ken, I trust your judgment. I just hope you’re right about all of this.”

Yolei gave Halsemon a slight nod, and Halsemon turned around and started flying towards the control spire. As they approached, Ken couldn’t help but stare at the black monument he had worked so hard to eradicate from the Digital World in the past.

Either the one who kidnapped Fluttershy is using her Element to build the control spires, or... No, I don’t even want to consider that possibility. Nobody would ever repeat my mistake.


————————


Rainbow Dash let out a tired sigh as she landed on the forest floor.

Thank Celestia, I finally managed to ditch them. Now I just need to figure out where the hay my friends went.

Taking a look around, Rainbow scanned the forest for any sign of any of the other ponies that had accompanied her on their mission to rescue Fluttershy. Everywhere she looked, however, there was nothing but vegetation, no sign of anything other than the colorful foliage. As she looked the landscape seemed to blend together into a solid mass of greens and browns. It even seemed to be getting blurrier, in fact.

Rainbow suddenly let out a loud yawn. Her eyelids sagged shut and her body began to feel heavier. The fatigue of traveling so far with her reduced flight ability. had finally caught up to her.

“No...” Rainbow moaned, “I can’t fall asleep... My friends... Can't  turn my back...”

Her protests went unheard by anyone as she swiftly fell into unconsciousness.


————————


Far above the soil of Equestria, a group of young pegasi stood on the surface of a cloud, molded into the shape of a runway. Various weather vanes and instruments dotted the cloudscape as it stretched into the distance. This was recognized by ponies in the area as the field used for flight instruction in Cloudsdale Academy, the school with the most esteemed flight curriculum in Equestria.

Among the fillies and colts present was a young filly by the name of Rainbow Dash, unmistakably identified by her bright blue coat and multicolored mane. She was also the youngest in the class by at least two years, having been placed in a higher class due to her exceptional athletic skill.

The instructor, a brown stallion wearing a red sports jacket and a whistle, soon flew in and landed in front of the class. His normally stern expression was replaced by a look of deep melancholy. There was no discipline in his features, no aura of authority, only sadness.

“Kids, I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

Oh no, Rainbow thought.

“As you might have heard, your classmate Spiral Twister was taken to the hospital yesterday. It is with deepest regret that I must say that she won’t be coming back.”

A chorus of gasps sounded out from the class, and the fillies and colts began whispering among themselves about what had happened. Some say she’d flown too recklessly  and gotten her wing broken off by a crash, others say she caught a deadly disease, and that it was contagious. Rainbow simply fell onto her haunches, unable to say a word. What could she have said? She was there when it happened.

“Settle down, everypony!” the instructor demanded, “I can assure you that she hasn’t died from anything, and that nopony else is in any danger of catching it. What your classmate had was feather rot, a rare genetic disease that manifests around puberty. It gradually cuts circulation off from the wings, causing death of wing tissue. If treated in time, the symptoms can be completely cured and prevented. Unfortunately, by the time your classmate was in the hospital, her wings had been damaged beyond repair, and the doctors were forced to amputate.”

“Excuse me? What’s amputate mean?” asked the voice of a young colt. Rainbow didn’t even bother to see who it was.

“It means the doctors had to cut off her wings,” replied the instructor, “as long as she lives she may never fly again.” The pegasi children all gasped in unison.

Oh no. No no no no no no. Please, no, it can’t be true!

“I know you all are upset by this, and that’s why it’s important to remember that we’re all here to support each other. If someone had been around to ensure that Spiral Twister had gotten to the hospital sooner, the doctors might have been able to save her wings. One of the first things you learned in flight school that it’s our responsibility to ensure that we’re here to catch each other if we fall. But what most of you might not realize is that it isn’t just about flying. It’s about doing what it takes to help others who need it most. Pegasus society was built on the ideal of a strong community, one where we always look out for each other in the worst of times. If there’s one thing that I want you to remember from this class, it’s that you should always be there for a pony in need.

“Now, since we’re all so deeply affected by the loss of our friend, we won’t be having class today. Since this is your last class, you may go home, but always remember: you can’t just turn your back on anypony. Dismissed!”

With a blow of his whistle, the instructor turned and flew away, and the crowd of pegasi children slowly dispersed, with none of the enthusiasm of schoolchildren let out of class early. Rainbow simply sat on her haunches, tears already forming in her eyes.

“This is all my fault!” she sobbed “I was there! I could have saved her! Why didn’t she tell me she was that sick? I could have saved her! It’s my fault... My fault...”

Rainbow’s words were ultimately unheard, as by then all of the others had already left.


————————


“Gyah!” Rainbow screamed out as her head jolted upwards, catapulting herself awake. She breathed deep, labored breaths as she recovered from the shock of reliving her worst memories.

“Heh... Just a dream. No big deal. Just walk it off.” She slowly rose to her hooves, stretching her legs and wings in turn.

“I hope I wasn’t asleep for too long,” she said to nobody in particular. “I’ll bet Ken and Yolei are already at the control spire by now.”

Rainbow suddenly froze. Her stomach sank as she was suddenly reminded of the humans whom she’d recently befriended.

“Dear Celestia, what am I doing?! They went out of their way to help me when I needed them, and this is the thanks I give them? I’m such an idiot! I can’t just turn my back on them like this!”

In a sudden burst of speed, Rainbow flew straight into the air, smashing through the canopy as though it were nothing. Ignoring the sudden bruises and cuts, she headed straight for the control spire, flying faster than she’d ever flown since her arrival in the Digital World.


————————


“There it is! Let’s take it out!”

Yolei pointed towards the control spire as it neared the range of Halsemon’s attacks. The spire sat in the middle of a large clearing, a meadow of wild grass that was surrounded on all sides by the thick trees and ferns of the jungle. Strangely, there were no other digimon to be seen in the clearing.

“Mach Impulse!”

Blades of pressurized wind shot forth from the blades on Halsemon’s helmet, slicing straight through the control spire’s architecture. The massive tower began to topple over in the other direction, only to disintegrate into pieces of data as it collapsed to the ground, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.

“Perfecto!” said Yolei, “come on, Halsemon, let’s wait here for Rainbow. She couldn’t possibly have missed that enormous implosion of dust.”

Halsemon then flew towards the ground and landed, allowing for Ken, Yolei, and Wormmon to climb off. Yolei held out her D-3, collecting the Digi-Egg of Love as Halsemon reverted to Hawkmon.

“Yolei, I hate to be a spoilsport,” said Hawkmon, “but don’t you think that was a little bit too easy?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“He’s right,” said Ken, “we shouldn’t let our guard down. If there’s anything I knew from being the Digimon Emperor, it’s that control spires are never unguarded.”

“Oh, don’t be so pessimistic, Ken,” said Yolei, “we’ve already destroyed the spire, so the dark rings won’t work anymore. What could possibly go wrong for us now?”

The others all glared at Yolei in exasperation.

“What?” said Yolei, “Come on, you don’t really believe in that dumb old cliché, do you? Just because I ask what could possibly go wrong doesn’t mean something will!”

Hawkmon pinched his brow between his feathers, nursing a sudden headache. “Yolei, for the sake of all of us, please do not tempt fate like that ever again.”

“Alright, fine,” Yolei sighed, “but if something bad happens, it’s not like we won’t be able to handle it. We’re Digi-Destined, after all.”

Suddenly, as though on cue, the sky began to darken. The light of the Digital World’s sun seemingly grew dimmer, as the area darkened despite the clear skies overhead.

Hawkmon shot Yolei an exasperated look. “You just had to say it, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t do anything, I swear!”

“I know this darkness!” exclaimed Ken. “Be prepared for anything, there’s no telling what it’s really capable of!”

Multiple pools of shadow suddenly began to form on the ground nearby, causing the grass to shrivel and die as they slithered across the ground of their own volition towards a single point. The shadows merged with each other as they collected into a single shadow, which rose out of the ground, coalescing into a solid shape, devoid of light or color.

Ken stared at the shadow in disbelief. “Stingmon!?”

“I’ve been expecting you, Ken,” the living silhouette spoke, with a voice like a thousand wasps. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Vespimon, Queen of the Digital World!”

> Fly High
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ken glared angrily at the shadowy digimon standing before him. The female Stingmon silhouette exuded a tangible aura of malevolence as it stared straight back at Ken. 

“You...” Ken growled, “You’re the one that’s behind all of this.”

“But of course,” Vespimon teased. “Who else but me could possibly build all these lovely control spires? Aside from you, I mean.”

“I’m nothing like you,” said Ken.

“You’re right about that,” Vespimon retorted. “It’d be utterly insulting to even compare myself to you. You could have had this entire world to yourself, and yet you gave it all up as soon as you faced even the slightest obstacle. You were weak.” Ken gritted his teeth as Vespimon taunted him, his fists clenched firmly by his sides.

“You have no idea who it is you’re dealing with here, Vespimon!” said Ken. “I’ve made a promise to myself to protect this world, and that’s a promise that I intend to keep! So surrender now or we’ll have no choice but to destroy you!”

Vespimon broke out into a sharp, wicked cackle that grated against the others’ ears. “You think you can challenge me? Priceless! You really haven’t changed one bit since you stopped being the Digimon Emperor! So arrogant, so full of overconfidence! Your delusions of grandeur never left you!”

“Why you—” Ken lunged forward towards Vespimon, only to be stopped when Yolei forcefully grabbed him by the arm.

“Ken, calm down!” cried Yolei. “Don’t you see that she’s only trying to get a rise out of you? Don’t let her provoke you like that!”

Ken’s body relaxed, and he let out a heavy sigh. “You’re right. Getting mad won’t solve anything now.” He turned towards Vespimon, glaring at the shadow intensely. “Vespimon, your actions have shown a blatant disregard for the safety of the Digital World and its inhabitants. You have but one chance to surrender or we’ll have no choice but to take action against you.”

“Oh, so you’re going to fight me?” Vespimon teased. “This ought to be a fun distraction. Go ahead and do your worst! Let’s see how far your bond with your digimon will carry you!”

“So this is all just just a game to you?” said Ken. “I guess that leaves us with no choice but to prove to you otherwise. Get ready, everyone!”

Ken looked back towards the others and nodded, receiving another nod in return from the others. He and Yolei both reached into their respective pockets and brought out their digivices, holding them out in front of their partners. Bathed in the light of the digivices, Hawkmon and Wormmon both grew larger as their bodies transformed.

“Hawkmon, Digivolve To: Aquilamon!”

“Wormmon, Digivolve to: Stingmon!”

Vespimon eyed the two new Digimon warily as they stepped forward to confront her. She extended her left claw and pointed at Stingmon. Stingmon took a defensive stance, and Aquilamon lowered his head spread his wings, prepared to charge at any moment.

“Stingmon, was it?” said Vespimon, “I can certainly admire your form. You remind me of myself, and not just because of your appearance. Just looking at you, I can feel your strength, your confidence.” Vespimon lowered her arm, her arms tensing at her sides as she hissed angrily. “So why is it that you insist on following a pathetic weakling such as Ken? Surely you can see that he is not worth your loyalty!”

“Ken is my partner,” replied Stingmon. “I respect him for who he is, and for being unafraid to show the kindness of his heart. That is true strength.”

“Silence!” Vespimon shrieked, “I’ll show you true strength! Spiking Venom!”

With a thrust of her gauntleted hand, the spike on Vespimon’s left wrist extended outwards to great length, intent on impaling Stingmon. Startled by the sudden movement, Stingmon swiftly flew into the air, narrowly dodging the attack. Aquilamon followed afterwards, taking to the air in a separate direction.

“She’s got longer reach!?” Stingmon exclaimed.

Following up on her attack, Vespimon flew straight upwards, into the airspace between Aquilamon and Stingmon. The two other digimon looked straight at Vespimon and loosed their assault.

“Spiking Strike!”

“Grand Horn!”

Charging forward, Stingmon’s wrist spike glowed as he rushed towards Vespimon. Aquilamon meanwhile charged downward from above in the opposite direction from behind, horns glowing red with energy.

Vespimon reacted swiftly, twisting herself body around to face Aquilamon. Leaning forward slightly, Vespimon grappled Aquilamon by the horns, and with a sharp twist of her body, effortlessly swung Aquilamon’s body at Stingmon. She let go of Aquilamon as he and Stingmon collided, and the two champion-level digimon were sent hurtling towards the ground. They both crashed into the soil at full speed, creating a cloud of dust from the impact. As the dust cleared, the two champion-level digimon shrank down, reverting to their rookie forms. Both Hawkmon and Wormmon were out cold.

“Oh no! She’s too strong!” Yolei gasped.

“This is my fault,” Ken lamented. “We shouldn’t have split up like this. If Davis was here we could’ve taken care of her easily.”

“Don’t say that, Ken!” Yolei exclaimed, “You know that’s not true!”

Vespimon gently lowered herself to the ground, casually approaching Stingmon and Aquilamon on foot.

“Is that all you’ve got? Pathetic. I was hoping the partners to the legendary Digi-Destined would put up more of a fight.”

The shadow looked down at the two unconscious digimon, disdain apparent in her voice. She raised her left gauntlet, pointing the spike threateningly at Hawkmon and Wormmon.

“I suppose all that’s left to do is to dispose of this worthless data!”

“No!” Ken cried out, “You stay away from them!”

“Ken, wait!”

Yolei’s exclamation fell on deaf ears as Ken sprinted outwards at top speed, placing himself between Vespimon and the other digimon. He spread his arms out, making himself into an ineffective barrier separating Vespimon from the other two digimon.

“Out of the way, human!” Vespimon demanded. “This doesn’t concern you!”

“No! I won’t let you do this! I won’t let you hurt them!”

“I said out of the way!” Vespimon screamed. “I may not stoop so low as to have any real blood shed in my name, but if you don’t do what I say I’ll have no choice but to remove you!”

“Hold on a second,” said Ken, “what do you mean real blood?”

“Never you mind that!” Vespimon replied, pointing the spike on her gauntlet at Ken. “Now move out of the way!”

Ken steeled his nerves as the living shadow’s spike was aimed straight at his chest. Stunned into silence, Yolei watched in terror as Ken simply stared back at Vespimon, refusing to move. Time slowed to a crawl as Ken simply stared at the shadow, still as a statue. After what had seemed to all like ages, Vespimon lowered her gauntlet.

“Stubborn child,” Vespimon snarled, “I suppose I’ll let you go for now, but if you stand in my way again—” 

Vespimon’s swarming voice suddenly cut off, and her antennae suddenly swiveled to the side, in the direction of something yet unseen. Ken and Yolei followed her gaze to the sky in the distance, and they caught glimpse of a brightly-colored rainbow trail approaching their position at a truly staggering speed.

“What the!?” Vespimon exclaimed.

Within mere seconds, the object creating the rainbow trail had approached the forest clearing, heading straight downwards towards the center. There was a deafening crash as the object landed some distance away from the others, kicking up a massive cloud of dust that covered the entirety of the clearing. Ken and Yolei lapsed into fits of coughing as the dry, choking dust enveloped them. When it finally settled, both humans were left gasping for breath.

Following Vespimon’s gaze towards the source of the impact, Ken and Yolei saw Rainbow Dash lying in the center of a miniature crater, her body caked with dirt and covered with bruises. Her legs wobbled as she stood up weakly barely managing to keep herself upright.

“Don’t worry guys,” she groaned weakly, “I got your back.”

“YOU!?” Vespimon exclaimed. “What are you doing here!? How did you even—” Vespimon interrupted herself as she seemed to reach an epiphany. “So Gennai was right, then! You and your friends did come after me!”

“Gennai? What’s he got to do with this?” said Ken. “What have you done with him?”

“Forget that! How do you know about me?” Rainbow demanded. “Are you the one responsible for Fluttershy being taken to the Digital World?”

“Yes,” said Vespimon, “as a matter of fact, I am. But what you don’t realiz—”

“So it was you!” Rainbow interrupted, her voice trembling in anger. “You’re the one who took Fluttershy! If you think you can just take our friend from us like that, you’re in for a world of pain!”

“Will you shut up!?” Vespimon screamed. “You’re not even listening to me! How can you possibly consider yourself a friend to anyone if you refuse to hear what I have to say? Do you have any idea as to what’s going on here?”

“I know enough,” Rainbow replied. “I know that you’re hurting these digimon with your control spires and dark rings. I know that Ken and Yolei are my friends, and that they’re in trouble because of you. And I know that, no matter what, I can’t just turn my back on them.”

“No, Rainbow!” exclaimed Yolei. “You’re in no condition to fight her! Even if you were, she’s still too strong! You’ll be killed!”

“This is my decision, Yolei,” Rainbow replied. She took a small step forward, struggling desperately just to move her leg in front of the other, but the determination in her eyes was as strong as ever. She stared straight up and met Vespimon with her fierce gaze. “Whoever you are, I won’t let you hurt my friends!”

“Your friends?” Vespimon spat. “Do you even know who it is that you’re trying to protect? Your so-called friend is none other than the so-called Digimon Emperor who tried to conquer this world himself! The only thing I’ve done so far is succeed where he had failed!”

“What?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, “That’s ridiculous! Ken would never do anything like that!”

“Then why don’t you ask him yourself?” Vespimon retorted, “I’m sure your friend wouldn’t lie to you.”

“Fine, I will! Ken, did hear what she saying about you? It’s totally ridiculous!”

Ken shrank backwards in shame as Rainbow Dash addressed, averting his eyes from making contact with the pegasus.

“Huh? Ken? Is... Is something wrong?” Rainbow’s voice wavered as she questioned Ken, her previous air of confidence deflating.

“She’s right,” Ken finally admitted. “I was the Digimon Emperor once. I tried to conquer the Digital World and enslave its inhabitants.”

“Wh-what?” Rainbow gasped.

“My friends helped me see the error of my ways. Since then I’ve dedicated my life to fixing my mistakes and protecting the Digital World.” Ken paused briefly, turning to Rainbow Dash with pleading eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I wanted to make sure we could trust each other. I hope you understand.”

“I... I don’t believe it!” Rainbow cried out angrily, “You lied to me! How could you?!” 

Looking out at Ken dejectedly, Rainbow’s legs trembled as she struggled to support her own weight. Finally, her fatigue caught up with her, and she collapsed to the ground.

Vespimon calmly walked over to Rainbow Dash and stood over her. Rainbow stared up at the shadow weakly, eyes filled with fear and uncertainty.

“I suppose this just goes to show that you can’t trust anyone, especially not your friends,” Vespimon sneered. “What do you say to that, Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow’s expression hardened as she looked up at the shadow’s faceless visage.

“You’re wrong.”

“What?” Vespimon replied, taken aback.

Slowly, Rainbow Dash struggled to her feet, barely managing to stand up despite the numerous glaring injuries on her body.

“It doesn’t matter what Ken did. Right now, both he and his friends are in trouble because of you. And even if he was the Digimon Emperor, you’re obviously the real bad guy here!”

“What? That’s completely ridiculous!” Vespimon exclaimed.

“I don’t care what you have to say anymore!” Rainbow angrily declared, “You kidnapped Fluttershy, enslaved innocent Digimon, and now you’re threatening the lives of the first living things in this world that weren’t out to kill me! And you know what? I’m not going to turn my back on them.”

Suddenly, the device on Rainbow’s ankle began to glow with a bright light, causing Vespimon to wince at the intensity. She then floated into the air, dropping her saddlebags as her entire body became engulfed in a radiant glow.

“Execute! Harmonic Evolution!”

Ken and Yolei stared in disbelief as a swirling vortex of golden feathers appeared out of thin air, surrounding Rainbow Dash’s body in a swirl of plumage. The vortex briefly grew larger and more intense, before suddenly exploding outward, revealing a completely different figure beneath.

Standing at roughly ten feet tall, she was a humanoid figure with tanned skin, wearing bronze armor covering her body, as well as long bronze boots and gauntlets. Over her head was a bronze centurion's helmet with a cyan, which came down over the top of her head, covering her eyes. Long rainbow-colored hair flowed out the back of the helmet, and sprouting out her back were four large, golden wings. In her right hand was a bronze staff with a pair of small golden wings sprouting from the top.

“Irismon! The Angel of Loyalty!”

==========
Digimon Analyzer: Irismon

Type: Angel

Attribute: Vaccine

Level: Hybrid (Champion Equivalent)

Special Attacks: Zephyr Knuckle, Spectrum Staff
==========

Ken and Yolei both stared in shock at the angelic digimon’s sudden appearance before them.

“No way...” Ken gaped.

Floating gently down to the ground, the digimon looked down and gave her new body a cursory examination, first stretching out her arms and legs, then cautiously flexing her wings. She held the staff in her hand in front of her, slowly shifting her fingers around the shaft.

“Wow, this is awesome! I’m decked out like Commander Hurricane!”

“Rainbow Dash!?” Yolei exclaimed. “What happened?”

“Uh, actually, my name is Irismon now... I think.” Rainbow replied. “This is so weird. How can I even see through this helmet?”

“Enough of this!” Vespimon interjected. “No more distractions. Do you really wish to fight me, Irismon? I can guarantee it won’t end well for you.”

Irismon responded by gripping her staff with both hands, pointing it at the shadow threateningly.

“Yes. I’m ready to fight for my friends!”

“Very well then,” replied Vespimon, “Spiking Venom!”

With a thrust of her hand, a shadowy spike extended from Vespimon’s wrist towards Irismon.

Reacting quickly, Irismon reached out with her staff and parried the blow, deflecting it to the side. Vespimon was caught off balance and was briefly sent tumbling backwards. She righted herself just as quickly, and with a buzz of her shadowy insect wings, flew straight up into the air at rapid speed.

“Zephyr Knuckle!”

Taking advantage of the opening, Irismon quickly flew up into the air to meet Vespimon. Holding her staff in her right hand, Irismon threw a powerful uppercut with her left, striking the shadow square in the abdomen. A swirling vortex of wind erupted from her armored fist, pushing Vespimon upwards high into the air.

As the wind dispersed, Vespimon quickly righted herself in the air. Despite the shadow lacking any visible features, her face seemed to be seething with rage.

“How dare you!?”  Vespimon shrieked, “I’ll make you suffer for this! Toxic Glare!”

As she shouted her attack, a pair sickly-green energy beams erupted from the Vespimon’s head, at the location where her eyes would be. Irismon just barely reacted in time to dodge to the side as the beams struck the ground beneath her before dissipating.

Several more blasts of energy followed, and Irismon frantically dodged the beams, each one getting more difficult to anticipate. Finally, one of the blasts struck Irismon directly in her torso. Yolei let out a gasp as sharp, painful spasms briefly surged across Irismon’s body, and she unceremoniously fell to the ground.

As the dust settled, Vespimon landed in front of Irismon, looking down on her. Irismon grunted sharply in pain as she struggled to climb to her knees, but the spasms surging across her body hindered her efforts, and she slumped onto the ground, moaning in pain.

“You should never have crossed me, Irismon,” hissed Vespimon, pointing the spike on her gauntlet at Irismon. Irismon looked up at Vespimon apprehensively, and for several tense moments the two simply stared at each other, unmoving.

“What’s the hold-up?” Irismon moaned. “You’ve got me, haven’t you?”

“I... I...” Vespimon stuttered. A look of uncertainty seemed to cross her despite having no visible face.

“Well if you’re not going to do something...” Irismon hesitantly rose to her knees, and then, using her staff as a support, lifted herself to her feet, “then I will! Spectrum Staff!”

With the last of her strength, Irismon lunged forward, gripping her staff with both hands and thrusting it outward. The weapon glowed with an iridescent light as she stabbed it straight forward, and in a single motion pierced Vespimon’s body straight through the chest. The shadow went tense as the staff pierced her heart, only to go limp and collapse to the ground as Irismon forcefully pulled the staff out.

With the last of her energy spent, Irismon collapsed to her knees, and her body shrank down, reverting to her pegasus form. The injuries that had been spread across on her body before her evolution were now gone, but she remained just as exhausted as ever.

Panting heavily from exertion, Rainbow Dash stepped forward towards Vespimon’s prone body, staring down at her furiously.

“You... You really think you’ve won?” Vespimon choked out despite the hole in her chest. “This body... This is but a projection of my will! You’ve only experienced a shadow of my true power!”

“I don’t care about that,” Rainbow interjected, “Where is Fluttershy!?” 

“Why... should I tell? You... you don’t care...” Vespimon’s final words were just barely uttered as her body began to disintegrate from the feet up.

“What do you mean I don’t care?” Rainbow Dash demanded. “Hey! Don’t disappear yet! Answer me!”

Rainbow was too late, however, as Vespimon’s body shortly afterward faded away completely. With Vespimon gone, the darkness that had loomed over the forest clearing suddenly disappeared, and the evening sun shone clearly over the edges of the trees.

Rainbow Dash let out a heavy sigh, and fell onto her haunches, her ears folded flat against her head.

“Ken, why don’t you go check on our partners?” said Yolei. “I’ll go check up with Rainbow Dash to make sure she’s okay.”

“Good idea,” replied Ken with a nod.

As Ken went off to the side to check on the unconscious digimon, Yolei approached Rainbow Dash and sat down next to her, looking at her sympathetically.

“Are you okay, Rainbow?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Rainbow replied dejectedly. “I just wish I’d been able to figure out what happened to Fluttershy. What if we never find her? What if she’s—”

“Don’t say that, Rainbow!” Yolei interrupted, “We’ll find your friend, I know it!” Yolei reached out and placed her hand on Rainbow’s head, gently scratching her behind the ears as she reassured the pegasus. “We’ll find your friend, I’m sure of it.”

Rainbow Dash smiled softly as Yolei’s fingers gently scratched her ears. She tried to play it cool and avoid appearing too interested, but it was plainly visible how much she was enjoying having Yolei scratch her ears.

The two were suddenly interrupted when a beeping noise broke the silence.

“Hold on Rainbow, I’m getting a message from one of my friends,” said Yolei, breaking away from the ear-scratching to pull her D-Terminal out of her pocket. Despite her best efforts, Rainbow couldn’t entirely hide her disappointment.

“Uh-huh... Uh-huh... Another message? Wow, a whole bunch of them!” Yolei spoke her thoughts aloud as she typed out a series of responses to the messages she’d received. After replying to each of the messages, Yolei turned to Rainbow Dash with a beaming expression.

“Good news, Rainbow! The others have found the rest of your friends!”

“What?” Rainbow excitedly replied. “Even Fluttershy? That’s great!”

“Um, well, not Fluttershy, but the rest of them are safe. The other Digi-Destined have found your friends Applejack, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, and Pinkie Pie.”

“Oh,” said Rainbow, sounding slightly disappointed. “Still, that’s great! Once we’re back together we’ll rescue Fluttershy in not time!”

“Perfecto!” said Yolei. “Let’s go check on the others before we leave, alright.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Yeah, let’s do that.”

With that, Yolei got up and walked over to meet Ken, while Rainbow grabbed her nearby saddlebags and following closely behind in the air. Ken was inspecting Hawkmon and Wormmon for injuries, both of whom has since recovered from unconsciousness.

“Is everything okay over there?” asked Yolei, “Hawkmon, are you feeling alright?”

“No need to worry about me, Yolei,” replied Hawkmon, “It would take a lot more than that to bring me down. I still have more than enough energy left to digivolve again and bring us back home if need be.”

“Good to hear, Hawkmon!” said Yolei. “I’m glad you’re okay. What about you, Wormmon?”

“I think I’ll be okay,” said Wormmon.

“Yeah, glad to hear you’re both okay,” said Rainbow Dash, “but if you’re done with that I have a few things I’d like to say to Ken.” The anger in Rainbow’s voice was as apparent as her expression as she stared daggers straight at Ken.

Ken sighed. “It’s about me being the Digimon Emperor, isn’t it?”

“Yes!” Rainbow Dash angrily replied, “of course it is! How could you have done such horrible things? I trusted you, Ken!”

“Hey! Leave him alone!” Yolei interjected, “He’s not like that anymore!”

“You don’t need to defend me, Yolei.” Ken responded calmly. “There’s no denying that I’ve done awful things. As for you, Rainbow, I admit that there’s nothing I can do to force anyone to trust me. The most I can do is promise you that I’ve seen my mistake, and will do everything I can to atone for it.”

“So... You’ve reformed? Is that what you’re saying?” Rainbow questioned.

“You could say that.”

“Well, I suppose I could buy that,” replied Rainbow, “I’ve seen it happen before. But don’t think I won’t be keeping my eye on you!”

“I hate to interrupt, but it’s getting late,” said Wormmon. “We should probably get going before it gets dark. I mean, if that’s alright with all of you.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” said Ken, “we have others waiting for us back home. We don’t want to worry them. Yolei, have you gotten any word from the other Digi-Destined?”

“I sure have! They said they found some more of Rainbow’s friends. We’ll meet up with them at the digiport.”

“Did you tell them about our encounter with Vespimon?” Ken asked.

“Oh, um... Oops?” Yolei said nervously, “I guess it slipped my mind!”

“It’s no problem,” said Ken, “we’ll tell them when we meet back with them. Let’s make sure we’re all ready to go before we leave. Hawkmon, are you sure you have enough energy left to carry all of us?”

“As I said, I have more than enough to bring us back the way we came,” replied Hawkmon. “I’ve been working on training my stamina, you know.”

“Alright, then,” said Yolei, “if that’s the case, let’s head out!”

Reaching into her pocket, Yolei held out her digivice, which glowed as she pointed it at Hawkmon. The others stepped back to give him room to complete his transformation.

“Hawkmon, Digivolve to: Aquilamon!”

With his digivolution completed, Aquilamon lowered himself, allowing Yolei to climb onto his back. Ken soon followed, after lifting Wormmon onto Aquilamon’s back.

“Are you going to fly alongside us Rainbow?” asked Yolei.

“Actually, I’m pretty tired,” Rainbow replied. “Do you mind if I ride along with you instead?”

“Fine by me,” said Yolei, “hop on!”

“Everybody hold on tight!” said Aquilamon. With that, the group took to the air and headed back in the direction they came from, looking to meet with the rest of their friends again.
> Meeting at the Digiport
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So this is what a digiport looks like? Fascinating!”

Levitating a quill and a notepad with her magic, Twilight carefully observed the television standing before her on the grassy hill she stood on. The late afternoon sun being close to setting made it difficult, but she’d managed to draw a crude diagram of the digiport. Nearby, Davis and Veemon stood with an exasperated look on their faces.

“Geez Twilight,” said Davis, “don’t you ever do anything other than study the things around you? You were asking questions and writing on that notepad practically the whole trip!”

“Well excuse me for wanting to learn more about an entirely new world!” Twilight retorted. “Do you understand just what a truly momentous occasion this is? This will be the first time ponies come into contact with another world! There’s so much to discover! So many things we could learn from each other!”

Twilight’s excited grin suddenly faltered, turning into a worried frown. “Oh no... What if I screw up? What if I accidentally leave the wrong impression? What if I say something offensive and it reflects badly on my species? What if I end up instigating some kind of massive public outrage? I should have never been put in this position of power to begin with! Everything will be ruined forever and it’ll all be because of me!” Her breathing quickened as she rattled of her concerns, her face nearly going blue from hyperventilation.

“Get a hold of yourself, Twilight!” Veemon shouted. “Everything is going to be just fine!”

Shocked by Veemon’s sudden outburst, Twilight exhaled slowly, letting out the tension that had been building inside herself.

“Thanks, Veemon. I’m just a little nervous about this whole thing. It’s not often you get to make contact with an entirely new world, let alone two!”

“Relax, Twilight! We’ll get there when we get there,” Davis reassured. “First we’ll meet back at the computer lab with Izzy and the others, and then we’ll work out a place for you to stay while you’re here.”

“Computer lab?” Twilight puzzled.

“Uh-huh! Izzy’s doing work at the school this summer, so he lets us use their computer lab whenever we need to do something important. He has a whole bunch of equipment there that monitors the Digital World.”

“Oh, that sounds wonderful! An entire laboratory dedicated to computers! And I can’t wait to meet this Izzy, he sounds like a fascinating individual!”

“Yeah, I’m sure you two eggheads would get along perfectly,” Davis teased.

Twilight frowned. “Do you think you cool it with the egghead thing Davis? I don’t need someone else calling me that all the time.”

Davis grinned. “Sure thing, egghead.”

“Oh for the love of—”

“Guys, look!” said Veemon, “Someone’s coming!”

Veemon pointed off to the distance, and Twilight and Davis looked to see Nefertimon flying towards them, carrying Kari and Pinkie Pie on her back. Nefertimon soon landed nearby, letting the two off her back.

After dismounting, Kari reached into her pocket and held out her digivice, allowing Nefertimon to de-digivolve into Gatomon. She reached into her pocket and pulled out Gatomon’s tail ring, flipping into the air and letting Gatomon catch it on her tail.

“Twilight!”

With an excited gasp, Pinkie Pie immediately rushed forward in a pink blur, pinning Twilight to the ground in a gesture that was half-tackle and half-hug.

“Oh, Twilight! I’m soooo glad you’re okay! I thought’d I’d never see you again!”

“Pinkie...” Twilight choked.

“I mean, I’m just so happy that you’re alive! I thought that you might have been eaten by a monster, or teleported into a wall, or tripped and broken a leg, or gotten food poisoning, or stumbled into some ancient conspiracy that had to kill you to keep you quiet, or cut up and baked into cupcakes by a serial killer, or fallen into a well, or—”

“Pinkie! You’re choking me!” Twilight gasped out.

Pinkie released her grip on Twilight, and smiled nervously. “Oops, sorry.”

Still gasping for breath, Twilight returned Pinkie Pie’s smile with one of her own. “It’s alright, Pinkie. I’m glad to see you, too.”

“So this is one of your friends, Pinkie?” Kari spoke up

“Uh-huh! This is Twilight Sparkle, she’s one of my bestest friends ever! I mean, all of my friends are my bestest friends, so I guess that means the she isn’t really my one of my bestest friends since they’re all equally best, but I guess that doesn’t sound nearly as good, does it? She’s a totally super-duper amazing friend, though!”

“Pretty enthusiastic, isn’t she?” said Veemon.
 
Pinkie’s eyes lit up as she took notice of Veemon “Huh? Oh, of course! We haven’t even introduced ourselves yet! I’m Pinkie Pie, and these are my new friends Kari and Gatomon!”

“Davis and Veemon already know who we are, Pinkie,” said Kari, “we’ve been good friends for over a year now.”

“You said it!” Davis enthusiastically followed, approaching Kari. “We’re totally close, right? Like two peas in a pod!”

“Careful not to get too close, lover boy,” Kari replied. “Unless you want to hear from Tai what he thinks about that.”

Davis immediately backed off, raising his hands in the air defensively. “R-right, sorry! Of course! Won’t happen again!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “I’m guessing something happened between you two?”

“Don’t worry, it’s no big deal,” said Davis.

“If you say so,” said Twilight. “Why don’t we wait until the others arrive before we introduce ourselves further? It’ll be easier once we’re all together.”

Davis nodded. “Alright, sounds good.”


————————


In a short time, the other Digi-Destined began to arrive at the digiport, along with the pony companions that they’d met during their travels. Cody and Digmon soon arrived with Rarity, followed by Ken, Yolei, and Wormmon riding on Aquilamon, with Rainbow Dash following close behind. Each new pony arrival resulted in yet another display of affection from Pinkie, leaving each pony sore from the sudden glomping.

“Whoa, Cody, what happened to your shoulder?” Davis stared at the makeshift bandage that was wrapped around Cody's upper arm.

“I got hurt while we were fighting an Ebidramon controlled by a dark spiral,” Cody replied. “Rarity made a bandage for me.”

“Well, that's awfully generous of her,” said Kari, “you should be thankful for her help.”

“Oh, it was nothing, really,” Rarity choked out, trying to push herself free from Pinkie's crushing embrace.

The next several minutes afterward were punctuated with more small talk between the humans, ponies, and digimon trying to get to know each other. Pinkie talked excitedly of her new friends throughout, displaying a boundless enthusiasm that couldn’t be ignored.

As the minutes passed, however, the group’s overall mood turned to one of concern.

“Where do you think T.K. is?” Kari asked. “You don’t think something happened to him, do you?”

“Relax, Kari, T.K.’s a strong kid,” Gatomon reassured. “I’m sure he’ll be alright.”

Pinkie, meanwhile, was currently peering towards the horizon with a pair of binoculars she’d brought with her in her saddlebags, searching for a sign of her friend Applejack, as well as any new friends she was sure she’d make.

“Hey guys, I think I see something!”

Pinkie lowered her binoculars and pointed a hoof towards the horizon. The others looked in the direction of her hoof to see something rapidly flying closer. As it approach, it soon revealed itself to be Pegasusmon, carrying two others on his back.

Flapping his wings gently, Pegasusmon slowed his descent onto the grassy hill, landing on all four hooves with Applejack and T.K. in tow. The other mares’ collective jaws dropped at the sight of the massive stallion as he knelt closer to the ground, allowing his passengers to climb off. As she climbed off, Rainbow Dash gave a mischievous smirk towards Applejack.

“Shut up Rainbow, it ain’t like that!” Applejack said defensively.

“What?” Rainbow feigned innocence, “I didn’t say anything!”

“Ah know what you were thinking,” said Applejack. “Cut it out.”

Rarity coughed, blushing deeply. “Well, there’s certainly nothing to be ashamed of, darling. I must admit, he is rather fetching... If a bit large.”

“Ah said it ain’t like that!”

“Never thought I’d be seeing this happen,” T.K. chuckled, “you’re a real ladies’ mon, Pegasusmon.”

“Ladies mon? What do you mean?” asked Pegasusmon.

“It’s nothing,” replied T.K., “let’s de-digivolve so we can introduce ourselves for real.”

T.K. reached into his pocket and pulled out his digivice, holding it up in front of Pegasusmon, allowing him to de-digivolve into Patamon. The ponies’ intrigued stares turned to looks of bewilderment as Patamon flew towards them enthusiastically.

“Hi! I’m Patamon, nice to meet you!”

“Huh?” Rarity sputtered, “B-but you... how? What? You were just...”

“That’s his natural form, Rarity,” said Twilight. “Digimon can take multiple different shapes and identities with the assistance of their human partners.”

Rarity sighed in disappointment. “Right, of course. I suppose I really should have known better.”

“Relax Rarity,” Rainbow teased, “knowing you, it won’t be long before you start crushing on another stallion you’ve barely met.”

“Excuse me!?”

“Settle down, both of you!” Twilight interrupted. “We have more important things to concern ourselves with right now. Now that we’re all here, why don’t we introduce ourselves? My name is Twilight Sparkle.”

“I’m Davis, and this is my buddy Veemon!”

“‘Sup?” said Veemon.

“I’m Pinkie Pie! Oh, this is so exciting, I’ve never met so many new friends at once! I can hardly wait, we’re gonna have so much fun together!”

“I’m Kari, and this is my partner, Gatomon.”

“It’s nice to meet you all,” said Gatomon.

“A pleasure to meet you all as well. My name is Rarity, and I do look forward to getting to know you all better. I’d absolutely love to learn what sort of fashion is popular in your world! Why, just imagine what sort of inspiration I would find!”

“I’m Cody, and this is my partner, Armadillomon.”

“Howdy,” said Armadillomon.

“Well shoot, Ah’m starting to like him already! The name’s Applejack, pleased to meet y’all.”

“My name’s Takeru, but you can just call me T.K. This here is my friend, Patamon.”

“Hello!” said Patamon.

“The name’s Rainbow Dash, fastest pegasus in Equestria!” Rainbow followed her by flying up into the air and performing a loop, before landing and posing triumphantly. “No need to be modest, you can go ahead tell me how cool I am.” 

Yolei rolled her eyes. “I’m Yolei, and this is Hawkmon.”

“Glad to make your acquaintance,” said Hawkmon, “I look forward to getting to know one another.”

“My name is Ken, and this is my partner, Wormmon.”

Ken paused in confusion when Wormmon didn’t respond, suddenly noticing that Wormmon was hiding behind his legs. “Wormmon, don’t be shy, introduce yourself.”

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry,” said Wormmon, “it’s just that I’m a little nervous right now. I’ve never had to introduce myself to so many others at once...”

“Don’t worry Wormmon,” Ken reassured, “nobody’s here to judge you. Just go out and say hello.”

Wormmon then slowly made his way out from behind Ken, facing the ponies that were all staring at him expectantly. His antennae shifted nervously as the group’s eyes fixated on him.

“Um, hello, my name is Wormmon... It’s nice to meet you all.”

“You know, Fluttershy used to act just like that,” said Rainbow Dash. Her ears fell flat against her head as her thoughts turned to her missing friend. 

The other ponies seemed to share in her sentiment, their expressions turning somber as they recalled the events that lead to her disappearance. Pinkie’s mane even seemed to deflate slightly at the mention of Fluttershy’s name, as though the air were being let out of a balloon.

Twilight approached Rainbow, placing a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Rainbow, we’ll find her. Davis says there are others on the other side of the digiport who will help us find her. We’ll have her back in no time, I promise.”

“Yeah... I guess. Thanks, Twilight.” Rainbow’s sad expression quickly turned to one of annoyance as she stared back at Twilight. “And could you please not touch me there?”

Taken by surprise, Twilight hastily removed her hoof from Rainbow Dash’s front shoulders, blushing furious. “R-right. Sorry.”

“I mean, sheesh! You’d think you’d know how sensitive pegasus wings are now that you have them!”

“I said I’m sorry, okay?” Twilight said indignantly. “Anyway, as I was saying, we’re going to meet with some of the other Digi-Destined on the other side of the digiport, and there we’ll discuss our next plan of action.”

Pinkie Pie let out an excited gasp. “Ohmygosh! You mean we’re going to meet even more new friends? This is so exciting! I can’t wait!”

“That’s right, Pinkie,” said Twilight. “There are a few who might be able to help us and give us some more information about the Digital World. Ken, I’d also like to ask you a few questions specifically once we’re with the others.”

“Me?” said Ken.

“Yes,” replied Twilight, “I believe you in particular will be able to give me a better understanding of the situation at hoof.”

“At hoof?” said Yolei, “Aw, that’s adorable, you even have your own pony words for everything!”

Twilight turned towards Yolei and gave her a disapproving glare.

“Anyway, I think we should get a move on and go through the digiport before it gets too late. We’ll discuss matters there. Davis and his friends should also be able to find a place for us to stay while we’re here looking for Fluttershy.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Applejack.

“Well, what are we sticking around here for?” said Davis, “Let's get a move on!”

“Hold on a second,” Kari interrupted, “did anyone else just feel that?”

“Feel what, Kari?” asked Gatomon.

“I just had this odd sensation in my tailbone right now,” said Kari, looking backwards. “Oh well, it’s probably nothing.”

“Guys, look!” said Veemon, pointing to the horizon, “Something’s coming!”

“Huh?” Kari looked towards where Veemon was pointing, where she saw a small object rapidly approaching, racing towards the group at breakneck speed.

“Look out! It’s a dark ring!”

“What!?” The others all cried out in unison.

“Don’t worry everyone, I’ll smash it!” Veemon exclaimed.

“Veemon, wait!” cried Davis.

“Vee Headbutt!”

With a mighty shout, Veemon charged forward and jumped into the air, hurling himself towards the dark ring as it flew closer. The dark ring swerved sharply in the air when Veemon approached, thrusting his head forward through empty air as the dark ring deftly avoided the attack. Losing his balance from the failed attempt, Veemon tumbled over in the air and fell to the ground, landing flat on his head. Meanwhile, the dark ring altered its path, flying towards the group at rapid speed.

“Look out!” said Kari, “It’s headed straight for us!”

“Boom Bubble!”

“Feather Strike!”

“Sticky Net!”

Patamon, Hawkmon, and Wormmon called out their own attacks, launching their projectiles towards the dark ring. The black ring deftly maneuvered itself around the attacks, narrowly dodging the hazards before continuing on its path. The ring opened itself into a clasp as it flew towards Gatomon.

“Gatomon, look out!” cried Kari.

“Huh? What the— Aaaaaahhhhh!”

Gatomon screamed out in pain as the dark ring closed tightly around her neck. Wracked with convulsions, her body spasmed wildly out of control, the dark ring’s power sending bolts of dark energy through her body.

“Gatomon!”

T.K. placed a firm hand on Kari’s shoulder. “Stay back! That dark ring’s controlling Gatomon now, she could seriously hurt you!”

“No! I have to help her!”

“Kari, wait!”

Ignoring T.K.’s protests, Kari pushed away from him, desperately running out to meet her ailing digimon partner. Running forward to meet Gatomon, she knelt down to the ground, trying to soothe the pained digimon.

“Don’t worry Gatomon! Everything’s going to be okay! Just hold on!”

Despite Kari’s reassurances, Gatomon’s screams of pain only intensified, her body twisting and writhing in agony. It was then that her tail ring began to glow with a brilliant light.

Kari winced, shielding her eyes from the sudden intensity. The tail ring’s glow continued to grow even brighter, until it reached a peak of intensity that was nearly blinding. As the glow finally began to fade, Gatomon’s screams of pain died down, leaving her lying limp on the ground.

“Gatomon?” Kari rubbed her eyes, allowing her vision to readjust. As her sight came back, she looked towards Gatomon and let out an astonished gasp.

The dark ring around her neck was gone, but that wasn’t the only thing that was missing.

“Gatomon! Your tail ring! It’s... It’s gone!”

The other humans and Digimon nearly jumped back in shock at Kari’s observation. Gatomon moaned weakly, looking back at her now-ringless tail.

“M-my tail ring?”

Kari reached down and wrapped her arms around Gatomon. Gatomon returned the gesture, and the two of them pulled into a tight hug.

“It’s okay Gatomon. I’m just glad to see you’re alright.”

“Don’t worry, Kari, I’ll be fine. But what are we going to do about my tail ring?”

Kari pulled away from the hug and stood up, turning to face the others. “That’s a good question. From the looks of it, that dark ring was somehow able to destroy your tail ring.”

“Oh my, how unfortunate,” Rarity lamented. “That ring really did look quite good on you.”

“I don’t think this is just about fashion, Rarity,” said Twilight. “If the dark ring was specifically meant to destroy Gatomon's tail ring, then it stands to reason that it was of great significance.”

Kari frowned worriedly. “Gatomon’s tail ring was one of the most powerful weapons against darkness we had. Without it we won’t be able to D.N.A. digivolve, and Gatomon is a full level weaker.”

“D.N.A digivolve?” Twilight puzzled.

“It’s a form of Digivolution where our digimon partners fuse into a single being,” replied Yolei. “The result is a digimon of a higher level that’s stronger than both of its previous forms.”

“Fuse?” asked Twilight, “you mean combine into a single being? Body and mind?”

“That’s right”, replied Yolei.

“Oh my goodness, that’s incredible!” Twilight exclaimed. “To think that two different beings could achieve such harmony each other that they literally act as one? That’s amazing! I’ve never heard anything like it!”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Uh, Twilight, not to be rude or anything, but don’t you think we have more important things to worry about? Like that bit about losing our most powerful weapon against evil?”

“She’s right,” said Ken, “we need to tell the others about this as soon as possible. If our enemy has the foresight to destroy our most powerful method of digivolution, then we’re dealing with someone much more dangerous than we thought.”

“We need a plan,” said Cody, “and while we’re at it, we need to figure out where our new friends will be staying.”

“Right,” said Yolei, “so we’ll go through the digiport and meet with the others. Sound good?” The others gave nods of agreement.

“Alright then! Gather round, everyone!” Yolei pulled out her digivice and held it in front of the television. “Digiport Open!”

At Yolei’s command, the television emitted a bright light from its screen. Gathering around the entrance, the group was immediately drawn in, sucked into the light and pulled through the television screen.

“Here we go!” Pinkie exclaimed.


————————


“Hmmph. Go take refuge on Earth, why don’t you?”

In a dimly-lit control room, Vespimon sat before a massive control panel, inlaid with a keyboard and numerous switches and buttons. Multiple holographic screens floated above the panel, each depicting a landscape from an area under her control. Her focus, however remained on the central screen, and her eyes seethed with resentment as she witnessed her former friends exit the digital world with the Digi-Destined and their partners.

“To think they'd even have the nerve to show up here,” she snarled. “How could they betray me like this? After all the work I've done to build my perfect world, they think they can just barge right in to tear it down? Even Rainbow Dash?” Her very essence seethed with indignation at the thought of it all.

“No! I won't stand for it! This is unacceptable!”

Vespimon angrily slammed her fist onto the control panel, causing the holographic screens above it to flicker with static. Breathing heavily, she leaned over with her hands on the control panel, looking upwards at the screen.

“And those pesky harmonic evolutions are the worst of all. If I find a way to disable them with the control spires, I’ll be disabling my own evolution as well. I might as well be giving up everything I’ve worked so hard for!”

Slowly, Vespimon stood up, a new determination filling her eyes.

“This has gone on long enough. If they will not respect my accompishments, I will make them fear me instead.”

> Back on Earth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So then I said, ‘Oatmeal? Have you lost your mind?’”

Back at the school computer lab, Gomamon enthusiastically carried on with his story. Tai, Matt, Sora, and their digimon partners stood nearby, alongside Joe and Tentomon. They didn’t bother trying to disguise their exasperation with Gomamon’s antics.

Sitting separately at one of the numerous computers, Izzy payed close attention to the screen in front of him, looking for any sign of the others from the screen. His patience was soon rewarded when the screen suddenly began to glow

“Stand back, everyone!” He warned, “the digiport’s opening!”

Izzy got up out of his chair and moved himself away from the computer screen, allowing for plenty of space between himself and the monitor. The computer screen’s glow intensified, and in another burst of light, another group emerged from the monitor.

The other stood back and looked at the new arrivals with surprise; along with the Digi-Destined their partners, a group of ponies had also appeared out of the monitor.

“Woohoo!” Pinkie cheered, “That was super-duper spectacular amazing! You were like, ‘digiport open’, and I was like ‘here we go’, and then we went like ‘Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh-oh!’”

“Hey, what is that song you’re singing, Pinkie?” Kari asked, “I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere before.”

“Cody, your clothes! They've changed!” Rarity exclaimed.

“Yeah, they do that when we travel between worlds.” Cody replied. “Nobody really knows why.”

“Hey, enough!” said Tai, staring at the ponies with a frown of disapproval. “Davis, you have some explaining to do.”

“What? What makes you think this is about me?” Davis replied defensively. “These ponies are our friends, and they need our help!”

“Huh? Ponies?” Tai said, raising an eyebrow in bewilderment.

“Oh my goodness! Are these computers?”

Twilight squealed in excitement as she approached one of the numerous grey boxes placed beneath the room’s tables, reaching out hoof to examine the machine.

“H-hey! Get away from that!” Izzy exclaimed, “That’s school property! Do you have any idea how much trouble I’d be in if you damaged it?”

Twilight ignored the panicked Izzy, continuing to marvel at the sight of the machine before her.

“Amazing! It’s so small! I never imagined a computer could fit into such a tiny space! To think that you’d have such advanced technology! It’s...” Twilight paused in her speech, trying to think of an appropriate word to describe the sight before her. “It’s... It’s prodigious!”

Just as he was about to speak up, Izzy stopped dead, completely dumbstruck. “I, uh... Come again?”

“See, Izzy?” said Davis, “Twilight’s an egghead, just like you! Seems she’s pretty excited to learn about Earth, given that she’s an alien and all.”

Izzy stared back in disapproval. “Har har. Very funny, Davis.”

“What? It’s no joke! She’s really an alien pony!”

“Really, Davis, do you honestly believe I’m going to fall for that again?”

“Not my fault you fell for it twice in a row,” Davis grumbled. “But I’m really not joking this time! She’s from another world, I swear!”

“He’s telling the truth,” Cody chimed in. “These ponies came here from another world. They’re here to rescue their friend that was abducted into the Digital World.”

Izzy’s expression suddenly went blank, as though he were struggling to process what Cody had said.

“You..” He stammered, “You mean she’s really...”

“Here we go again”, Sora sighed. Her expression was matched by the other Digi-Destined, a conspicuously large bead of sweat appearing on each of their foreheads.

Without hesitation, Izzy jumped out of his chair in a blur of sudden movement. Within moments he was kneeling over Twilight with a near-frenzied look on his face.

“What is your world like? What kind of government do you have? Is there a single government or are there different nations? Does your planet have any moons? What kind of sun do you have? How could your species possibly form a civilization without opposable thumbs?”

“Izzy! Calm down, you’re scaring her!” Tentomon flew up beside the frantic Izzy, scolding him harshly.

Izzy suddenly snapped out of his fervor, looking down at Twilight to see her still reeling in shock.

“Sorry about that,” Izzy said sheepishly, “I, uh, guess I got carried away there.”

Twilight smiled. “It’s alright. I can certainly understand wanting to learn more about another world.”

“No fair!” Davis whined, “How come you believed Cody that she was an alien, but you didn’t believe me?”

“Well aside from you crying wolfmon,” said Armadillomon, “Ah reckon it has something to do with Cody here being the world’s worst liar.”

“What? No I’m not!” Cody said.

Armadillomon raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Could you do me a favor and answer me a question?”

“Sure,” Cody replied.

“What kind of pajamas do you wear to bed?”

“What?” said Cody indignantly, “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Just answer the question, Cody.”

Cody’s eyes darted back and forth around the room, sweat beginning to form on his brow. His face scrunched visibly as he replied. “I, uh... I just wear regular pajamas. No big deal, really!”

Armadillomon simply stared back, clearly unconvinced.

“Alright!” Cody admitted, “I wear pajamas with feet! Are you happy now?” He then paused in anticipation, as though he were expecting a response. “Huh? You guys aren’t laughing at me?”

“Now you’re just being ridiculous,” said Armadillomon. “These folks are your friends, Ah reckon they’d like you no matter what you wear to bed.”

“... I suppose it was kind of ridiculous to think that,” Cody admitted. “Thanks, Armadillomon.”

“What I want to know is, what are these so-called aliens doing here?” said Matt.

“That is a rather good question for them to be asking,” said Rarity, “why don’t we introduce ourselves to each other? I’m sure it would be within our best interests to know each other’s names if we’re to be working together.”

“Good idea!” said Twilight, “We’ll start things off. My name is Twilight Sparkle. These are my friends, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity.” She pointed a hoof at each of her friends in sequence, indicating to the others who they were.

“My name’s Tai, and this is Agumon,” said Tai, introducing himself and his partner. “I take it you’ve already met my sister Kari?”

“That’s right,” said Twilight, “I can already tell you two are close.”

“My name’s Matt, and this is my partner Gabumon,” said Matt, “T.K.’s my brother, if you couldn’t tell.”

“My name’s Joe, and this is Gomamon,” said Joe.

“Wow, you’re name’s Joe?” said Pinkie, “That’s amazing, I also know a Joe back home! Do you make donuts, too? ‘Cause the other Joe I know owns this really nice donut shop, I mean it’s not as nice as sugarcube corner, but he makes really good donuts, and this last year we were both participated in a pastry bake-off, and it was really really really close, so close the judges couldn’t even decide who won, so it ended up a tie! We decided it didn’t matter because we had so much fun, and we got to eat so many delicious pastries and—”

“Slow down! You’re giving me a headache!” Joe held his hand to his head, slowly massaging his temples. Pinkie shrank back, looking visibly upset with herself.

“Aw, lighten up Joe,” said Gomamon, “she seems like a real barrel of fun! Don’t let him get to you, Pinks, he’s always like that.”

Joe rolled his eyes. “Glad to see someone’s on my side. Sora, why don’t you introduce yourself?”

“Of course,” said Sora, “my name is Sora, and this is my friend Biyomon.” She gestured to Biyomon, who waved to the ponies.

“Hi there!”

Rainbow Dash visibly flinched as Biyomon greeted them, her eyes darting around the room, trying desperately to avoid making eye contact.

“Is something wrong?” said Biyomon.

“I’m... I’m fine,” said Rainbow, “just, um, a little nervous about being in a new world.”

“Don’t worry Rainbow, it’ll be fine,” Twilight reassured Rainbow, before turning to face the last new human. “And you would be Izzy, then? Davis told me all about you on the way here. I’m looking forward to learning more about your world from you. Ooh, this is so exciting!”

“The feeling is mutual, Twilight,” said Izzy. “I’d also like to introduce you to my partner Tentomon.”

“How do you do?” said Tentomon.

“Oh my gosh, so many new friends!” Pinkie cheered. “I’ve never met so many of them at once! Do you know what this calls for?”

“We can throw a party later, Pinkie!” Rainbow interjected, “We’ve got more important things to worry about right now!”

“Ah’m afraid she’s right about that, Pinkie,” said Applejack, “right now we’ve gotta figure out just what the hay’s going on here.”

“First things first,” said Izzy, “we’re going to need to know how you ended up in the Digital World to begin with.”

Suddenly, Twilight was interrupted when the lights in the room went off all at once.

“Hey!” Twilight exclaimed, “What’s going on here?”

“You kids still playing with your monster friends in there?” The others all turned towards the open doorway to a man in a janitor’s uniform, with long black hair and a tired expression. “You need to get a move on! Building’s closed!”

“Sorry, mister Konaka!” Tai replied nervously, “We were just finishing up, I promise!”

“And don’t you dare let your little freakshow mess with that computer hardware! That stuff’s expensive!” The janitor gave out one last complaint before heading out into the corridor, grabbing onto a cart of cleaning supplies and pushing it out of sight.

“We can introduce ourselves properly here tomorrow,” said Ken, “for now we should focus on finding these ponies a place to stay for the night.”

“We can probably have each pony we found stay at our houses,” said T.K. “Hopefully our parents will understand.”

“Wait a second, you guys live with your parents?” said Rainbow Dash. “How old are you?”

“As I understand it, children are the only humans who can become Digi-Destined,” said Twilight. “Davis told me all about it on the way here.”

“What?” Rainbow exclaimed, “That’s.. that’s ridiculous! Who’d trust a bunch of foals to be the guardians of the entire world? Do you have any idea how dangerous that’d be?”

“Hey, are you saying you don’t think we can do it?” said Davis. “We’ve beaten all kinds of bad guys before! We know what we’re doing!”

“Settle down, you two,” said Twilight. “They’re not the ones who made the rules, so don’t go blaming them. It’s not our business to tell them what they shouldn’t be doing. We’re the outsiders here, remember?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Rainbow begrudgingly admitted. “But what are they going to do to help us now?”

“Like I said, we’ll let you stay over at our homes in the meantime,” said T.K. “I’m sure our parents will understand, they’ve probably gotten used to seeing weird things happening. I wouldn’t recommend letting anyone else know that you’re not digimon, though. I could see that getting messy.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” said Ken, “we’ll let each pony that we found stay with us until we meet here tomorrow. That means Applejack will stay with T.K., Pinkie will stay with Kari, and Twilight will stay with Davis. Rarity will be staying with Cody, and Rainbow Dash will stay with Yolei. Any objections?”

Twilight looked back towards her friends, listening for their approval. “Seems like we’re all good,” she replied.

“What about you, Ken?” said Yolei.

“Wormmon and I will be taking the train back home,” said Ken. “Joe will drop the rest of you guys off in his van. It’ll be a tight fit, but you should be able to make it.”

Joe sighed. “I can’t wait until you guys are old enough to get your own driver’s licenses.”
> Interlude 1: Food
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight stared incredulously at the stew that sat in a bowl in front of her. Sitting at a rectangular kitchen table at Davis’s apartment, she was joined by Davis and Veemon, as well as Davis’s mother, father, and sister. Taking a glance around the kitchen, she realized that the rest of Davis’s family was staring at her. Sighing softly, she turned her attention back to the stew that she’d been served.

In the bowl she recognized the potatoes, vegetables, and soy sauce, but aside from that there were chunks of a dark, fleshy substance that she was unable to properly identify. Focusing her magic through her horn, she carefully levitated the spoon that she’d been given into the air and poked at the stew hesitantly.

“So... Davis tells us you’re from another world?”

Davis’s father had finally broken the silence with the question, which had caught Twilight by surprise.

“Whoa!”

Startled, her magical grip on the spoon suddenly gave way, and the spoon began to fall. Reacting quickly, she reached out with her front hoof and grabbed the spoon in mid-air. With a nervous smile she set the spoon back down on the table.

“Right, sorry about that... Anyway, yes, I’m from a world called Ungula, but ponies like me just say we’re from Equestria, the kingdom most of us are from.”

“I see...”

“Oh, what does it matter what world she’s from?” Davis’s sister suddenly spoke out, “I think she’s just adorable either way! Oh, I just wanna hug her so bad!”

“Aw, come on Jun, leave her alone!” said Davis, “What do you think she is, some kind of stuffed toy?”

“Davis, it’s alright, you don’t have to defend me,” Twilight said with a giggle. Once again her horn glowed and she levitated the spoon took a bite of the stew.

“Oh, wow, this is great!”

“Glad you like it!” said Davis’s mother, “It’s called nikujaga.”

Leaning down over the table, Twilight greedily devoured the rest of the stew, the sound of her loud slurping filling the rest of the apartment. The others stared at her in disbelief as she very quickly gobbled up what was left of the stew, until there was nothing left in the bowl. When she finished, she let out a sigh of satisfaction.

“Geez, what a pig,” Veemon muttered.

“Look who’s talking. You ate my entire stash of snacks in one day!” Davis replied.

“Davis, don’t fight at the dinner table,” his mother scolded. “Twilight, I take it you enjoyed your meal?”

“Oh! Um...” Twilight suddenly jumped, her face flush with embarrassment. “Y-yes, I did. What was in that, anyway?”

“Oh, just a bit of beef, potatoes, vegetables, and a few other things. I can teach you my recipe if you’d like.”

Twilight stared back at Davis’s mother, nonplussed. “Beef? What’s that?”

Davis suddenly broke out into a cold sweat. “Uh-oh. Twilight, you’re, uh... You’re not supposed to eat meat, are you?”

“H-huh?”

Davis swallowed a lump in his throat. “That stew you ate had beef in it, it’s uh... It comes from an animal called a cow.”

Twilight suddenly froze in place, as though she were a deer caught in a car’s headlights. At that moment she could feel the weight of Davis’s revelation hit her all at once, one that made her very soul shiver. Her knees went weak, and she could feel her entire body shaking in horror.

“Twilight?” asked Davis, “are you okay?”

“No!” Twilight snapped, slamming her front hooves onto the table. “I’m not okay! I’m a cannibal! I’m an abomination! How can possibly go back to the life I knew after committing such a heinous crime against nature?” Tears poured freely from her eyes as she glared daggers at Davis, her face an image of equal parts rage, sadness, and fear. Davis instinctively leaned backwards, throwing his hands up in a defensive pose.

“Hold on, how does that make you a cannibal?” said Jun, “I thought you were a pony, not a cow.”

“That doesn’t matter!” Twilight yelled. “Cows are but one of the many species living in harmony in our world! To eat one of them would be no better than eating one of my own kind! And you...” Twilight pointed a hoof accusedly at Davis’s mother. “You not only slaughtered this innocent being, you fed it to me as though its life didn’t even matter! How could you!?”

“Twilight, calm down!” said Veemon, “It’s not that bad!”

“Not that bad? Not that bad!?”

“Twilight!” Davis interjected, “Just calm down, okay? Take a deep breath, I’m sure this is just a huge misunderstanding.”

“Davis... I-I trusted you!” Twilight sobbed, collapsing onto the table. “How could you let this happen to me?”

“Twilight, just hear me out,” Davis pleaded. “I promise you, it’s probably not what it sounds like. I mean, we’re from entirely different worlds, right?”

Twilight sniffed, looking up at Davis. “Y-yes? Why?”

“Well, I have a hunch that the cows on our world aren’t like your cows.”

“What makes you say that?” said Twilight.

“Well, we also have ponies here, and uh... they’re not really like you. They don’t come in any fancy colors, or have horns or wings, or any of that stuff. Heck, they don’t even talk!”

Twilight stared slack-jawed at Davis. “What? They don’t?”

“Of course not!” said Davis, “They just sort of stand around and graze and poop, and stuff like that. Cows are like that, too. We certainly wouldn't be eating anything that could talk to us, would we?”

Twilight looked back at Davis, wiping the tears from her eyes with a forelimb. “I... I guess not.  Also, ew.” Twilight sniffed again, grabbing a napkin from the table with her magic and wiping off her runny nose. Her horn glowed brighter, and in a brief flash of light the used napkin disappeared into thin air. Twilight breathed heavily from the exertion of the spell, sweat beginning to drip down her coat.

“I’m sorry if I got upset,” Twilight sighed out, “I suppose it’s only natural for an omnivorous species to eat meat when given the opportunity.” Twilight paused, a lump suddenly forming in her throat. “Fluttershy... She used to take care of many animals, including carnivores and omnivores. When left alone in the sanctuary, they’d sometimes go after each other. She always said that it was just part of the cycle of life, and even though it made her sad, it was better to accept it for what it was.” She let out a deep sigh, fixating her gaze on the floor.

“I... I can’t help but wonder now where we’d ever be without her. I miss her so much...”

Davis sat up out of his chair and walked up next to Twilight, gently scratching her behind the ears.

“Don’t worry, Twilight. We’ll find your friend, I guarantee it.”


————————


“How are you even holding those?”

Tai stared bewildered at Pinkie Pie, who somehow had a knife and fork in both her front hooves, and a napkin tied around her collar. Sitting around the kitchen table with her were Agumon, Kari, Gatomon, as well as Tai and Kari’s father.

Pinkie Pie let out a small giggle. “With my hooves, silly!”

“No, I mean how are you holding them with your hooves like that?”

“Uh, like this?” Pinkie reached out with her right foreleg, waving it in front of Tai. The fork in her hoof remained attached to it, as though it were tightly glued to the bottom.

“No, I mean... Agh, nevermind.” Tai let out a sigh of frustration.

“Dinner is ready!”

Tai and Kari’s mother suddenly emerged out of the kitchen, wearing an apron around her body. In her right hand she carefully balanced a very strange-looking casserole, and in her left hand she carried a large serving spoon.

Walking around the table, she carefully served a large portion of the casserole on each of the plates, before serving her own portion. She placed the casserole dish in the center of the table, leaving the serving spoon in.

“Since we have a guest, I decided to try something special. It’s my very own peanut butter and eggplant casserole! Enjoy!”

“Ooh, I’ve never tried that before!” Pinkie said enthusiastically. “I wonder what it tastes like?”

“Pinkie, wait!” Kari interjected.

Pinkie ignored the warning, and instead stuck the fork straight into the casserole, shoveling a massive forkful straight into her open mouth. Her face puckered into an expression of surprise as she placed it into her mouth, her left eye suddenly twitching violently.

“What’s wrong?” Tai’s mother said. “Oh no, I didn’t botch the recipe again, did I?”

“Mmm... Mmmm...” Pinkie muttered through her closed jaw, chewing slowly and deliberately after several painful seconds, she swallowed the casserole with an an audible gulp. Breathing heavily, she stared blankly at the massive portion of the casserole that was still left on her plate.

“Pinkie, are you okay?” said Kari.

“T-that was... T-that was...” Pinkie stammered.

“Pinkie?”

“That was... That was delicious!”

Everyone else at the table gaped at Pinkie. “Huh?!” they echoed.
> Interlude 2: Family
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Through the window of the apartment, the sunset’s golden light seeped into the room, painting it with the warm golden glow of the summer evening. T.K. looked out the window and sighed, surveying the skyline as he watered a potted fern that was left by the windowsill with a miniature watering can.

The dinner with Applejack had been strangely quiet, he pondered. For whatever reason Applejack didn’t seem to keen on talking about herself beyond the initial introduction to his mother. He could tell something was bothering Applejack, and the thought of it made his brow crease in worry.

T.K. was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts when water began to flood the pottery, spilling onto the carpeted floor.

“Aw, geez.”

T.K. groaned in frustration as he quickly pulled the watering can away, so as to avoid spilling any more on the ground. Thankfully, not too much had spilled over, and the carpet was able to absorb most of the liquid.

“Phew, that wasn’t so bad. That should dry out quickly enough.”

T.K. suddenly paused mid-thought as he turned his attention to the plant, noticing something about it that struck him as unusual. The fern seemed to have grown much more lively and green than when he first started watering it. While not unhealthy before, the plant was now so bursting with life that the old fern would have looked downright sickly in comparison.

T.K. stared at the plant for several seconds, perplexed by the sudden change. He eventually decided that it wasn’t important, and set the watering can down on the floor.

“Hey T.K.!”

“Hm? Oh, hey Patamon. What’s up?”

Patamon quickly flew up beside T.K., hovering up close next to his head. Patamon glanced away for a moment as though to avoid direct eye contact, before looking back at T.K. worriedly.

“Is something wrong?” said T.K.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” replied Patamon. “It’s just that Applejack’s been awfully quiet lately, and I’m a bit worried about her. She hasn’t said a word since we arrived.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed,” T.K. replied. “I’m a little worried about her too, now that you mention it. Now that we’re finished with the chores, we should probably go talk to her and see if she’s feeling alright.”

T.K. turned around and quietly left the room to check on Applejack, with Patamon hovering closely behind.


————————


Applejack sat on her haunches atop the living room couch, staring blankly at the television screen before her. Her introduction to T.K.’s mother during dinner had left little impression on her, as her thoughts were continually occupied with the world that she’d left behind.

Even now, as she sat tiredly atop the cushy furniture, she could still recall in vivid detail the orchard in which she’d spent the entirety of her life growing up. She closed her eyes and let out a wistful sigh, and the sensations of the orchard rushed through her like an opened floodgate.

It was a bright, cloudless day above the vast expanse of farmland that was Sweet Apple Acres, a series gently rolling hillsides dotted with numerous apple trees of many different breeds.

Carrying two wooden buckets strapped to her sides, Applejack made her way towards the main body of the orchard, through the numerous trees that dotted the landscape. As she passed the barn, she gave a warm smile and waved to her brother Big Mac, who was busy repairing a hole in the roof, undoubtedly caused by one of Rainbow Dash’s reckless stunts. Big Mac returned the gesture before returning to his task. As applejack traversed the fields, a cool summer breeze gently blew past her, carrying with it the scent of a fresh crop ready for harvest.

Approaching the first tree she saw, Applejack carefully placed the buckets beneath the hanging fruit, and turned her back towards the tree’s thick trunk. Carefully positioning herself, she leaned forwards, preparing to buck the tree with both of her rear hooves...

“Applejack? What are you doing?”

Applejack was suddenly snapped back to reality by T.K., who was standing in front of the couch with Patamon hovering next to him. Positioned upright on the couch, Applejack had placed herself so that she was leaning forward, prepared to kick the back cushions with her rear legs.

“Er, uh, hey there!” Applejack said, hastily sitting back down on the couch cushion.

“Is something the matter? You look stressed out.” T.K. said.

“Huh? No! Of course not! Everything’s fine!” Applejack hastily stammered, her pupils dilating visibly. “It ain't no big deal, honest!”

“Applejack...” T.K. gave a disapproving frown.

Applejack let out a sign of defeat. “Alright, fine. You got me. Truth be told, Ah ain’t fine at all. Ah... Ah...”

Applejack’s words seemed to die in her throat just as the thoughts formed in her mind. Her vision went blurry as tears began to form in their eyes.

“Applejack?”

“Ah... Ah’m alright, T.K.,” said Applejack, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Ah’m just... Ah just...”

“You’re worried about your home, aren’t you?” said T.K.

“That obvious, huh?” Applejack sighed. “Ah just can’t help but worry about my family. We’ve always been there for each other, and to think that Ah might never see them again...” Applejack trailed off, tears now flowing freely down her face.

T.K. gave Applejack a sympathetic look, sitting down beside her on the couch. He gently reached over and placed a reassuring hand on the back of Applejack’s head, stroking her mane gently.

“Mah parents both died several years ago. Our house was on fire. Ma and Pa told us to evacuate while they went and put it out... They never came out of the house alive.” Applejack sniffled slightly, fighting to hold back the tears.

“Mah brother and Ah had to take care of the entire farm all by himself from then on. Granny Smith had gotten too old to do most of the work, and Apple Bloom was still only a foal. Our orchard was one of the largest providers of food in the entire Ponyville area, and if we went under, then everypony we knew would have suffered. We had to get a special grant from Princess Celestia just to keep from losing our business. But now that Ah’m gone, how are mah family going to survive? We were only barely able to keep ourselves afloat as it were, and that was with the Princess’s blessing!”

“Applejack,” said T.K. “I know things might seem tough, but no matter what happens, you mustn't give up. We’ll find a way to get you back to your family.”

“You... You really think so?” said Applejack.

“Of course I do,” said T.K. “I was in a similar situation, believe it or not. During our first adventure in the Digital World, I used to wonder if I’d ever see my home again. At times it seemed like we’d never return home, like we’d be trapped in the Digital World forever. But Matt was always able to reassure us that we’d return home someday. Even when it felt like giving up was the only option, we kept pressing on, and it’s because of that we were able to make it back home.”

T.K. looked down at Applejack and smiled warmly. “Don’t ever lose hope, no matter what happens. Even when it seems like you’ve hit rock bottom, if you keep moving, then you’ll have nowhere to go but up.”

Applejack looked and sniffled again, another warm smile slowly creeping its way across her face. “Yeah... Ah suppose you’re right about that. There ain’t no sense just sitting here moping when we could be doing something. By the way, you said something about your brother Matt, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Well, Ah would’ve asked you why he wasn’t joining us for supper this evening, but Ah guess Ah was so busy moping that the thought never crossed mah mind. Come to think of it, Ah ain’t seen your father round these parts neither. What happened to them?”

“Oh, them? Uh, well... It’s kind of complicated.” T.K. nervously replied.

“Sorry, Ah didn’t mean to be so personal,” said Applejack.

“No, it’s fine,” T.K. replied. “Matt lives with my dad across town. Mom and dad have been separated for some time now.”

“Your parents are divorced?” Applejack asked, surprised.

“Yeah,” said T.K., “my parents have been apart since I was little. Matt ended up with dad, and I ended up with mom. We rarely saw each other until about six years ago, when we went on our first adventure in the Digital World. After we’d finished, we still rarely saw each other for several years. It wasn’t until around a year ago that I moved closer and we started visiting each other again.”

“Ah see. It must have been tough being separated from your family for so long, huh?” Applejack mused.

“Don’t worry about it,” said T.K., “things might have been tough sometimes, but we’ll always be here for each other.”
T.K. suddenly let out a large yawn, stretching his arms outward. “Well, it’s getting late,” he said, getting up off the couch “we’d best be heading to bed. Do you need me to see if we can set up a bed for you?”

“It’s alright, Ah don’t mind sleeping here,” said Applejack.

“Alright, then. Goodnight Applejack.” With that, T.K. turned around and exited the room. Patamon made off to follow, but stopped briefly in the air, looking at Applejack worriedly.

“They didn’t come back, did they?”

“Who didn't come back?” said Applejack.

“Your parents. You said they died... But they didn’t come back, did they?”

“Of course they didn’t!” Applejack replied in exasperation. “What the hey kind of question is that? They’re dead! There ain’t no coming back from that!”

“Really? I’m not so sure about that,” said Patamon. “If that were true, then I wouldn’t be here right now.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Beg pardon?”

“Um... I don’t remember much, but I think I fought so hard that I died and became an egg. You’ll have to ask T.K. more about it, the whole thing’s really fuzzy when I try to remember it.”

“Hey Patamon!” T.K.’s voice called from the other room. “Are you coming to bed?”

“Sure thing! I was talking to Applejack!” Patamon shouted back. “Anyway, I’m sorry you had to have your parents die like that, Applejack. I don’t remember much of being dead, but I do remember it being dark and scary. Anyway, I’m going off to bed. Good night!”

Letting out a soft yawn, Patamon quietly flew out the room, following after T.K. Applejack simply stared after him, unsure of what to think.

“Coming back from the dead...” Applejack quietly spoke to herself. “Land sakes, these digimon sure are something.”


————————


“Hmm...”

Rarity hummed in contemplation as she peered through her bright red spectacles, examining the bandage wrapped around Cody’s shoulder. He sat patiently in the middle of the well-lit living room, with Armadillomon by his side.

Focusing her magic through her horn, Rarity gently unwrapped the bandage and discarded it into a nearby trashcan, revealing the wound underneath. The blood had already clotted, revealing a large, ugly scab.

“Well, I’m certainly no medical expert, but it looks like your wound is healing quite well. I dare say it should be fully recovered soon.”

“You sure I won’t need stitches?” said Cody.

Rarity winced. “Stitches? Why, perish the thought! You would have been in quite the sticky situation if you’d needed stitches. Thankfully, the stone that struck you was blunt, so I don’t think stitches were required. I wouldn’t exert yourself too greatly, though, the bruising on your shoulder is much deeper than the wound.”

“But you do know how to sew in case I needed stitches, right?”

“W-what?” Rarity gasped in horror. “Oh heavens, no! I might know my way around a sewing needle, but stitching someone’s... flesh is an entirely different thing! Besides, my needle was drenched in grimy lakewater along with my other supplies, so you’d likely end up getting a nasty infection.”

“You wouldn’t have to worry about that,” said Cody. “The Digital World is made entirely of computer data. There’s no bacterial life, the only diseases are from computer viruses.”

“Oh, well isn’t that convenient!” Rarity chimed. “You certainly are knowledgeable for a child, aren’t you?”

Cody said nothing in response. He and Armadillomon shot each other an exasperated look.

“Hey, is everything going alright in there?” Cody’s mother called out as she entered the room, her face wrought with concern. “Is my little boy okay?”

“I’m fine, mom,” replied Cody. “My shoulder should be alright now.”

“I see,” replied Cody’s mother. “And I take it you’re going straight back to the Digital World tomorrow?”

“Mom, I have to do this!” Cody insisted. “Rarity’s friend is in danger, and we’re the only ones who can help! We can’t just leave Fluttershy when her life could be in danger!”

Cody’s mother gave a soft smile in return, though behind it the others could see she was deeply worried. “I see. You’ve always been so selfless, Cody. I’m so proud of you... Just be careful, okay? And Rarity, please look after my little boy while you’re out there, alright?”

“You’ve no need to worry, Ms. Hida, your son is in good hooves,” Rarity replied.

“Thank you, Rarity. Cody, it’s almost bedtime, so get ready to go to sleep, okay?”

“Yes, mom.” Cody replied.

Rarity smiled. “Your mother and grandfather certainly are very nice. You should consider yourself grateful to have such a caring family.”

Cody said nothing in response. He looked towards the ground, avoiding making eye contact with Rarity.

“Speaking of, I’ve noticed that your father isn’t home yet. He must be working very late to be out at this hour. Oh, I do hope he’s not pushing himself too hard!”

“My father’s dead.” Cody abruptly responded.

Rarity opened her mouth as if to speak, but quickly closed it again, leaving an awkward silence hanging over the room.

“I... I’m terribly sorry, I had no idea...”

“It’s fine,” said Cody. “You didn’t know. I was barely old enough to even remember it happening, anyway.”

Rarity looked up at Cody sympathetically. “Oh, that’s awful... How could such a sweet little boy like you lose a parent so young? What happened?”

“My father was a police officer,” Cody responded darkly. “He was guarding a government official, when an assassin tried to kill him. My dad pushed him out of the way and took the bullet instead.”

“You mean he gave his life to save someone else?” Rarity asked.

“Yeah...” said Cody. “I never really even knew him all that well, he was always so busy. I was so young when it happened that I barely even remember him.”

Rarity silently bit her lip. “Your father sounds like was a wonderful person... I guess it just goes to show you can never take your family for granted.” She let out a deep breath, turning her attention to the doorway where Cody’s mother had come through previously.

“You’re worried about your family, aren’t you?” said Armadillomon.

“Hm?”

“Come on Rarity, Ah can see it written on your face. You’re worried about your folks back home, aren’t you?”

Rarity gave a soft, humorless chuckle. “You really do know how to read a pony, Armadillomon. Yes, I am worried. Not only about my mother and father, but for my sister as well.”

“You had a sister?” said Cody.

“Yes,” said Rarity. “My younger sister Sweetie Belle. She was a fine young filly, one of the nicest you’d ever meet. She and I were very close, and I cared for her very deeply...” Rarity sighed. “But my parents, I’m afraid, were a different story.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” said Cody.

“I barely knew my parents at all growing up,” Rarity admitted. “My father was the manager of a local sports team and was frequently away for outside matches. Mother was an passionate baker, and spent most of her time in the kitchen, experimenting with new recipes. Between both their ambitions, they rarely had any time for my sister and I. More often than not I was left to take care of Sweetie Belle alone while father was away, since mother couldn’t be bothered to pull herself away from the stove.

“But that’s not all. When I finally moved out to start my own fashion boutique, mother and father started leaving Sweetie Belle at my home, since they couldn’t even be bothered to look after her themselves. And I was so busy myself that I rarely had the opportunity to give her the attention she needed. We were all so caught up in our lives that we never truly had time to be a family... And now we never will.” Rarity sighed, removing her glasses and wiping a small tear from her eye.

Cody looked Rarity firmly in the eye. “Rarity, listen to me. I know things might be difficult right now, but I promise you, we’ll find a way to get you back to your family. No matter how tough it might seem, we’ll pull through. We just need to stick together.”

“It’s alright, Cody. I know things will work out like they always do. I just can’t help but worry...” Rarity let out a yawn, covering it with her front hoof. “Anyway, it’s getting fairly late, why don’t we head off to bed for the evening? I certainly need my beauty rest.”

“Yeah, I suppose,” said Cody. “Are you sure you don’t mind sleeping on the couch?”

“No need to worry about it, dear. Goodnight.”

“Yeah, goodnight.”

With a final word, Cody and Rarity went off to prepare their evening rituals before heading to sleep for the night. The whole time the thoughts of her family never left Rarity’s mind, even as she eventually drifted off to slumber.
> Interlude 3: Shadows of the Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

No... I-I didn’t want this to happen! Please, it’s not my fault!

“Rainbow?”

She told me she didn’t need my help! I never thought she’d turn out like this!

“Rainbow, are you okay?”

“Gyah!”

Rainbow Dash catapulted awake at the sensation of something brushing over her shoulder, her head jolting upwards off of the couch. In the darkness of the living room she fumbled about, violently swatting away the foreign object that had violated her personal space.

“Ouch! Rainbow, what the heck?!”

“Huh? Yolei?” Rainbow looked up towards the source of the voice, barely making out Yolei’s silhouette in the darkness. “Don’t sneak up on me like that while I’m sleeping! You scared me half to death!”

“Sorry, Rainbow,” Yolei replied. “I was just worried about you is all. You seemed to be having a nightmare.”

“Yeah? So what? What are you even doing here, anyway?”

“Uh, well, you see... How do I put this...” Yolei paused awkwardly, trying to find the words. “You were snoring kind of loudly, and my older siblings kind of went and told me to tell you to knock it off. It wasn’t my idea, I swear!”

“What!?” Rainbow exclaimed defensively. “I do not snore!”

“Rainbow, shh!” Yolei hushed. “They’ll hear you!”

“Rrgh, fine,” Rainbow grumbled. “What am I supposed to do about it, though? If they don’t like my snoring, that’s their problem. Now could you please let me sleep?”

“Rainbow, wait,” said Yolei. “There’s something else I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Ugh, can’t it wait until morning?”

“Rainbow, something’s been bothering you, hasn’t it?”

Rainbow looked up at Yolei incredulously. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve been acting strangely as of late. You’ve barely spoken a word since you arrived on Earth, and now you’re having nightmares. Is there anything wrong?”

“It’s fine,” said Rainbow Dash. “There’s nothing to worry about, I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” Said Yolei, concerned.

“It’s fine. We’ll talk about it later, alright? Just let me sleep.”

“If you say so...” Yolei gave Rainbow Dash one last worried look before walking away. Rainbow yawned loudly before laying her head back down, her thoughts turning towards the past as she drifted back to sleep.

Why did I have to be reminded of her? Why now?


————————


Ruin. Decay. Emptiness. The wasteland stretched as far as the eye could see, devoid of life and compassion. The very earth itself looked as though it had been scorched, leaving nothing but an empty waste, where once vivid ecosystems had been burnt to ash.

Amidst the blasted landscape Ken stood, staring vacantly at the dystopian nightmare before him.

“Where am I?” he wondered aloud.

Suddenly, as though beckoned by his words, apocalyptic scenes began to flash before his eyes, showing glimpses of a world where all had been brought to dust. He saw an entire world in the grip of terror, and a once great city reduced to a smoking ruin.

“What’s happening?” He cried out in confusion and terror. “What is this!?”

Ken’s words went ignored, as the nightmarish scenes continued to flash right before his eyes, the screams of the innocent filling his ears. Ken closed his eyes tightly and clasped his ears against his head, but the horrifying sights and sounds continued to assault him, undeterred by his feeble attempts to shut them out.

“No... No more! Please, make it stop!” Ken sobbed desperately, collapsing onto his knees. “Please, enough! I can’t take any more of this!”

“What’s the matter, Ken?”

The sudden voice had cut through the hellish visions with ease, leaving Ken with a newfound clarity. Free of the nightmares, he stood up and turned towards the source of the voice, and came face to face with his worst fear imaginable. The familiar spiky hair, the elaborate blue jumpsuit and cape, the soulless gaze hidden beneath the gold-trimmed sunglasses.

“This is what you wanted, wasn’t it?” said the Digimon Emperor. “You dedicated your existence to the suffering of others.”

“You...” Ken’s voice trembled with anger as he stared straight into his own eyes.

“Is something wrong, Ken? Are you afraid to look in the mirror?”

“No! You do not get to tell me who I am!” Ken snapped. “I’ve moved on from what I was! The Digimon Emperor is gone!”

“And yet here I am, standing right in front of you,” the Emperor calmly retorted. “Face it, Ken: despite how far you’ve come, your past mistakes continue to define you. Until you learn to accept that, this is only going to keep happening.”

“What are you talking about?” Ken demanded.

“Just look at Vespimon. She seems awfully familiar to you, does she not? A spitting image of your beloved partner, Stingmon. She represents every mistake you’ve ever made, every atrocity you’ve ever committed! She is a reflection of your past, and an embodiment of the sins that continue to weigh down on your heart to this day!”

“What’s your point? What are you getting at?”

The Emperor let out a low, ominous chuckle. “You know exactly what I’m getting at, Ken. She’s the part of you that you never wished to acknowledge, the part of you that you fooled yourself into thinking was long gone. And as long as you keep denying it, she’ll only become stronger. After all, who are we other than the result of our past?”

As he finished his speech, a sudden gust of wind blew through the wasteland, the air circling around the Emperor. His body turned translucent as he slowly began to fade out of existence.

“No! You’re wrong!” Ken screamed. “Vespimon is the antithesis of everything that I stand for! I won’t let her win, you hear me? And I don’t need you to tell me otherwise!” He lunged forward to assault the ghostly image, who cackled as he vanished into thin air. Ken fell through the empty space and collapsed onto his side, leaving himself prone on the ground.

As he lay down, a massive shadow fell over him and he looked up to see what he could only describe as an abomination. It was the silhouette of a massive, multi-limbed beast, its body devoid of all light and color. A large horn protruded from the top of its head, and sprouting from its shoulders were two massive cylindrical growths of unknown function.

Ken looked up, eyes wide with terror, as the monster swiftly brought one of its massive claws down on top of him.


————————


“Gah!”

Ken suddenly awoke with a jolt, a cold sweat running down his forehead. His heart still pounding from the nightmare, he sat up in his bed and briefly surveyed the room. Wormmon still lay at his feet snoring gently, completely unaware of the whole experience. 

Reaching out towards his partner, he briefly stroked Wormmon across the head. Ken smiled as Wormmon reacted to his touch, muttering happily in his sleep.

“Don’t worry buddy, everything’s going to be okay.”

Giving his partner one last look, Ken lay back down on the bed, drifting into a dreamless sleep for the rest of the night.
> Harmonic Evolution 101
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Davis stood outside of the computer lab, sipping quietly from a plastic coffee cup. With visible bags under his eyes, he stared vacantly at the door, anticipating any sign of life inside of it. Sitting beside him in the hallway was Veemon, who stared at the doorway with a similarly groggy expression.

Veemon’s eyelids sagged from his position, beginning to nod off. He shook his head vigorously, snapping himself awake, before looking up at Davis. “Hey, do you think you could give me some of that?”

“What? No way, this is mine! You already had yours on the way here!”

“But I’m so tired...” Veemon groaned. “I need caffeine...” He reached up towards Davis, pulling on his pant leg pleadingly.

“Hey, let go of me! I already told you, this is mine!” Davis quickly yanked the coffee mug away, but Veemon stubbornly clung to the demin jeans, tugging desperately at the article of clothing. Davis yelped in surprise as the coffee cup slipped from his hands, spilling its contents in a puddle all over the ground.

“Veemon! Now look what you did!”

“Don’t worry, I got it!” Veemon suddenly rushed over towards the spill, kneeling atop the puddle with his hands and knees. Loud slurping noises echoed across the hallway as greedily licked the puddle.

“Ugh, Veemon! That’s disgusting!”

“Don’t care. Need caffeine.” Veemon’s reply came punctuated with loud slurps.

“Veemon, come on, what if someone sees you like that? Our friends could be here any moment!”

“Nah, it’s too early for that,” Veemon slurped. “They probably won’t be here for another...”

Veemon suddenly froze as a patch of shade fell over him. He looked up to see Cody and Armadillomon standing at the end of the hallway  by the window, leaving a large shadow extending across the corridor as the early morning sun shone behind them. Standing beside the two was Rarity, who gaped at Veemon, her face frozen in an expression of shock and disgust.

“Umm..”

“You know what, forget it,” Cody sighed as he approached with the others. “I don’t want to know. What are you doing here anyway, Davis? I’m usually the first to arrive when we meet in the summer.” He looked towards the puddle in the ground that Veemon stood over, wiping off his tongue with his hand. “Wait, is that coffee?”

“Yeah,” said Davis, “Izzy sent me a message on my D-Terminal at two in the morning. He said he wanted me to bring Twilight early so they could discuss some things. We had to sneak out while my parents were asleep, and we got some coffee at the subway station to help us stay awake.”

“We’ve been waiting out here for hours,” Veemon whined. “Twilight and Izzy won’t even let us in to see what they’re doing!”

“Wait a minute, you snuck out without telling your parents?” Cody interrupted. “Davis, do you have any idea how irresponsible that is? And you’re way too young to be drinking coffee!”

“Relax, I left them a note on the fridge,” said Davis. “And I’m pretty sure Twilight’s an adult, so it’s not like I wasn’t supervised or anything.”

“It doesn’t matter! You can’t just go about breaking rules like that! It’s not right!”

“Well Cody, it ain’t like you’ve never broken any rules yourself when going to the Digital World,” said Armadillomon.

“You’re not helping!” Cody replied indignantly.

“Please, everyone, there’s no need to make a fuss,” said Rarity. “Irresponsible as they might have been, they can deal with the consequences later. We should focus our thoughts on the mission at hoof.” Rarity paused, taking a quick glance around the empty hallway. “We should wait for the others to arrive before we meet Twilight in the computer room.”

The wait for the other Digi-Destined and their compatriots was uneventful, save for the exchange of small talk as more arrived outside the lab. Tai and Kari arrived first, with Agumon, Gatomon, and Pinkie Pie, followed by Sora and Biyomon. Matt and Gabumon arrived soon afterward, followed by Joe and Gomamon. Yolei arrived some time afterward with Hawkmon and Rainbow Dash, and T.K. with Patamon and Applejack. Ken and Wormmon arrived last, though Ken’s expression suggested he had been in a hurry to get there.

“Hey Ken, glad to see you made it!” said Davis, “what took you so long?”

“I live more than an hour away,” Ken deadpanned. “Or were you expecting me to bend the laws of time and space to get here faster?”

“Jeez, no need to get so defensive,” replied Davis. “Now that you’re here we can meet with Twilight and Izzy in the computer lab.” Davis walked over to the computer lab’s door and knocked loudly on the window. “Hey eggheads, open up! The gang’s all here!”

Silence.

“Come on, Twilight!” Davis banged on the door, “We’re all here, quit keeping us waiting!”

“Stand back, Davis!” Said Veemon, “Let me try!”

Veemon walked up to the door, and Davis quietly stepped aside to let him through. Taking a deep breath, Veemon stood in front of the door and stepped back, lowering his head slightly.

“Wait, he’s not going to...?” said T.K.

“Veemon, wait a second!” Davis cried out.

“Vee Headbutt!”

With a mighty yell, Veemon leapt headfirst at the door, intent on smashing it down. As he sailed towards it, the door became enveloped in a lavender glow, swinging outwards in a swift jerking motion.

Veemon let out a yelp as he was summarily flattened against the wall next to the door. Standing in the open doorway was Twilight Sparkle, who smiled warmly at the gathered crowd.

“Glad to see you all could make it. Come in and we’ll discuss what we’ve found.” Twilight paused momentarily as she noted the mass of shocked faces before her. She briefly glanced around the hallway in confusion, only to let out her own astonished gasp as she looked behind the doorway.

“Veemon!” Twilight gasped. “Are you alright? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it!”

Veemon let out a pained groan as he sat on the ground, rubbing his head. “I’m fine. Let’s just go in.”

Twilight soon led the others into the computer room, where she and Izzy had been working. A small moving table with a projector had been placed in the center of the room, connected to one of the nearby computers. A large pull-down projector screen was on the opposite wall, with plenty space cleared in front of it so that the others could watch.

As Twilight approached the projector, she took one last apologetic look at Veemon, who was nursing a bruise on his head.

“Veemon, are you sure you’re alright? I swear I didn’t mean to hurt you...”

“Hey, no worries Twilight,” said Veemon. “Trust me, I’ve had a lot worse.”

“If you say so...”

Nearby, Izzy sat in front of one of the computers, the monitor displaying what appeared to be some kind of slideshow program. Tentomon hovered next to him in midair, staring curiously at the screen.
 
“Alright everyone, here’s the deal.” said Izzy. “Twilight and I have set up a slideshow so we can properly explain the situation. We’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s not waste time. Someone get the lights and we’ll begin.”

The group soon gathered in the front of the room, in a space that had been cleared for the presentation. The group gathered before a large projector screen which hung on the fall wall opposite the projector, which Twilight stood proudly in front of. Izzy sat by one of the nearby computers, with a slideshow program visible on the screen, and the projector connected via cable to the monitor.

“Tentomon, could you light switch for me?” said Twilight. “I’ll get the projector.”

“You got it!”

With an eager buzzing of wings, Tentomon flew over to the doorway and flipped the switch, shutting off the overhead lights. Twilight then approached the projector and flipped another switch, causing the machine to hum to life. Displayed on the screen from the projector was the same image on Izzy’s computer monitor, which showed a slideshow program. With a simple click, the program disappeared, replaced with a blank white screen.

“This presentation will help us explain what’s going on to everyone,” said Twilight, walking in front of the screen to address the crowd. She stared at the blank screen for a moment before looking back nervously at the gathered crowd before. “Uh... Sorry we haven’t gotten a proper title ready. We were so busy working on everything else that it completely forgot. I hope you guys don’t mind too much...”

“I already told you, don’t worry about it,” said Izzy. “What’s most important is that we’re able to present our findings efficiently.”

“Are you sure?” said Twilight. “I could probably think of something really quick. How about ‘Digital World 101?’ Or maybe, ‘Digimon and you?’ Or how about—”

“Ugh, just play the slideshow!” said Rainbow.

“Alright, fine!” said Twilight. She muttered under “So impatient...”

With the click of a mouse, Izzy transitioned the slideshow into the next slide, a simple diagram with a picture of several digimon lined up in a chart. Each digimon was contained in a column with a different label: “Fresh”, “In-Training”, “Rookie”, “Champion”, “Ultimate”, and “Mega”, lined up from left to right. In the respective columns were the respective forms of Agumon, with his current form in the “Rookie” column.

“This one’s for my fellow ponies, since the rest of you probably know this all already. Shown here are the six known evolutionary stages of digimon, ordered from least to most powerful.”

“Evolutionary stages?” said Applejack. “You mean like our harmonic evolutions?”

“Yes and no,” replied Twilight. “Our harmonic evolutions are slightly different, but we’ll get to that.” Several of the Digi-Destined began to voice their confusion, only for Twilight to cut them off. “Don’t worry, we’ll explain that in a moment.

“As I was saying before, these are the evolutionary stages of digimon. When digimon are born from recycled computer data, they hatch from a digi-egg into a “fresh” digimon. Think of them as foals, if you will. Over time, digimon will gradually grow stronger through competition with others of their kind. Through this process digimon will permanently transform into stronger forms through a process known as digital evolution, or ‘digivolution.’ This natural process take many years to complete, however, and the vast majority of digimon will never live to digivolve past champion. Those that manage to digivolve beyond ultimate are so rare that the mega level was not initially believed to even exist.” 

Twilight nodded to Izzy, who transitioned to the next slide. The slide showed a picture of Tai standing next to Agumon, as well as the champion, ultimate, and mega forms that had been shown previously, and a series of arrows connecting them.

“However, Digimon can also temporarily access higher digivolution levels through the aid of outside forces. A digimon paired to a human partner, for example, is capable of temporarily digivolving by harnessing the deep bond they share with their partner. Digi-Destined are also capable of harnessing various artifacts and power sources to further digivolve, allowing for them to instantly digivolve up to the mega level, but only for a brief period of time. Afterwards, the partner digimon will regress to a lower level.”

“Wow! So you guys go through a lot of really super-duper sudden transformations, don’t you?” said Pinkie. “Kind of like baking a soufflé and watching the dough rise in the oven, only for it to collapse as soon as you take it out! Don’t you just hate it when that happens? Not digivolving, I mean, that’s super cool, but spending all that time making a yummy dessert only for it to be totally ruined? I hate that!”

“Uh...” said Kari, having trouble keeping up with Pinkie’s excited rambling.

“She’s feister than an entire litter on catnip, isn’t she?” said Gatomon.

“So y’all can do these digivolution things all the way up to the mega level?” said Applejack. “Well, shoot, and Ah thought just transforming once were impressive.”

“Actually, only Agumon and Gabumon are able to digivolve beyond ultimate,” said Twilight. “Veemon and Wormmon can too, but that’s a little bit different.”

“Huh?” said Pinkie. “Why not?”

“I must admit, it does sound rather unfair,” said Rarity. “If we’re all part of a team, I don’t see why anyone should be elevated beyond everyone else.”

Twilight flinched as though she were struck, a pained look briefly flashing across her muzzle. “Right... moving on... As I hinted at before, this is only one kind of digivolution. There are several others which require different conditions to unlock. The first is armor Digivolution, which I’m sure several of you have already seen.”

The presentation transitioned into a new slide. On the left-hand side was a picture of Veemon, with three arrows pointing to three other digimon in the top-left, center-left, and bottom-left of the image: Flamedramon, Raidramon, and Exveemon.

“Armor digivolution is a special type of digivolution that only certain digimon can access. Using special artifacts call armor digi-eggs, digimon can fuse with the digi-eggs to become armor-level digimon, which in most circumstances have the equivalent power of a champion. However, unlike other levels an armor digimon’s power is not strictly defined, so under some special circumstances they can become even more powerful. For example, Veemon can armor digivolve into Flamedramon with the Digi-Egg of Courage and Raidramon with the Digi-Egg of Friendship, both of which have the equivalent power of a champion. In the presence of a control spire, this is the only way digimon are capable of digivolving. Otherwise they can digivolve normally, such as Veemon becoming Exveemon.”

The slide transitioned again, showing a picture of ExVeemon and Stingmon on the left, with a large “plus” sign between them, and an arrow connecting to a picture of Paildramon.

“The last form of digivolution that we know of is called DNA digivolution. It’s an especially rare form of digivolution that’s powered by the bonds of trust and friendship between two digi-destined. When two humans achieve total harmony with one another, both of their hearts are crossed, allowing for their digimon partners to digivolve together into a single being that’s more powerful than the sum of its parts.” A worried frown suddenly crossed Twilight’s face as she stared back at the projector. “Unfortunately, Gatomon’s tail ring was what made DNA digivolution possible to begin with. Now that it’s been destroyed by Vespimon, one of our most powerful tools of fighting evil has been completely erased.”

“Wait, Gatomon’s tail ring was destroyed?” said Tai.

“Yeah, you didn’t notice I didn’t have it with me?” said Gatomon.

“I thought you’d just taken it off!” Tai blurted out. “Now you’re telling me it’s gone for good? What are we supposed to do now that it’s gone?”

“We’ll simply have to make do with what we have,” replied Twilight. “Our harmonic evolutions should be more than enough to combat this latest evil.”

The humans and digimon not already familiar with the phrase all stared at Twilight in confusion.

“Uh... I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but what’s that?” asked Joe.

“I’m glad you asked!” said Twilight. “See, back on our world, each of us are the bearers of a powerful artifact, known collectively as the Elements of Harmony. These artifacts represent each of the virtues that bring ponies together and establish total harmony: Honesty, Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty, Generosity, and Magic. By channeling the spirits of these virtues within us, my friends and I can harness the most powerful known magic in existence to defend our lands from the forces of evil. Unfortunately, upon arriving at the Digital World to rescue Fluttershy, our Elements appeared to have lost their power... Or so I’d thought.”

Twilight raised her foreleg, showing off the small device that was strapped to her front ankle.

“What’s that?” asked Sora. “It looks like some kind of wristwatch.”

“This, my friends, is a D-Harmony digivice.” replied Twilight.

“Huh?” A chorus of astonished gasps from the older Digi-Destined and their partners echoed throughout the room.

“That’s right,” said Twilight, grinning brightly. “Upon arriving in the Digital World, the Elements of Harmony each transformed into these electronic devices. Izzy and I were able to briefly study the Element of Magic before you arrived, and what we’d found was that its physical form had somehow been converted into computer data. We concluded that they were actually an entirely new type of digivice with properties that made them completely unique. These properties allow us to use the elements to remove our own weaknesses. I’m sure you all have noticed by now that our inherent magic doesn’t seem as strong as it used to be?”

“Now that you mention it,” said Rarity, “I have been having some difficulties with my spells. Even the most basic of levitation magic is quite strenuous.”

“And mah connection to the earth don’t seem anywhere near as strong as it used to be,” said Applejack.

“Yeah, and my Pinkie sense it totally gone!” Pinkie added.

The other ponies looked at Rainbow Dash expectantly.

“What?”

“Ain’t you gonna say something about your flying? Ah’d think that you of all ponies would be the first to complain about losing your pegasus magic.”

“Eh, I wasn’t really paying attention,” Rainbow admitted, prompting an exasperated glare from Twilight. “But now that you mention it, I have been having trouble flying lately. Are you saying that something bad’s happened to me?”

“I am, actually,” said Twilight. “For whatever reason, it seems that upon traveling to the Digital World, a large portion of our magic was lost. Because of this, not only does spellcasting become more difficult, but earth pony strength is greatly diminished, and pegasus flight is severely restricted.”

“So where did the magic go?” asked Pinkie.

“Huh?”

“Well, magic doesn’t just disappear into thin air, does it?” said Pinkie. “It had to go somewhere, right?”

“Uhm, w-well...” Twilight awkwardly stumbled over her words, having been caught completely off-guard by Pinkie’s question. “Truth be told, I hadn’t really thought about that. If I had to guess, I’d say that the teleport spell we used simply wasn’t meant to cross entire dimensions, so it ended up burning out most of our power. But we can’t say for sure since we have no way of knowing what really happened. What matters is that with our magic gone, we’ll be forced to rely on the Elements, or more accurately, the D-Harmony digivices.”

Twilight gestured to Izzy, who transitioned over to the next slide. The slide showed a picture of Twilight on the left, with a large arrow connecting her to an image of Espermon on the right. Many of the faces in the gathered audience simply gaped at the image in bewilderment.

“What is that?” asked Matt.

“That, my fellow Digi-Destined, is my harmonic evolution, Espermon.” replied Twilight. “By channeling the spirits of the Elements within us, our D-Harmony digivices can convert our remaining magic into raw computer data, allowing us to transform into special digimon known as hybrid digimon.”

“Whaaaat?!” Another series of astonished gasps came from the older Digi-Destined.

Twilight gave a self-satisfied grin, as though she had anticipated her audience’s reaction in advance. “It is quite the monumental discovery, isn’t it? By allowing us to become digimon ourselves, these harmonic evolutions prove that there’s a common link between biological and digital life-forms.”

“So does this mean you guys are Digi-Destined now?” asked Tai.

“How can they be Digi-Destined? they don’t have any partners!” Joe moaned. “I mean, turning into digimon? That’s insane!”

“Aw, don’t be so harsh on them, Joe!” said Gomamon, “Just because something’s a little different doesn’t mean it’s bad. You just gotta give it a chance!”

“Digi-Destined or not, harmonic evolutions are a lot more different than you think,” said Twilight. “Hybrid digimon have a property that makes them entirely unique: while their base power level is equivalent to a champion, there is no strict upper limit to how powerful they can become, meaning it’s entirely possible for a hybrid digimon to be equivalent to ultimate or even mega digimon. Hybrid digimon are also unaffected by the anti-digivolution radiation emitted by control spires.”

“Awesome!” said Davis. “So that basically means we’re unstoppable now! Now we’ll be able to beat that jerk who built the control spires in no time at all!”

“Yeah!” said Veemon. “Let’s show that wannabe villain who’s boss!”

Twilight frowned. “It won’t be that simple, I’m afraid. I don’t think you understand just how powerful the enemy we’re dealing with is.”

“Huh?” said Davis, “what do you mean? We just go in there and kick his butt, right? How difficult can it be?”

Twilight gave Davis a solemn look, and then gestured to Izzy, who switched the slideshow off. With a glow of her horn, Twilight turned off the projector, and subsequently turned on the light switch. The overhead lights briefly flickered on, causing the gathered crowd to wince at the sudden light.

“I’m sorry for startling you all,” said Twilight, “but this is something that I feel can’t be explained in a slideshow. I’ve been discussing this with Izzy, and I feel that the only way for us to truly understand the scope of this new threat is to explain what happened to our friend, Fluttershy.”

“Fluttershy... Pinkie mentioned her before.” Kari mused. “She ended up getting kidnapped, right? That’s how you ended up in the Digital World.”

“That’s right,” said Twilight. “But there’s more to the story than just that. In the months leading up to Fluttershy’s abduction, I was working on a project: the Electronic Numerical Evaluator for Integration, General Horsery, And Computation, or ENEIGHAC. As the first computer in the world of Ungula, its raw processing power would allow for complex calculations to be performed almost instantly, advancing the study of theoretical magics in ways that were never before possible!” Unable to contain herself, Twilight let out a miniature squeal of excitement as she finished.

A pink flush appeared on Twilight’s muzzle as she noticed the awkwards glances from across the room. “Oh, uh... Sorry about that. I get carried away sometimes. But as I was saying, ENEIGHAC was the first computer on Ungula, and based on my understanding of the Digital World, that was where it all began. While testing it for the first time, a strange malfunction occurred that caused the machine to fail. I’d spent the next several months trying to figure out just what exactly the problem was, but I wasn’t able to find anything. I’d decided one day to take a break from the computer to have a picnic with my friends.”

“Decided?” said Rainbow Dash. “We’d been trying to get you to stop obsessing over that dumb machine for months!”

“Yeah... You’re right,” Twilight said glumly. “I’d been focusing so hard on perfecting my greatest work that I’d forgotten all about the friends that made me what I am today. I tried to reconcile it during the picnic, but then I heard a horrible noise coming from the library. I rushed over to see what it was, and saw Fluttershy caught in an electrical storm generated by ENEIGHAC. Then a portal opened, and...” Twilight’s words died in her throat mid-sentence as she vividly recalled the grisly scene she had witnessed that day. “An evil force appeared and dragged her through the portal. And I couldn’t save her. If only I’d acted sooner...”

“Twilight, dear, you mustn’t be so hard on yourself,” said Rarity. “It’s not your fault. None of us could have known what would happen.”

“I know,” Twilight sighed. “We just need to focus now on what we know now and what we can do. We can reasonably conclude from what happened that ENEIGHAC’s malfunction was the result of a connection to the Digital World. It was from this connection that the evil force was able to abduct Fluttershy. And shortly after we arrived, we’d learned of the control spires and the threat they represented to the Digital World.”

“So, wait, you’re saying that they’re related?” said T.K.

“Undoubtedly so,” said Twilight. “In fact, I think I may have a possible explanation for it. Ken, you once held an artifact known as the Crest of Kindness, correct?”

“Huh?” said Ken. “How do you know about that?”

“Davis told me about it on the way to the digiport... among other things. But this artifact you possessed represented the exact same trait as Fluttershy’s Element of Harmony: the Element of Kindness. And something about our circumstance tells me that this isn’t a coincidence.” Twilight approached Ken, looking at him with imploring eyes. “Ken, I need you to tell my friends what happened with you a year ago. The fate of one of our dearest friends is at stake here, and from what I know about your history, there’s no doubt in my mind that you’re connected to it all.”

“Huh?” said Ken, “You don’t mean...”

“You need to tell them, Ken” said Twilight. “If we want to help Fluttershy, then it’s absolutely vital that we make sure we can trust each other. You’re the only one who can make sure of that.”

Ken shifted uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact with Twilight. The others turned to look at Ken expectantly, leaving a brief yet awkward lull in the conversation.

“What? You’re not gonna say anything about who you really are?” Rainbow angrily accused. “You wanna just go out and lie to everypony else, too?”

“Rainbow, dear, don’t be rude to him!” said Rarity. “We are guests in his world, after all.”

“No, she’s right,” said Ken. “She has every reason to be mistrustful of me. I was the one who originally created the control spires.”

Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie each let out a gasp of shock.

“A little more than a year ago, I tried to conquer the Digital World,” Ken solemnly admitted. “Seduced by the powers of darkness and blinded by my ignorance, I built the control spires in an effort to bring every digimon in existence under my control. I thought the Digital World to be nothing more than a game, one where I could do whatever I wanted without consequence. Had my friends not been there to stop me, I would have never understood the error of my ways.”

“You called yourself the Digimon Emperor,” said Twilight. “Davis told me everything about it. I understand what happened to you, and I don’t hold anything against you for it. But I’m afraid I can’t speak for the rest of my friends.”

The other ponies looked at Ken pitiably, noting the regret that was apparent in his expression. 

“Well... Ah know Ah ain’t known him for very long,” said Applejack, “but if Twilight trusts him, so do Ah.”

“I don’t like seeing any of my friends this sad,” said Pinkie. “If you’re really sorry about what you did, then I’ll always be willing to be there for a friend.”

“I don’t hold anything against you for succumbing to the forces of darkness,” said Rarity. “If anything, I’d say that I empathize with your situation.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Yeah, sure. I guess I don’t really have a problem with him,” she begrudgingly admitted.

Ken turned and glanced at the other ponies that had shown him sympathy, silently thanking them with the grateful expression in his eyes. He then turned back towards Twilight, staring at her somberly.

“I can appreciate the sympathy, Twilight, but I don’t think you understand how deeply I’m responsible for all of this.”

“Huh?” said Twilight. “What do you mean?”

“When Yolei and I found Rainbow Dash, we encountered an evil Digimon named Vespimon. She claimed not only to be the one behind the new control spires, but also the one responsible for kidnapping Fluttershy.”

“Yeah!” said Rainbow Dash, “And I totally kicked her butt, too! You should have seen me, I was awesome!”

Ken shook his head. “Only barely. Vespimon was so strong that she could have easily beaten us all without even a scratch on her. We only managed to win because Rainbow’s harmonic evolution caught her off guard. We weren’t even fighting the real Vespimon either, we were only fighting a shadow of her brought to life through her power. The real Vespimon is undoubtedly much stronger, and I don’t even know if we’d be able to survive a direct encounter with the real her.”

“So we know who our enemy is,” said Twilight. “And from the looks of it, she’s an exceptionally powerful foe. But what did you mean when you said you’re responsible for this?”

“I think... I think I might have created her,” Ken admitted. “We didn’t see her true form, but her shadow was a near-exact duplicate of Stingmon’s silhouette. She’s seeking to rebuild the control spires and enslave the Digital World, much like I did as the Digimon Emperor. She kidnapped Fluttershy, who holds an item that embodies kindness, much like I once did. She and I are one and the same.”

Twilight gave Ken a look of incredulity. “Those are some very close parallels. But what exactly do you mean when you said you created her? You don’t mean that literally, do you?”

Ken nodded in affirmation. “Last winter we fought an evil digimon named MaloMyotismon, who took us into a dream world where our very thoughts could become reality. This not only allowed ourselves to harness our innermost dreams to defeat him, it also gave us a closer look at ourselves and our true minds. More than anything else, I wanted to be rid of the mistakes that I’d made, so that I’d no longer have to bear the weight of my own transgressions. I... I think that this desire is what created her. Vespimon’s the part of me that I abandoned when I stopped calling myself the Digimon Emperor.”

“You... You really think that?” said Twilight. “It seems a bit outlandish, doesn’t it?”

“It’s the only explanation I can think of that makes sense. There are so many parallels between us that there’s no way there isn’t a connection of some kind.”

“So if she’s your evil inner self, then why is she a girl?” asked Davis, sporting a mischievous grin. “Wouldn’t that make you a girl, too?” Next to him, Veemon silently snickered at the question.

Ken’s face suddenly turned bright pink. “What? No! Of course not!”

“That’s actually a very fascinating observation!” Izzy chimed in. “There are some theories that certain aspects of the unconscious mind are represented by the opposite gender. According to the Jungian school of analytical psychology—”

“Ugh, who cares about that?” Rainbow interrupted. “The important question is, why would Ken’s evil inner self or whatever kidnap Fluttershy?”

“Because she needed her,” replied Ken. “When I was the Digimon Emperor, I’d converted the Crest of Kindness into a power source for my operations. By harnessing its energy, I could override the security measures in the Digital World to manually allocate its memory for my own purposes. This allowed me to program data structures that I would use to build my own resources, including the dark rings and my own personal fortress. But the Crest of Kindness was destroyed shortly after my final confrontation with the Digi-Destined, after I’d renounced my Digimon Emperor persona. Vespimon needed something else to replace it.”

“So she came after the Element of Kindness,” Twilight finished. “Of course! It all makes sense now! When ENEIGHAC connected to the Digital World, it provided the perfect opportunity for Vespimon to take what she needed!”

“But then why kidnap Fluttershy?” said Rarity. “If this ruffian Vespimon only needed her Element, then why would she get Fluttershy involved in this whole mess?”

“The Elements are powerless without their bearers,” Twilight replied. “Vespimon needs Fluttershy, and she needs her alive. We know Vespimon is holding her somewhere, and thanks to Izzy, we have a good idea of where that is. Izzy, why don’t you show us what we’ve found so far?”

“You got it,” said Izzy. With a click of the mouse, Izzy brought up another screen on the computer, moving aside to give a clear view. “Everyone, come take a look at this.” The others got up and huddled closer to the computer, which displayed a regional map of the Digital World. Spread across the screen were dozens of red dots.

“As you can plainly see, the control spires have been multiplying rapidly since they first started appearing. Yesterday there were only twenty-six control spires, but now there’s more than four hundred of them. At this rate it won’t be long until the entire Server Continent is covered in them.”

Ken stared wide-eyed at the screen in an expression of pure horror. “I don’t believe it...”

“I don’t understand, how could they possibly be built that fast?” said Yolei. “There’s no way we can take those control spires down faster than they appear!”

“Not individually, no,” said Izzy. “But it doesn’t take a genius to figure out how they spread. They seem to be spreading outward from a single location, which we can easily find at the center of the control spires.”

With a click of the mouse, a new window opened up in the display, showing a scene of the Digital World. Pictured in it was a massive, imposing fortress of blackened stone, sitting atop an immense plateau.

“No way!” said T.K. “Is that what I think it is?”

Gatomon’s eyes widened at the sight. “Myotismon’s castle!”

“That’s right,” said Izzy. “It seems our new villain is taking up residence within our old foe’s fortress. This is the source of all our problems, and if we can take out Vespimon, then we might be able to stop the new control spires from appearing. It’s also the most likely place you’ll find your friend Fluttershy.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” said Rainbow Dash. “Let’s go in there and rescue her!”

Izzy shook his head. “It won’t be that simple, I’m afraid. There are no digiports anywhere close to the fortress. It’s likely that Vespimon destroyed them all in order to prevent us from reaching her. Even if you could make it there, the castle itself is wrapped in a spacial distortion that would make it impossible to approach.”

“So what are we going to do then?” said Cody. “There has to be some way we can get there, right?”

“We can’t just give up on them yet! Fluttershy is counting on us!” Davis exclaimed.

“There is still hope,” said Izzy. “My scans of the Digital World have detected a signal coming from Server. Whatever it is, it’s extremely powerful, more than enough to remove the distortion. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to get a good hold on its exact location. Every time I think I’ve found it, the signal jumps to another part of the continent, like it’s disappearing and reappearing somewhere else. It’s almost as if it doesn’t want to be found.”

“So there’s only one thing that can save us, but we don’t know what it is or even where it is?” said Kari. “I’m not sure I like those odds.”

“I wouldn't give up yet,” said Izzy. “If we can send you to its location before the signal disappears, we might be able to catch it before it goes away. If I can can just get a clear reading...” Izzy’s fingers rapidly clicked across the keyboard, entering a rapid sequence of commands that none of the others present could follow.

“There! The signal’s coming from a coastal town on the southeast edge of the continent!” Izzy declared triumphantly. “There’s a digiport right next to it, so you should be able to find the source easily enough. Unfortunately, it’s also near a control spire, so you might have to deal with some trouble.”

“Hey, no problem!” said Davis, “we’ll just take out the spire, find whatever it is we need, and head back! Piece of cake!”

“Just keep an eye out for anything suspicious,” said Izzy. “I’ll keep you updated in case the signal disappears. In the meantime, I’ll hold the fort back here with the older Digi-Destined. You’d better hurry though if you want a chance at finding the source of the signal.”

“Well then, let’s get going already!” said Rainbow Dash. “I don’t wanna miss our chance at this!”

“Agreed!” said Yolei. “Is everybody ready?” A chorus of affirmations came from the others. “Good! Then let’s get going! Digiport open!” 

Yolei held out her digivice, and suddenly the screen began to glow intensely, opening the gate to the digital world. The older Digi-Destined stood away from the computer, allowing the others and their pony companions to step closer. There was a bright flash of light, and the six humans, ponies, and digimon were gone.

Izzy stared back at the digiport as it closed, and an awkward silence feel over the room.

“Do you ever get the feeling that we’re losing our relevance?” said Joe.


————————


With another flash of light, the group emerged from the other side of the digiport, through the screen of another television. As their senses adjusted to the sudden change in location, they took notice of the new surroundings.

All around them was a small alley between two buildings made from wood and stone. The air was thick with the smell of the brine, and beyond the alley they could see the cobblestone street of a large town.

As they stepped out of the alleyway, more of the town became visible. In one direction the street opened into a large harbor where numerous wooden docks overlooked the vast ocean of the Digital World. In the other direction the street continued further inland, surrounded by numerous shops, inns, taverns, and services, and intersecting with numerous other cobbled roads that led in different directions. Palm trees sparsely dotted the street corners and intersections, and in the distance were a series of mountains covered in sheer cliff faces and tropical vegetation.

But most noticeable of all was the fact that the town appeared completely empty. Stranger still, even though there was not a digimon to be seen, the streets and buildings of the town were kept reasonably well-maintained, as though they had still been inhabited.

“It’s a port town,” said Twilight. “But where is everyone?”
> The Lost Digimon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The air of the port town was thick with unease. It seemed that no matter where the group of humans, ponies, and digimon went, there was not a soul to be found, and the only sounds to be heard were the sounds of footsteps and the clopping of hooves against the cobblestone as they explored the deserted streets.

“Now where do suppose everyone went?” said Rarity. “Shouldn’t a town like this be bustling with activity around this time of day?”

“Maybe they went on vacation?” said Davis. “It is summer, after all.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Davis, don’t be ridiculous.”

“Yeah!” said Veemon. “This town seems like a prime vacation spot if you ask me! Right about now it oughta be packed with tourists!”

“No, that’s not what I meant!” Twilight huffed. “Ugh, nevermind that. If the town’s been abandoned, it had to have been very recently. All the buildings and roads still seem very well maintained. But what would drive an entire town to be abandoned so quickly?”

“Could the control spire Izzy mentioned have something to do with it?” said T.K.

“That’s the most likely explanation,” said Twilight. “But we don’t know how it’s connected. Did the inhabitants flee from the dark rings? Or was it something else? And where is the control spire, anyway?”

“Well, why don’t we have Ken here look it up on Izzy’s laptop?” Yolei suggested. “I’m sure he’ll have us on the right track in no time at all!”

“Um... I’m afraid there are two problems with that, Yolei,” said Ken. “One, the program to detect control spires can only show the area of the digital world under its effect radius, not its exact location, and two... I don’t have the laptop with me.”

“What?” Yolei exclaimed. “Why didn’t you bring it with you this time? Don’t you know how useful that thing is? It has the digimon analyzer, for crying out loud!”

“I didn’t think Izzy would let me use it a second time,” Ken admitted. “I’m kind of surprised he let me take it with us at all.”

“Yeah, I suppose,” Yolei sighed. “Let’s just keep moving.”

As the group continued down the path, the cobblestone street soon gave way to a large intersection where the path they took intersected with a much larger street, undoubtedly one of the town’s main roads. The larger street continued down in one direction towards what appeared to be a housing district, while in the other direction the street continued down to another coast which was lined with piers and docks.

The road we came from had a coast in the opposite direction too, Twilight thought. That means that the coast surrounds the town from at least two sides. Either we’re on an island or some kind of small peninsula.

“Everybody hold up,” said Twilight, stopping the group in their tracks. “It’s clear that we’re not going to be able to explore this town all on our own. We’ll need to split up.” Twilight pointed to the harbor that was down one end of the larger road. “We’ll have everyone who’s capable of flying or swimming will exploring near the pier. The control spire could be out in the sea and we’ll need to be able to search the waters. Everyone else will go in the other direction and search for any inhabitants.”

“So that means me, Kari, and Yolei, will be heading towards the harbor with our partners,” said T.K. “And Armadillomon can armor digivolve into Submarimon to search the water, so Cody can come with us, too. Anyone else?”

“Water is my evolution’s specialty, so I’ll be joining as well,” said Rarity.

“Hey! Don’t forget me!” Rainbow Dash interjected. “You’re looking at the best flyer in all of Equestria!”

“So that leaves Davis and Veemon, Ken and Wormmon, and Applejack and Pinkie Pie.” said Twilight. “I’ll be heading with them just to even our groups out. Sound like a plan?”

The other members of the nodded in acknowledgement.

“Good! Then let’s move out!”


———————


Vespimon’s eyes glinted in satisfaction as she watched the two groups part through her surveillance monitor, which flickered with faint scanning lines across the holographic screen. With a single stroke of a keyboard, the holographic projection split into two separate screen, each depicting the two split groups as though they were followed by an invisible camera.

“So they’ve decided to explore Port Digital. This will be interesting to watch. When they see what drove the inhabitants away...”

Vespimon let out a low chuckle of amusement. “Well, they’ll find out soon enough.”


———————


“Jeez, there really isn’t anyone here, is there?”

Davis’s comment had, for the most part, appeared to be true. No matter where they looked or walked, the streets of the town appeared completely deserted. Buildings made of concrete and wood surrounded them on both sides, but with shuttered windows and no sign of life coming from them. The feeling of utter stillness and abandonment remained constant no matter how far along the path they walked and no matter what buildings they saw, be they shops, inns, or residences.

“There has to be something here,” Twilight assured. “An entire town’s population doesn’t just disappear without leaving something behind. Some kind of clue we can use to figure out what really happened.”

“I know!” said Pinkie, hopping along excitedly, “maybe they’re planning on throwing a surprise party! Any second now they’ll all pop out and yell ‘surprise!’”

“We’ve no time for frivolous theories,” Ken abruptly retorted. “Our top priority is finding clues. We need to track down the source of the signal Izzy found and destroy the control spire.” His eyes were cold and dispassionate, and seemed to disregard the others completely as he scanned the surrounding scenery with laser-guided focus. Pinkie’s boundless enthusiasm seemed to deflate just a little bit at Ken’s response.

“Ken, don’t you think that’s a little bit rude?” said Wormmon. “She is our new friend, after all.”

Ken let out a brief sigh, slowing his steady pace to a full stop. The others paused and turned to Ken, seeing him close his eyes clutch his forehead in frustration.

“Wormmon, I... I just want to keep moving. We need to track down that signal as soon as possible. If we don’t find it we’ll never be able to put a stop to Vespimon. This is the one chance I have to finish what I started.”

“I understand your frustration,” said Wormmon, “but you really shouldn’t be so hard on Pinkie, she’s just trying to help. I know you didn’t mean any harm by it, but I think you might have hurt her feelings. Why don’t you apologize to her?”

“Yeah, you’re right...” said Ken. “I’m sorry, Pinkie.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it!” said Pinkie. “We’re the good guys, so that means we can’t lose! So no need to get all down in the dumps about it!”

Keen shook his head. “I only wish it were that simple. But you’re right, I can’t let it get to me like this. Let’s keep looking.”

“That’s the spirit!” Pinkie cheered.

“Now hold up a minute,” said Applejack. “Before we start moving again, what Ah wanna know is where the hay are we supposed to be going? We’ve been walking down this street and so far we ain’t seen nothing but a bunch of plain old houses and buildings. Do y’all even have any idea what we’re doing?”

“Um, well... That’s a good question, actually.” Twilight smiled sheepishly, placing a hoof behind her head. “Why don’t we try knocking on some of the doors? If any of these buildings are still inhabited, we might be able to get some more information.”

“Hey, good idea!” said Davis. “Maybe one of them might help us find that control spire!”

“Way ahead of ya!” Pinkie exclaimed. She zipped over across the cobbled street and towards one of the houses, stopping just before the wooden door on the front. Taking a deep breath, she raised her hoof in front of the door and knocked seven times in a row in a familiar rhythmic pattern.

“Was that ‘shave and a haircut?’” asked Ken, approaching Pinkie with the rest of the group.

“Haircut?” said Pinkie. “I don’t cut my hair, silly! I cut my mane!”

“Right.”

The group paused momentarily in front of the door, waiting for a response. When none came, Pinkie loudly began knocking on the door again.

“Hello? Is anybody there?”

Once again Pinkie was met with silence. She began knocking on the door again, this time more vigorously, but no response came from within.

“I don’t think anyone’s home,” said Twilight. “Let’s look somewhere else.”

Suddenly, with a loud creak the door began to swing open, leading to the building’s interior.

“Hey, neat! Come on guys, let’s go in!”

“Wait a minute, Pinkie, don’t you think we should-”

Twilight’s words fell on deaf ears as Pinkie eagerly rushed into the building, leaving the others behind.

“Ugh, why does she always have to be so difficult?” Twilight grumbled. Resigning herself to Pinkie’s antics, Twilight followed her in, leading the others through the door.

The interior of the building was almost stiflingly quiet, and the shuttered windows made for little light. It was easy to see, however, was that the building was some kind of residence, with a simple foyer that opened up into several other rooms, and single staircase leading to a second story.

“Pinkie? Where did you go?” cried Twilight.

“Over here!” came a reply from the far end of the house.

Twilight led the group out of the foyer and through a living room with simple furnishings, and into what appeared to be a kitchen. In the center of the room was a simple wooden table and several chairs, and the walls was lined with various shelves and racks which held a variety of dishes and utensils. At the far end of the wall was an alcove which housed an iron stove. 

“Pinkie, where are you?” Twilight called.

“Knowing her she’s probably gone about snooping around the house,” said Applejack.

“That’s exactly the problem!” exclaimed Twilight, her voice increasingly distraught. “We can’t just go about messing around in someone’s home when they’re away! We shouldn’t even be here right now! We’re... We’re trespassing!”

“Hey, check this old stove out, Veemon! Wonder what’s inside it?”

“Huh?” Twilight looked across the room to see Davis and Veemon approaching the iron stove, eyeing it curiously. “Davis, wait! Don’t touch that!”

Davis paid Twilight no mind, grabbing the handle to the stove’s front door and swinging it open. He then peered curiously through the open door, into the stove chamber.

“Hi Davis!”

“Gah!”

Davis staggered backwards and fell onto his rear as the soot-covered image of Pinkie Pie suddenly burst from the stove’s opening.

“Pinkie Pie!?” Veemon exclaimed. “What the heck were you doing in there?”

“Looking for clues, silly!” Pinkie replied. Though the stove door was seemingly too small to fit, she somehow had managed to fit her entire upper body through the opening. Resting her front hooves on the floor, she began to pull herself through the door, eventually squeezing out with a loud, almost cartoonish popping noise.

“Geez Pinkie, don’t scare me like that,” said Davis, picking himself up off the ground.

Pinkie grinned sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“I don’t think we’re going to be finding anything useful here, Pinkie”, said Twilight. “We shouldn’t even be trespassing on someone else’s private property like this.”

“What? But I haven’t even looked upstairs yet!”

“Ah don’t reckon we’ll find much of anything here, anyway,” said Applejack. “Why don’t we go out and explore some more of the town? Ain’t no purpose wasting our time here in this old house.”

Pinkie nodded vigorously. “Okie dokie, lokie!”

Just as the others turned to leave, however, a tiny orb of light flew into the room. Like a glowing insect it flitted about the room, catching the attention of the group.

“Huh?”

Davis and the others stared in curiosity as the glowing light danced in front of them, bobbing and weaving through the air in a mesmerizing display of choreography.

“Hey Veemon, what is that thing?”

Veemon scratched his head. “I dunno Davis, it looks like some kind of bug...”

The glowing light seemed to grow more agitated at this remark, quivering in the air in annoyance.

“Hold on... I think it’s trying to tell us something!” said Twilight.

The light responded enthusiastically, bobbing up and down in midair. It happily danced through the air and approaching Twilight, who flinched briefly as the light flew in a circle around her head.

“Hey! Cut it out!”

The light merely giggled in response. It flew outwards and made a beeline straight for the door, stopping briefly in front of the opening. It bobbed up and down cheerfully, beckoning the others to follow.

“Hey wait!” Said Twilight. “Where are you going!”

“Come on, let’s follow it!” said Davis.

The group didn’t hesitate, quickly going after the light as they followed it through the living room and into the foyer. The light led them further up the staircase and across the simple hallway into what appeared to be a small bedroom, furnished with a simple wooden bed, a bedside table, and accompanying dressers.

More importantly, however, was the single open window on the far wall, and the green-clad elven figure standing in front of it. The light flew up to meet the figure, hovering in the air in front of him.

“Good work, Tinkermon!” he said. “I knew we’d find them around here after the digiport opened!”

“Um...” said Davis, “I’m sorry, but who are you?”

“Glad you asked! The name’s Petermon!”

==========
Digimon Analyzer: Petermon

Type: Fairy
Attribute: Data
Level: Champion
Special Attacks: Snipe Sting, Twinkle Shoot, Midnight Fantasia
==========

==========
Digimon Analyzer: Tinkermon

Type: Fairy
Attribute: Virus
Level: Rookie
Special Attacks: Speed Nightmare, Nightmare Pandemic
==========

> Pirates of Port Digital
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Do you see anything yet, Rainbow?” 

Yolei called up to the blue pegasus as she soared above the empty docks, dutifully scanning the horizon for any signs of activity on the waters. The fatigue in Rainbow’s body was apparent as she seemed to be struggling to keep to the air, but the determination in her eyes made it clear she would fly as long as she had to.

“What!?”

“I said, do you see anything yet?”

“You’ll have to speak up,” said Rainbow, “I can’t hear you!”

“I said, do you see anything yet?!”

“What?!”

Hawkmon let out a groan. “Oh, for the love of Azulongmon...”


———————


“Whoa, your name’s Petermon?” said Davis, eying the elf-like Digimon with wide-eyed curiosity. 

“Yup, that’s me!”

“And that’s led us here is Tinkermon?” Davis replied, pointing to the light floating beside Petermon’s head.

“Uh-huh!”

“Wow, so you’re just like Peter Pan and Tinkerbell!” Davis exclaimed. “Can you two show us how to fly?”

Petermon stared at Davis incredulously. “How would I do that? Humans can’t fly.”

“Awww, no flying?” Davis whined.

“We can talk about fairytales later, Davis,” said Ken. “Right now we need to figure out what’s going on. Petermon, what can you tell us about this town? Where did all the digimon go?”

“That’s actually why I came to see you,” said Petermon. “Tinkermon’s been surveilling the town and she told me that someone had come through the digiport. Obviously, that could only have meant the Digi-Destined were here in Port Digital. So now that I’ve found you, would you mind helping me out? I have a problem on my hands and it’s a tad too big to deal with on my own.”

“Ah reckon this has something to do with the fact this town is totally abandoned?" said Applejack. “Last time Ah checked folks don’t just right up and vanish into thin air.”

“Yup, that’s exactly it,” said Petermon. “Not too long ago Port Digital was quite the lively place. Not just a thriving town of commerce, but home to the greatest pirates in the Digital World.”

“Pirates?” Twilight interjected, “Aren’t they supposed to be vicious criminals?”

“Vicious? Nah, most of them are all pretty friendly, as long as you don’t forget to seed.”

“Seed?” said Twilight, “what do you mean?”

“Seed...” Ken repeated out loud. After a moment’s contemplation, the answer suddenly came to him. “He’s talking about seeding torrent files! These aren’t just pirates, they’re internet pirates!”

“Bingo!” said Petermon. “You catch on pretty quick. Port Digital is located right next to the BitTorrent Gulf. The Gulf’s waters carry stray file pieces from the Earth’s peer-to-peer file sharing networks. Pirates of Port Digital make a living collecting these file pieces, copying them, and then selling the copies on the black market. Seeding means dumping the original copy back into the gulf so it can return to the human networks. Don’t want to steal anything from them, after all.”

Tinkermon let out a tiny sigh.

“Well, okay,” said Petermon, “technically the files are all illegal in the human world to begin with....”

“But what does this have to do with everyone disappearing?” said Ken.

“I was getting to that,” said Petermon. “This is all how it used to be, back when things were peaceful. But as you can tell, things aren’t like that anymore. Take a look out there.”

The others’ eyes followed to where Petermon pointed out the bedroom window, which opened into a view of the cobblestone streets and the concrete buildings of Port Digital, and the harbor where the town met the waters of the gulf. Just above the harbor they could barely make out a blue figure flittering above the docks.

“Hey, I can see Rainbow Dash out there!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Hi Dashie!”

“Yes, your friends are already at the harbor,” said Petermon. “But that’s not what I mean. If you look at the harbor itself, you’ll notice that there are no ships.”

“Hey, you’re right,” said Davis. “If this is supposed to be some kind of pirate town, then shouldn’t there be pirate ships, too?”

“Good question,” said Petermon. “That brings me to the problem I mentioned before. See, all of the ships are gone because they’ve all been used to evacuate Port Digital. That’s why the town is also empty. There’s only one ship you’ll ever see around these parts now, and it’s bad news.”

Wormmon gulped. “I don’t like the sound of this, Ken...”


———————


The continuing strain on Rainbow’s wing muscles had made itself painfully clear to her, both literally and figuratively. Her continued flight above the docks placed a strain on her body that she’d never before experienced for such a simple exercise; and yet despite the added difficulty in staying airborne she still eagerly pressed herself onward, searching for that one vital clue. Despite her fatigue, she knew she couldn’t let her friends down. She had to keep looking.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, her efforts were rewarded. “Hey! I think I see something!”

“What was that, Rainbow?” Yolei called up.

“I said, I think I see something!”

“What?”

Rainbow let out an exasperated sigh. “Ugh, nevermind, I’m coming down now. Just give me a second.” Rainbow Dash brought herself lower to the ground and landed rather clumsily, breathing heavily from the exertion.

“Gosh, Rainbow, are you okay?” asked Kari. “You look downright exhausted.”

“Pshaw , it’s nothing”, Rainbow answered. “The important part is that I found the control spire! I saw something on the horizon that was thin and black and evil-looking!” She pointed outwards towards the location in the gulf where she’d spotted the spire. “It should be somewhere over there.”

“Great work Rainbow!” Yolei cheered. “Let’s all armor digivolve so we can head over there and check it out!”

“You know, we could have just done that to look for the spire in the first place,” said Hawkmon. “It probably would have saved Rainbow the trouble of tiring herself out like this.”

“Hey!” Rainbow protested. “I did my job just fine!”

“Regardless of that, we should investigate,” said T.K. “The sooner we destroy the control spire the better. Who knows? Maybe it’ll help us find whatever it is Izzy said we’re supposed to be looking for.”

“Hold on a second,” said Cody. “Do you guys see that out there?”

He pointed outwards towards the gulf, in a different direction from where Rainbow had pointed. In that direction was another distant, wooden-brown object on the gulf water. As they observed the object, its appearance became more and more defined: the wood-brown coloration made up the object’s lower body, with splashes white adorning the top. More importantly, however, the object appeared to be rapidly getting larger. Getting closer.

“Eeek, it’s headed towards us!” Rarity exclaimed. “What in Equestria is that thing?”

“Whoa, check it out guys,” said Rainbow Dash, “it’s a real-life pirate ship!”

Soon the shape of the object on the horizon was fully visible to everyone, a massive galleon with gleaming white sails and a pristine body, armed to the brim with cannons. The ship approached the harbor at a frightening speed, and before anyone knew it, it was well within reach of the town. As it approached the harbor, a rough and gravelly voice shouted across the waters at full volume.

“Ahoy there, Digi-Destined! Prepare yourselves, for I, CaptainHookmon, shall bring ye to your doom!”

==========
Digimon Analyzer: CaptainHookmon



Type: Sailor
Attribute: Vaccine
Level: Ultimate
Special Attacks: Rage Giga Anchor, Pirate’s Punisher
==========
> Dead Mon's Chest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So what can you tell us about this pirate ship?” Twilight asked. Davis, Veemon, Ken, Wormmon, Pinkie, and Applejack looked across the bedroom towards Petermon, anticipating an answer from the elfen digimon. Floating lazily beside his shoulder was the brightly glowing Tinkermon.

“It belongs to a powerful digimon named CaptainHookmon,” Petermon replied ominously. “He’s the most respected pirate in Port Digital, and has protected our town from evil for as long as anyone can remember. But now him and his crew have fallen under the control of an evil Digimon known as Vespimon.”

“Yes, we know all about her,” said Ken. “What did he do to the town’s population? Every part of Port Digital we’ve seen is completely unscathed, like they all just disappeared into thin air.”

“Like I said, all of the other ships have been used to evacuate. I don’t know where they’ve gone to, but all the inhabitants that aren’t working for CaptainHookmon are somewhere out at sea.”

“With no damage to the town?” Ken questioned. “It seems rather far-fetched that they’d all be able to escape with no sign of a struggle whatsoever. Something about your story isn’t adding up.”

Petermon shrugged. “I guess we were lucky to avoid a real fight. Regardless, once the town was evacuated, Tinkermon and I decided to stay behind and survey the area in case anything new happened. Now that you’re here, we can finally put a stop to CaptainHookmon and hopefully bring the townsfolk back!”

“Hey, don’t worry Petermon,” said Davis. “We’re the Digi-Destined! We’ll take care of him easily!”

“Oooh, does this mean I get to fight a pirate?” Pinkie chimed in. “That’s super cool! I’ll be a ninja, and it’ll be just like in those comic books!”

“Don’t get too excited yet,” Ken chided. “We can’t just go charging out guns blazing looking for this pirate. I want to find out more about how this happened. I can’t help but feel there’s something else we don’t know here.”

“I have to agree with Ken,” said Twilight. “The last thing I want to do is challenge a powerful digimon unprepared. We need to know more about what we’re up against.”

“Ah hate to break it to you, Twi, but Ah think we might not have time for that,” said Applejack. She pointed a hoof at the open window next to Petermon, overlooking the harbor in the distance. In the distant waters was a massive ship, and it was rapidly making its way towards the docks.

“That’s CaptainHookmon’s ship!” Petermon exclaimed. “He’s coming for us!”

“That harbor! Our friends were headed in that direction!” said Davis. “We have to go help them!”

“Well then, let’s not hesitate!” said Petermon. “Come on Tinkermon, let’s help them out!”

With a flourish, Petermon rose into the air and flew out the open window, with Tinkermon following closely behind.

“Hey, wait for us!” cried Veemon.


———————


CaptainHookmon stood proudly on the ship’s forecastle, facing the Digi-Destined with an expression of supreme confidence. His eyes glowed with blood red malice, radiating evil power from the dark spiral on his arm. “Ready the cannons!” he shouted.

On his order, a row of hatches opened in the side of his massive galleon, and from each one emerged a coal-black cannon barrel.

“T.K.! They’re pointed right at us!” exclaimed Patamon.

“Run!” T.K. shouted.

“Fire!”

The cannons launched their ammunition in an explosion of gunpowder. The Digi-Destined and their companions frantically scattered as the cannonballs hailed from above, crashing into the cobblestone streets at the edge of the harbor and the buildings beyond.

“Ha! Missed me!” Rainbow Dash gloated, easily dodging a cannonball by a wide margin. Her smirk quickly vanished when a second cannonball missed her by a much narrower margin, flying mere inches above her own head.

Another cannonball shot forth towards Yolei and Hawkmon, both of whom were scurrying across the street in a panic. The cannonball landed in Yolei’s path, sending her and Hawkmon jumping backward in surprise as it impacted the cobblestone in front of her.

A short distance away, Rarity had taken cover behind a collection of wooden barrels, which reeked of the smell of fish. A cannonball landed perfectly into one of the barrels, causing its contents to be splattered and displaced explosively out the opening, while the barrel miraculously remained intact. Rarity screamed in horror as she was coated in the splattered fish remains, parts of them entangling themselves in her once-pristine mane.

“T.K., look out!” With a yell, Kari performed a running tackle on T.K., narrowly saving him from a stray cannonball by pinning him to the ground, his body facing upward and pressed against Kari as she looked down at him with concern. Patamon and Gatomon simply stared at the position their human partners had found themselves in.

Another cannonball flew straight over Cody’s head, crashing into the outside wall of a building several yards behind him. Cody stopped in his tracks and fell to his knees, sheltering his head with his arms as his entire body shivered in anxiety.

Then, just as quickly as it had happened, the cannonfire stopped. For a moment, all had gone deathly silent. In the temporary lull in the destruction, the Digi-Destined and their companions took the time to gather themselves. Hawkmon helped pull Yolei to her feet, a task made all the more difficult by his short stature. Armadillomon offered an encouraging word as he poked and prodded at Cody, who gradually came to his feet, still shuddering in fear.

In the meantime, Kari had picked herself off of the ground, and reached down to help T.K. up. T.K. reached out for Kari’s hand and grabbed it, letting Kari pull him to his feet. “Thanks,” he murmured, averting his gaze. A bright red flush appeared on Kari’s face, and she said nothing.

While Rainbow Dash surveyed the scene from above, her eyes were drawn to Rarity, who had crawled out dejectedly from behind the barrels, covered in fish entrails.

“Why meeee?” She sobbed melodramatically. “Why must I always be humiliated like this?”

CaptainHookmon let out a throaty, uproarious laugh. “Argh, what’s the matter? Ye landlubbers can’t even handle a wee bit of cannonfire? Ye’d never last a single day out on the high seas!”

“Oh yeah?” shouted Rainbow. “We’re still here, aren’t we?”

“Not for long,” CaptainHookmon retorted. “Let’s see how ye deal with me trusty crew! All crew members, prepare for landing!”

At his command, the ship suddenly turned inward, with the bow pointed straight towards the town. Pony, human, and digimon alike were sent scrambling backwards towards the cobblestone street as the ship crashed headfirst into the docks, sending large fragments of wood splintering in all directions.

The group tensed as the ship came to a halt, its front end now embedded in the wooden docks. CaptainHookmon climbed atop the forecastle deck and faced his adversaries, grinning wickedly. Then, with a single gesture, he pointed at the Digi-Destined and their companions. 

“Attack!” he commanded.

Seemingly out of nowhere, more than a dozen digimon leapt off of the ship, each of their two webbed feet touching down on the fragmented docks. As they landed, they closed in on the Digi-Destined, their short stature and bizzare tuba-like instruments wrapped around their necks clashing with the threatening appearance of their menacing red eyes and the dark rings on their arms.

“What the heck are these things?” said Rainbow, sounding more confused than anything.

“Don’t underestimate them!” said T.K. “Gekomon may look silly, but they’re as dangerous as any champion-level digimon!”

The Gekomon advanced forward, malice in their eyes. The one closest to T.K. was the first to attack, unleashing it with an echoing cry.

“Tongue Attack!”

With whiplike speed, the Gekomon’s tongue lashed out towards T.K., with a force powerful enough to shatter solid rock. He barely had enough time to flinch as the long and powerful tongue flew towards him. He closed his eyes, able to do nothing but anticipate the deadly impact.

To his surprise, however, the impact never came. There was no surge of pain, nothing to indicate that he had been struck at all. He briefly contemplated if he had been killed too quickly for the pain to register, only to realize that he was still alive to contemplate the fact.

He opened his eyes, and before him was a strange sight: the Gekomon’s tongue was frozen in place right in front of him, encased in a purple aura. The frog-like digimon could only stare in  shock as its tongue was seemingly frozen in place.

The aura then vanished, and the Gekomon’s tongue snapped backwards, causing its owner to stagger and fall over as it was struck in the forehead by the slimy appendage.

The other Gekomon glanced around in confusion, eventually turning in the direction of the town’s center, away from the harbor. The Digi-Destined followed their gaze and saw Twilight Sparkle standing several yards away, breathing heavily from fatigue. Davis, Veemon, Ken, Wormmon, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were standing some distance behind her, running to catch up with her.

“Twilight,” said Applejack as she approached, “you can’t just go running off like that without us!”

“No choice”, Twilight panted, “our friends... in danger.”

The prone Gekomon picked itself off the ground, eyes blazing with malice, and the others faced the purple alicorn in turn.

“I think we might be in danger, too!” said Ken.

“Well then, let’s take them out! Digi-Armor Energize!”

Davis held out his shining digivice, and a fiery red object emerged from it, fusing with Veemon’s body in a bright glow.

“Veemon, Armor Digivolve to: Flamedramon! The Fire of Courage!”

The Gekomon stood frozen in their tracks at the sight of Veemon’s new form, a much tall, slender, and more intimidating figure clad in fiery red armor. Flamedramon’s fists burned with bright red fire, and with a mighty swing of his arms, launched several fireballs at the nearest Gekomon.

“Fist of Flame!”

Three of the Gekomon were struck by the projectiles, toppling over as their dark rings shattered, leaving them unconscious. The rest quickly reacted, stepping back from their fallen allies before regrouping, glowering at their attacker.

“Let’s help out!” said Twilight, turning towards the group she’d arrived with.

“Execute! Harmonic Evolution! Espermon!”

“Execute! Harmonic Evolution! Shinobimon!”

“Execute! Harmonic Evolution! TimberGarurumon!”

The newly-evolved Digimon stepped forward, joining by Flamedramon's side. The remaining Gekomon responded swiftly, charging forward in an attempt to overwhelm their opponents.

As the Gekomon closed in, Espermon deftly avoided the assault, taking flight straight up into the air. Several of her amphibious attackers collapsed into a pile as they tackled the empty space that she had previously occupied.

“Raven’s Shadow!”

As she cried out, a black aura surrounded Espermon’s left hand, and she thrust her arm forward in an arcane gesture. The shadows surrounding her hand coalesced into the shape of a massive bird, as though it were a creature made of solid darkness. The shadow bird flew towards the sprawled Gekomon in a dive bomb, exploding on impact and sending them scattering, leaving their dark rings destroyed and their bodies unconscious.

“Confetti Kunai!”

“Tempest Leaf!”

Shinobimon and TimberGarurumon unleashed their attacks at the remaining Gekomon, and in a flurry of leaves and confetti, all but one of them were knocked to the ground, dark rings destroyed in the impact. The lone Gekomon that had evaded the attack glanced at its fallen comrades, then towards the hostile Digimon responsible. Its face frozen in fear, it took a single step backwards, then ran at full speed back towards the galleon. With a mighty leap, it jumped onto the ship’s deck and crawled between CaptainHookmon’s legs, hiding its head beneath its arms.

“What in the Seven Seas do you think you’re doing?” CaptainHookmon snarled. “You’re supposed to be a fearsome pirate, not some lily-livered chump!” He swiftly punted the Gekomon, sending it flying off the side of the ship and into the surrounding water.

“Hey, Captain Crunch! Pick on someone your own size!”

“What!?” CaptainHookmon exclaimed. He looked up in surprise to see a bright pink ninja leaping high up in the air, brandishing her sword. She swiftly descended with her blade, landing before CaptainHookmon and slashing at him in a diagonal motion. Reacting quickly, CaptainHookmon jumped to the side, the sword’s edge slicing off a tiny sliver of his jacket. Shinobimon followed up with a roundhouse kick, sending CaptainHookmon staggering backwards. He quickly regained his balance, his face twisting into a scowl.

“You’re going to regret that, ninja! Prepare to be keelhauled!” He drew his weapon, a large pistol with an elongated, slender barrel, long enough that the weapon resembled a cross between a gun and a sword. Lunging forward at Shinobimon, he swung the gun’s barrel in a downward diagonal swipe. Shinobimon parried with her own weapon and retaliated, leading to a dance of clashing weapons as the two digimon nimbly fenced with one another.


———————


Yolei looked upon the scene of the two digimon fighting atop the ship in shock. “We have to help her! There’s no way Shinobimon can beat him on her own!”

“Don’t worry, I can take care of it!” Rainbow Dash boasted. “I’ll have that pirate out of the way in no time!”

“Not so fast,” T.K. chimed in. “We need a plan of action. We still need to take care of the control spire, remember?”

“We’ll worry about that later!” Rainbow replied indignantly. “We have to help out our friend!”

“Don’t worry, you can still help her out”, said T.K. “Kari and I will head out by air with our partners towards the control spire. Cody, you have Armadillomon digivolve to Submarimon and follow us by sea.”

“Got it,” Cody responded.

“I think I’ll come too, if you don’t mind,” Rarity chimed in, still covered in fish entrails. “A dip in the ocean sounds like it would do me well right now.”

“Right then!” said Yolei. “Hawkmon, you can help out Rainbow Dash against CaptainHookmon! Everyone ready?” she called to the rest of the group, who each nodded in affirmation. Each human and pony held out their digivices, and called upon their power.

“Execute! Harmonic evolution!”

“Digi-Armor Energize!”


———————


CaptainHookmon let out another swipe of his weapon, causing Shinobimon to parry with her own blade. Before she could deflect the weapon, CaptainHookmon pressed forward, causing their weapons to lock against one another. Shinobimon was quickly overwhelmed by her opponent’s superior strength, however, and with another swift motion, CaptainHookmon slashed to the side, knocking Shinobimon’s weapon out of her hands and sending her tumbling backwards, crash-landing on the wooden boards near the edge of the deck. Shinobimon’s sword sailed through the air from the attack towards the center of the ship, eventually embedding itself halfway up the ship’s mast.

CaptainHookmon grinned maniacally, pointing the barrel of his weapon at Shinobimon’s prone body. “Say your prayers, ninja scum!”

“Starlight Swirl!”

“Gah!” CaptainHookmon let out a cry of pain as a swirling disk of energy impacted against his back, exploding in a burst of light. He turned around to see Espermon hovering above the deck, glaring down at him intensely. “How dare ye...” CaptainHookmon snarled.

Before he could retaliate, Flamedramon suddenly leapt high into the air, jumping straight above and over Espermon. His body became wreathed in flames as he turned his body downward, diving headfirst towards CaptainHookmon.

“Fire Rocket!”

CaptainHookmon reacted quickly, shifting his weight to leverage against the heavy anchor on his left wrist. As Flamedramon descended upon him, he gave the anchor a mighty swing, instantly knocking Flamedramon backwards. The force of impact carried Flamedramon in an upward trajectory, sending him crashing into Espermon in midair. The two digimon plummeted from the impact, landing in a heap on the docks just beyond the edge of the ship.

Suddenly, TimberGarurumon jumped into the air from the docks outside the ship, landing gracefully onto the deck between CaptainHookmon and the bodies of Espermon and Flamedramon. She charged forward, forcefully tackling CaptainHookmon and pinning him to the ground, knocking his gun out of his hand. TimberGarurumon snarled, holding CaptainHookmon down with her massive paws placed on his chest.

With a grunt, CaptainHookmon delivered a devastating kick straight to TimberGarurumon’s underside, sending her flying straight upward dozens of feet into the air. As she reached the apex of her flight, CaptainHookmon performed a small backflip from the ground, landing on his feet. He raised his right arm upward and caught TimberGarurumon as she finally fell back to earth, effortlessly propping the enormous wolf up in the palm of his hand.

With another swift motion, he turned around and threw TimberGarurumon overboard, on the side of the deck facing the sea. The wolf desperately grabbed onto the edge of the deck as she fell, slowly crawling her way back onto the ship's surface. She panted in exhaustion, her legs struggling to hold her own weight.

"I'd say I be winning this little skirmish pretty handily so far,” CaptainHookmon declared triumphantly. He walked over to his fallen weapon and picked it up, placing it in its holster. “Does anyone else volunteer to walk the plank?”

“Parley!” Shinobimon cried out.

“What?” Captainhookmon turned in surprise, seeing the pink ninja picking herself upright.

“I said parley!”

“What in Neptunemon’s name are you talking about?” CaptainHookmon demanded.

“When I say ‘parley’, it means we have to stop fighting!” said Shinobimon. “It’s in the Pirate’s Code, remember?”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” CaptainHookmon scoffed. “There be no such thing as a Pirate’s Code!”

“I know!” replied Shinobimon. “I was just stalling because I saw my friends about to attack you and wanted to keep you distracted!”

“Er... come again?” said CaptainHookmon.

“Zephyr Knuckle!”

“Double Star!”

CaptainHookmon suddenly cried out in pain as he was simultaneously struck by a powerful gust of wind and a massive shuriken, each attack hitting him from a different angle. As the two attacks collided, it produced a massive cloud of dust, causing him to cough loudly as he recovered from the impact.

When the dust cleared, he saw Irismon and Shurimon standing on either side of him. As he stared, TimberGarurumon crawled up the side of the ship and onto the deck, and Flamedramon and Espermon jumped onto the ship from the dock, leaving him surrounded from multiple sides by his opponents.

CaptainHookmon grinned. “Very clever! Looks like this is going to get interesting!”

> Never Smile at A Crocodile with Anti-Aircraft Missles
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Any sign of the control spire yet?” Submarimon shouted. He carried Cody along the surface of the ocean, with Kelpiemon swimming next to them both. Just above, Pegasusmon and Nefertimon carried their partners through the sky as they scanned the horizon.

“I see it up ahead!” T.K. called back. “We’ll be there in about five minutes!”

“Great! If everything goes smoothly, we’ll be able to destroy it no problem!”

Suddenly, Submarimon’s console began to emit a shrill beeping noise. Cody grimaced, and took a closer look at the radar display. “You just had to say it, didn’t you?”

“This doesn’t look good,” said Submarimon. “Everyone!” he shouted “There’s something big coming at starboard! Be on guard!”

“Starboard? What’s that?” Kelpiemon asked.

“He means from the right!” Kari shouted back.

“Look out!” T.K. called out.

With a deafening crash, a massive beast broke through the surface of the water some distance away, splashing Kelpiemon and Submarimon with the displaced water. It was an immense reptilian creature with massive jaws, and covered in thick metallic armor from head to tail. On its back was what appeared to be a massive anti-aircraft launcher.

==========
Digimon Analyzer: Deckerdramon


Type: Cyborg
Attribute: Data
Level: Ultimate
Special Attacks: Crocodile Cannons, Cyclone Crusher
==========

“Crocodile Cannons!”

The hatches on Deckerdramon’s anti-aircraft launcher opened, and a flurry of missiles shot upward at blinding speeds. Pegasusmon and Nefertimon reacted quickly, swerving to avoid the onslaught. The missiles exploded forcefully as Pegasusmon and Nefertimon expertly weaved through the detonating projectiles, narrowly avoiding being blown to pieces.

 As the attack came to a stop, the two flying digimon looked back to check on their riders.

“T.K., are you alright?” asked Pegasusmon.

“What about you, Kari?” asked Nefertimon.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” said T.K.

“My hair’s a little singed, but I think I’m okay,” said Kari.

“Look out!” shouted Pegasusmon. “He’s preparing another attack!”

Deckerdramon gave a ferocious roar, and the missile launcher on its back opened once again, readying another volley of missiles.

“Mystery Blade!”

A crescent-shaped beam suddenly hit Deckerdramon square in the back. He roared and turned towards his attacker, who had leapt high into the air as she launched her attack. Kelpiemon descended back into the waters with a splash, and turned towards the two flying digimon and their riders.

“You go on and take out the control spire! Submarimon and I will handle this!”

“Got it!” said T.K. “Let’s go!” Without hesitation, Pegasusmon and Nefertimon took off, leaving Kelpiemon and Submarimon faced with the massive reptilian digimon.

Deckerdramon let out a ferocious roar, charging forward through the water towards Kelpiemon. It swiped with its massive claw, and Kelpiemon narrowly dodged it, leaping out of the water’s surface. Maneuvering expertly, she twisted around and kicked Deckerdramon right between the eyes with her rear hooves, sending it recoiling backwards.

As Kelpiemon landed back in the water, she called out to Submarimon. “Let’s take the fight underwater! I’ll keep him busy, you see if you can destroy whatever’s controlling him!”

“Got it!” said Submarimon. “Let’s go, Cody!”

With a splash, Kelpiemon dove beneath the water’s surface. Deckerdramon growled, and quickly followed pursuit, chasing after Kelpiemon through the ocean’s waters. Submarimon dove beneath the water as well, with Cody deftly piloting the vehicle-like digimon through the currents, chasing Deckerdramon from behind.

“Submarimon! I think I see a dark spiral on its tail!” said Cody.

“I see it too! Targeting now!” said Submarimon.

Deckerdramon continued to swim through the sea with frightening ease, and the distance between itself and Kelpiemon shortened. The beast’s massive jaws opened as it closed in, ready to clamp down on Kelpiemon as she struggled to get away.

“Hurry!” Kelpiemon desperately called out.

Cody grimaced as he gripped Submarimon’s steering handle tightly, chasing the massive beast through the sea currents. The targeting system beeped frantically as it homed in on the dark spiral, before letting out a single loud beep of confirmation.
“Target locked!” Cody announced. “Fire!”

“Oxygen Torpedo!”

Several bursts of super-compressed oxygen erupted from Sumbarimon’s weapon hatches, which exploded forcefully against Deckerdramon’s tail. Just as it was about to chomp down on Kelpiemon, Deckerdramon recoiled in pain as the dark spiral shattered. Dejected, the reptile slunk deeper into the depths of the ocean.

“Alright, that takes care of that,” said Submarimon. “Let’s head back now.”


———————


“Fire Rocket!”

“Starlight Swirl!”

CaptainHookmon narrowly dodged the attacks that launched at him, gracefully weaving through the projectiles as they soared through the air. He rapidly charged at Espermon, and with a swipe of his weapon, sent her flying backwards, collapsing unconscious onto the deck. Her body glowed and began to shrink, reverting to her alicorn form.

“Twilight!” Flamedramon cried out.

Without losing momentum, CaptainHookmon quickly leapt backwards, turning around as he changed targets, setting his sights on Shurimon.

“Look out!” Irismon shouted.

“Ninja Wind!”

In a puff of smoke, Shurimon vanished just as CaptainHookmon was about to strike, the length of his weapon passing harmlessly through the airborne cloud. For an instant, he paused in bewilderment, only to quickly look upwards as though he were anticipating something.

Sure enough, Shurimon had appeared in the air above the ship, descending upon CaptainHookmon with a predatory glare behind his cowl. CaptainHookmon wasted no time in pointing his weapon at the attempted ambusher.

“Pirate’s Punisher!”

There was a loud crack as CaptainHookmon pulled the trigger, and a bullet shot forth from the gun’s barrel. Shurimon was instantly knocked backwards, collapsing onto the ground and de-digivolving into Hawkmon.

“Spectrum Staff!”

With a shout, Irismon charged forward, her staff glowing radiantly with all the colors of the rainbow. She swung her weapon downward in a vertical strike, and CaptainHookmon parried it easily, countering with a slash of his own gun barrel. Irismon shouted in pain as a large gash was inflicted on her armor. Stumbling backward, she clutched her side in pain.

CaptainHookmon followed with a swipe of his anchor, and Irismon flew backwards into the air, going over the edge of the ship and crashing onto the docks, reverting to her pegasus form.

“Rainbow! Ah’ll get you for that, you rum-guzzling varmint!” TimberGarurumon charged forth, leaping high into the air.

“Forest Fire!”

Turning downward, TimberGarurumon exhaled a massive blast of flame towards the pirate captain, the force of the flame fighting against the downward pull of gravity and keeping her in the air. CaptainHookmon grabbed his coat and pulled it over his body, the flames dissipating harmlessly as he shielded himself from the attack.

TimberGarurumon fell onto the ship’s deck unceremoniously, glaring ferociously at the pirate captain. With a snarl, she charged forth, intent on tackling CaptainHookmon with the full force of her body.

Bracing himself, CaptainHookmon raised his anchor in a parrying motion. As TimberGarurumon collided with him, she stood his ground, his feet digging into the docks as he was pushed back several feet from the impact. TimberGarurumon bit down on the anchor as she attempted to overpower her opponent, her front paws pressing against CaptainHookmon with all of her strength.

CaptainHookmon twisted his body slightly, and in a single motion, threw TimberGarurumon off to the side at rapid speed, where she collapsed near the edge of the ship’s deck. He pulled out his weapon and aimed at her prone body.

“Pirate’s Punisher!”

With a loud crack, CaptainHookmon’s weapon fired again, and TimberGarurumon howled in pain, before glowing briefly and reverting to her pony form.

The two remaining Digimon stopped dead in their tracks, staring at CaptainHookmon dumbfounded.

CaptainHookmon grinned. “Feel free to come at me any time ye like! We’ll see how long ye’ll last before I turn ye into shark food!”

“Don’t worry, Flamedramon!” said Shinobimon. “I’ll handle this! Mirror Mirage!”

Performing a series of hand gestures, Shinobimon generated several illusory copies of herself. Each Shinobimon charged at the pirate captain in succession, throwing a series of punches and kicks at CaptainHookmon. He flinched as each of the Shinobimon threw their strikes, only for each of the pink ninja to disappear as soon as their hits connected.

One last Shinobimon charged at CaptainHookmon, leaping into the air and throwing a flying roundhouse kick. CaptainHookmon anticipated the strike and raised his anchor to parry the attack.

“Yowch!” With a cry of pain, Shinobimon, now solid, bounced off of the anchor, landing onto her rear end on the surface of the massive ship’s deck. She rubbed her foot in pain, nursing the ache from the sudden impact. “Owie...” she moaned. “I guess I didn’t think that one through, huh?”

CaptainHookmon grinned maniacally, and pointed the barrel of his weapon at Shinobimon. “Nope! Pirate’s Punisher!”

CaptainHookmon’s weapon fired, and Shinobimon shrieked in pain as the shot impacted her. She collapsed backwards as her body reverted, leaving the unconscious Pinkie Pie laying prone on the wooden surface.

CaptainHookmon turned towards Flamedramon, who was staring at the scene in shock. The fiery lizard hesitantly raised his claws into a battle-ready stance as the pirate captain faced him.

“Well then,” said CaptainHookmon, “Looks like it be just the two of us now. Why don’t ye show this old salt what ye’ve got?”


———————


“Come on, Flamedramon! Don’t give up! I believe in you!”

Despite the waning odds of victory, Davis cheered on his partner as enthusiastically as ever, words echoing across the docks with a burning passion. And yet, there was a slight hint of nervousness in his speech, a subtle quivering in his words that betrayed his own worry for his partner, despite his attempt to hide it.

Ken stared at his friend, a look of deep concern filling his eyes. “Hey, Davis...”

“Huh? What is it, Ken?” Davis replied. “You’re not worried, are you?”

“Yeah,” said Ken. “But there’s something else, too.”

“Well, what is it, then?” Davis asked. “Wait, let me guess. You want to help out but you’re bummed ‘cause Wormmon can’t armor digivolve. Is that it?”

Ken shook his head. “No, something other than that. It’s something that I’ve been wondering about for a while now. Ever since we met CaptainHookmon, actually.”

“Oh?” said Davis, intrigued. “And what’s that?”

“Petermon’s disappeared,” replied Ken.

> Tell No Tales
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The black tower loomed ominously over the waters as Pegasusmon and Nefertimon made their approach, with their riders in tow. Its height was as impressive as any other control spire despite much of it being submerged beneath the ocean; Vespimon must have built the tower to be especially tall for it to stand so far above the waves.

T.K. looked over to Kari and gave a nod. Neither of them needed to say a word: their partners instinctively understood what needed to be done.

“Star Shower!”

“Rosetta Stone!”

The attacks converged upon the control spire, and it imploded in a cloud of dust, whatever remained quickly disintegrating into fragments of data.

“Let’s head back,” said T.K. And with that, the two digimon and their human partners turned around, flying towards Port Digital.


———————


“Hi-yah!”

Flamedramon let out a sharp cry as he bolted forth, throwing forward a fierce punch. CaptainHookmon retaliated swiftly, parrying Flamedramon’s attack with his weapon, and catching Flamedramon’s three-pronged claws with the barrel of his gun. He retaliated swiftly, twisting his body and carrying the momentum into his anchor, bringing it forward in a mighty horizontal swing.

Flamedramon, however, managed to anticipate the strike, and ducked beneath it just as CaptainHookmon swung the anchor. Flamedramon retaliated with a backwards flip, kicking CaptainHookmon across the chin. The pirate captain stumbled backwards from the force of the blow, and Flamedramon charged forward, his claws wreathed in fire.

“Fist of Flame!”

The ignited claws crackled as they narrowly swung past the body of CaptainHookmon, who dodged expertly as Flamedramon unleashed a flurry of repeated strikes.

Shifting his weight forward, CaptainHookmon thrust his leg out in a frontward kick. His foot caught Flamedramon straight in the stomach, and the fire lizard was sent flying backwards. CaptainHookmon charged forward, hefting his anchor on his wrist, and sent it smashing downwards in a vertical motion.

Flamedramon rolled out of the way just before the moment of impact, sending splinters of wood flying as the anchor crashed into the ship’s deck. Swiftly rolling back onto his feet, Flamedramon maneuvered himself behind CaptainHookmon, his fist ignited in crimson flame.

“Fist of Flame!”

“Kyaa!”

With a shout, CaptainHookmon pivoted his body, swinging his weapon around horizontally. The sword-like barrel slashed Flamedramon in the center of his torso. The flames surrounding his claw dissipated from the impact, and he was sent flying backwards, collapsing in a heap near the edge of the ship.

CaptainHookmon gave a menacing grin, pointing the barrel of his gun at Flamedramon’s prone body. “Any last words, landlubber?”

Flamedramon let out a groan, struggling in vain to return to his feet.

“Aye, I didn’t think you would. Pirate’s Punish-”

“Golden Noose!”

The mighty shout signalled the arrival of Pegasusmon and Nefertimon, carrying between them a gleaming rope of golden light. Swooping down from the air, the rope caught CaptainHookmon in the chest, lifting him up into the air as Pegasusmon and Nefertimon wrapped the Golden Noose around him. The two flying digimon released the rope, and CaptainHookmon was sent crashing onto the wooden deck, lying in a heap with his arms bound to his torso.

Pegasusmon and Nefertimon descended upon the deck, near the prone bodies of those that CaptainHookmon had injured.
“We’ll take the others to safety,” said Pegasusmon, “you focus dealing with our foe!”

“Thanks! I’ll take care of it,” said Flamedramon.

Kari and T.K. quickly climbed off of their respective partners and carried the injured ponies and digimon away, hoisting them onto their partners’ backs. As the two armor Digimon carried the others away, CaptainHookmon crawled to his feet, his arms still bound in golden light, and glared at Flamedramon intensely.

“Arrgh... ye think ye’ve bested me? I don’t even need me arms to kick you in the stern!”

“We’ll see about that! Fire Rocket!”

Flamedramon’s body was instantly engulfed in flames as he leapt into the air, sending himself rocketing head-first towards the pirate captain. With a spring of his legs, CaptainHookmon nimbly leapt out of the way, a ring of flames billowing outwards where Flamedramon landed. They quickly began to spread across the woodwork, smoke rising from the ship as the fire began to rapidly engulf the deck.

Ignoring the blistering heat, CaptainHookmon followed his dodge by quickly circling around Flamedramon, lowering his head and charging forward through the flames. CaptainHookmon soon landed a mighty headbutt on the curve of Flamedramon’s spine, and the fiery Digimon was sent flying backwards, soaring high into the air. When Flamedramon finally descended, Flamedramon crashed face-first into the lower deck, right beneath the ship’s main mast.

His body now aching and wracked with exhaustion, Flamedramon slowly shambled to his feet, covered in bruises and scars. Through the crackling of the flames, which now burned around him from all sides, he could barely make out the sound of Davis calling for him.

A silhouette soon emerged from the fire, and he looked to see CaptainHookmon staring him down, his arms now free from their restraints. With a maniacal grin, he raised his weapon and pointed the barrel straight at Flamedramon’s head.

Flamedramon winced as CaptainHookmon tightened his finger around the trigger, but neither the sound of the gunshot or the shout of the attack call came. Instead, he heard an ominous creaking sound coming from just above him. He and CaptainHookmon both paused, and looked upwards towards the source of the noise.

Halfway up the mast, where Shinobimon’s sword had embedded itself, a crack had begun to form, spreading horizontally across the oaken pole as it widened. With a groan loud enough to be heard over the crackling of the flames, the top half of the mast began to tip over.

With little time left to react, Flamedramon ducked down and covered his head, and the ship’s mast toppled itself. Flamedramon’s senses were then overloaded by the sound of a deafening crash and a whirlwind of smoke and dust that erupted from the impact.

When his perceptions finally cleared, Flamedramon found that he had been completely unharmed. As the mast fell, its top half still lay precariously perched on the lower half, with the top tipped over diagonally, leaving the space near the mast untouched by the impact. The fire had already begun to recede, as the cloth sail had now covered a substantial portion of the deck, smothering the flames underneath. Beneath the sail, he could see a lump where CaptainHookmon once stood.

Flamedramon cautiously stepped forward, careful not to disturb the delicate balance of the mast above him. There was a sudden ripping noise, and Flamedramon stopped in his tracks, raising his claws in a fighting stance. CaptainHookmon burst forth from beneath the sail, his body now thoroughly covered in bruises, scrapes, and burns, but the malice in his eye still was as strong as ever. The pirate captain clutched his head, moaning in pain.

Seizing the opportunity, Flamedramon charged forward, brandishing the claws at the end of his hands. With a mighty shout, his fist ignited, striking decisively against the dark spiral on CaptainHookmon’s arm.

“Fist of Flame!”

CaptainHookmon let out a yell as the attack landed, the dark spiral shattering into nothingness. As he clutched his arm, reeling backwards in agony, the red glow in his eye slowly began to fade, revealing a stern yet compassionate gaze beneath.

“What happened?” CaptainHookmon asked. “Did the dark spiral...?”

“Looks like you’re back to normal,” Flamedramon replied. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”


———————


“You did it, Veemon!” Davis cried out. He ran up to the edge of the docks to greet his partner, now in his base form, who was joined by CaptainHookmon. 

“Hey, have I ever let you down before?” Veemon bragged. “I’ve taken on loads of tough opponents and come out just fine.”

CaptainHookmon threw his head back, bursting into laughter. “Oh, yer a feisty one, I’ll give ye that! But don’t let it get to yer head! Sooner or later everyone’s luck runs out!”

“Boss, you’re alright!” A voice cried out. The formerly-brainwashed Gekomon came running forward, followed by Yolei, Ken, Kari, and T.K., their now de-digivolved partners, as well as Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie. At almost the same time, Kelpiemon and Submarimon both emerged from a nearby dock, Kelpiemon climbing onto land and de-evolving, and Submarimon letting Cody disembark before climbing onto land and de-digivolving himself.

“Looks like we made it here just in time for the reunion,” said Armadillomon. “Though Ah don’t reckon we can say the same for CaptainHookmon’s ship.” He turned towards the heavily damaged galleon, its deck charred and broken and its mast now rendered useless. Cody and Rarity both winced at the sight of the now-ruined sea vessel.

“Oh dear me, that could be a problem,” said Rarity.

“Not to worry, lass,” reassured CaptainHookmon. “I’ve lost plenty of me ships before. Compared to the trouble Deckerdramon has caused me, this is nothing!”

“But boss, what about Port Digital?” one of the Gekomon chimed in. “All the inhabitants are dead now! There’s no way we can replace them like a ship!”

“Hmm...” Captainhookmon stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Aye, that could be a bit of a snag...”

“Wait, hold on!” Twilight suddenly interrupted, her voice laden with panic. “D-did you say the town’s citizens are dead? I thought they all ran away because you were infected by the dark spiral!”

CaptainHookmon frowned deeply, shaking his head. “No, they’re most certainly dead. With me under the dark spiral’s influence, this town is without a guardian. The demon that's terrorized Port Digital has no doubt finished what he intended to start so many ages ago. Who in the Seven Seas told you that, anyway?”

“W-what?” Twilight stuttered, ears tapered to the side of her head. “What demon? Petermon told us the townspeople had fled because of you! I-I don’t understand!”

All at once, the Gekomon recoiled in horror, and the port went dead silent. A grim expression suddenly crossed CaptainHookmon’s face. “Did you say... Petermon?”

“Twinkle Shoot!”

Without warning, a large knife flew straight through the air, traveling at a speed so fast that it was barely visible. The knife landed square in the middle of CaptainHookmon’s chest. The pirate let out a cry of pain as he collapsed to the ground, unmoving. After a second’s pause, his body then exploded outwards, disintegrating into computer data before dissolving into the air, leaving nothing but the knife laying on the ground.

“It’s him!”

“Run away!”

“He’ll kill us all!”

A chorus of screams came from the Gekomon as they scattered themselves in all directions, quickly scurrying out of sight of the harbor. As they fled, the knife hovered into the air, pulling itself back towards its unseen master. The Digi-Destined and their companions turned their eyes upwards, horrified to see who had launched the attack.

Hovering in the air above them was Petermon, with Tinkermon’s glowing body flying beside him.

“Gosh, you sure are a bunch of saps, huh?” Petermon giggled. “Honestly though, I owe you a big one. You really did a number on that old fool!”
> No Mercy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Port Digital had once been a thriving settlement. That much had been obvious, from the size of the town and the well-maintained architecture of its docks and houses. But now the town was left almost completely empty, save for the Digi-Destined, their companions, and the unexpected foes that they had now found themselves facing.

Petermon’s giggled with childlike glee, the sound of his amusement ringing in the ears of his horrified audience. “Aw, what’s the matter? You all look positively glum. Why don’t you all turn those frowns upside-down?” Tinkermon’s body flitted and bobbed about Petermon, sharing in his perverse enthusiasm.

“Excuse me?!” Twilight Sparkle cried out. “You killed CaptainHookmon!”

“Um, duh!” Petermon taunted. “You think I didn’t know what I did? Geez, what kind of fool do you take me for?”

“Don’t let him get to you, Twilight!” said Davis. “He’s under the control of a dark spiral, I’m sure of it!”

Petermon raised an eyebrow. “Dark spiral? Oh, I get it. You think I’m working for that so-called Digimon Queen, don’t you? Well, you can forget about that right now, because she’s got nothing to do with me. You won’t find a single dark spiral, gear, or any other whatsit anywhere on my body! I’ve been spreading chaos for far longer than any knucklehead that’s tried to conquer the Digital World!”

“W-what?” Twilight stammered. “No dark spiral? But... why?” Tears had already begun to pool in the corners of her eyes. “Why would you ever do something like this?”

“So you want to know why, huh?” Petermon’s eye’s narrowed. “Why I kill? Why I’ve spent countless years snuffing out the lives of the weak? I’ll tell you why. To prove a point to them, and to anyone else who thinks that they can live a safe, happy life in this world.

“You see,” said Petermon, idly twirling his knife, “we digimon are creatures born of strife and discord. It’s in our nature. We exist to fight, to kill, and to grow more powerful from fighting. Only the strongest survive, and the weak are left to die like the useless garbage data they are. That’s the law of the jungle, and you’d better get used to it while you’re here!”

“Horseapples!” Applejack interjected. “Ah’m willing to bet this here town was perfectly peaceful before you and your oversized bug came along!”

Petermon shook his head. “Tsk, tsk. You poor, naive creature. You really have no idea how it works, do you? What’s the first thing you’ve noticed about these supposedly civilized places in the Digital World? Pay attention, and you’ll find there’s a pretty clear pattern.”

“What, that they’re all better without jerks like you coming in and ruining everything?” Rainbow Dash said.

“Bzzzt! Wrong!” said Petermon. “If you weren’t so stupid, you’d realize that all digimon settlements are one of two things. Either they’re too small and insignificant for the bigger and meaner monsters to care, or they’re protected by an extraordinarily powerful guardian. That’s the only way civilization can ever survive here. Because in this world, it’s delete or be deleted. Do you understand, or do I have to dumb it down even further?”

“B-but... every digimon we’ve met that wasn’t brainwashed was nice,” said Pinkie. Her mane had begun to visibly sag, its volume almost literally deflating. “There’s no way digimon could be all that bad, right?”

“There, there, Pinkie,” Rarity reassured. “I’m sure this dastardly fiend isn’t being honest with us.” She turned her eyes towards Petermon, sending an icy glare in his direction. “You don’t even care if what you’re saying is true. You’re just saying whatever you think will torment us, aren’t you?”

“Oh come on, would I ever lie to you? ...Oh wait, yeah I would. But this is the truth, I can assure you. And if you don’t believe me...” Petermon’s eyes narrowed, his gaze weighing down on the Digi-Destined from above. “...then I’ll simply have to prove it to you. You humans and your colorful horse friends think you’re above it all? I’ll show you what happens when a creature of flesh and bone dies in a world of data! And since your partners wasted their energy fighting that filthy sea dog, they’ll all get front-row seats as I tear you all to shreds!”

Then, the others heard something that they never expected. Laughter. Ken gave a low chuckle, a laugh that was almost dripping with smugness.

Petermon’s eye twitched. “Oh, is something about this funny to you?”

“Oh no, not at all,” said Ken. “I’ll admit, your plan was ingenious. Winning our trust, getting us to fight CaptainHookmon for you and wear him down, leaving us tired so you can kill him uninterrupted. And it almost worked, too. But you forgot one thing.”

“Oh yeah?” said Petermon, “and what would that be?”

“My partner can’t armor digivolve,” said Ken. “While the others were busy dealing with CaptainHookmon, we’d sat the battle out. But now that the control spire’s gone, we can show you what we’re really made of. Wormmon!”

“Right!” Wormmon called back.

Ken held out his digivice in front of him. A bright light poured out from the screen, enveloping Wormmon in its radiant power.

“Wormmon, Digivolve to: Stingmon!”

Emerging from the light, Stingmon’s imposing form rocketed into the air, filling the environment with the sound of buzzing wings. Brandishing a spiked gauntlet, he charged straight towards Petermon.

“Spiking Strike!”

Stingmon thrust the spike at the end of his gauntlet outwards, intent on skewering Petermon. Thinking quickly, Petermon drew his knife and parried the blow, the tip of the spike rebounding off of the blade with a loud clang. 

Petermon hovered backwards, Tinkermon following him closely. He let out a growl, clutching his knife tensely.

“You think you’re so tough, huh? I’ll show you! Tinkermon, take care of the others! I’ll swat this oversized housefly myself!”

With a giggle, Tinkermon flew downwards towards the edge of the docks, where the Digi-Destined were stationed. The light enveloping her body intensified, and in a matter of seconds, her body had become the size of a human child, wielding a large, serrated spear and clawed gloves.

“What?” said Yolei. “She can grow?”

Tinkermon’s lips curled upward, revealing a row of teeth that seemed all too eager to taste flesh. “I can do so much more than that, luv,” she spoke with a distinctive accent. “Tell me, how would you like to die today?”

“I-I think I’ll pass on dying, thanks!” Yolei stuttered.

“Don’t worry Yolei! I’ll protect you! Feather Strike!”

Hawkmon deftly tossed the feather on his headband, which sailed through the air like a flying buzzsaw. In a swift response, Tinkermon raised her spear, deflecting the projectile easily. It rebounded off the metal weapon, flying back in the direction it came. The feather collided with Hawkmon’s head, and he was knocked backwards, sent sprawling onto the ground.

“Boom Bubble!”

With an “mmm-pah!”, Patamon expelled a burst of compressed air from his body. Tinkermon flinched from the impact of the blow, but within moments she had regained her composure, looking no worse for wear.

“Lightning Paw!”

“Diamond Shell!”

Gatomon and Armadillomon both charged forward with their attacks, Gatomon pouncing with an outstretched claw, and Armadillomon curling into a ball and rocketing forth. Tinkermon responded in kind, swiping her spear in a horizontal motion, sending Gatomon flying backward. Without hesitation, she twisted her body further, delivering a powerful roundhouse kick into the air.

The bottom of her foot collided with Armadillomon’s spherical body the moment it reached her, and Armadillomon was sent flying. His body collided with Patamon’s, and the two were sent crashing to the ground, collapsed on top of one another.

“Well, that was a load of rubbish,” said Tinkermon. She turned towards Veemon, grinning wildly. “And ‘ere I was hoping your friends would put more of a fight.”

“You want a fight? Come and get it!” shouted Veemon. Curling his hands into fists, he sprinted forward at top speed.

“Vee...”

With a mighty shout, Veemon raised his right arm, aiming a punch at Tinkermon’s stomach. Tinkermon motioned to block the blow, holding her spear in front of her abdomen. But Veemon responded even faster, drawing back his right arm in a feint, avoiding the spear entirely.

“...Punch!”


At the last moment, Veemon twisted his body around, leaping to into the air with a powerful left uppercut. The blow struck Tinkermon square in the lower jaw, sending her staggering backwards, her stumbling motion carrying her back several steps.

“Weren’t expecting that, were you?” Veemon boasted. “You’re dealing with a combat species now! When it comes to fighting, I’m a cut above the rest!”

Tinkermon wiped off her mouth, as though she were expecting blood despite her digital form. “‘Ello, what’s this? A challenge?” Her grin widened further, gazing at Veemon with maddened eyes. “Oh, I think I’m going to enjoy this.”


———————


The sound of buzzing wings filled the air above the sea as Stingmon gave chase to the airborne Petermon. Stingmon swiped at Petermon with his claws, and the elfin digimon nimbly dodged the blow, the sharp appendages just barely missing him. Stingmon followed up his attack with a series of additional swipes, each coming just inches away from making contact.

Finally, Petermon drew his knife, and in a single motion, slashed Stingmon across the chest. Though it left no wound on his chitinous exoskeleton, Stingmon recoiled from the blow, his altitude briefly dipping before he regained his balance.

“Not bad!” said Petermon, “But let’s see how you deal with this! Twinkle Shoot!”

Giving a powerful toss, Petermon launched his knife forward with the force of a rocket, aimed straight for Stingmon’s head. Stingmon raised his armored hand and parried the blow, causing the knife to bounce backward, spinning rapidly towards the surface of the water below.

To Stingmon’s surprise, the knife then slowed its descent, correcting its aim so that the tip of the blade was pointed straight at him. The knife shot forth once again, and Stingmon parried for a second time, only for the knife to once again turn back and shoot towards him once more. Stingmon repeatedly deflected each of the knife’s attempted strikes, but the flying weapon kept returning, showing no signs of relenting.

“That’s right, keep trying to block! See what good it does you!” Petermon taunted.

“Then it’s time for a change of plan!” said Stingmon.

The knife rocketed towards Stingmon once again, aiming once again straight for his head. This time, Stingmon swatted the weapon from the air with far greater force than necessary to block it, sending it flying back a great distance. As the weapon reoriented itself, Stingmon dove sharply, straight towards the surface of the water.

“Running away won’t save you,” said Petermon. “My knife will follow you to the end of the world!”

Petermon’s taunt went ignore as Stingmon penetrated the water’s surface, forcefully plunging straight into the briny seas. He swam through the depths with ease, determined to escape his pursuer. The knife followed soon afterwards, undeterred by the water’s resistance. Though seeing through the water was difficult, Stingmon could tell that the weapon was gaining on him.

Finally, he pulled upwards, breaking through the surface with a deafening splash. Just as he’d planned, Stingmon was now directly behind Petermon. He quickly grabbed the startled elfin digimon, wrapping his massive hands underneath Petermon’s arms.

“What are you doing!? Let go of me!” Petermon protested.

Before Petermon even had the chance to struggle, however, the knife suddenly broke through the water’s surface. It sped straight for Stingmon, with Petermon placed directly in its path. At the very last second, Stingmon released his grip and pulled away, and the knife embedded itself in Petermon’s chest.

Petermon let out a scream, his last utterance before his body exploded into intangible data.


———————


Giving a mighty shout, Tinkermon thrust her spear forward. Veemon swerved to the side, the weapon’s serrated edge narrowly missing his body. Reacting quickly, he followed it up with a swift thrust of his arm.

“Vee Punch!”

Veemon’s fist struck Tinkermon’s lower abdomen with bone-shattering force. Tinkermon let out a painful cry, stumbling backwards from the impact. Wasting no time, Veemon lowered his head and quickly charged forward.

“Vee Headbutt!”

Leaping into the air, Veemon rocketed towards Tinkermon, the dome of his head aimed straight for the center of Tinkermon’s body. Tinkermon responded in kind, shifting her weight onto her right leg, and delivering a powerful left roundhouse kick.

Veemon was sent flying through the air from the force of impact, careening backwards in a low arc. As he flew, he flipped himself backwards in the air, facing himself upright. He landed on the docks in a crouching position, feet spread wide apart, and a single hand supporting his weight. Standing himself upright, he raised his fists in a fighting stance. Despite the multiple splinters and bruises his body, Veemon remained resolute, his eyes burning with unyielding determination.

Tinkermon threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, how delightful! I haven’t had this much fun in ages!”

Veemon scowled. “Is this all just a game to you!?”

“Oh, don’t be so dull,” Tinkermon chided. “You think it really matters whether your friends survive? All part of the fun, I say!”

“Y-you... you!” Veemon sputtered.

“Now then,” said Tinkermon, “what say we finish this? First one to die loses!”

Tinkermon raised her spear, bloodlust flashing across her eye. Her wings buzzed, and she flew forward in a blur of acceleration.

“Speed Nightmare!”

With little time left to react, Veemon flinched, anticipating the weapon’s serrated edge. After a moment’s pass, he realized that the weapon had not struck him at all.

Veemon opened his eyes, and saw Stingmon’s imposing stature standing just in front of him. Tinkermon was lying on her knees front of the insectoid, still clutching her spear in her hand.

Tinkermon slowly picked herself off the ground, crawling back to her feet. “Ugh... what just hit me?” As soon as she’d spoken, she took notice of Stingmon. “Hold on a second, aren’t you supposed to be fighting-” Tinkermon’s words cut off mid-sentence, her eyes suddenly widening. “Petermon! What did you do to him? What in the bloody Dark Area did you do to him!?”

“Petermon has been defeated,” Stingmon replied. “Surrender now or you will suffer the same fate.”

“You... You...” Tinkermon’s grip on her weapon tightened. “You bastard! I’ll kill you!”

Tinkermon charged into the air and brandished her weapon, her eyes locked onto Stingmon with pure rage. She descended downwards at an angle, intent on impaling Stingmon with her serrated spear.

Stingmon reacted quickly, delivering a high kick that knocked Tinkermon straight out of the air. Her spear was sent flying out of her hands from the impact, landing on the ground before disintegrating. Tinkermon herself was forcefully knocked to the ground, lying prone on her back. She looked up at Stingmon, her body visibly shaking.

“W-wait! Can’t we talk about this?” she pleaded.

Stingmon said nothing. He stared down at Tinkermon with unblinking, pupilless eyes.

“I-I promise I’ll be good!” said Tinkermon. “I won’t bother anyone again, honest!”

“Don’t fall for her crocodile tears, Stingmon!” Ken cried out, “She’s just trying to deceive you!”

“Deceive me?” Stingmon replied. “Ken, are you sure?”

“What? No, that’s not true at all!” said Tinkermon.

“I wasn’t asking you!” Ken shouted back. “Stingmon, she’s a creature of darkness! If you don’t deal with her, she’ll only go on to hurt more innocent people! Finish her, now!”

“Alright, Ken,” said Stingmon. “If that’s what you believe is right, then I trust you.”

“W-wait, no!” cried Tinkermon. “Don’t!”

“Spiking Strike!”

Stingmon rose into the air, and the spike on his right wrist extended forward into a long stinger. He charged downwards, thrusting the spike forward with deadly intent.

The stinger impaled Tinkermon straight through the abdomen. She let out an ear-splitting shriek, her painful cry piercing through the harbor’s briny air. The very next moment, her body disintegrated into nothingness.

Stingmon withdrew his spike, landing back on his feet. His body glowed, shrinking in size as he reverted to Wormmon. Ken approached his partner, giving him a concerned look.

“You alright there, buddy?”

“I think so,” said Wormmon. “Just a bit tired out, that’s all.”

“Good to hear,” replied Ken. He turned his head to face the others, and saw on them a wide variety of expressions, from shocked, to disturbed, to outright horrified. Disregarding them, he made his way to the path leading away from the Harbor and into Port Digital, Wormmon following closely behind.

“Come on, let’s get going,” he said.
> Tensions Arise
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The town of Port Digital was completely silent, save for the sound of footsteps on cobblestone. Ken walked down the path at a brisk pace, navigating through the myriad streets, his partner following close behind. He paid no further mind to the empty settlement, nor towards the fact that the others had not yet caught up to him and Wormmon. As far as he was concerned, there was no point wasting any further time in this part of the Digital World.

“Ken, can’t you slow down just a little bit?” said Wormmon. “We don’t want to leave our friends behind.”

“Don’t worry about them,” replied Ken, “they’ll catch up.”

Wormmon went quiet. The two of them continued to travel down the road in silence, unwilling to discuss the matter further. Suddenly, they both heard voices calling out to them.

“Ken, you jerk!”

“Yolei, wait!”

Ken turned towards the voice to see Yolei barreling towards him, Hawkmon desperately trying to keep up. Behind them both, the others followed, still a good distance away.

Yolei ran up towards Ken, her face contorted into a grimace. As soon as she was within arm’s distance, she swung at him with an open hand.

SMACK!

“Ow!” Ken rubbed his hand on the red mark that had appeared on the side of his cheek. “Yolei, what the hell!?”

“How could you!?” Yolei shouted. “What were you even thinking!?”

“Alright, what’s going on over there?” Twilight called out, approaching them with Davis and the others at her side.

“Don’t ask me,” said Ken. “I was just minding my own business and Yolei hit me!”

“Don’t act like you don’t know what you did!”

“I don’t!” Ken yelled. “Why are you being so difficult? Just tell me what the problem is!”

Yolei froze, her jaw hanging loose as she stared agape at Ken. She grimaced, and her fists clenched tightly, her arms shaking as she held them by her sides. “Y-you... you... You’re seriously telling me you killed someone and you don’t even know what you did wrong!?”

Ken blinked. “Killed someone? Wait a second, you’re not talking about Tinkermon, are you?”

“No, I was talking about the tooth fairy!” Yolei retorted. “Of course it was Tinkermon, you idiot!”

Ken sighed, pressing a palm to his forehead. “Yolei... she was evil. She wasn’t under the control of a dark spiral. What did you expect us to do?”

“I... I don’t know!” said Yolei. “Something else!”

“Now hold on a minute,” said Applejack.

“I’m going to have to agree with Ken here on this one,” said Davis. “She didn’t seem like she’d be very friendly if we kept her around.”

“I’ll say,” Rainbow Dash added. “Did you see the look on her face when she attacked us? Even the worst monsters in the Everfree aren’t that bloodthirsty!”

“Guys? Can we stop fighting, please?” said Pinkie, her mane beginning to sag.

“She was begging for mercy, you idiots!” Yolei screamed, tears now streaming down her face. “How can you possibly defend this? Nobody else we'd ever fought was pleading for their own life when we killed them!”

“Tinkermon’s words were nothing more than an empty promise,” Ken replied, remaining stoic in the face of his friend’s whirling emotion. “An evil being like her would have killed us the moment she had the chance.”

“You don’t know that!” said Yolei.

“Don’t pretend you know more about the nature of evil than I do,” Ken retorted coldly. “Kindness doesn’t mean refusing to stand up to evil. It means doing whatever’s necessary to protect those threatened by it.”

“Now wait just an apple-bucking minute here...”

“Yolei, don’t listen to him,” said Cody. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about!”

Ken’s eye twitched. “Excuse me?”

“Standing up to evil doesn’t mean throwing your honor away!” Cody continued. “Even if Tinkermon was lying, you can’t just strike an opponent while they’re already down!”

“Cody, I certainly don’t mean to offend,” said Rarity, “but I’m certain a creature of darkness such as Tinkermon would never show the same courtesy towards us. What’s the point of being fair if we only leave ourselves more vulnerable?”

“Huh?” said Cody. “Rarity, that’s... you can’t say that!”

“No, she’s right.” T.K. folded his arms across his chest. “And Ken’s right, too. I don’t know about Rarity, but I know Ken and I have both seen the darkness firsthand. And we both know from experience that it can’t be negotiated or reasoned with. We’ve killed many dark beings, and none of them have suddenly decided to have a change of heart.”

“Oh, really?” said Kari, glaring disapprovingly. “Aren’t you forgetting someone? Someone who gave his life to protect the Digital World?”

“Wha?” T.K.’s eyes widened in shock. “Kari, no, he was... that was different!”

Kari raised a single eyebrow, her frown deepening. “Different how?”

“Consarn it! Will y’all just shut your traps for one second and listen to me?!”

The group went silent, turning towards the the source of the voice. Applejack inhaled and exhaled sharply, catching her breath after the sudden outburst.

“Now that I have your attention,” she said. “There’s a question Ah’d like to ask. Patamon.”

“Me?” said Patamon. “What is it?”

“You told me the other day that you’d died before, is that right?”

“Yeah,” Patamon replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Wait, what?” Twilight interjected. “Now hold on a minute here! There are a lot of strange things that I can believe would happen in the Digital World, but you seriously expect me to believe you could come back from the dead?”

“Well, why not?” said Patamon. “It’s nothing special, really. The same thing happens to other digimon, too.”

“I... Buh... Wha... How?” Twilight sputtered, eyes as wide as dinner plates.

“Oh, didn’t Izzy tell you?” said Yolei. She sniffed, removing her glasses to wipe away the tears in her eyes. “Whenever a Digimon dies, their data gets recycled, and they’re eventually reborn in the Primary... Village?” her words trailed off as comprehension dawned suddenly dawned on her, leaving her staring blankly into space.

Applejack snorted. “See what Ah mean? Y’all got worked up without even considering the big picture. Ah reckon being stabbed through the stomach smarted a bit, but if what you’re saying is true, she’ll be back no harm done.”

“Oh my goodness, I-I didn’t think of that!” said Yolei. “Oh no, you don’t think Tinkermon will be mad at us, do you?”

“I would imagine so,” Ken replied. “and if Tinkermon’s going to come back, Petermon’s likely going to come back too. We’ll probably have to deal with both of them trying to kill us in the future.”

“Well, maybe they wouldn’t hold a grudge if you’d given Tinkermon a second chance!” said Yolei.

“Actually Yolei, I’m not sure if that’s quite true either,” said Hawkmon. “You’ve heard the story, haven’t you?”

“Story?” said Yolei.

“Ah reckon he means the story of Anubismon,” said Armadillomon.

“Anubismon?” said Davis. “You mean like that ancient Egyptian god that rules over the dead and stuff?”

“Well, Ah don’t quite know what an ‘Egyptian’ is, but Anubismon’s been ruling over the dead since the dawn of the Digital World,” said Armadillomon. “Whenever a digimon dies, their data goes into the Dark Area, where Anubismon judges you for your past life. He weighs your soul against one of them golden feathers on his wings, representing pure truth. If your soul’s clean, you’re sent back to the Primary Village to start a new life. If it’s weighed down by sin, you’re sent deeper into the darkness, never to return. ‘Least that’s how the story goes. Ah never reckoned it to be more than a folk tale.”

Rainbow Dash snorted dismissively. “A folk tale? Come on! You don’t actually expect us to believe an old story like that, do you? Next thing you know you’ll be telling me Daring Do is real.”

“In my experience, most of the Digital World’s legends turn out to be real,” said Gatomon. “I always thought Veemon was just a legend until we met him.”

“That’s me! The living legend!” Veemon boasted. “I certainly have the good looks befitting one, right Gatomon?”

Gatomon coughed loudly. “Sorry, I thought I felt a hairball coming up for a second there...”

“Point is, if the legend’s true, we might not be seeing Tinkermon again regardless,” said Armadillomon. “Ah reckon if it ain’t true, she’ll be coming back, and she ain’t going to be happy with us. But if it is, it all depends on whether she really meant what she said about changing her ways.”

“Oh,” said Yolei. “I guess that's better than knowing for certain we killed her forever, but...” Her sentence died in her throat before she could finish it.

“Regardless, we should be heading back,” said Ken. “Whatever that energy signature Izzy talked about was, we haven’t seen a trace of it yet. And a town this large would take more than a day to search even if we knew what it was we were looking for. Best-case scenario, we’d be here so long that our families would start worrying about us.”

“Not to mention that we’re all completely exhausted,” Twilight added. “Let’s head back to the digiport and get some rest. Tomorrow we can continue our search.”

The others nodded in affirmation, and the group continued their journey down the street, towards the awaiting gateway back to Earth.


———————


Vespimon stared at the monitor, browsing the databases that Gennai had left behind. The amount of information that they contained was staggering, so much so that she could easily spend years of her life learning from it. While she had never been as much of a bookworm as Twilight, the amount of knowledge she could access at her fingertips was undeniably exciting to her.

It was as they said: knowledge is power. And right now Vespimon had all the power she could ever want.

But... something else was off. The more information she’d committed to memory, the more things didn’t add up. How did the Digital World become connected to planet Earth? Why did the Earth seem much more deeply a part of the Digital World than Ungula, the world where ENEIGHAC was built? Why were humans considered so important?

Vespimon didn’t care to think about the questions any further. The Digi-Destined were going to be a thorn in her side. All that mattered now was finding a means to stop them.
> Scars Left by Time
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The trip back to the digiport was relatively uneventful. The group traversed the now-empty town in silence, and before long they were standing in front of the familiar television screen.

“Ready whenever you guys are!” said Davis, holding his digivice out. “Digiport-”

“Wait!”

The group’s attention turned to the source of the sudden cry. Staring at the rest of them was Pinkie Pie, looking both figuratively and literally deflated.

“Pinkie?” said Kari. “What’s wrong?”

“I... I don’t know,” Pinkie replied, devoid of enthusiasm. “I’m just... worried, I guess.”

“Worried about what?” Kari asked.

“Everything!” said Pinkie. “I just... I thought that saving the Digital World would be fun! Sure, we might run into danger, but together we’d always make it through no matter what! That’s what friends are supposed to do, right?”

“Of course,” said Kari, giving Pinkie a concerned look. “What’s the problem, though?”

“It wasn’t like that at all!” Pinkie cried out. “Petermon was scary! He killed someone right in front of our eyes, and when it was over, everyone started fighting! You were all looking at each other like you hated each other!”

Kari approached Pinkie Pie, kneeling down. She rested a hand against Pinkie’s head, smiling at her warmly. “Pinkie... you don’t think we’d really hate each other, would you?”

“W-well... I don’t know,” she said, sniffling slightly. “I’m just afraid I’ll end up losing everyone. When we first met, I thought I’d never see the rest of my friends again! What if someone gets hurt, or... or worse? What if something happens that brings us apart?”

“Pfft, that’s what you’re worried about?” Rainbow teased. “Come on, Pinkie, do you really think we’d be brought apart so easily? Even Discord couldn’t stop us being friends!”

“Yeah, but...”

“Hay, remember when we split up when going after Queen Chrysalis on that rescue mission?” Applejack said. “Didn’t take long for us to get back together then, did it?”

“I... I guess not,” said Pinkie. “Still, I don’t think we’ve ever dealt with anything so dangerous before. I hadn’t really thought of it at the time, but we could have easily died today! I just... I want everyone to be safe, and to be happy, and to not be mad at each other! Is that too much to ask?”

“Of course it isn’t,” said Kari. “It’s understandable to be worried about your friends. But there’s no reason to let it eat you up on the inside, is it? We want you to be happy too, Pinkie.” She gave Pinkie a scratch behind her ear. Pinkie shuddered slightly at the sensation, relishing in the strange feeling.

Pinkie sniffled, using a hoof to wipe off the tears that had just begun to pool in her eyes. She looked back up at Kari’s eyes and smiled. “Thanks. I needed that.”

“No problem,” Kari replied. “What are friends for?”

With the suddenness of a spring, Pinkie suddenly jumped into the air, with an enormous grin appearing across her face. “Wow, I feel better already! Come on everyone, let’s go!”

Kari stepped back in surprise as Pinkie eagerly bounced closer the Digiport right by Davis and Veemon.

“Well, you heard her!” said Davis. “Digiport open!”


———————


“...I’m just saying, we don’t really seem to have much to do with anything anymore,” Joe spoke to an audience of bored-looking humans and digimon.

“Vespimon did take plenty of steps to keep us from interfering,” Izzy responded. “She’d probably anticipated that we’d be a threat to her operations.”

“Well, yeah, but it’s not just that,” said Joe. “I’m probably just being paranoid, but it almost feels like we’re being pushed aside so the others can take the spotlight.”

“Aww, don’t look so glum, Joe,” said Gomamon. “Everyone gets a chance to be the hero of their own story, don’tcha know!”

Joe sighed. “Knowing me, I’d probably spent most of it worrying about school.”

Suddenly, the computer monitor began to glow with an intense light. Startled, the gathered Digi-Destined and their partners pulled back, and another group burst forward, coalescing into solid form just in front of the computer.

“Whoa! You’re back already?” Izzy exclaimed.

“Huh?” said Yolei. “What do you mean, ‘already?’ We were gone for at least two hours!”

“More like two minutes,” said Matt. “What’s the deal anyway? You guys didn’t just give up that easily, did you?”

“Excuse me?” said Rainbow, swooping in the air to glare at Matt. “Are you suggesting that I’d give up on Fluttershy!?”

“No,” said Matt, “I’m saying you were gone an awfully short time to have found what you were looking for.”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Tai interrupted. “The last thing we need right now is another fight.” He ignored Matt’s exasperated look at his comment, and continued. “Rainbow Dash, you said you were gone for two hours, right?”

Rainbow shrugged. “Sounds about right, yeah.”

“But for us, it’s only been about two minutes,” said Tai. “Everyone can agree on that, right?” He glanced at each of the older Digi-Destined in turn, a worried look crossing his face.

“Well yeah,” said Sora. “But why...” She suddenly froze, her eyes going wide. A dreadful silence hung over the room, the weight of realization pressing down on every human and digimon present.

“Everyone out of my way!” shouted Izzy, forcefully pushing himself towards the computer that had served as the Digiport

“Hey, what gives?” Davis protested.

Izzy ignored the complaint, positioning himself directly in front of the monitor. He leaned in close, typing frantically on the keyboard, the image on the screen obstructed from everyone else’s view by his own body.

“Izzy, you don’t think this is what I think it is, do you?” said T.K.

“It’s exactly what you think,” said Izzy, voice trembling with worry. “How could I have not seen it sooner, though? Everyone knows the most accurate mathematical model of space and time combines them into a single manifold!”

“Er... Ah beg your pardon?” said Applejack.

“I think I get it,” said Davis. “You’re saying space and time are part of the same continuum, right?”

Izzy went silent once again, his jaw hanging agape. His expression was matched by several others in the room, including Veemon.

“That’s... that’s right,” Izzy finally managed to articulate. “How did you...?”

“Duh!” said Davis. “I read it in a bunch of science fiction.”

All at once, all the humans and digimon gathered let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh, thank goodness!” Yolei exclaimed. “You almost had me worried something had happened to the real Davis!”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Oh, don’t you two start,” Cody chided. “We still have that spacetime thing to worry about, remember?”

“He’s right,” Izzy continued. “In case it wasn’t clear to everyone, it seems time is now passing at a different rate in the Digital World than it is on Earth. If what you said is any indication, it seems every minute here is an hour in the Digital World.”

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash all let out a collective gasp in shock. Twilight, for the most part, seemed unsurprised.

“Oh dear me, this is dreadful!” said Rarity. “However are we going to stop Vespimon’s evil from spreading now?”

“Yeah, and what about Fluttershy!?” said Rainbow. “Every moment we spend here is another moment she’s in danger!”

Twilight turned to face her two friends, concern deeply reflected in her eyes. “I know you’re worried,” said Twilight, “but we won’t be able to stem the darkness by tackling it all at once. Before we arrived at Port Digital, Izzy told me about something like this happening during his first adventure, at the hands of a group of evil digimon known as the Dark Masters. The only way to stop the distortion in time is to defeat whatever’s causing it.”

Ken nodded solemnly. “Right. So our top priority is finding and defeating Vespimon.”

“That won’t be easy, I’m afraid,” said Izzy. “The spacial distortion around her lair is almost certainly the cause of the time difference as well. We’ll need to find that energy signature I was tracking before.”

“Understood,” said Ken. “Can you tell us where it is now?”

Izzy began to type on the keyboard again, a series of rhythmic tapping noises carrying across the room. “No dice. It’s not where it was when you entered the Digital World, and its position is moving too far all over the place for me to track it. I can program a search to look for it, but it won’t be able to get a precise location for some time.”

“How long will it take?” said Ken.

“Anywhere from one to seven days,” said Izzy.

“Seven days?!” Rainbow suddenly shouted. “We don’t have that kind of time! If... if one minute here is one hour in the Digital World, then... then...” She paused, apparent in the way her brow had furrowed that she was painstakingly and painfully doing the math in her mind. “Oh dear Celestia, she’d have to be imprisoned for more than a year! And that’s just if we wait one week! I... I...”

Whatever Rainbow was going to say next was left unsaid. Suddenly and without a touch of grace, she landed on the floor in a heap, her words turning to incoherent sobs.

“I... I... I c-can’t....”

“Rainbow Dash...” Yolei approached the distraught pegasus, only to back off at the sound of shriek directed at her.

“Leave me alone!” Rainbow screamed. “I... I’m s-supposed to be cool and brave! I... I can’t be seen like this! J-just... pretend I’m not here!”

Once again, the room feel quiet. All of the others looked on Rainbow Dash with sympathy, the pain of seeing their friend suffer apparent on each of their faces, yet unsure whether to speak to her.

Finally, after a prolonged silence, a single digimon approached.

“Huh?” said Sora. “Biyomon, wait!”

Biyomon ignored her partner’s call, and sat down beside Rainbow, gently stroking her mane with a wing.

“There, there...”

“Wha...? You...” Rainbow’s tear-soaked eyes looked up at Biyomon in amazement. All at once, her body began to tremble. With a sudden and spontaneous motion, she wrapped her forelegs tightly around Biyomon’s waist, burying her head into a feathered abdomen.

“I’m sorry!” she cried. “I’m sorry, it’s all my fault!”

“Hey, don’t say that,” said Biyomon, stroking Rainbow’s mane. “It’s okay to worry about your friends, but you don’t need to blame yourself for every bad thing that happens.”

Rainbow Dash looked up, her tear-soaked eyes staring wide. “But I failed you! I... I turned my back on you! You got hurt because of me!”

“What are you talking about?” Biyomon countered. “You didn’t fail anyone. What happened to Fluttershy wasn’t your doing, was it?”

“Huh?” Rainbow’s grip loosened. She pulled out of the hug and blinked rapidly, sniffling slightly. “Well, n-no. I guess not.”

“And she wouldn’t want you beating yourself up over this, would she?”

“Um... no, not really. She’d probably want me to stop worrying, for my own sake.” Slowly, Rainbow Dash rose to her hooves, and looked Biyomon straight in the eye. “Thanks, Biyomon. I... I needed that.”

“Hey, no problem!” Biyomon replied. “What are friends for?”

Rainbow Dash let out a weak, humorless chuckle. “Heh, yeah. What are friends for...”

“Wow, Biyomon, that was very kind of you,” said Sora.

Biyomon flew over to her partner’s side, wrapping her wings around Sora’s shoulder. “Well, I did learn from the best!”

“Are you feeling alright, Rainbow?” Twilight approached her friend hesitantly, intense worry written across her muzzle.

“I... I’m fine,” she replied. “If it were up to me, I’d go straight back to the Digital World and rescue Fluttershy myself. But after the beating we took from CaptainHookmon, I... I just don’t know.”

“Ah reckon we’re doing everything we can, sugarcube,” Applejack reassured.

“Yeah!” Pinkie added. “And you can bet we’ll find Fluttershy no matter what it takes!”

“And with our combined power, no villain will be able to stand in our way!” said Rarity.

A smile crept its way across Rainbow Dash’s face. “Thanks, guys. You’re the best.”

“Do you want us to take a moment before we head back?” said Kari. “I understand it’s been rough, you could use a break before we hit the road.”

“Nah, it’s alright,” said Rainbow. “I’m still worried about Fluttershy... but I think it’d be best to get some rest so I don’t get myself killed. Plus Egghead 2.0 here will keep us updated if he finds that energy thingy, right Izzy?”

Izzy glared at Rainbow. “Egghead 2.0? Really?”

“Well, she’s not wrong,” Tentomon chimed in.

“You’re not helping, Tentomon!”

At that moment, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but laugh.


———————


“Hey T.K., wait up!”

T.K. had already bid his friends and his brother farewell and begun his walk to the subway station alongside Applejack, when he heard a voice calling behind him. He turned around to meet it, careful not to disturb Patamon from sitting atop his head. Heading towards him was a familiar goggle-headed boy and his bright blue digimon partner, alongside the only-slightly-less-familiar purple alicorn.

“Oh, um... Hi, Davis,” he said. “Jeez, it’s weird to hear you getting my name right.”

“Well, I figured the joke kind of wore a little thin,” Davis said. “I just wanted to say, good job in the Digital World. You really helped out a lot there.”

Davis reached out with his hand, grinning from ear-to-ear. Beside him, both Twilight and Veemon were visibly struggling to restrain their laughter.

T.K. crossed his arms. “Let me guess. It’s either a joy buzzer or a whoopie cushion.”

“Hey! What kind of friend do you take me for?” Davis objected. “It’s no trick, I just wanted to congratulate you on a job well done!”

“Davis, you’re nearly as bad a liar as Cody is. Don’t think you can pull one over on me that easily.” He turned around and began to walk away.

“What? Aren’t you going to accept my thank you?” Davis called back. At this point, both Twilight and Veemon were beginning to audibly giggle under their breath.

“Okay, fine! You’re welcome!” T.K. shouted back. “Now go play your childish pranks on someone else!”

“No problem!” said Davis. “See you later, Takato!”

Weird, he actually used my full name, T.K. thought. As he continued down the sidewalk, he not only heard Twilight and Veemon bursting into uproarious laughter, but also Applejack and Patamon snickering as well.

The realization of what had just happened hit him with the force of a falling anvil.

“Goddammit, Davis!”
> Interlude 4: The Bridge
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Jeez louise, could this station get any more crowded?” Rainbow exclaimed.

Yolei smiled. The station was fairly busy, with a noticeable crowd gathering on the platform, waiting for the next train to arrive. Not that it mattered to Rainbow Dash, who had earned a few glares by flying above the heads of everyone else.

“If you think that’s bad, you should see every other railway in Tokyo,” Hawkmon replied. “And I don’t see why you’re complaining when you’re up there.”

“Oh, come on! Am I seriously being criticized for flying by a bird? And why couldn’t we just take the bus like last time?”

“There’s something I wanted to show you,” said Yolei.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Whatever it is, it’d better be worth it.”

For several more minutes, the three waited at the platform, the multicolored pegasus fidgeting anxiously in the air.

Eventually, the train rolled up to the platform. Yolei and Hawkmon quickly moved with the crowd inside, with Rainbow Dash begrudgingly following behind.

The three soon found themselves sitting in one of the train cars. Yolei had insisted that they sit as close to the window as possible, but Rainbow Dash simply couldn’t bring herself to care. With half-lidded eyes, she glanced out the window at the passing scenery, seeing the numerous tall buildings that overlooked the bay, as the clouds lazily drifted above.

Rainbow Dash suddenly blinked, snapping herself out of the doldrums. “Hey Yolei, why are the clouds moving on their own?”

“Huh?” said Yolei. “What do you mean? Why wouldn’t they be moving on their own?”

Rainbow hesitated. “Uh... because I’m pretty sure they’re not supposed to do that. Are you trying to say the weather just happens here by itself?”

Yolei gave Rainbow Dash a quizzical look. “Of course. Why would you even ask that, though? Weather is a natural occurrence caused by changes in temperature and air pressure.”

“So it’s like the Everfree Forest here, then?”

“The what?” said Yolei.

“It’s one of those messed-up places where weather happens by itself,” Rainbow replied. “Almost everywhere else the weather is created by pegasi like me, or by other flyers like griffins.”

“You create weather?” said Yolei. “That’s amazing!”

“Pshaw, that’s just the ordinary stuff,” Rainbow boasted. “Tell you what, when I get my flying magic back to full strength, I’ll show you what a pegasus can really do.”

Yolei smiled back, and gave a small nod. “That sounds great! I’d love to see some more of your flying when I get the chance.”

As they spoke, the train approached the edge of the bay, moving onto an enormous suspension bridge. From what Rainbow Dash could see, the bridge had two decks, with the railroad constructed along the lower of them. She looked outwards at the bay, seeing the skyline of the city more clearly than ever before.

“So, what do you think?” said Yolei. “Pretty neat, huh?”

“Huh? Oh, right, the city. It’s interesting, I guess.” Despite her attempted nonchalance, she had to admit it that it was fairly impressive. ‘Tokyo,’ as Yolei had called on their last trip, looked to be far larger than any city she’d ever known, even Manehattan.

“No, I mean the bridge,” said Yolei. “I want to take you out to see it from Odaiba tonight, but I thought you might want to get a chance to travel across it first.”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Why? What’s so special about a bridge?”

“During the day, the bridge absorbs solar energy,” Yolei explained. “Then at night, it uses that energy to light up in different colors. It’s called the Rainbow Bridge. With a name like that, I figured you’d think it was cool.”

Rainbow Dash’s mouth curled upwards into a grin, and she couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle. “Man, you really do know, huh?”
> Interlude 5: Strange Outings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey mom, I’m home!”

Cody’s voice called from the doorway. Two days had passed since their last trip back from the Digital World, and most of the Digi-Destined had settled back into a somewhat normal routine. As he entered, he carried his protective armor folded neatly into a paper bag, and his bamboo shinai across his shoulder. Armadillomon followed him closely behind, and nudged the door closed with his nose.

“Hello? Mom?” Cody called out again. When no answer came, he placed his weapon and bag neatly in the corner, and walked into the living room.

There, Rarity sat atop an elevated stool in front of a small desk, her saddleback resting at its side. On the desk were a large number of cut gemstones in a variety of colors, each of them roughly the size of a grape. She carefully levitated one of the gems in front of her face, squinting to examine it closely with a single eye.

As they approached, Rarity’s ears perked upwards, and she turned to face the new arrivals. “Ah, there you are! Did you two have fun? I believe your mother’s out getting groceries, by the way.”

Cody and his partner stopped in their tracks, staring at Rarity with their mouths agape.

Armadillomon let out a whistle. “Well, there’s something you don’t see every day.”

“Hmm?” said Rarity. “What do you mean?”

“Those gems!” Cody blurted out. “Where did you even get those?”

“Oh, these?” Rarity replied. “I brought them with me from Equestria, in case I’d needed to design an outfit for an emergency. Most of my fabric was ruined by that grimy lake, but I figured these jewels would be perfectly fine once they dried off.”

“But... why would you even risk losing something so valuable?” said Cody, “Those gems must be worth a small fortune!”

“A small... Oh no, dear, you must be mistaken!” Rarity said, letting out a laugh. “I found these gems over in a quarry near Ponyville. Anyone with a keen eye can find plenty of them lying around out there.”

Armadillomon looked upwards at Cody. “Sounds like them precious gemstones are a lot more common where she comes from, wouldn’t you say?”

“But what are we going to do with them now that they’re here?” Cody replied. “All those gems must be worth at least a million Yen. Someone could break in and try to steal them.”

Rarity gasped. “A million? Good heavens! Granted, I haven’t the faintest idea how much a Yen is worth, but if these gems are truly as valuable in your world as you claim...” Rarity trailed off mid-sentence, staring at Cody as though lost in her own thoughts. A gleam suddenly appeared in her eye, and a pearly-white grin split through the center of her muzzle.

“Ideeeeeaaaaaaa!”

“What?” said Cody, “What is it?”

Rarity’s horn glowed, and her saddlebags were levitated to the edge of the desk. In a single smooth motion, the remaining gemstones were pushed inside, and the bags were hoisted across Rarity’s body.

“Just what in tarnation are you doing, Rarity?” said Armadillomon.

“You two are coming with me!” she replied, trotting excitedly towards the door. “We’re going shopping!”


———————


“Waaaaah! Too fast! Too fast! Help me, Hawkmon!”

A panicked cry pierced the streets of Odaiba as a pink-haired blur sped across the sidewalk, the numerous passerby shouting and pushing as they moved out of the way. Following closely behind was a smaller blur with all the colors of the rainbow, and even further, a large and very exhausted-looking bird.

As they approached an intersection, the rainbow-colored blur finally caught up to its larger companion. The two were brought to a sudden halt just before the sidewalk met the street, and Yolei unceremoniously fell onto her rear, with Rainbow Dash desperately clinging onto her shoulders. A skateboard, propelled into the air, promptly landed to the side of them, its wheels still spinning as it fell onto its wooden deck.

Breathing heavily, Rainbow Dash released her grip, still managing to hover in the air despite her sweat-soaked feathers.

“That... was... awesome!”

Yolei stood up, wincing as she rubbed a hand against her backside. “Tell that to my tailbone. I’m lucky I didn’t break anything just then!” She suddenly grimaced, inhaling sharply through gritted teeth. “At least I hope I didn’t...”

Rainbow Dash cringed reflexively. “Ack! No, I didn’t mean it like that! I... I know the feeling, trust me.” She quickly glanced around, seeing that the other pedestrians had given them both a wide berth, many taking the time to stand back and stare. “But oh my gosh, did you see how fast you were going?! I didn’t even think humans could move like that!”

“Don’t look at me! I wasn’t trying to!” Yolei whined. “I don’t ever want to go that fast again!”

Rainbow shrugged. “Hey, suit yourself. But if you ever need a racing partner, I’m your mare!”

“There you are!” Hawkmon’s voice called from down the lane. Frantically flapping to keep himself airborne, he landed beside Rainbow and Yolei, his entire body barely managing to stay upright.

“Yolei... are... you... alright?” he huffed.

“A little sore, but I think I’ll be fine,” Yolei replied. “I just need to remember to get some ice when we get back home...”

“Glad... to hear... you’re alright...” said Hawkmon. Letting out a final wheeze, he promptly keeled over, falling flat onto his face.

“Hawkmon!” Yolei gasped. “Ohmigosh, are you okay?”

Hawkmon let out a loud snore. “Mmmmm.... five minutes...”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “I think he’ll be alright.”


———————


The department store lights were bright and garish, shining down on numerous elaborate displays of clothing. Suits, hats, pants, ties, dresses, gowns, blouses, shirts, collars, jewelry, buttons, shoes, belts, robes, lapel pins, bows, bow ties, and even ascots were neatly arranged throughout the floor, each sorted meticulously into designated sections.

Standing in the middle of the womenswear section was Cody, carrying a stack of folded dresses that was taller than he was, legs wobbling beneath the weight.

Standing beside him, Armadillomon looked upwards at his partner, and then back to Rarity. The white unicorn carefully levitated another dress in front of her, inspecting it closely.

“Oh my goodness, look at how gorgeous this one is! It’ll take some effort to modify it for a quadrupedal body shape, but I do believe I could work wonders with this!”

“Ah don’t mean to offend, Rarity, but don’t you think you’ve gotten enough? Y’all ponies don’t even normally wear clothes, for pete’s sake!”

“Well, excuse me for bothering to care about the impression we leave,” Rarity huffed. “Humans wear clothes all the time, and they’ve done nothing but stare at our naked bodies since we’ve arrived!”

Armadillomon raised an eyebrow. “And you’re sure that ain’t got nothing to do with the fact that you ain’t from Earth?”

“Regardless, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to look fashionable while we’re here,” Rarity retorted. “Ooh, what’s that?” Her eyes were suddenly drawn to another dress rack across the aisle, several feet away from where they were standing.

“S-somebody help me...” Cody wheezed, knees beginning to buckle.

“Ah’m sorry, Cody, but you’ll have to ask someone with opposable thumbs.”


———————


To say that the store clerk was having a weird week so far would be an understatement. As if the day before wasn’t stressful enough, today he’d to deal a literal unicorn.

More precisely, a tiny white unicorn that checked out an entire heap of clothing and then dumped a massive pile of precious gemstones on the checkout counter.

“I deeply apologize if I don’t have any money at the moment,” she’d said, “but to my understanding, these jewels are rather valuable on your world. I think that should be more than enough to cover the expense, wouldn’t you?”

The experience was so surreal that he couldn’t even be bothered to respond before the unicorn levitated a group of plastic bags from behind the counter, and carefully folded and placed the clothes inside.

“Rarity, stop that! We don’t even know if they’ll accept those as payment!” The protests came from a small boy the clerk hadn’t noticed before, standing next to what he’d recognized as one of those ‘digimon’ he’d heard about on the news. He could only assume the unicorn was also one of them.

“Nonsense, dear. You said those gems were worth at least a million Yen,” the unicorn turned to answer, before turning back to the clerk. “How much did you say it was for this transaction?”

A million Yen. She was giving him a million Yen. Those clothes she was checking out weren’t even worth half of that. “Um... about a hundred eighty thousand?”

“Good, that should be more than enough to cover it. You will accept my payment, won’t you?”

The unicorn batted her eyes at the clerk, flashing him a pearly-white smile that somehow managed to create dimples on her otherwise equine muzzle. He began to sweat, a single thought dominating his mind.

How is that thing so adorable?

“I’ll... I’ll ask the jewelry department what this is worth,” he relented. “Just go ahead and take what you want.”

“Well, only if you insist,” the unicorn replied. “I’m very grateful for your generosity, darling.”

“H-hey, hold on a minute! You can’t! Mmmph!” Before the boy could object, a large number of bags were levitated into his arms, stifling any complaints he could have made.

The unicorn happily trotted out of the store, her human companion slowly following after her. The armadillo glanced up at the clerk, and spoke one last time before departing.

“Sorry for the trouble, fella. Y’all take care now.”

As the unusual visitors made their way out the door, the clerk noticed that every person in the checkout section had stopped in their tracks, staring straight at him. Slowly, he picked up the phone beneath the counter, and dialed an all-too-familiar number.

“Hey boss, I think we have a problem,” he spoke into the receiver. “No, it’s not the girl with the plant monster, we banned her yesterday. Look... just come down here and help me out, okay?”

The clerk let out a sigh as he hung up the receiver. Somehow, despite everything, it was still better than his last job.
> Interlude 6: Magic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I’m home!”

The door to the apartment loudly pushed open, and a young woman’s voice called in. Davis, shoveling a bowl of instant-ramen into his mouth with a pair of chopsticks, turned to the kitchen entrance to see his older sister stroll in, still wearing the reddish-brown uniform of a local fast-food chain.

“Mmmmph.” With a loud sluuuuuurp, Davis swallowed the last bite of noodles he’d taken. “Hey, Jun. How was work?”

Jun let out a sigh. “Awful. Someone threw up all over the bathroom and guess who had to clean it up?”

Davis winced. “Yikes. Sorry to hear about that. Look on the bright side, at least you’re making some money off it, right?”

“Barely,” Jun grumbled. “Where’s everyone else, anyway?”

“Dad’s still at work, Mom went out to the laundromat,” Davis replied. “And I think Twilight went out to go meet with Izzy about something. Apparently, they’re working on some big project they’re going to show us later.”

“Sounds pretty interesting,” Jun replied. “I’ll admit a lot of this Digital World stuff is over my head, though.”

Before Davis could reply, he was interrupted by a very loud scraping noise, as though something extremely heavy was being dragged across the floor. Sure enough, he turned to see Veemon pushing a precarious tower made from three separate kitchen chairs stacked on top of each other, positioning it in front of the cupboard.

“Veemon!” Jun cried out. “What the hell do you think you’re doing!?”

“Hey, watch your language!” said Veemon. “In case you’ve forgotten, there’s kids here!”

“Har har, you’re hilarious,” Davis huffed.

“Anyway, I was getting tired of having to ask for everyone’s help to reach all the things I wanted,” said Veemon. “That’s the problem with you humans, you always build everything too big! So I figured I’d improvise. I couldn’t find any Veemon-sized ladders, so I made one for myself!”

“Veemon, you’re being ridiculous!” said Jun. “Put those back where you found them!”

“Jeez, you sound like Davis’ mom. Just relax, I’ve got this.” Ignoring Jun’s continuing protests, Veemon climbed up haphazardly stacked chairs, and opened the cupboard door.

“Jackpot!” Veemon leaned forward, reaching towards a box of crackers. He grasped the box in his fingers, and stood up triumphantly. “Hah! And to think you were worried I would— whoa!”

The rickety tower of chairs began to wobble uncontrollably under the weight of its occupant. Veemon flailed his arms in place, struggling to maintain balance.

“Veemon!” Jun shouted. “Hold still, will you?” She rushed over to the side of the precariously-stacked chairs, reaching out with her arms towards Veemon.

“Wait! Don’t!”

CRASH!

With a cacophonous sound, the tower collapsed onto the ground, on top of both Jun and Veemon. The box of crackers Veemon held in his hands flew outward, flung across to the other end of the room.

Davis reflexively reached out to catch the box. Strangely, it almost seemed to respond in kind. Its trajectory abruptly changed, swerving sharply in midair, before landing perfectly in Davis’s grip.

“Huh,” said Davis. “That’s weird.” He turned towards his partner and his older sibling, who both lay in a heap beneath several chairs. “Are you guys okay?”

“Ugh...”

“See!?” said Jun. “What did I just tell you!?”

————————

By the time Izzy had dropped Twilight at the apartment, the sun had already begun to dip below the horizon. Davis and Veemon had seemed oddly quiet that night, and she couldn’t help but notice the odd look that Jun gave the both of them.

She finished her dinner, which Davis’ parents had made vegetarian out of courtesy, and went off to bed. It was not a very sophisticated bed by any means, just a patch of extra blankets laid out on the floor of Davis’s room, but it was more than comfortable enough to rest in, and she couldn’t help but be grateful that she had any place to stay at all.

She lay down on all fours atop the makeshift bed, horn glowing with a light spell as she flipped through the pages of a graduate-level astrophysics textbook that Izzy had lent to her, greedily devouring the contents within. The translation spell she’d used to decipher the Japanese characters was difficult to cast, especially given her weakened magic, but the depth of the knowledge she’d gained from it was well worth the exhaustion afterwards. She didn’t even notice the impossibly loud snoring coming from Davis just across the room.

As she turned to the twelfth chapter, she let out a yawn, her vision already becoming blurry with fatigue. Within minutes, she had fallen sound asleep.

————————

Twilight knew exactly what to expect when she opened her eyes again. The same apartment room that she had stayed in, greeted with the still novel, yet somehow already familiar faces of her friends from planet Earth. She did not expect to find herself standing in the center of the floor in the Books and Branches Library.

The sight was, of course, familiar to her. Yet there was a strange quality to it that she couldn’t quite describe. If she were to try, she would have said she felt... detached from it, somehow. Like she was there, and yet she wasn’t. And even that couldn’t accurately describe the way her perceptions of her longtime home had changed. All her mind could think of to describe what she saw were metaphors, and not a single one of them adequately captured the experience.

Standing on a ladder leading to the top of one of the many bookshelves was her friend and faithful companion, Spike, carefully placing a book in its correct, indexed location. Yet something about him was different as well. Apart from the unexplainable distance Twilight felt, she’d also noticed that Spike was ever-so-slightly taller. Most other ponies would have not even noticed it, but she had measured the purple dragon’s height every month of his life since he had first hatched. It had been almost two years since there had been any measurable change in his stature, not counting a freak incident involving dragon greed, yet he was nearly a full inch taller than he was the last time Twilight saw him.

Her attention as well as Spike’s were pulled away when a loud knock came on the door. Spike rolled his eyes. “Hey, can’t you read!? We’re closed!”

The knock continued, louder than before. Spike, grumbling, climbed down the ladder and marched to the door.

“Didn’t you hear me before? We’re closed!” he said, forcefully pushing the door open. “For crying out loud, it’s almost-”

“-sunset?” a gentle voice finished his sentence for him, with just a hint of playfulness to its tone. Spike found himself staring not at the eye-level of an ordinary pony, but at the white-colored forelegs of a much taller figure.

“Ack! Princess Celestia! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it! Please, come in!” Spike promptly put on a very twitchy-looking grin as he made an arm-sweeping gesture of welcome, showing the Princess of the Sun into the door. Twilight couldn’t help but giggle at Spike’s flustered behavior; in a lot of ways, it showed how much he took after her.

As Celestia carried herself into the center of the library, she took a quick glance around the room. “You've done a remarkable job taking care of this place all by yourself.” 

“Thanks!” said Spike.

Celestia's face darkened as she looked downwards to meet Spike at eye level. “You mustn't work yourself too hard, Spike. I still worry about you. A dragon your age shouldn't need to be alone.“

She paused momentarily. Twilight had noticed that despite his enthusiasm, there was a vulnerability in Spike's eyes that he couldn't hide.

“My previous offer still stands, you know,” Celestia continued. “You’re free to come live with me any time you wish.”

Twilight body abruptly straightened. “Wait, what?”

Spike sighed. “Thanks, Princess. But... as much as I’d like to stay with you, I just can’t do it. This library isn’t just my home. It’s my responsibility. If Twilight were here, she...”

“S-Spike, what are you talking about?” Twilight stammered. “I am here! Didn’t you notice?”

Despite her best efforts, her words were met with silence. A single tear had begun to form in the corner of Spike’s eye. Princess Celestia gazed at him with pity in her eyes.

“Spike...”

“Shut up!” Spike blurted out. “I’m not crying!”

Twilight suddenly felt her stomach twist into a knot. She tried to call out her assistant's name once more, only for the sound to die the moment that she opened her mouth. As Celestia knelt down to hold the distraught young dragon in her embrace, a fog began to roll in, and Twilight’s senses became shrouded in darkness.

The last thing she saw before the library vanished was Spike sobbing into Celestia’s wing.
> Slowly Sliding
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So what exactly do y’all think Izzy asked us to come to the field for, anyhow?”

Armadillomon’s inquiry was met with a series of noncommittal gestures, shrugs, and variations of ‘I don’t know.’ The cloudy weather left surprisingly little light over the school’s sports field, and the grass was muddy and wet with the rain that had fallen earlier that morning. The damp and dreary atmosphere seemed to carry itself over to the mood every human, pony, and digimon present.

“Something about a project he’s been working on,” said Davis. “Twilight should be out with him in a second.”

Rainbow Dash let out a groan. “Couldn’t you guys at least have given us better weather for this?”

“Didn’t I already tell you that we can’t control the weather?” said Yolei.

“Oh, come on! You can’t just invent something to deal with it?” Rainbow replied. “You humans can already do all kinds of crazy impossible things with your technology, and you can’t even make a few rain clouds go away?”

“Well, don’t ask me! I don’t even know anything about weather!”

“A-hem.”

Yolei abruptly turned around to see Izzy standing behind the group, his laptop carried beneath his shoulder. Standing next to him was Twilight, sporting a grin that seemed to brighten the field just by existing. Between the two of them, Tentomon buzzed excitedly.

“Sorry for interrupting,” said Izzy. “We’re just about ready to show you what we’ve been working on.”

“About time, too,” Rainbow muttered.

“You guys are going to love this, I’m sure,” said Twilight, not seeming to hear the remark. “I’m very proud to have worked on it, and I couldn’t have done it without Izzy’s help.”

“Glad to hear it!” said Davis. “So what is it, exactly?”

Twilight giggled eagerly. “Oh, you’ll see. Ready, Izzy?”

“Just a sec, let me set it up first.”

Izzy carefully kneeled onto the ground, awkwardly folding his body into a position very close to sitting, but so that no part of his body save his feet touched the muddy ground. He slowly pulled his laptop from beneath his arm and set it on his shins, unfolding it into its upright position. The screen flickered on as the machine exited its sleep mode. His fingers rapidly ran across the keyboard as he entered a complex series of commands.

“There we go” said Izzy. “Twilight, if you please?”

Twilight nodded. “Right. Davis, I need you and your friends to show me your D-3s for a moment.”

“Alright, sure,” said Davis. He took out his digivice and held it into his hand, and the other human Digi-Destined followed suit.

Twilight’s horn suddenly glowed, and each of the digivices was levitated into the air. Izzy’s laptop soon followed, and it too became airborne. The computer rotated so that its screen faced the floating assortment of digivices.

Izzy bit his lower lip, beads of sweat beginning to form on his forehead. Twilight let out a pained grunt, and her horn’s glow grew almost blindingly bright. With a shrill noise, a beam of amethyst-colored light erupted from the laptop screen, blasting each of the digivices with an intense magical aura.

When the beam of light subsided, the digivices then flew outwards, into the hands of the astonished Digi-Destined. Izzy’s computer wobbled precariously, before abruptly dropping from the air.

“Bzzt! I’ve got it!” said Tentomon. He quickly swooped down and snatched the laptop in his front claws, before carrying it over to his partner.

“Thanks, Tentomon.” Izzy exhaled deeply. “Jeez Twilight, you had me worried a second there. This computer’s expensive, you know.”

“I... I... know...” Twilight panted heavily, struggling to speak between breaths. “I... I knew that would take a lot out of me, but...”

Izzy shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s test it out and see if it works.”

“If what works?” said T.K. “You still haven’t told us what this is all about.”

Twilight beamed, her exhaustion all but forgotten. “How about we show you instead? Davis, try having Veemon digivolve.”

“Alright!” said Veemon. “Now’s my chance to shine! Come on, Davis!”

“You got it! Go long, Veemon!”

Veemon ran out further into the field, and jumped into the air, soaring almost ten feet upwards. Davis held out his digivice, and the familiar shriek of power sounded as Veemon bathed in the digivice’s light, his body rapidly transforming.

“Veemon, Digivolve to: ExVeemon!”

With a flap of his wings, ExVeemon descended back to the ground, kicking up a gust of wind in the process. With a fang-filled grin, he struck a pose and flexed his biceps.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Anyway... Davis, now try activating an armor digivolution."

Davis’s eyes went wide. “Wait, what?”

“You heard me,” said Twilight. “Try it.”

“Alright, if you say so...” Slowly, Davis held out his digivice again. For a brief moment he said nothing, uncertainty flashing in his eyes. Then, finally, he shouted the command.

“Digi-Armor Energize!”

The digivice glowed once again, and the egg-shaped artifact materialized from the light that it emitted. ExVeemon’s body glowed again, and both he and the digi-egg were wreathed in flames as they merged together and transformed.

“ExVeemon, Slide Digivolve to: Flamedramon! The Fire of Courage!”

The fire fizzled out as the transformation completed, leaving a burning scent hanging in the air. Standing atop the patch of charred grass was Flamedramon. He stared at his claw, tentatively rotating his wrist.

“Huh,” he said. “that’s interesting.”

Twilight let out a gleeful squeal. “Yes! It worked! It really worked! Just think of how much this could help us!”

“Um... not to be rude, but how exactly would this help us?” said Kari. “Flamedramon isn’t really new to us, and it doesn’t look like you’ve made him any stronger.”

“No, hold on. I think they’re onto something here,” T.K. chimed in. “All of our partners have at least two different forms, each with different strengths. Some are more suited for transportation, others for combat. Sometimes we’d need to switch between them quickly.”

“That’s exactly the point,” said Izzy. “Under normal circumstances, you’d need to have your partners revert to their base form before digivolving again. The amount of time it would take to do to do so in a dangerous situation is a matter of life and death. Using slide digivolution, you’ll instead be able to switch between any two forms of equivalent power immediately. By my own estimate, this should make switching forms at least one thousand percent faster.”

“Wowie, that’s super!” Pinkie cheered. “I was expecting something a lot cooler, but still!”

“Cooler?” said Twilight, a hint of defensiveness in her voice. “Pinkie, what are you even talking about?”

“I dunno! From the way you were talking, it seemed like you were going to show us some entirely new transformation or something. And I kinda feel like a bunch of other people probably felt the same way.” As Pinkie spoke, she turned briefly turned to the side, glancing at nobody in particular.

“Pinkie dear, don’t be rude,” Rarity chided. “I’m sure Twilight worked very hard on this, the least you could do is be grateful.”

Pinkie laughed nervously. “Oh... right. Sorry, Twilight.”

Twilight gave a friendly smile. “Hey, don’t worry about it. Anyway... now that we’ve got this over with, we should take a short break before planning our next move. We need to make sure we have enough energy before we head to the Digital World again.”

“Back to the Digital World, huh?” said T.K. “Does this mean that you’ve found the signal we’ve been looking for?”

“Almost,” said Izzy. “I’ve been getting a stronger reading on it recently, but it’ll be another hour or two before I can discern its exact location. I’ve set up a program to search for it in the meantime.”

“It certainly took you long enough,” Ken muttered darkly. “Come on, we need to start preparing now. Our top priority is destroying  Vespimon. Everything else is a waste of our time.”

Without even pausing to look at the others, Ken suddenly turned around, briskly striding towards the school building. Wormmon cried out for Ken to wait for him as he quickly scurried after his partner.

The remaining Digi-Destined shared with each other a series of uncomfortable looks. As Ken walked away, a cold fog began to roll in, further obstructing the little sunlight that made it past the clouds. Before he even reached the building, Ken's form was entirely obscured in the haze.
> Daring Kindness, Doubting Cruelty
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Somehow, the brightly-lit interior of the school did not seem much less gloomy to T.K. Maybe it was the artificial atmosphere, maybe it was the fact that it reminded him of the school years spent in an environment that seemed purposefully designed to slowly drain students’ hope. Either way, there was a steady uneasiness growing within him.

After meeting briefly in the computer lab, Izzy had shooed all of the others out, saying something about needing to make a last-minute calibration before their next trip to the Digital World. With nothing better to do, T.K. decided to take a short walk down the hallways. Applejack had decided to stay outside the door and wait for him to return, leaving only Patamon traveling with him, in his usual position atop T.K.’s head.

As his eyes glanced across the across the hallway, he spotted one of the vending machines that had been installed last year. His grumbling stomach reminding him he hadn’t eaten since breakfast, he pulled some loose change of his pocket and approached the machine.

“You want anything, Patamon?”

“Ooh! I’d like a chocolate bar, please!”

With a mechanical clink, T.K. inserted the coins into the machine, and was rewarded with a pair of sugary snacks. He unwrapped the top of the candy bar and handed it to Patamon, who made a series of very happy noises as he devoured the snack. A smile crept his way across his face as he opened up his own snack, a small bag of lightly salted rice crackers. No melancholy could last as long as his partner was with him.

“Hey, Takuya!” a voice called from across the hall.

So much for that happy feeling, T.K. thought. “It’s Takeru. And what do you want?”

Davis carried with him an obnoxious smirk, and a nearly-as-obnoxious one was plastered across Veemon’s face as the two of them approached.

“What? I can’t say hi to one of my best friends?” said Davis.

“I’m not buying you snacks, if that’s what you’re going to ask me about,” said T.K.

“What, no!” Davis interjected. “That’s not what I wanted to ask you about! Well... okay, not all of it. There’s something else, and it’s kind of important.” In the span of a single sentence, any pretense of playfulness dropped from his voice.

T.K. was thrown momentarily off guard by Davis sudden shift in tone. “...Alright, what is it?”

“It’s about Ken,” Davis continued. “I’m worried about him, T.K.”

T.K.’s eye went wide. “Wait, did you just...?”

“Wow!” said Patamon. “He actually called you ‘T.K.!’ This must be serious!”

“That’s because it is,” Davis said glumly. “Ken’s barely spoken to me at all since Vespimon showed up. I’ve asked him if he wanted to hang out a few times, but he keeps brushing me off. And it isn’t just that, either. He’s been acting... strange.”

“Strange?” said T.K.

“Yeah! He’s like... completely obsessed with taking down Vespimon,” Davis replied. “I don’t think I’ve even heard him mention anything else recently. It’s getting kind of weird.”

“Davis... it’s nice that you’re concerned about your friend, but why are you asking me about it?” said T.K.

“I ‘unno,” Davis muttered. “I just figured you’d be the one who would understand what he’s going through. You’ve got the most experience dealing with the forces of darkness. You’d know more than anyone what it feels like to have the things you care about threatened by them.”

T.K. paused. As reluctant as he was to admit it, Davis was right. Taking the time to think about it, he couldn’t help but see a parallel in the way they both reacted to the darkness.

“Do you think you could talk to Ken for me?” Davis pleaded. “I can’t shake the feeling that he’ll end up hurting himself if this goes on. You’ve got to help me out here.”

“...Alright,” said T.K. “I’ll see what I can do.”

———————

After another ten minutes, the group met back at the computer lab.

“Welcome back!” Tentomon buzzed. “Izzy says everything should be all set!”

Izzy scooted his chair away from the computer and swiveled around. “The Digiport’s been fully calibrated. It should lead you to a location somewhere in the middle of a desert. You’ll find yourself near a town, and in the town’s center you’ll find the energy signature.”

“Leave it to us,” said Ken. With an unblinking gaze he walked forward, and held out his Digivice, with Wormmon hurriedly following behind.

“Ken, wait a second!” Davis called.

“Digiport open!”

The Digiport let out a burst of light, and Ken disappeared into the monitor along side his partner. The others were left staring at the empty space that he used to occupy in bewilderment.

“Well... Ah reckon we should head after him before he gets himself killed,” said Applejack.

“Probably a good idea,” T.K. added.

The group made their way towards the Digiport. Davis raised his digivice, and with the shout of command phrase, they were all whisked away into another world.

———————

Within the deepest recesses of the castle, the stone corridors almost seemed to ooze darkness, until the very light itself fled from the overpowering gloom.

Vespimon’s clattering footsteps carried their way through the subterranean hallways with cacophonous sound, magnifying her presence within the shadows tenfold.

As she navigated the dungeons, Vespimon’s compound eyes glanced towards the cells that lined the passages on either side. Under her rule, Digimon that had attempted to resist her were imprisoned for as long as she saw fit. Her prisoners each looked up at her with sunken eyes, any sign of hope that they once carried now having faded.

Eventually, however, she came across something she did not expect. Within a cell on the very end of the hall was a digimon that she did not imprison. A scrawny-looking digimon with a body made of rocks, resting limp against the wall, gazing up at her curiously. The stones comprising its body were cracked and weathered, as though they had been eroded over the course of centuries. The end result was that the digimon’s body looked extremely malnourished, barely alive at all.

“Who... are you?” the Digimon said.

“My name is Vespimon, and I am your new queen,” she boasted. “A better question would be: what are you doing in my dungeon?”

“Your...?” said the digimon. “So then Myotismon...”

“Myotismon is dead,” Vespimon spat. “I am your ruler now. Now answer my question. Why are you in my castle?”

“Ah... hah...” the digimon tried to laugh, but its voice came out as a pained cough. “So then... they won... the Digi-Destined... hah...”

“W-what?” said Vespimon. “What do the Digi-Destined have to do with this?”

“Hah... I haven’t eaten in years...” the digimon wheezed. “My best friend starved to death ages ago. But I’ve held on, hoping to see the day... and now... I can finally... be f...r...e...e...”

The digimon took one final breath before its eyes closed. Its body remained still as it slowly began to fade from view, before dissolving into nothingness.

As Vespimon watched the scene before her, a realization formed in the back of her mind. It spread through her rapidly, transmitting itself through her thoughts and emotions until it became impossible to ignore. 

Vespimon’s entire body shook with horror.

They're real, she thought. Digimon are real.
> Some Day You Might Use That Gun Again...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once again, Vespimon had found herself sitting in front of the massive computer monitor in the center of Gennai’s former base. Her body trembled as she obsessively searched through the databases, hoping to seize any information that could prove her wrong.

It couldn’t be true. It had to be a mistake.

Yet the pain she saw in the dying digimon, imprisoned by Myotismon after forcibly taking over the base, was all too real. The Digital World, even as a world of computer data, existed just as much as a world of flesh and blood. And the more information she absorbed from the databases, the more it became clear. The connection to the planet Earth. The role that the human Digi-Destined played in protecting it. The way that both worlds seemed to be deeply intertwined with one another. But these answers only raised a further, even more disturbing question.

Why would Dragomon lie to me?

Vespimon stopped to ponder the answer. A multitude of possibilities came to her mind, and none of them were even remotely pleasant to think about.

But another thought soon came to her mind, of the world she had chosen to leave behind. A world that, at every turn, had refused to give her the respect she was due. A world that pushed her to the ground and trampled her. A world where she was a doormat for everyone else. Her hands clenched together tightly, fists shaking.

“No!” Vespimon slammed the keyboard, the monitor screen flickering and fizzling into static. “I don’t care! I don’t care if it’s real! I’ve come too far to turn back now! I’m going to make this world my own, and nobody’s going to stop me!”

———————

The television screen glowed with a brilliant light, and in an instant, the space in front of it that was once empty was now occupied by six humans, their digimon partners, and five ponies.

True to Izzy’s word, the surrounding environment was a desert, filled with sandy slopes and rocky crags that jutted sharply out of the ground. Large amounts of trash were scattered across the landscape in every direction, with barrels, crates, tires, abandoned furniture, and broken appliances liberally dotting the ground surrounding the T.V. monitor they had exited from. The sun was already nearing the edge of the western horizon, leaving the parched air with a noticeably cooler temperature as a shimmering red and gold blanketed the sky.

“Wait, why’s it evening all of a sudden?” said Rainbow Dash.

“We are in an entirely different world, Rainbow,” Hawkmon replied. “I would imagine the time difference would be noticeable, especially now that time itself passes differently here.”

“Well, I for one believe we have a much more pressing concern,” said Rarity, wrinkling her nose. “Just look at this mess! It’s a disaster! I’d thought we were traveling to a desert, not a garbage dump!”

“Hold that thought, Rarity,” said Cody. “Armadillomon, haven’t we been here before?”

“Ah’ve gotten a bit of deja vu mahself, now that you mention it.”

“Hey, look over there!” Yolei chimed in. “Isn’t that the village where we fought Starmon?” 

Yolei pointed into the distance, towards a settlement of wooden houses and buildings, with a water tower standing prominently over the settlement. Even further beyond was a range of rolling hills, with rocky outcroppings sticking out of a dense forest. The heavily wooded sides of the mountains gave the entire range a darkened appearance.

“Hey, you’re right!” Davis added. “I wonder if we’ll get to see Deputymon, too?”

“Wait, who are you talking about?” said T.K.

“Oh, that’s right! You and Kari weren’t here last time,” said Davis. “We’ll have to introduce you to each other. I’m sure you’ll get along great now that Starmon’s not all crazy and brainwashed!”

Ken’s eyes stared straight ahead at the town, focused and unblinking. “I wouldn’t be too sure of that,” he retorted. “We don’t know what we’ll find out here. The enemy could be ready to attack us at any moment.”

“Gosh Ken, don’t you think you’re being a bit harsh?” said Wormmon. “I know you want to make everything better, but you shouldn’t push yourself too hard.”

“I gotta agree with Wormmon there, you’re being way too grim,” Veemon said. “Izzy didn’t even say there was a control spire here. We should be able to find that energy signature thing with no problem!”

“We can’t afford to let our guard down for even a moment,” said Ken. “Finding what we’re looking and stopping Vespimon is a matter of life and death.”

Without another word, Ken increased his pace, leaving the others behind as he strode right into the center of the town with his partner. Davis and T.K. exchanged an uneasy glance, before leading the rest of the group to follow.

———————

The center of the town showed absolutely no sign of activity. The windows were all shuttered, and the doors closed tightly. A dry breeze blew with a low whistle, carrying with it motes of digitized sand and dust.

As Ken walked further into the settlement, he approached the water tower, carefully placing his hand on its side. Wormmon looked up at him curiously.

“What are you doing, Ken?”

“I’d memorized the location of every control spire I’d created as the Digimon Emperor,” he replied. “There used to be one here, in this tower. But I don’t feel any dark energy coming from it now. They must have rebuilt the water tower without it.”

“Dark energy? I’m not sure what you mean...”

Ken sighed. “I used to be able to feel the darkness that radiated from the spires. That’s how I could tell where they were at all times. I don’t remember exactly how I created them, but I think that sensitivity to darkness was what allowed me to do it.”

“And you can still feel their presence even though you’re not the Digimon Emperor?”

“Not as much as I used to,” said Ken. “But now that Vespimon’s bringing them back, I... I’ve been feeling their presence in the Digital World more and more. If she was really born from my own psyche, then I’d be able to sense them as long as she can. We’re both two different parts of the same thing, after all.”

“Ken...” Wormmon looked up at him with wide eyes.

“Hey, Ken! Wait for us!” Davis’s voice suddenly called from afar

Ken turned around to see the others catching up to him. Leading the rest of the group, Davis ran up alongside Veemon to confront him.

“Come on man, you know you can’t just run ahead on your own like that,” said Davis. “We’re all in this together!”

Ken frowned. “I don’t see why I need you to hold me back, Davis. We came here to find something, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

“Well, that attitude isn’t going to help us find anything!” said Veemon. “We don’t even know what it is we’re looking for, and you think you can just go ahead and find it all on our own?”

“Alright, that’s enough.” Twilight stepped in between Davis and Ken, raising her hoof. “We don’t need any bickering right now. What we need is to find out what’s going on here and how we can track down this energy signature. For starters, have any of you noticed how empty this town seems to be?”

“Hey, you’re right,” said Kari. “I haven’t seen any other digimon since we arrived.”

“Actually, I’m pretty sure Starmon and Deputymon were the only ones here last time we came,” Yolei replied. “Maybe we should probably go ahead and look for them.”

Rainbow Dash let out a groan. “Ugh, boring! We spent like, half of the time in that pirate place searching an empty town! Why can’t we just get them to come to us?”

Yolei blinked. “What do you mean, Rainbow? How exactly would we do that?”

A grin crept its way across Rainbow’s face. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this!” Her wings flared, and in an instant she shot skywards, before hovering in place a comfortable distance above most of the town’s buildings and inhaling deeply.

“Hey, everyone! We’re here! Come out and meet us!” Rainbow shouted at the top of her lungs, the sound of her bellowing voice carrying for hundreds of feet in all directions. The others winced painfully at the volume, and as she descended back towards the ground, Rainbow was met with a series of confused and annoyed glares.

“Ah beg your pardon, Rainbow,” said Applejack, “but just what in the hay do you think you’re doing?”

“What? I was just trying to help!”

“Guys, look!” Cody called out and pointed to one of the myriad wooden buildings. One of the shuttered windows opened, and a Floramon peeked out. As the others turned to look, the digimon let out a startled cry and forcibly closed the window.

All around them, other digimon began peeking out of the surrounding houses, each showing similar startled reactions.

“Intruders!”

“We’re under attack!”

“Somebody call the sheriff!”

“What!?” Yolei exclaimed. “H-hold on a second! Rainbow, what did you do?”

“H-hey! Don’t look at me!” Rainbow replied. “I didn’t do anything!”

“Eep!” Kari suddenly let out a sharp cry, grabbing her backside with both hands. “Everyone, get down!”

“Justice Blast!”

A gunshot sounded after the attack call, echoing cacophonously in the desert air. As each member of the group dove to the ground, a massive bullet that was roughly the size of a football careened over each of their heads.

In the direction that the bullet came from was a digimon with a massive revolver for a torso, smoke wafting from its barrel. Beady yellow eyes were visible from beneath a massive ten-gallon hat that covered his entire face in shadow, and the rest of his body was dressed in cowboy gear, with shining spurs and a pair of smaller revolvers holstered at his sides.

“This town ain’t big enough for all of us, no sir, no way,” he spoke in a slow, mush-mouthed drawl.

A second digimon, standing beside him, stepped up and crossed an arm in his path, gesturing at him to stay back. His body was shaped like a silver star with stubby arms and legs, and a pair of eyes in the center.

“Whoa there, pardner. You ain’t forgotten about them already, have you? Them’s the Digi-Destined!”
> ...Then You'll Be Over a Barrel
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a hasty and profuse apology from Deputymon, Starmon led the group into a saloon built right in the center of the town. As they pushed through the wooden double-doors, they were greeted with a sparsely-populated interior. There was a single bartender, a Mushroomon, climbing up onto a stepladder and placing a single bottle on a shelf in the back. A group of Bakemon hovered just above the chairs around a wooden table, playing what appeared to be a game of go fish, and a Veggiemon played a jaunty tune on an upright piano stationed in the corner.

As the group approached the bar, the Mushroomon climbed down and turned to face them, beaming at the sight of new customers.

“Well, howdy there! It’s been a danged while since anyone showed up here that ain’t tried to attack us. Ah take it y’all are having the Sherrif show you around town?”

“Darn tootin’,” said Starmon. “Now how about we get these folks something to drink? A few mugs of sarsaparilla should do the trick.”

“Can do, mister sheriff sir,” replied the Mushroomon. “Ah’ll just go ahead and put it on your tab.”

“Whoa, hold on!” said Rainbow. “Forget the drinks! You were attacked?”

Ken scowled. “Of course. Vespimon’s forces must already be here. Did these attackers have any dark rings on them?”

“Dark rings?” said Starmon. “Ah’m afraid y'all have gotten yourselves confused. First off, that so-called Digimon Queen ain’t bothered conquering this far out West just yet.”

Ken’s eyes went wide. “Wait... she hasn’t? But that doesn’t make any sense! With the amount of time she’s had to prepare, she could have conquered half of the Digital World by now!”

Deputymon laughed. “Well, there ain’t no troublemaker that’ll show their face while we’re in charge, no sir!”

“Ah wouldn’t be too sure of that, pardner,” Starmon replied. “That ain’t stopped us from being attacked over the last several months, and it didn’t stop that Digimon Emperor fella from before.”

Deputymon scratched the back of his head. “Well golly, Ah didn’t think of that...” Suddenly, his eyes were drawn towards Ken. “Hey, wait a minute! Didn’t you used to be that there Digimon Emperor once?”

The music in the bar suddenly stopped. The few patrons remaining in the saloon turned to stare, leaving a heavy silence hanging in the air.

Deputymon turned to address the gathered onlookers. “Easy now, no need for alarm, folks. He’s on our side now, remember? Shoot, that Gennai fella said he helped save the whole dang world! So why don’t y’all go back to your business? It ain’t polite to stare.”

“Hold on, you know Gennai?” said Yolei.

“‘Course Ah do! He’s world famous! Ain’t seen too much of him lately, but that ain’t important right now. What’s important is y’all know what’s been going on ‘round here. Deputymon, why don’t you fill them in?”

Deputymon nodded. “Can do, sir. It all started a while ago, back when we found precious gems in the Themthar Hills.”

“Ah’m sorry,” said Applejack, “did you say the Themthar Hills?”

“Ayup,” said Deputymon. “Them thar hills out thar are the Themthar Hills, and them’s got gems over thar.”

The group exchanged a series of puzzled looks. “Do you think you could repeat that?” said Veemon.

“Makes perfect sense to me!” said Pinkie.

“Enough of that,” said Ken. “What’s this got to do with the attacks?”

“Simple,” Starmon replied. “When people heard there was gems to be found, they came a-running straight to this town in hopes of striking it rich for themselves. For a while, it worked out alright. Folks went into the Themthar Hills and found a whole bunch of precious jewels. But as we went further and further into the hills, we started attracting the attention of them natives.”

“Natives?” said Ken.

“That’s right,” said Starmon. “A whole tribe of them live beyond the Hills. They don’t take too kindly to our mining activities. Something about not wanting us taking their land. If y’all ask me, it’s a load a hooey. Them greedy idjits just want to keep all the riches for themselves.”

“Huh?” said Yolei. “N-now you wait just a minute! From the way you just described it, it sounds like you’re trying to barge into someone else’s home and take whatever you can find there! And somehow they’re the bad guys for not wanting that?”

Deputymon’s body suddenly tensed. “Oh, now you’ve gone and done it. Ah should have figured you’d be a dirty native sympathizer, especially since your pardner there’s one of them!”

Hawkmon let out a gasp. “I... I beg your pardon?”

“Whoa now,” said Starmon. “No need for that now! That Hawkmon probably ain’t even from ‘round here!”

“Excuse me!” said Hawkmon, louder than before. “What exactly do you mean one of them?”

“Well, ain’t it obvious?” said Deputymon. “Them natives-”

BOOOOM.

Before Deputymon could finish his sentence, an explosion echoed from outside, its force felt in the vibrations of the saloon floorboards.

“Well, speak of the Devimon,” said Starmon. “Looks like you’re about to find out! Deputymon, let’s go!”

“Right!”

Starmon and Deputymon dashed out of the building as quickly as they could. In the chaos that ensued from the suddenly-panicked digimon around them, the Digi-Destined and their companions made their way outside as well.


———————


Yolei had a hard time believing what she was seeing. She took her glass off and gave them a quick rubdown on her shirt just to make sure.

Circling around the town were more than a dozen Aquilamon, laying siege to the town’s buildings with their attacks.

“Oh... oh dear...” The voice came from the digimon partner to her side, his expression no less in shock. Looking back further at the gathered digimon, humans, and ponies revealed a similar range of reactions.

“Hawkmon! What is this!?” Yolei demanded.

“I-it looks like there are other Aquilamon...” he answered.

“I know that! But how is that even a thing!? Isn’t that cheating!?”

“Everyone! Look out!” Kari suddenly called out.

“Blast Rings!”

The attack call came seemingly out of nowhere, and with it, a blast of concentric circles came raining down, a mere several feet from where Yolei was standing. Yolei was thrown backwards by the force of the impact, her senses overwhelmed by an explosion of light and sound, choking her lungs with dust, and leaving her momentarily blinded and deafened. As she was thrown backwards, she felt a pair of hooves catch her just before she hit the ground.

She couldn’t tell how long it was before she came to her senses, but the first thing she saw was Rainbow Dash leaning over her as she lay prone on the ground. Her glasses were gone, leaving the sight blurry and unfocused, and she immediately knew that they had been destroyed in the confusion.

“Oh, thank Celestia you’re alright!” said Rainbow. “I was so worried!”

Yolei coughed, expelling the last of the dust from her lungs. “Don’t worry... I’m fine.”

She sat up slowly, her head still spinning, to see a circle of friends surrounding her from all sides. But right away she noticed one face that was missing.

“Wait... where’s Hawkmon?”


———————


It was no sooner than Hawkmon’s eyes finally pried themselves open that he had let out an embarrassingly impolite yelp. He found himself tied to a tree in the middle of the plains, a circle of Aquilamon surrounding him on all sides, glaring at him so intensely he felt like it would burn the feathers off of his skin.

Directly in front of him was a different Digimon, towering at over fifteen feet tall, and a distinctly different species. It was what could only be described as immense dinosaur with blue scales and red stripes, a carnivorous maw filled with vicious teeth, and a mane of red hair adorned with two eagle feathers. From the medals that were strung around his neck, it was immediately apparent that he was of a higher social rank.

The dinosaur digimon sneered, and spoke to Hawkmon in a low growl.

“What do you have to say for yourself, traitor?”

==========

Digimon Analyzer: Allomon



Type: Dinosaur

Attribute: Data

Level: Champion

Special Attacks: Dino Burst, Dynamite Head

==========
> Heading for the Hills
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“N-now hold on a minute! You’ve got it all wrong! I’ve never been a part of your tribe! Why, I don’t even know any of you!”

Hawkmon desperately tried to wriggle his way out of his bonds, struggling just as much against the piercing gazes of the gathered Aquilamon and their imposing leader as he was against the rope.

“You insult my intelligence, traitor,” the dinosaur spoke. “Every one of your species to be born in the Primary Village is brought here, and raised among our own. Feigning ignorance will fool no one.”

Hawkmon let out a very nervous laugh. “Ah... W-well, if it makes any sense to you, I don’t exactly remember the circumstances of my own birth....”

“Enough.” The chieftain’s voice abruptly cut Hawkmon off. “You have thus far proven to have nothing of value to say. You will remain here until I have decided upon a suitable punishment for your treachery. Pray that I will be merciful come morning.”

Without another word, he turned around, the circle of Aquilamon parting to allow his exit. As he left, the other Aquilamon followed suit, kicking up clouds of sand as they took to the skies. Only a single one of the native digimon remained, staring at Hawkmon with unblinking eyes.

Hawkmon coughed, expelling the lingering sand and dust from his lungs. “W-well, I suppose it’s nice to have some company, at the least...”


———————


“Hawkmon! Hawkmon, where are you!?”

The cries grew increasingly panicked as Yolei frantically ran across the town, zipping through the settlement with enough speed that her entire body was reduced to a blur. A second blur followed in the air after her, though it clearly struggled to keep up.

“Yolei! Slow down!” Davis called through pained, heavy breaths, leading the rest of the Digi-Destined in a desperate chase. The sun had already dipped below the horizon, and tracking down Yolei was made all the more difficult in the early hours of the night, lit only by the waxing moon and the light of distant stars. Despite his athleticism, Davis found himself quickly exhausted. His pace slowed to a crawl, and he leaned over with his hands on his knees, gasping for air. 

A quick glance behind him showed that Veemon had collapsed as well, and the rest of the group had straggled behind them. Most had tired themselves out attempting to follow at Davis’s pace, though Starmon and Deputymon were nowhere to be seen. Ken and Wormmon remained the furthest behind, walking forward at a relaxed pace, in stark contrast to the sudden sprinting that Davis had led the other Digi-Destined into. As Ken approached, he glanced down at Davis with unflinching eyes and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“You shouldn’t tire yourself out like that, Davis. We need to conserve our energy.”

“I know, I know,” Davis replied between breaths. “But we can’t let Yolei just run off on her own! We’re in this together!”

There was a sound of hoofsteps against dirt, and Twilight soon had caught her way up to Davis and Veemon. Her breaths were heavy and her lavender coat was slick with sweat, though she appeared to retain a good deal of stamina.

“Hey, how come you’re not tired? Weren’t you trying to keep up with us?” said Veemon.

“As an alicorn, I have the increased physical endurance of an earth pony,” Twilight responded. “Plus I’ve also read plenty of books on running, and I’ve learned a lot on how to properly pace myself. Did you know I came in fifth place in the Running of the Leaves?”

“Huh,” said Davis. “I never figured you’d be the athletic type.”

Twilight blushed. “Well, uh... I wouldn’t go quite that far. But either way, I don’t think we’ll lose track of Yolei.” She pointed her hoof forward, towards two silhouettes in the distance, one of which was instantly recognizable by a six-colored mane bright enough to stand out even in the dusk.

Where Twilight was pointing was Yolei. She had collapsed onto her knees, kept from falling over only by her arms, which wobbled precariously as they held upper body above the ground. Yolei stared at the dirt, making a noise that was halfway between sobbing and gasping for breath. Beside her was Rainbow Dash, her wings hanging limply from her body as she stood beside the distraught human.

“Geez Yolei!” said Rainbow. “How did you even manage to move like that? I didn’t think it was possible for humans to run that fast!”

“Hawkmon... I... I have to find him!” Yolei spoke through pained breaths. “I-I can’t leave him behind!” Tears began to fall from her eyes, sliding off the inside of her glasses and pattering against the desert soil.

Rainbow’s eyes immediately went wide. “H-hey, no! Don’t do that! Don’t cry! We’ll find Hawkmon, I promise!” She reached up to place a reassuring hoof on Yolei’s shoulder, only to let out a startled yelp as she was forcefully pulled into a tight hug. Her initial shock subsided almost immediately, and she returned the gesture, wrapping her front legs around Yolei’s torso.

“You folks alright?”

Yolei looked up at the sound of the sheriff's voice and found Starmon approaching her alongside Deputymon. From another direction, the rest of the Digi-Destined and their partners made their way over, until the two groups had converged around Yolei and Rainbow.

Rainbow Dash let go of Yolei, pulling herself back onto the ground on her hooves. Yolei lifted her glasses and rubbed her eyes on her sleeve with a delicate motion, being careful not to let her eyes be irritated by the sand.

“Please, please tell me you’ve seen Hawkmon!” said Yolei. “Please! I just don’t know what I’d do if something happened to him!”

Starmon’s eyes somehow managed to gleam even in the darkness. “Well, Ah’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that we’ve seen your pardner.”

Yolei gasped. “Hawkmon’s alive!? Where is he? Please, you have to tell me!”

“Ah’m afraid them’s the bad news,” Starmon continued. “We got multiple witnesses. By all accounts, he’s been taken alive by them natives.”


———————


Hawkmon fidgeted nervously under the ironclad gaze of the Aquilamon that stood guard. The ropes that tied him to the post were far weaker than he had initially expected them to be, and in time he was certain that he could break free.

But as long as the much larger and more powerful digimon stood watch, he knew that escape was impossible. One wrong move, and he was as good as dead. The most he could do was wait and hope for a rescue.

Hawkmon cleared his throat. “So, then... I don’t believe we’ve introduced ourselves. My name is Hawkmon. I’m assuming you go by Aquilamon?”

The Aquilamon raised what passed for an eyebrow, but said nothing.

“Ah... yes, that’s a silly question, isn’t it? So them, what exactly do you do for a living? I personally see myself as a bodyguard of sorts, perhaps even a knight... Oh dear, I do hope Yolei isn’t too worried about me!”

Once again, Hawkmon was met with nothing more than a stern glare. The larger digimon’s eyes pressed down on him with an almost crushing weight. For minutes, Hawkmon sat against the post, fidgeting nervously. Neither he nor his captor spoke a word.

As the time passed and the night grew older, Hawkmon became vaguely aware of a voice on the edge of his hearing. At first it was indistinguishable from the gentle whistling of the desert breeze, but as the sound grew, it became clearer. It was a gentle sound, one that flowed in harmony with the winds, carrying with it the soothing calm of a desert night. Hawkmon yawned, and his eyelids began to grow heavy. 

Before he knew it, he had already fallen asleep.


———————


“They did what!?”

“N-now, calm down, miss,” said Starmon, desperately trying to soothe the increasingly distraught Yolei. “It might sound bad, but there ain’t nothing to be gained by panicking.”

“You don’t understand, Hawkmon’s in danger!” Yolei shot back. “We can’t just do nothing! Where did they take him?”

“Well, Ah reckon they took him back to their home beyond the Themthar Hills,” Starmon replied, “but y’all would have to have a death wish to go up there all by yourselves.”

“Relax, we can handle it!” said Rainbow Dash. “We’ve dealt with all kinds of dangerous enemies. We’ll go in there and get him out with no problem.”

“You sound like you’re expecting there to be a fight, Rainbow,” said Cody. “I’m not sure if that’s necessarily the case here.”

“What are you talking about?” said Rainbow. “They kidnapped one of our friends!”

“No, he’s right,” said Applejack. “Ain’t this whole thing about a territorial dispute over gems in them thar hills?”

“You mean the Themthar Hills,” said Deputymon.

“Whatever! Point is, we’ve found ourselves smack dab in the middle of a conflict that we ain’t never been involved in. Ah reckon there’s some kind misunderstanding here. If we can convince those Aquilamon that Hawkmon ain’t got nothing to do with this, we might be able to get him back without a fight.”

Deputymon scoffed. “Bah! There ain’t nothing worth talking to those dang dirty savages for! Our destiny lies in those hills, and anyone who tries to keep us from it is our enemy! We’ve worked hard finding our own fortunes, while they’ve done nothing! Those gems rightfully belong to us!”

Pinkie Pie bounced over towards Deputymon with a wide grin on her muzzle. “Sounds like somebody needs to learn to get along!” She stepped back and leaned onto her hind hooves, doing an approximation of a high-kicking dance. “You gotta–”

Pinkie Pie could only sing the first two notes of her song before she was forcibly silenced by a white hoof in her mouth.

Rarity looked Pinkie in the eye and winced. “Please don’t,” she whispered.

“Sowwy,” Pinkie mumbled.

“We can worry about this territorial dispute later,” said Ken. “Right now we need to find out how to get Hawkmon back. The longer we wait, the longer he’ll be in danger.”

T.K. gave Ken a pensive glance. Just when it looked like he were about to say something, he looked away. “...No, you’re right. We should head out as soon as we can. Ready, Patamon?”

“Mmm-hmm!” said Patamon.

T.K. nodded to the other Digi-Destined and held out his D-3. With steely-eyed determination, he let out the familiar call.“Digi-Armor Energize!”


———————


“Psst. Hey!”

“Mmm... yes, I’ll have the makizushi...”

“Hey! Wake up!”

“Hmm?” Hawkmon blearily opened his eyelids, which still hung heavily over his eyes. The sound of anxious whispering had forcibly snatched his conscious mind from the depths of his own dreams and pulled it into the waking world.

He blinked rapidly, rubbing his eyes with his wings before stretching. As his mind cleared itself of grogginess, the first thing he noticed was that the rope tying him down had been undone.

The second thing he noticed was that there was another Hawkmon right in front of him, distinguishable from him by a much lighter coat of brown feathers and deep green eyes.

“Bwuh? What–”

“Be quiet!” the other Hawkmon shushed. It was a female voice, one that was both youthful and firm, carrying in its timbre an air of absolute confidence.

“R-right, sorry,” Hawkmon replied, lowering his voice to a whisper. “But who–”

“No time to explain,” the counterpart replied. “We need to get you out of here before the guard wakes up. Follow me.”

Hawkmon looked over towards the Aquilamon that had been stationed nearby. Sure enough, the guard that was watching with both figurative and literal eagle eyes had curled onto the ground and fallen into deep slumber.

“This way,” said the other Hawkmon, gesturing for her counterpart to follow.

“N-now you wait just a minute!” Hawkmon interjected, struggling to keep his voice down. “As much as I appreciate your help, you still haven’t told me anything! Just who are you?”

A smile crept its way across the doppelganger’s beak, glinting in the starlight as though she had expected the question.  “My name is Braveheart.”


———————


The skies above the Hills were immaculately clear, letting the dim light of the waning moon and its starry companions wash over the landscape. Under the cover of night, the trees covering Themthar Hills shrouded them in a blanket of foliage, making them appear nearly as dark as the sky itself.

Davis clung tightly to the shoulder of ExVeemon as they flew over the expanse of hills, with Twilight Sparkle likewise wrapping her own hooves around the massive reptilian’s other shoulder. To his side, obscured by darkness, was the silhouette of Ken being carried by Stingmon, and Even further were the shapes of Pegasusmon, Nefertimon, and Digmon, each carrying their human and pony passengers. Rainbow Dash had instead opted to follow on her own wings, her wings moving very little as she leisurely glided on the warm desert air.

“Hawkmon! Hawkmon, where are you!?” Yolei’s voice came from atop Nefertimon’s back.

“I’m not sure he’d be able to hear us from way up here, Yolei,” Kari replied. “Nefertimon, do you see anything yet?”

“The forest on the Hills is too thick,” Nefertimon said. “Even with my vision, I can’t see what’s beyond those trees.”

“Um, duh! That’s because you’re looking the wrong place!” Rainbow Dash interjected.

“What do you mean?” said Nefertimon.

“What are you, nuts?” said Rainbow. “They’re birds! If we’re going to find anyone in their territory, we’ll find them in the air first! I’ve been watching the skies this whole time and you mean to tell me you’ve all just been staring at the ground?”

Kari and Yolei shared a passing look at each other. “You know, she’s got a point,” said Kari. “Nefertimon, do you see, anything in the air?”

“No, not yet,” Nefertimon replied. “I’ll keep an eye out for... wait, what’s that?”

“Do you see something?” said Kari. “There’s two digimon in the distance!” Nefertimon replied. “And they’re approaching us fast!”


———————


“Wouldn’t it be easier for us to simply fly? I don’t see why we have to travel on foot.”

Braveheart simply rolled her eyes. The two hurriedly traveled across the rocky hills, beneath the boughs of the many trees that covered the landscape.

“Our scouts are patrolling the sky at all times,” she replied. “Our best chance is through the most wooded areas of the hills.”

Sure enough, as they traveled the two of them had passed numerous clearings where the rocky faces of the hills were exposed to the night sky. Some of them were natural, while others appeared to have been artificially created, as evidenced by the multiple tree stumps and the large holes dug into the hillside. As he followed Braveheart’s lead, they wove around the clearings in a winding path that rolled up and down the elevated terrain.“You know, I’ve been meaning to ask you,” said Hawkmon. “Why are you helping me? Aren’t you with the natives?”

Braveheart closed her eyes, her head lowering towards the ground. Her pace slowed, and Hawkmon followed suit. Soon the two had come to a complete stop, and Braveheart stared wistfully at the sky through the treetops.

“Is something wrong?” said Hawkmon.

“No... it’s nothing you need to worry about,” Braveheart replied. “My father and I don’t always get along. I told him it was wrong to hold you captive, but he didn’t listen. That’s why I helped set you free.”

Hawkmon’s eyes went wide. “F-father? Now hold on a minute! Are you saying that mean-looking dinosaur chieftain is your father? The last time I was aware, digimon aren’t even supposed to have those!”

Braveheart smiled, the lip-like corners of her beak twitching as she visibly struggled to contain her amusement. “See, I knew I was right about you. Everyone else believes that you’re a traitor to our tribe. But someone so naive couldn’t possibly have ever been one of us.”

“Wha... Buh... Naive?” Hawkmon sputtered. “I beg your pardon?”

Braveheart burst into laughter, her giggling cutting sharply through the dry hillside air. “Ah... I’m sorry, but it’s just so funny! My father is so confident that you’re one of us, he hasn’t even noticed that you know nothing of our traditions!”

“Again with the father! Just how in heaven’s name is that supposed to work?”

Braveheart took a deep breath, and in nearly an instant she had already regained her composure. “Unlike those settler brutes, we understand the importance of family. Every one of our own kind is taken from the Primary Village and appointed a parent. Allomon, our chieftain, has taken care of me across the span of dozens of lifetimes.”

“D-dozens?” said Hawkmon. “You mean to tell me...?”

“I am far older than I appear, yes,” Braveheart replied. Her smile had disappeared, replaced with a very dissatisfied frown. “I have fought and died multiple times to protect our kind from the Digital World’s greatest evils, including the Dark Masters themselves. Yet my father still treats me like a child.”

Hawkmon looked into Braveheart’s eyes, their vibrant emerald color shimmering in the dim starlight. “Perhaps he’s afraid that he’ll lose you forever,” he replied. “Even as we speak, dark powers threaten the Digital World’s natural balance. Should they ever succeed, the cycle of death and rebirth could be broken forever. Would you truly sacrifice your life again if you knew you may not return?”

Braveheart averted her gaze, turning her eyes towards the stars. Several seconds passed where not a word was said between the two.

“...I’m aware that there is danger,” she said. “Travel to the Primary Village when Vespimon controls most of the Server Continent is perilous. But even the Dark Masters’ corruption could not prevent my rebirth forever. And compared to the threats we have faced before, the colonial settlers are barely a threat. Had my father not foolishly spent so much time seeking peace, we would have utterly destroyed them by now.”

“Well, I don’t mean to offend, but your father didn’t seem very peaceful when holding me captive,” Hawkmon grumbled.

“The settlers forced us to abandon diplomacy!” Braveheart hissed. “One of their leaders attacked us during negotiations! Do you honestly think my father wouldn’t be hostile if he believed you betrayed us for them?”

Hawkmon threw his wings up. “But I did nothing of the sort!”

“I know you didn’t!” Braveheart said, barely able to keep herself from shouting. “I could tell as soon as I saw you that you weren’t a part of either side! That’s why I’m trying to save you, you idiot!”

Hawkmon opened his mouth as if to retort, but his words did not even have a chance to leave his beak before the sound of an attack cry was heard in the distance.

“That sounds like one of our scouts!” said Braveheart. 

Hawkmon let out a gasp. “O-oh no! No, no, no! This is not good, this is not good at all!”

“Come on, we have to hide!” Braveheart suddenly grabbed Hawkmon’s wing, forcefully tugging at it in an attempt to drag him away. The effort proved fruitless as Hawkmon firmly planted his feet in the ground.

“You don’t understand!” said Hawkmon. “There’s no way Yolei would turn her back on me when I’m in danger! She must have tried to come and rescue me herself! We have to help her!”

Hawkmon yanked his wing out of Braveheart’s grip, leaving his stunned companion behind as he sprinted towards the source of the noise.


———————


“Blast Rings!”

Nefertimon and Rainbow Dash both banked sharply, swerving to the side to avoid the deadly attack. Several dozen yards away were a pair of Aquilamon facing the group of Digi-Destined, and closing the distance rapidly.

“We'll deal with them!” said Nefertimon. She turned her head and called to another one of her airborne companions. “Pegasusmon, are you ready?”

“Right!” Pegasusmon replied.

“Golden Noose!”

Coordinating their flight paths, Pegasusmon and Nefertimon both shot forward, a ribbon of golden light appearing between their two pairs of hind legs. They circled the hostile Aquilamon from both sides, and the ethereal noose wrapped around them both. The ends of the noose detached, and the two Aquilamon were sent plummeting to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust as they crashed onto a rocky clearing on the hillside.


———————


In the cloud of panic that enveloped his mind, Hawkmon didn’t even notice that his feet were no longer touching the ground. He remained at a low altitude, weaving between the trees and through multiple rocky clearings as he followed the straightest path possible to the location where he’d first heard the sounds of battle.

A second noise echoed through the hillside, one that was much closer to the ground; the unmistakable sound of something large falling to the earth from a high altitude. His heart skipped a beat, and without even thinking his speed nearly doubled.


———————


In the aftermath of the battle, the Digi-Destined and their remaining partners had landed on the hillside where the native Aquilamon had crash-landed. As soon they touched down onto the ground, Yolei immediately jumped off of Nefertimon’s back, her entire body seething. The two Aquilamon were still wrapped in golden light, lying prone in the middle of rocky hillside, with the dust from the impact still hanging in the air. Yolei immediately bolted past her companions and towards the two eagle digimon, standing mere inches away from both of their faces.

“You! Stupid! Dumb! Jerks!” Yolei punctuated each of her words with a kick. The Aquilamon on the receiving end of the assault flinched, grimacing in mild annoyance, while the other snickered at his misfortune. After several assaults, Yolei’s stamina gave out. She slumped over, her arms hanging limply by her side, her body heaving in large, painful gasps.

“You must be either very brave or very foolish, human,” one of the Aquilamon spoke, a small bruise on his forehead roughly the size of Yolei’s foot. “Even with our wings bound, either of us could kill you easily.”

“I... I don’t care,” Yolei spoke between breaths. “If you’ve done anything to hurt Hawkmon... I’ll never forgive you!”

The two Aquilamon turned their heads towards each other, and shared a puzzled look.

“That makes no sense,” said the first Aquilamon. “Why would we hurt one of our own kind?”

“Wait, does she mean the traitor?” the second Aquilamon replied. “If he’s with a human, does that mean he’s bound to one of the Digi-Destined? Could he have been telling the truth?”

“Yolei!”

Davis’s voice called out towards her friend, and Yolei turned her head to see that everyone else had followed after her. All the partners of the other human Digi-Destined had reverted to their base forms, though they were no less tense as they approached.

“Yolei, what were you thinking?” said Davis. “You can’t just run off all by yourself like that!”

“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash added. “And especially not straight towards two digimon that were trying to literally murder us not even five minutes ago!”

“Now wait a minute,” said Cody. “I think we need to cool our heads for a moment here. If you remember, these native digimon are just trying to protect their home from hostile forces. They could have only mistaken us for an enemy.”

“Yeah, but they still took Hawkmon, didn’t they?” Armadillomon added. “Ah don’t think none of this will go nowhere until we find out where our friend is at.”

“Yolei!”

A blur of brown and white feathers burst from the edges of the clearing. With alarming speed it collided with Yolei, sending her falling onto her backside with a move that was simultaneously a tackle and a hug.

As Yolei came to her senses, she saw that Hawkmon’s wings were very tightly wrapped around her midsection. She returned the gesture without hesitation, and the two shared an embrace, the tension they shared washing away with the tears that streamed down their face.

“Yolei! I was so worried about you!” Hawkmon cried. “How could I have protected you when you were all alone? I should have been there, I’m so dreadfully sorry!”

“Hawkmon, you dummy, I’m the one who was supposed to be worried about you!” Yolei replied, her voice cracking with fatigue and muted by her sniffles. “If anyone did anything to you, I... I...” Her voice trailed off into an incoherent sob, carrying more meaning than any words she could think of would have ever expressed. Joy, sorrow, relief, fear, anxiety, frustration, and anger all at once were sounded in a wail of raw emotion.

Then, just as soon as it had happened, it was over. The two of them stared at each other and smiled contentedly, before both helping each other off of the ground.

As the two stood to face the other Digi-Destined, the ground suddenly began to shake. A powerful stomping sent waves of vibration through the earth.

The stomping vibrations came to a climax, as Allomon’s massive body pushed itself through the trees to the edge of the clearing. Straggling behind him was Braveheart, hanging her head low.

“Hawkon, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean–” said Braveheart.

“Quiet,” Allomon interrupted, “you have interfered enough.” His eyes narrowed as he turned his head to face the Digi-Destined. “As for you, you will all come with me.”
> Of Myths and Mons
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lit by only the dim starlight of the pristine night sky, the Digi-Destined followed Allomon through the hills. Every so often the dinosaur digimon would glance back at the group, his fearsome eyes projecting an authority that stifled any attempt at speaking up.

It was Braveheart, nearly two minutes into their journey, who finally spoke up. “Father, what are you going to do to them?”

“Be silent, Little Braveheart,” Allmon replied. “It is not yet your turn to speak.”

“I am not little,” Braveheart muttered. She was met with only another piercing glance from her father’s eye, prompting her to hold her tongue.

As they continued along, the Digi-Destined and their gathered companions grew increasingly restless. Towards the back of the group, Applejack looked upwards at T.K., taking notice of the wrinkles that had formed from the frown that was written onto his face. Patamon, for the most part, did not seem to notice, sleepily resting atop T.K.’s head.

“Something bothering you, sugarcube?” said Applejack.

“Hm?” said T.K. “No, not really.”

“Come on T.K., Ah can see it plain as a billboard. You’re worried about something, right?”

“Nothing gets past you, huh?” T.K. sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s about Ken. He’s been acting strange lately, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.”

“Well, Ah ain’t known him for very long, but he has been mighty intense about bringing down Vespimon,” Applejack replied.

“Yeah, and I understand why he’d do it more than anyone,” said T.K. “We’ve both seen what the forces of darkness can do, and we’ve both been hurt by them. That’s why Davis asked me to talk to him about it.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “So why don’t you?”

T.K. turned and glanced at Applejack, then turned away and stared straight into the stars. “There was something I said to him a while ago. That there’s a time for talking, and a time for fighting. I’m worried that he might not know which one it is right now.”


———————


The path Allomon took through the forested landscape eventually led the group to the largest of the Themthar Hills, a wooded slope that led upwards to a large, sandy plateau. From its top, the vast assortment of peaks and valleys were visible in all directions, the clarity of the sky assuring they could be seen even without daylight.

Resting on the plateau were a dozens upon dozens of enormous birds nests, each wide enough to house the gargantuan eagle digimon that made them their homes. Most of the nests were occupied by soundly sleeping Aquilamon, some of which rested with tiny Poromon nestled in their wings. The remaining Aquilamon stood atop massive perches constructed from tree trunks, surveying the surrounding hilltops with unblinking eyes. Each of the lookout digimon gave Allomon a nod as he led the group through the encampment.

The group was led towards center of the settlement, before a immense conical tent made of animal skin, with an absolutely gargantuan stature, easily as tall as a five-story office building. The gathered Digi-Destined collectively gawked at the tent as they approached, its sheer scale vastly eclipsing what it seemed to be possible from the materials it was constructed with.

Allomon stopped before the tent, and turned around to address the Digi-Destined. “This, as you might have guessed, is our settlement. You will be staying with me for the night.”

“Stay the night?” said Cody. “But what about our families back on Earth? Going to the Digital World is one thing, but if we go for a whole night without coming back, they’d think that something horrible happened to us!”

“Ah don’t reckon it’d be much of a problem, given the time difference between our worlds and all,” Armadillomon chimed in. “Still, much as Ah appreciate the offer of hospitality, Ah can’t help but wonder why this feller’s being so nice all of a sudden.”

“You may call me Allomon. We will discuss matters further in the morning. For now, you will rest.” Allomon turned around and walked through the tent flap. Without any other ideas, the Digi-Destined followed him inside.

The interior of the tent was exactly as large and imposing as it appeared from the outside, though the space within was separated into multiple different rooms through the use of giant animal-skin flaps, forming wall-like partitions between various areas of the tent.

The central room where the Digi-Destined were brought to contained a large campfire with circled by a collection of sleeping bags. The campfire crackled and burned brightly enough to dimly light the tent’s interior, though its ghostly blue color and lack of heat and smoke made it clear that it was supernatural in origin.

“Feel free to extinguish the fire whenever you wish,” said Allomon. “I will see you in the morning.” He pushed through an opening in one of the tent’s makeshift walls, disappearing into another room.

Braveheart smiled. “Goodnight, Hawkmon,” she said, departing from the central room into a different tent flap.

“She seems nice,” said Wormmon.

Hawkmon blushed furiously. “A-and just what do you mean by that?”

“All I said was that she seems nice...” said Wormmon.

“I must say though, doesn’t this all seem just a little bit suspect?” Rarity spoke up. “It’s nice to them to let us stay here, but they were the ones who kidnapped Hawkmon earlier. Is it really wise of us to fall asleep right in the middle of their territory?”

“You ain’t suggesting we start and argument with the fifteen-foot-tall dinosaur, are you?” said Applejack.

“Well, no, darling,” Rarity replied. “I’m just saying it would be wise to exercise some caution, that’s all.”

“Guys, relax!” said Davis, sitting himself down by the fireside. “I’m sure it was all just a misunderstanding, they’ll be totally cool with us once we explain ourselves! Since we already slept back home, why don’t we pass the time and tell some campfire stories?”

Pinkie Pie eagerly hopped over to the fire with a sproing. “Oooh, campfire stories! I’ve got one! I’ve got one!”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Here we go again...”


———————


“...And that’s how Equestria was made!”

By the time Pinkie Pie concluded her tale, the rest of the Digi-Destined had already gathered around the campfire, listening intently. A series of bewildered looks was briefly exchanged among the human and digimon present.

“Um... No offense, Pinkie, but what does that have to do with your story?” said T.K.

Pinkie raised a hoof to her mouth and giggled lightly. “Absolutely nothing, silly!”

T.K. and Patamon both stared at each other, and then back at Pinkie. Next to her, Kari and Gatomon both shrugged, as if to say ‘just go with it.’

“You know, that’s something I kind of want to hear about, now that you mention it,” said Yolei. “Doesn’t Equestria have some kind of creation myth? You know, an old legend about how it came to be?”

“You mean the story of Hearth’s Warming?” said Pinkie. “That’s a good one! I was even in a super-duper play about it!”

“Actually Pinkie, I don’t think she means that,” Twilight chimed in. “Equestria has only existed recently in terms of Ungula’s history. Creation myths aren’t just stories about the founding of a nation, they’re myths and legends about how the universe itself was created. As it so happens, there are hundreds of different cultures in our world, each with their own creation myths.”

Pinkie opened her mouth, mimicking a silent 'oh' sound.

“Hey, that’s pretty much exactly the same in our world,” said Yolei. “So what kind of creation myth does Equestria’s culture have?”

“Like I said, Equestria is a very young nation by Ungulan standards,” said Twilight. “As such, Equestria as a whole doesn’t have its own myth. There are several myths from the Equus continent shared by the civilizations that preceded Equestria, though, and they do have a few common elements. Most of them speak of a shapeless Abyss that preceded the universe as we know it, and those that do mention a terrible Two-Headed Beast emerging from it, embodying all the forces of chaos and darkness in itself. Some of them even say that Discord was directly descended from the Beast.”

“Ooh, maybe we should try asking him sometime!” said Pinkie “I’d love to learn more about his family!”

All of the other ponies suddenly winced.

“Oh goodness, no!” said Rarity. “A Discord family reunion would be absolutely disastrous!”

“Yeah, don’t you think he causes enough trouble by himself?” Rainbow Dash added.

“It’s just a myth y’all, there ain’t no need to get carried away,” Applejack reassured. “Knowing Discord, some of it could just be a rumor he started to mess with other folks.”

Twilight loudly cleared her throat, immediately drawing the attention of the entire room. “Anyway, as I was saying, there are several different versions of the myth involving the Two-Headed Beast. Whether Discord is descended from it or not isn’t known, and I doubt he’d be up front with any of us if we asked. Either way, most versions of the myth tell of another figure emerging with the Beast, known by ancient cultures as Concordia, who embodied light and harmony. Where it gets less consistent is what happened after that.

“The ancient pegasi believed that Concordia descended from a higher realm to confront the Beast. In this version, Concordia and the Beast engaged each other in combat, and the force of their clash destroyed them both, creating the universe as we know today. By contrast, the ancient earth ponies believed that Concordia and the Beast both emerged from the Abyss at the same time. Rather than fighting each other, they instead worked to create the universe together, knowing that a world couldn’t exist without both chaos and harmony. Though they still act as enemies within this world, each chooses not to destroy the other, as they both know that nothing could exist without either of them.”

“What about the unicorns, dear?” said Rarity. “Surely my ancestors would have a compelling story of their own to tell?”

“Well... kind of,” said Twilight. “Their creation myth was told a lot more through symbolism than through literal description. It’s said that the duality of Harmony and Chaos both came from a single nothing, and from that duality came unity, and from that unity the many creatures in existence. The Beast and Concordia aren’t even mentioned at all, but most scholars agree that the ‘Chaos’ and ‘Harmony’ mentioned correspond to them, since the ancient unicorns used those names to refer to the figures in pegasi and earth pony myths.”

“Whatever the case, that Two-Headed Beast certainly sound like quite the nasty fellow,” said Applejack. “To think that half the universe comes from an evil being of chaos and darkness... Ah certainly would hope that ain’t true.”

“That’s actually a common misconception, Applejack,” Twilight responded. “The idea that darkness and chaos are inherently evil is a relatively recent invention. Chaos was stigmatized in the aftermath of Discord’s reign, and darkness was never really considered evil until after Nightmare Moon. But in magic theory it’s been accepted for millennia that they’re only as evil as what they’re used for.”

Ken became visibly agitated at the statement. His body tensed, and he shot Twilight a glare. “That’s ridiculous,” he said, “after everything I’ve felt the darkness do to me, you can’t possibly say it isn’t evil. I know what it’s like, and I see no good reason why you should tell me otherwise.”

Twilight tried to speak, but found that the words wouldn’t come to her. She could feel the weight of Ken’s gaze pressing down on her, leaving her to squirm beneath its weight.

“Hey, come on Ken, there’s no need to be like that,” Davis spoke up. “She’s just trying to explain something she cares about, that’s all. Can’t you hear her out just for a second?”

Ken turned his gaze towards Davis, staring at him unflinchingly. “...Alright, fine. But only because you’re the one who asked.”

“Ken, I...” Twilight paused, stumbling over her own speech as her brain worked hard to come up with her next sentence. “...I didn’t mean to imply that you couldn’t have suffered greatly from the darkness. Many ponies who have tried to use dark magic to their advantage have. I’m just saying that doesn’t necessarily make it evil.”

Rarity frowned at Twilight. “Well darling, you can certainly call me skeptical if you want, but I would have to side with Ken here. You know full well what the forces of darkness have done to us. Had I not been so lucky, they could have easily taken me as well.”

“It seems like quite a few of us have have suffered at the hands of the darkness,” T.K. added sternly. “I don’t think I’ve met a single being of darkness that wasn’t out to kill us.”

“I’m not so sure about that, T.K.” said Patamon. “BlackWarGreymon was made from darkness, wasn’t he? I don’t think he turned out too bad in the end.”

“Patamon, he tried to kill us multiple times!”

“He has a point though, doesn’t he?” said Gatomon. “BlackWarGreymon may have been born from darkness, but he spent his entire life rebelling against the evil purpose he was created for. In the end, he even gave his own life in the end to protect our world. If he was really pure evil, would he have done that?”

T.K. sighed. “No, I guess not. I just have my doubts, okay?”

“Well, I don’t know who BlackWarGreymon is,” Twilight said, “but I think that illustrates my point. Darkness as a force of magic isn’t necessarily evil, but it is fundamentally chaotic, and a being born of darkness would be driven to chaos naturally. Disobeying one’s purpose would probably count as that.”

Davis scratched his head. “I don’t get it. How is darkness chaotic? I thought it was just like... what happens when there’s no light around?”

“I’m not talking about that kind of darkness, Davis,” said Twilight. “I mean it in the metaphysical sense. In magical theory, light is an abstract force that represents order, reality, knowledge, and empathy. By contrast, darkness represents chaos, dreams, uncertainty, and the unknown. Anything that falls within the domain of worldly understanding falls within the light, while anything that defies conventional understanding falls under darkness. What makes the darkness dangerous isn’t that it’s evil, but that it rejects the order that we use to make sense of the world. That’s why so many ponies who call upon dark magic end up losing themselves to it. They’re not using darkness so much as they’re letting darkness express itself through them. If you show any amount of uncertainty in yourself, it could end up overtaking you entirely.”

Rarity glanced in Twilight’s direction, though she avoided making eye contact directly. “So then, the Nightmare...?”

“Aside from Discord, Princess Luna is Equestria’s most powerful practitioner of the dark arts,” Twilight replied. “Dreams are inherently linked to darkness, and dreamwalking requires tapping into immense amounts of dark magic. Luna is the only pony who can maintain the emotional and mental stability needed to harness it to that extent. Nightmare Moon appeared when Luna’s own insecurities became too powerful for her to manage.”

Rarity bowed her head towards the ground, looking up glumly at Twilight. “...And what of the second time the Nightmare appeared?”

Twilight’s eyes widened suddenly. “I... I don’t know,” she said. “Rarity, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to remind you of that. I don’t know how the Nightmare would–”

“Enough,” a voice interjected. Everyone turned their head to the side to see Ken standing up, glaring angrily at Twilight. “I’m not interested in hearing you play devil’s advocate for the force that tried to consume me from the inside. Our mission is to defeat the darkness, not make excuses for it. Come on, Wormmon.”

His body still tense, Ken began walking towards the entrance of the tent.

“Where are we going, Ken?” said Wormmon.

“Out,” said Ken. “We’ll head back here by morning.”

Without another word, Ken pushed himself out of the massive tent flap, his partner scurrying after him.


———————


The tiny red dots covered the map screen in flickering waves, spreading outwards from the central point of Vespimon’s base. Soon nearly the entire eastern half of the Server Continent was drowned out in crimson, as though the map were drawn over with hundreds of tiny dots of red paint. The dots spread outward, further and further, but as they did they began to appear increasingly infrequently, until no new dots appeared at all.

Vespimon hit a button on her keyboard, and the time-lapse map rewound itself to the beginning. She watched again as the visual representation of her control spires spread rapidly across the continent, only to come to a stop as the image reached the present day. Through repeated viewings, she began to notice the exact moment that the control spires began to slow their virus-like spreading. 

It was the same day that she realized the true nature of the Digital World.

“Damn it,” she muttered. “My own doubt is holding me back. There has to be something else I can do.”

Vespimon’s attention was drawn away from her thoughts by a tiny beeping noise coming from her computer. She pressed another key and closed the maps screen, bringing up her surveillance program in its place. Her eyes glinted subtly in the control room’s dim light.

“So that’s where the Digi-Destined are,” she crowed. “Let’s see what we can do with you here...”
> A Time for Talking
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Despite the massive interdimensional jet lag that came with the transfer between worlds, Cody found himself settling into his resting place relatively quickly. Soon after Ken and Wormmon had left the tent for reasons unknown, T.K. and his partner had followed after, leaving the other Digi-Destined to wind down for the night.

Before long, Cody had found himself deep in sleep. His dreams were fuzzy and undefined, like a television screen that was almost but not quite able to pick up a signal. Yet even in the hazy state of semi-consciousness he could barely make out an image; a gargantuan silhouette of a robed figure, looming above a castle on a mountainside.

Before his mind could fully register the image, he was forcibly pulled out of his slumber by a persistent scratching sound coming from close to his ear. His eyelids painstakingly pried themselves open, and he sat up with a yawn, rubbing the groggy blurriness out of his eyes. The supernatural campfire had already burned itself out, reduced to a blue smoulder.

Armadillomon lay down curled against the side his sleeping bag, perfectly comfortable with lying in the dirt. As Cody sat up, the sudden jostling caused Armadillomon to shift his position slightly, mumbling incoherently.

The scratching sound continued, and Cody turned his head in the direction of the noise. Not even ten feet away from his position was Rarity, standing just outside her own sleeping bag. The source of the scratching became immediately obvious: she was digging a wide and shallow hole in the dirt with her bare hooves. Beside both herself and the hole was a small pile of glittering gemstones of multiple different colors.

“Rarity?” Cody whispered. “What are you doing?”

“Oh! I’m sorry dear, I didn’t mean to wake you up,” Rarity replied in a hushed tone. “It’s just that I remembered Deputymon saying something there being gems in these hills. I just couldn’t get myself to sleep knowing that there were such fabulous jewels nearby!”

Cody blinked rapidly, trying to ignore the dull ache that was rapidly forming in his forehead. “Rarity, the Aquilamon tribe wants to stop people from digging up their land. I don’t think doing exactly that is a good idea.”

Rarity grimaced. “W-well, yes. You’re right. But look at these!” She pointed to the pile of gemstones by her side. “I’ve already found three rubies, two sapphires, and emerald, two diamonds, and a pearl! You can’t just– ooh, is that an amethyst?”

“Come on, don’t be ridiculous,” said Cody. “You have dozens more like those back at our apartment.” He looked more closely at the gemstone pile, quickly scanning his eyes over their features in the dark. Looking at them more closely, he realized that something felt... off. “Besides, there’s something weird about those gems.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Weird? Well, I suppose finding a pearl outside of the ocean is strange, but the last time I checked the Digital World doesn’t quite operate on conventional logic.”

“No, I don’t mean that. It’s difficult to describe, but something about them just doesn’t seem... correct.” 

Cody paused, and the odd sensation as he stared at the gems intensified. The feeling became more clear as it strengthened, but it was still an utterly bizarre experience. His headache, he realized, was not actually in his forehead at all, but in a cone-shaped space directly above and to the front of it. He placed the palm of his hand inches from his forehead, expecting to feel something, but was met with only empty air.

“Is everything alright, Cody?” said Rarity.

“No, it’s fine,” Cody reassured. “Just put those back, okay? We’re not here to cause any trouble.”

Rarity sighed. “Alright, alright. It pains me to part with such beautiful specimens, but I suppose it’s the right thing to do.”

“Great,” said Cody. “You should go to sleep. We need to be well-rested for whatever Allomon has prepared for us in the morning.”

Cody let out a yawn, and lay back down in his sleeping bag. As drowsiness crept into his body, he saw Rarity take the gemstones she’d unearthed and place them back into the ground, before covering up the hole with dirt.

Though it didn't fully reach his awareness, just before Cody fell asleep he could barely make out Rarity hiding a large amethyst in her mane.


———————


Ken wasn’t able to venture very far outside, much to his chagrin. The Aquilamon guards were posted all across the hilltop on their perches, and any attempt that he made to travel more than several yards away from the tent opening was met with a sudden motion from the darkened figures. It was immediately obvious that none of them would allow him to leave.

He felt something brush against his leg, and looked down to see Wormmon at his side. “Is everything alright, Ken?” he asked.

Ken gazed upwards towards the sky. In spite of the calm that had washed over the night, the tension that had built up in Ken’s body remained constant, simmering deeply within him. “No, Wormmon, I’m not alright. Do you see that up there?”

Wormmon followed Ken’s gaze to the stars. “You mean the stars? What about them?”

“It might sound strange,” said Ken, “but I almost feel as if the night sky represents the world we live in right now. Insignificant points of light in and endless sea of darkness. I’ve worked so hard to cast the darkness out, and now I’m seeing it return, stronger than ever. I can’t help but wonder if everything I’ve done has been for nothing.”

“Of course it isn’t for nothing,” said Wormmon. “You’ve come so far, and I couldn’t be happier to see you be the person I always knew you could be.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Ken said flatly. “It’s just... I don’t know. I feel like could be doing more. I feel like I’m not pushing myself far enough to protect the Digital World.”

“Everyone’s doing all they can, Ken,” said Wormmon. “Until we find a way to reach Vespimon’s base, there’s nothing else we can do.”

Ken turned and shot his partner a glare. “Is there? Is there really?”

Wormmon flinched under the sudden weight of Ken’s gaze. “W-well, what else is there?”

Ken turned away. He clenched his fists and closed his eyes, his arms shaking as the tension inside of him build, before finally dissipating with a sharp sigh. “I... I don’t know, Wormmon. I just don’t know.”

He felt Wormmon brush against his leg once more, this time wrapping his own forelegs around him in as much of a hug as his body could muster. Ken looked down, and the corners of his mouth slowly twitched upwards in a thin smile.

“There you are, Ken!”

Just when I thought my mood was improving, Ken grumbled internally. He turned towards the source of the voice, and saw T.K.’s silhouette approaching his location, with Patamon hovering diligently by his side.

“Glad I could catch you,” said T.K. “I was hoping you hadn’t run too far away.”

“What do you want?” Ken replied curtly.

T.K.’s eyes glimmered softly under the myriad constellations. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you for a while, Ken. I don’t know if there’s any easy way for me to say it, but... we’re worried about you.”

Ken blinked. “Worried about me?”

“Davis asked me to talk to you earlier,” said T.K. “He thinks you’ve been acting strange since Vespimon showed up. And as much as I hate to admit he’s right about something, I’d have to agree with him there.”

“Hmph. Isn’t that just like him to stick his nose into places where it doesn’t belong?” Ken said with a sneer. “I don’t need anyone telling me how to behave. My only goal is to protect the Digital World from evil.”

“See, this is exactly what I’m talking about,” said T.K. “The two of you used to be inseparable, but now... now I don’t even know what you are now. This really isn't like you.”

“And what makes you think it's not like me?” Ken replied. “Do you honestly think I wouldn't have a reason to want to protect this world from the forces of evil?”

“Of course not,” said T.K. “I'm just saying, you're not usually the sort of person to get bent out of shape so easily.”

“Oh, really now?” Ken stepped forward with a scowl, inadvertently shaking Wormmon off of his leg. “So now you think you have the right to tell me who I am?”

Wormmon looked up at his partner with pleading eyes. “Ken, maybe you should calm down a bit...”

“And why wouldn't I be 'bent out of shape' about what's happening?” Ken continued. “Do you honestly think I enjoy seeing everything I've worked so hard to accomplish being torn down?”

“No, of course not!” said T.K. “I’m just saying, maybe you should step back and think about what you’re doing! If you keep letting your anger get the better of you, you’ll lose sight of everything you care about!”

“I’m angry because I care, you blithering moron!” Ken shouted. “You of all people should know what the darkness can do! I saw my partner die right before my eyes! I was certain you would understand that, but it seems to me like you’ve forgotten what that’s like!”

T.K.’s body suddenly tensed. “Excuse me? Forgotten? What do you mean, forgotten?”

“U-um, T.K., I think we should stop,” said Patamon.

“Don’t act like you don’t know!” Ken shot back. “If Patamon really mattered to you, you’d be standing by my side instead of getting in my way!”

“Ken,” T.K. replied through gritted teeth, “I swear to God, if you say one more word...”

“Just admit it! You never cared about him!”

The area fell silent. T.K.’s arms locked up, and his hands clenched into tight-knuckled fists. His left eye began to twitch alongside the corner of his mouth, and his pupils dilated sharply.

Then, as if it had happened too fast for the eye to see, there was a sound of his knuckles hitting Ken’s jawbone.

Ken recoiled from the force of the impact, then followed up by reciprocating the attack, throwing a vicious left hook that struck T.K. right in the nose. T.K. grunted, and lunged forward with both arms in an attempted grapple, only to be met on the other end by a similar maneuver.

The two grabbed each other by the hands, holding each apart at arms length as they pushed against one another, each trying to overpower their would-be opponent through raw strength. Their eyes locked even more fiercely than their arms, meeting with the intensity of a lightning bolt arcing between two storm clouds.

“Boom Bubble!”

The attack cry was immediately followed by a burst of compressed air, aimed right in the space between Ken and T.K. The impact of exploding air forced the two apart, each flying backwards and crashing into the dirt on their backsides.

T.K. inhaled sharply in an attempt to regain the breath that was knocked out of him, his gasping interspersed with violent, shuddering coughs. “Patamon! What the hell!?”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you!” Patamon hovered over to his partner’s side, the fur beneath his eyes ruffled and matted with tears. “I-I just didn’t want to see you fighting! Please don’t hurt each other!”

T.K.’s expression softened almost instantly. He reached out and welcomed Patamon into his arms, holding him tightly. “Hey. Hey, come on. It’s fine, I’m not hurt. No need to cry, see?”

Patamon looked up with eyes wide. “Promise?”

“Yeah, I promise.” T.K. picked himself up, still cradling his his partner in his arms, and looked down towards Ken, who was still lying on the ground. “You okay there?”

Ken said nothing, wiping the dust off his shirt as he carefully lifted himself onto his feet. His face was a blank slate, with no discernible emotion whatsoever.

“Hey, listen,” said T.K. “I’m sorry about what happened just then.”

“Don’t be,” Ken replied flatly. “I don’t want your pity.”

T.K.’s body stiffened, and his mouth creased into a frown. “Well then, I guess I won’t apologize after all. I was hoping we could work something out, but clearly trying to talk to you was a waste of my time. Come on Patamon, let’s go to bed.”

T.K. turned around and briskly walked towards the entrance of the tent. As he left, Patamon squirmed his way on top of his shoulder, looking back at Ken and Wormmon with forlorn eyes.

“Hmph,” said Ken. There wasn’t anything else he could think to say. The dismissive, wordless grunt encapsulated everything he felt better than anything else could.

At least, that was the case until he turned towards Wormmon and saw him on the verge of tears.

“He’s right, you know.” Wormmon turned his attention towards the ground, not even bothering to make eye contact as he spoke. “You’ve been letting your anger take control more and more lately. I’d say it isn’t like you, but...”

“But what?” said Ken.

“...but what I’m afraid of most is that it is like you,” Wormmon continued. His voice went quiet as he spoke, barely above a whisper. “Or like what you used to be.”

Ken’s jaw went slack. “What? Wormmon, what are you–”

“I’m sorry, I’ve already said too much,” Wormmon hastily replied. “I shouldn’t have bothered you to begin with. I’ll be going back inside now.”

“Wormmon, wait!”

“Goodnight, Ken.” Wormmon looked back one final time and skittered back into the tent. As he did, Ken could do nothing but stare as he was left abandoned within the darkness.
> Shadows of Becoming
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight awoke to find herself in a completely different place than where she had fallen asleep. It was a startling experience, without a doubt, but at the same time it left a strange feeling of familiarity lingering in her mind. Had she experienced this before? Had she slept, only to awaken somewhere she knew she couldn’t be? In her gut, she felt the answer to be a ‘yes’, even though her mind remembered nothing of the sort.

Once again, she felt detached from the world, like everything she saw and felt was simultaneously real and yet not real. Or was it really ‘once again’ if she didn’t remember it happening the first time? She couldn’t be sure.

All that she was sure of was that she wasn’t in the tent from before, but instead standing in a street in the middle of Ponyville, just outside the library. Stars blanketed the night sky above, their light mingling with the light of the crescent moon, providing sparse illumination as the many houses had long since extinguished their lamps. The town at first seemed to be as quiet as she would expect, but she soon noticed that there was a stagnation in the air that felt... off. Even during the most peaceful of nights, there was still a feeling of life that permeated her lungs whenever she breathed in the air. All of that was gone now, replaced with nothing but stillness. Twilight could almost swear she wasn’t actually breathing at all.

Her mind was immediately pulled away from the thoughts when she noticed something parked at at the edge of the tree she called home. It was difficult to notice in the darkness, but it was unmistakable. A stagecoach. More specifically, Trixie’s stagecoach, nestled right up beside the front door.

“What the hay?” said Twilight. Her voice had an odd sound to it, distorted and unclear, seeming to pass her ears entirely and burrow directly into her brain. “What is she doing here? And why is everything here so weird? Just what is going on?”

Twilight, of course, wasn’t surprised when her question was met only with more silence. Resigning herself to the odd feeling that she wasn’t entirely real, she decided the only thing to do was to investigate herself.

A short trip to the library door had brought her to the interior, though it wasn’t in a way that she expected. As soon as she reached to grab the doorknob with her magic, she found herself on the other side, looking at the home she had grown so used to living in. She hadn’t even felt the familiar pop of a teleportation spell, or the usual flickering in and out of reality. One moment she was simply standing in one place, and the next she was standing somewhere else.

Twilight didn’t have time to contemplate this, as her attention was immediately drawn to a pony standing in the middle of the library, draped in a black hooded cloak that concealed everything, save for a single horn sticking out of their forehead.

“Huh?” said Twilight. “Trixie, is that you? What are you doing here?”

Trixie—or at least she thought it was Trixie—ignored Twilight, as though they couldn’t hear her at all. The unidentified pony spoke, though way their distorted speech bypassed Twilight’s hearing went straight into her mind made it impossible to hear what they actually sounded like.

“At long last, I’ve finally found it! All this time being scorned and rejected, while she earns all the fame and glory that was rightfully mine! Princess? Ha! With the Element of Magic, I’ll become so much more than that!”

Twilight felt her jaw drop. Sure, she never exactly trusted Trixie even after her apology, but the sheer gall it took to declare her intention to steal the Element of Magic astonished even her. Could the regret she showed over her actions really have been a lie? It was almost unthinkable after she realized what the Alicorn Amulet did to her.

“Hoo! Hoo!”

“What?” The cloaked pony turned their head towards the sudden sound. Sitting on his usual perch was Owlowiscious, staring wide-eyed at the intruder. His posture and cry were both agitated, recognizing the threat the cloaked pony presented.

“Stupid bird! Begone!” The unicorn let loose a blast of bright teal magic from their horn. With a panicked hoot, Owlowiscious just barely dodged the attack, flying away from the perch and darting out a window that the robed pony had apparently left open. The top of the perch was left completely disintegrated, burned away as though it had been hit with a flamethrower. Twilight tried to cry out for Owlowiscious, but anything she could have said died in her throat.

The cloaked pony then turned their attention to the glass case where Twilight had kept the Elements of Harmony before her friends had taken them to the Digital World. The pony approached the display, their mile-wide grin gleaming even in the utter darkness beneath their hood. Then, suddenly, their entire body froze.

“It’s... it’s empty!? No! No, no, no! Twilight must have hid the Elements away some time before she disappeared! No, no, no! What do I do? What do I do!?” The pony pulled back their hood, revealing a long and wavy mane and a feminine muzzle, though anything beyond a silhouette was obscured. It wasn’t just the darkness, Twilight realized, but something else about the unreality of the environment that concealed the pony’s identity.

“Damn you, Twilight!” She screamed. “Just how much more do you have to take from me before you before you’ll be satisfied!? First you steal my life, then you steal the wings and title I deserved, and now this!? I hate you! I hate you so much!”

The unicorn collapsed onto the ground, her body shivering as she descended into a mess of inelegant sobbing, though the sharpness that remained in her not-voice signalled just as much rage as it did sorrow. The pony truly meant it when she said she hated Twilight, a fact that put Twilight on edge for a number of reasons.

If the mystery pony really was Trixie, it was profoundly unsettling just how easily she had been able to adopt a remorseful disguise the last time they’d met. Even a pony that practically made her career stretching the truth couldn’t have lied so convincingly. Yet even more disturbing was the creeping suspicion that it wasn’t Trixie at all, as not once could Twilight recall ever meeting a pony with as much reason to envy her. And if it really wasn’t Trixie, then why was her stagecoach just outside the door?

Too many questions, and not enough answers. She couldn’t have spent too much time pondering them anyway, as she began to notice a pool of liquid forming, seemingly out of nothing, around the sobbing unicorn. It was pitch-dark, darker than anything even in the completely unlit room, and it writhed and pulsated like a living blob of... something. Twilight felt her stomach turn just looking at it, and she wasn’t even sure she still had a stomach in the ethereal state the world seemed to exist in.

A thin rivulet of the dark liquid leaked  outward from the pool, flowing closer to the wall. Then, in defiance of gravity, it began to flow ninety degrees upward, straight into the air. From there it gathered into a single solid mass, which expanded outwards and slowly took shape into something that made Twilight shiver in fear. It was a mass of shadow in the shape of an immense and monstrous figure, with large claws and massive horns sticking out of a pointed head. The suffocating darkness of the figure was pierced by a pair of red dots in the center of the head, though the blood-colored glow they cast over the room didn’t feel anything like light.

The mystery pony, appearance beyond her silhouette still hidden by a force Twilight didn’t understand, turned towards the looming monster. Then, with a voice that rumbled like an earthquake, it spoke.

“Become my Lord of Magic, and I will grant you power beyond imagination.”

The words echoed in Twilight’s mind, unbidden. It was a promise that carried within it a magic unlike anything she had ever felt, tearing away at her perceptions, until the entire scene before her dissolved into a blur of swirling shadows and sounds. As she felt herself gradually lose the last of her sensations, she could just barely make out five other sentences being spoken, each reverberating with the same dark power.

“Become my Lord of Kindness, and your children will be forever rid of suffering.”

“Become my Lord of Loyalty, and I will restore your purpose as a Knight.”

“Become my Lord of Honesty, and let the living be stripped of all delusions.”

“Become my Lord of Generosity, and give your life to a higher power.”

“Become my Lord of Laughter, and the Gate you seek will open.”
> Snake in the Boot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the morning slowly crept its way onto the hills, the sounds of stirring broke the silence within the tent. The Digi-Destined gradually rose from their sleep, waking to the crisp morning air and the smouldering of an extinguished campfire.

Ken, however, was kept apart from the group. He had seemingly not touched his sleeping bag at all, and instead sat on the floor some distance away with crossed legs, gently stroking the head of Wormmon, who slept in his lap. Ken’s face was unreadable, though there were heavy bags under his eyes, as though he hadn’t slept at all the past night, and there was a large bruise to the left of his jaw.

Yolei let out a gasp as she took notice of the injury. “Ken! What happened?”

“Hm? Oh, you’re awake,” said Ken. He reached up and rubbed the bruise gently with his free hand. “It’s... nothing. Nothing you need to worry about.”

T.K., standing some distance away, reflexively turned his head away from the conversation. He placed a hand over his nose, an action which immediately drew the attention of Applejack.

“Something wrong, sugarcube?”

“No, it’s... it’s fine,” said T.K.

Applejack remained unconvinced, and narrowed her gaze to the hand covering T.K.’s nose. “Don’t rightly look like it to me. Did you hurt yourself or something?” She paused briefly, a thoughtful look crossing her face. She turned her head to see Yolei examining Ken’s injury, and then turned back to look at T.K., before a sudden realization snapped her eyes further open. “Hold on... did you and Ken get into a fight?”

T.K.’s body seized up, his hand briefly dropping to reveal a large bruise on his nose. “What? No!”

“You did, didn’t you?” said Applejack, pointing an accusatory hoof at T.K. “Y’all went outside and started hitting each other! Land’s sakes, T.K., you told me yesterday you wanted to avoid a fight! Just what in the hay were you thinking?”

Everyone within the room went silent, and T.K. found himself being stared down by more than a dozen sets of eyes.

“T.K.,” said Kari, “is this true?”

T.K.’s arm went limp, and he lowered his hand to reveal the dark bruise on the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, alright, it’s true,” he relented. “Things got heated last night. I didn’t mean for it to get out of hand.”
“But why?” Pinkie looked at T.K. with wide, sorrowful eyes. “Why would you hurt each other? We’re all supposed to be friends, aren’t we?”

“Look, don’t worry about it, okay?” T.K. said. The assortment of concerned stares he received made it clear that he wasn’t reassuring anyone.

Before anyone else could say something on the matter, the sound of heavy footsteps came from one of the tent’s other rooms. Allomon pushed his way through his tent flap, entering the central room. Braveheart soon followed, coming out of her own room to greet the Digi-Destined.

“Did you all have a restful sleep?” said Braveheart.

“Yup!” said Davis. “Most of us, at least. So, what’s the plan?”

Allomon stared down, a serious look in his massive, predatory eyes. “You will follow me to the village commons. We’ve important matters to discuss.” He turned around and walked through the tent exit, leaving the Digi-Destined to exchange a series of perplexed looks.

“Well? Come on, then,” said Braveheart, turning to walk through the exit flap herself. “You wouldn’t want to keep my father waiting.”

————————

The group had soon followed Allomon out to the center of the village, where a number of Aquilamon stood in a circle, observing the meeting with watchful eyes. Many Poromon gathered behind them, shielded from potential harm by their appointed guardians. Even more Aquilamon stood on the massive perches, looking out beyond the hills for anything approaching.

As Davis led the rest of the group, he turned towards Twilight and noticed that she had carried a heavy pair of bags under her eyes. “You okay there, Twilight?”

“Huh?” Said Twilight. “Yeah, just... a bit tired, that’s all. I think I had a bad dream last night.”

“That sucks,” said Davis. “Is wasn’t too scary, was it?”

“I, um... I actually forgot what it was about,” said Twilight. “Maybe I should start keeping a dream journal, I’ve heard you normally only remember dreams right after you wake up.”

“I don’t get it,” said Veemon. “What would be the point of remembering stuff like like that?”

Davis grinned. “Hey, whatever helps her sleep at night, right?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at Davis. “What that supposed to be a pun?”

“You could say that,” said Davis. “So what do you think they’re going to talk to us about, anyway?”

“Probably something about their conflict with the nearby town,” said Twilight. As she spoke, she looked across the village, and her expression turned melancholic. “It’s hard to imagine that they’d start such a massive conflict just over some gems.”

Davis paused. A crease appeared on his brow, and he looked to be deep in thought. “Gems, huh...”

“We are here,” Allomon suddenly spoke out. The Aquilamon parted as they allowed their leader to enter the circle, and the Digi-Destined soon followed after. As the Digi-Destined were corraled into the center of the circle, Allomon moved to the outer edge, joined by his daughter. The fearsome dinosaur straightened his posture, standing tall and imposing as he gazed down at his apparent guests.

“Oh, dear...” said Rarity. “I’m not entirely sure I like the looks of this. There’s no way for us to escape now, is there?”

“Relax, sugarcube,” Applejack reassured. “We ain’t their real enemy here. Ah’m sure they just want to talk to us, that’s all.”

“I can only hope you’re right about that,” Rarity replied.

Allomon cleared his throat, and addressed the group. “I am glad that you have made it today, Digi-Destined. As I’m sure you know already, we have had something of a problem recently. We have been caught in the midst of a conflict that threatens to take away our very home. We had initially believed that we could resolve our dispute with the settlers peacefully, but during negotiations, one of their leaders attacked us unprovoked. It has been made clear since then that they will not reason with us.”

“And that’s why you’re attacking the town?” said Yolei.

“Correct,” said Allomon, “but it may not be for the reason you think. The settlers have made it clear they intend to declare war, and I fear we would not survive it. Most of them are at least of the champion level, while many digimon in our tribe are far too young to fight. Were they to become caught in the conflict, our most vulnerable would be wiped out. And with the eastern Server Continent under the control of Vespimon, it would be far too dangerous for any of us to make the journey to retrieve their digi-eggs.”

“But then what exactly are your attacks hoping to accomplish, if you know you couldn’t survive a full fight?” said T.K.

“My father has ordered our attacks to concentrate mainly on their supply stockholds,” said Braveheart. “Our aim is to disrupt their ability to organize, and prevent them from making war.”

Allomon sighed. For a moment, he no longer seemed to resemble a predator at all, his sharp resolve replaced with weariness. “Yes, that was my intention. But now I fear that I’ve made a grave tactical error. While our efforts have delayed an invasion, every attack only leaves them more emboldened to destroy us. Sooner or later, they will find the resources to launch a full-scale assault.”

Yolei looked horrified. “I just don’t understand why Starmon would do this. I didn’t think he was really a bad guy at heart.”

“Perhaps he’s under the control of a dark spiral?” Hawkmon speculated aloud.

“Even if that were true, it wouldn’t explain everything,” Ken chimed in. “Vespimon’s influence hasn’t even reached out this far west. If she lacks the resources to make it this far, she wouldn’t be able to place dark spirals over the entire town’s population.”

“So you’re saying at least some of them are acting under their own willpower?” said Yolei. “But what are we going to do, then? We can’t just fight them like they’re any other brainwashed digimon!”

“Brainwashed or not, they are a threat to us,” said Allomon. “You are the Digi-Destined. Your endeavors to save the Digital World are renowned among all digimon. If there is anyone that can stop this threat, it is you. That is why I’ve brought you here.”

“So you want us to see if we can talk them down?” said T.K.

“If there is a peaceful solution, then by all means you may seek one,” Allomon replied. “But you must understand that you may not have this option.”

The Digi-Destined and their companions paused, sharing a series of uneasy glances. “I’m not so sure about this,” said Cody. “I really don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“We have to do something though, don’t we?” said Kari. “It’s not like we can just let them go to war with each other.”

Pinkie beamed. “Don’t worry! I have just the thing!”

“Oh, no you don’t!” said Rainbow. “We are not doing that song again!”

Pinkie Pie deflated almost instantly. “Aww...”

“Chief!” A cry came from one of the Aquilamon perched on top of the lookouts. “I see something coming! Starmon and Deputymon are leading a large group of digimon this way!”

“So they’ve already come to end us,” said Allomon. He closed his eyes, and let out a low growl. When they snapped open again, they burned with renewed flame and vigor. “Assemble a squadron of soldiers to escort us! I will lead the Digi-Destined to meet them.”

“Father, wait!” Braveheart called out. “Let me help!”

“You will be staying here,” Allomon gruffly replied. “I will not allow you to risk your life.”

“You know I can take care of myself!” Braveheart called back. “I’ve died defending our people hundreds of times!”

“And perhaps you would not still be a rookie if you didn’t repeatedly insist on throwing your life away!” Allomon shouted so loudly that it became a literal roar. Braveheart recoiled at the gesture, tears already forming in her eyes.

“Father...”

Allomon sighed. “I’m sorry, my child. I simply can’t bear to lose you now. Please, just... remain here, for now. I want you to be safe.” He turned around, and addressed the Digi-Destined. “Come with me. We will have to move quickly if we want to catch the settlers before they reach the village.”

Allomon stepped forward, letting the Digi-Destined move out of his way as he exited the circle. A series of expectant stares from the surrounding Aquilamon encouraged them to follow. Before long, they were traveling behind Allomon as they left with village, with a group of at least a dozen Aquilamon leaving to follow behind them in the sky.

————————

It hadn’t taken long for them to intercept the arriving force of digimon. Their path took them through the wooded parts of the Themthar Hills, and eventually into another clearing at the top of one of a massive hill that overlooked several others, large enough that it could be a small mountain. As Allomon and the Digi-Destined climbed up to the top from one side, the other Digimon climbed up the other side to meet them. The Aquilamon following behind landed just behind Allomon’s group as the the two sides converged together in the center of the hilltop.

The other digimon were led by Starmon and Deputymon, but joined by a number of champion-level digimon of various shapes: among them included several Bakemon, a Veggiemon, a Centarumon, a Meramon, and a Woodmon.

Starmon’s pupils dilated as he took notice of the group opposite him. “What the—!? Now what in tarnation are you Digi-Destined doing with them natives!? Are you telling me y’all are working with the enemy now!?”

Allomon stepped forward, baring his teeth. “You are the ones who are attacking us. The legendary heroes of the Digital World would not side with you.”

Starmon’s body froze. A moment later it relaxed, and he burst out into loud, guffawing laughter. “You really think you’re going to scare us with that kind of talk? This is the end for you! These folks,” he said, pointing a thumb behind his shoulder, “are just a preliminary force to escort mahself and Deputymon over here to deliver a message. That message being a demand for your unconditional surrender! Give yourselves up or be blown to smithereens!”

“Now you wait just a minute here!” Applejack called out. “You ain’t seriously suggesting that y’all are willing to wipe out these digimon just because y’all want a bunch of worthless gems? Just what the hay is wrong with you?”

Deputymon stepped forward, pushing Starmon back slightly as he moved his way to the front. “Alright, y’all Digi-Destined can drop the act now. No need to go about pretending no more.”

Applejack’s body tensed. Her nostrils flared as she glared at Deputymon fiercely. “Act? Are you calling me a liar?”

“Ah’d, uh... have to agree with her there, Deputymon,” said Starmon. “Ah’m afraid Ah don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

Deputymon chuckled. “What, you didn’t hear about mah plan? Ah sent the Digi-Destined over to the natives so they could spy on them for us. And Ah have to say, they’ve done a pretty darn tootin’ good job, yes sir!”

“What!?” The cry came simultaneously from several directions at once, a sound of utter disbelief coming from nearly everyone else.

“N-now you wait just a minute here!” Rarity stepped forward from the crowd, seething in indignation. “I don’t know what exactly you think you’re doing, but if you think you can just go about telling such outrageous lies, you’re absolutely mistaken! To think that you would even suggest that I—”

Clink!

There was a sudden sound of a small object hitting the ground. A chorus of gasps sounded as the crowd turned to see what it was.

Lying on the ground was a massive, glittering amethyst. And it had fallen straight out of Rarity’s mane.

Deputymon chuckled. “See, Ah told you so!”

Cody gaped. “Rarity, what did you do?”

“I-It’s not what it looks like! I swear! Please!” Rarity frantically pleaded, turning to face her companions, and was only met with expressions of shock, anger, and disgust.

Allomon bared his teeth, a fire burning just beneath his eyes. “You deceived us. We placed our trust in you, and you betrayed us.”

“Stop!”

A voice called out in the distance. The entire group froze, and watched as a brown, birdlike figure in the distance drew closer, before landing in the center of the gathering.

“Little Braveheart,” said Allomon. “I thought I’d told you to stay behind.”

“Father, please!” said Braveheart. “I know what you’d said, but you’re making a mistake! Deputymon is lying to you! He’s trying to divide us to leave us weak and defenseless! Do you not recall that he was the one who attacked us during negotiations?”

Yolei gasped. “He what!?”

Allomon stared down at his adoptive daughter, eyes narrowing dangerously. “Indeed, I do. But if there were not truth to his words, then why does this ally of the Digi-Destined possess a gem that she could have only extracted from our land?”

Rarity flinched as the massive, predatory digimon turned to face her, displaying his sharp, pointed teeth. “W-would you believe me if I said it was just a moment of weakness?”

Allomon responded with nothing but a wordless growl, the sound of a very agitated, very hungry predator.

“Please!” Rarity blurted out. “It was a mistake, I know! But I have nothing to do with those settlers, and I did has nothing to do with my friends! Punish me however you want, but leave them out of it!”

Allomon took a step forward, the weight of his footstep seeming to increase tenfold, sending a miniature tremor across the ground. The viciousness in his eyes was matched by that of the Aquilamon present, and together they all turned their ironclad gazes towards Rarity.

“Whoa, wait! Hold on a second here!” The native digimon had their attention pulled away from Rarity as Davis suddenly called out. He stepped forward into the center of the gathering, between both groups. “Look, I know Rarity did something bad, and I understand you guys are upset. But there’s something I kind of wanna know here. This is all about gems, right?”

“Er... yeah,” said Starmon, scratching the top point of his star in a gesture roughly equivalent to scratching his forehead. “We told you that back in town, didn’t we?”

“So why the heck would any of you guys even need gems, anyway?” said Davis.

“Oh no, don’t you go asking no dumb questions!” said Deputymon. “Them gems are here so we can strike it rich! Don’t you start muddying the issue!”

“But how?” said Davis. “If these gems are valuable, it’s probably because someone will give a lot of money for them, right? But just who the heck are you going to even sell them to out here?”

Deputymon suddenly jumped back. “S-sell them!?”

“Huh,” said Starmon. “You know, Ah never really thought about that. There ain’t no real way of trading outside town ‘round these parts, especially not with Vespimon having conquered everything to the east. And if everyone in town had gems, they’d probably get worthless real quick.”

“Exactly!” said Davis. “So, like, what’s even the point? This whole conflict is just stupid!”

The digimon led by Starmon and Deputymon glanced at each other strangely, and broke into a series of unrestrained murmurs.

“Is it true?”

“It does sound kind of dumb when he puts it like that.”

“But we came here to get rich! Does this mean we moved here for nothing?”

“Just what are we going to do now?”

“Hey, come on! It can’t be all bad!” said Davis. “I’m sure you’ll think of something to do without having to invade other digimon! Heck, you’ve probably got all sorts of awesome things to do already!”

The digimon shared another series of glances, though this time they seemed less perplexed, as though each of them had just been brought to the verge of epiphany.

“We have card games!” said a Bakemon. He was met with several nods and sounds of approval from the group.

“And rodeos!” said the Centarumon. More words of approval were vocalized by the townsfolk, louder than before.

“And burlesque shows!” said the Veggiemon. The town’s shouts of approval became even louder, so much so that they were outright cheering.

Each of the ponies that were present blushed furiously, while the human Digi-Destined and their partners simply stared at each other in bewilderment.

“What’s a burlesque show?” said Cody.

“Nope!” said Pinkie, suddenly lunging forward to meet Cody. “Nuh-uh! No way! We’re not going there until you’re way older, mister!”

Starmon turned to Deputymon, a smile somehow apparent in his eyes despite his lack of a mouth. “Well, shucks! Looks like we don’t need to be attacking anyone, pardner! Ain’t that something?”

Deputymon’s fists clenched by his side, and the yellowed eyes beneath his hat closed tight as his body began shaking. “No! No, it ain’t great at all! Consarnit, now everything’s ruined!”

Everyone else present stopped in their tracks, turning to look at Deputymon. His entire body was quivering in place as he seethed, drenched in rage.

“Deputymon? Deputymon, are you alright?” said Starmon. “Is something wrong?”

Deputymon’s body suddenly relaxed. Then, to the surprise of everyone, he laughed. It was not a laugh that sounded like it came from his usual dopey, half-baked drawl, but a laugh that pierced the air with its sharpness and viciousness.

Starmon’s eyes went wide. “W-wha? Deputymon?”

“Y’all are dumber than a sack of rocks, ain’t you?” said Deputymon. It wasn’t just his laugh that had changed, his voice now carried with it a degree of confidence and forcefulness that it never had before. He opened his eyes once more, revealing them both to be blood red. “Did y’all really think Vespimon needed control spires to expand out west? Her loyalest, most reliable-est deputy’s been here the whole dang time!”
> Showdown
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The air was thick with tension. Standing amidst the gathered digimon was Deputymon, eyes burning red with dark power. As he hovered his hands over the pistols holstered by his sides, Starmon stepped back.

“You... you tricked us!”

“That Ah did,” said Deputymon. “’Course, Ah can’t get all the credit. You and your folks were the ones eager to go chasing after a bunch of fake gems. Wouldn’t have worked had you ain’t been so dead-set on getting yourselves rich... not that y’all would find anything worth a damn!” Another deep, piercing laugh escaped from his throat.

“W-what?” said Starmon. “Just what do you mean, fake?”

“What’s the matter? You ain’t heard?” said Deputymon. “Those ‘gems’ of yours ain’t gems at all! They ain’t nothing but a bunch of worthless rocks!” With a sharp cry, Deputymon swept out his hand, causing all of the gathered digimon to flinch at the sudden motion. But instead of an attack, the amethyst that lay next to Rarity was encompassed by a shroud of dark energy. Rarity let out a gasp as the glittering, jewel-like body of the gemstone instantly disintegrated into computer data, revealing a dull, lumpy gray stone.

“Ah don’t believe it,” said Starmon. “W-we really did come out here for nothing!”

“Not for nothing,” said Deputymon. “Y’all had done a mighty good job of fighting the other digimon living here, making sure you were busy destroying each other. In time you would have made it all too easy for Vespimon’s forces to come in and conquer what’s left of y’all!” His eyes turned towards Kari, narrowing into a fierce gaze. “But then y’all Digi-Destined had to come in and ruin everything! Ah would have blasted y’all to smithereens if it weren’t for you and that stinking danger sense of yours!”

Kari blinked. “Danger sense?”

T.K. stepped forward, his lips curved into a scowl. “So it wasn’t a mistake when you shot at us. You really were trying to kill us!”

Deputymon chuckled. “That Ah was. Nearly succeeded at it, too.”

“But you didn’t.” Allomon’s voice cut through the air like a hot knife. The ground rumbled as he stepped forward, baring his teeth. “You’ve not only failed, you’ve revealed your treachery to all of us. Now you have given us every reason to destroy you for your crimes.”

Deputymon laughed again, his gleeful chuckles turning into a deep, villainous guffaw. “And you think Ah ain’t come prepared for that eventuality? Ain’t no proper deputy that don’t have a plan B! Like so!”

With a single smooth motion, Deputymon reached behind himself. From seemingly out of nowhere, he pulled out a massive dark spiral, clutching it between his fingertips. Before anyone else could appreciably react, he chucked the spiral with deathly accuracy.

In less than a second, the dark spiral had landed onto Allomon’s arm. An earth-shaking howl erupted from his mouth as dark electricity pulsed across his body.

“Father!” Braveheart cried out.

Allomon’s eyelids screwed shut. Then, with a growl, they snapped open, revealing a pair of glowing, bloodshot eyes.

“Allomon, dark digivolve to...”

Wisps of writhing, twisting shadows vented up from the earth, encompassing Allomon’s entire body. As they smothered his form, he grew larger and more muscled, until he stood at nearly twice the height he had stood from before. The digimon from the nearby town backed away slowly, before breaking out into a full run, screaming as the they fled from the powerful, agonized roar. The Aquilamon could only watch in horror as their former chief morphed into an entirely unfamiliar shape.

His new body was similar in shape and appearance as before, a massive dinosaur with sharp, predatory teeth. Now, however, his feathered headdress had disappeared, and his entire body had body was a deep grey, with rusted red stripes, a white belly, and scar-like markings shaped like the letter ‘X’ over his chest and left eye.

“MasterTyrannomon!”

==========
Digimon Analyzer: MasterTyrannomon



Type: Dinosaur

Attribute: Vaccine

Level: Ultimate

Special Attacks: Master Fire, Master Claw, Hyper Heat Blast
==========

Braveheart looked up at the massive dinosaur, her eyes quivering. “F-father?”

“Your so-called father ain’t here anymore,” said Deputymon. He reached up and snapped his fingers, and immediately MasterTyrannomon turned his attention to him. “Follow the settlers back to the town and kill them. Then burn the whole town to the ground, for good measure. Think you can do that?”

MasterTyrannomon let out another vicious roar, causing all of the Digi-Destined to flinch from its sheer volume. With thunderous footsteps, he quickly turned around and began running after the fleeing digimon, in the direction of the town. Several Aquilamon attempted to fly in to intercept, but MasterTyrannomon simply swatted them all out of the way one-by-one, sending each of them tumbling to the ground as he continued on his path.

“He’s too strong!” Starmon cried. “Y’all are the Digi-Destined, ain’t you? Do something!”

“You ain’t going to be doing anything!” Deputymon shot back. “Because all your miserable little lives are ending right here!”

A second aura of darkness, much like the one that surrounded MasterTyrannomon, began to waft up from the dirt and surround Deputymon. Then, with a cry, his body transformed.

“Deputymon, dark digivolve to...”

The shadows enveloped Deputymon’s body. Before long, his shape began to change, the gun barrels that made up his torso twisting and expanding, and his head retracting into it as his form molded into a distinct, five-pointed shape. His body resembled a golden star, with a pair of arms and legs jutting out adorned with white boots and gloves, trimmed with gold and striped with brilliant red. Black sunglasses that curved upwards into a boomerang shaped adorned his eyes, and on the closest thing he had to a forehead was a single, gleaming diamond. Most notably of all, however, was the massive dark spiral that curled around his arm.

“...SuperStarmon!”

==========
Digimon Analyzer: SuperStarmon



Type: Mutant

Attribute: Data

Level: Ultimate

Special Attacks: Comet Storm, Galactic Eyes
==========

“WHAT IN TARNATION!?” Starmon’s eyes bugged out at the sight, jumping back so quickly that he nearly fell on his backside.

SuperStarmon let out a chuckle. “Looks like there’s a new sheriff in town.”

“Eh, five out of ten,” said Pinkie. Everyone else paused, giving her an odd look. “Hey, that line’s really cliched, I’m just saying.”

“Ah don’t care how cliched it is! Because y’all will be dead either way! Comet Storm!”

SuperStarmon’s immense, booming voice called out as he raised both his hands into the air. In the skies above, more than a dozen streaks of blinding light appeared, swirling together into a vertical disk as their bodies coalesced into a dizzying display of blazing comets. Then, with a downward thrust of his arms, the swirling disk exploded outwards, sending each of the comets raining down onto the ground below.

“Take cover!” Twilight screamed.

The comets slammed into the ground with explosive impact, scattering debris as they burst into shards of searing rock. All around, people dived for cover, though several of the Aquilamon were too late to avoid the attack. In an instant, at least a dozen of them were destroyed, their bodies splintered into fragments of data by the force of the attack.

As Twilight huddled to the ground, a fragment of burning rock passed by just over her horn, sending a sharp spike of pain down its length as its tip was singed by the heat. Slowly, she forced herself to stand up, her ears still ringing from the sound of the assault.

“Is everyone okay?”

Davis stood up and dusted himself off, quickly glancing around the area. All around, the others Digi-Destined and their partners were climbing to their feet, covered in scrapes and bruises. Nearby, Braveheart and Starmon were both lying unconscious on the ground.

“Looks like it, yeah,” said Ken.

“Blast Rings!”

At once, the attack calls of several Aquilamon cried out. Taking to the air, they surrounded SuperStarmon from all sides, concentric rings of lighting firing from their mouths. The combined impact of the attacks collided with SuperStarmon’s body, and he was subsequently enveloped by an immense explosion.

As the dust kicked into the air, another Aquilamon picked up Braveheart and Starmon with his horns, lifting them both onto his back. He looked over to the Digi-Destined, and though his gaze remained sharp, there was a deep sadness to his eyes.

“I will bring them both to safety. You must find find our chief and free him from the dark spiral. Please, everything we have ever known is in peril.”

As the Aquilamon took to the sky, Davis called out to the others.

“Come on, let’s go!”

“Galactic Eyes!”

The attack call was followed by a great red beam from the center of the dust cloud. It scattered to the wind from the force, revealing SuperStarmon to be completely unharmed. The beam shot forward from SuperStarmon’s eyes, racing towards the Aquilamon carrying Braveheart and Starmon, but another Aquilamon flew out and intercepted the blow. He let out a cry of pain, and was suddenly silenced as his body exploded into nothingness.

More than a dozen other Aquilamon swarmed SuperStarmon, circling him in the air, but the star-shaped digimon followed up with a flurry of optic blasts. One by one, the Aquilamon were disintegrated.

“No!” Yolei shrieked. Her body trembled, tears pooling at the edge of her eye. “They’re being slaughtered! Please, someone make it stop!”

“We need to split up!” Ken called back. “Kari, T.K.! You two fly out and take care of MasterTyrannomon, we’ll stay behind and deal with SuperStarmon!”

“Ah’ll head out and help, too! Pinkie, you’re with Kari, right? Why don’t you help us out!”

“No problem! Let’s get digital, everyone!”

The other ponies nodded in agreement. A brilliant display of lights shone from their digivices, and all at once they shouted the words of power as the glow enveloped their bodies.

“Execute! Harmonic Evolution!”

“Espermon!”

“Irismon!”

“TimberGarurumon!”

“Kelpiemon!”

“Shinobimon!”

As the transformations completed, the human Digi-Destined joined in as well, the light from their digivices glowing brightly as they channeled the bond they shared with their partners.

“Patamon, Armor Digivolve to: Pegasusmon!”

“Gatomon, Armor Digivolve to: Nefertimon!”

“Veemon, Digivolve to: ExVeemon!”

“Armadillomon, Digivolve to: Ankylomon!”

“Wormmon, Digivolve to: Stingmon!”

As the chaos unfolded, SuperStarmon continued to assault the tribal digimon that desperately fought to avoid his blasts, each being picked off one-by-one by flurry of attacks. Amid the confusion, both Pegasusmon and Nefertimon carried their human partners on their backs, heading in the direction of the town, while Shinobimon hopped across TimberGarurumon’s back.

“This is the end for you, SuperStarmon!” Espermon cried out. “We’ve got you outnumbered!”

A low chuckle escaped from SuperStarmon as faced off the remaining digimon. “Well, ain’t this getting a bit redundant? Do y’all even think a whole army of you folks could stop me?”

As Yolei watched the standoff unfold before her, her body continued to tremble softly. Dampness stained the edges of her glasses as she looked her partner in the eye. “I...”

“Yolei!” Hawkmon cried out. “We need to help them! What are we waiting for?”

“I...” Yolei let out a deep, shuddering breath. Sweat crossed her palms, and her fingers wrapped tightly across her digivice as she held it closer to her chest. “Hawkmon. Please, I...” She inhaled again through her nose, sniffling at the congestion that had suddenly built through the tears. “I’m just... y-you’ll be safe, won’t you?”

Hawkmon’s beak opened. His eyes shone gently beneath the sunlight as he met his partner’s gaze. “...Yolei. You know I would never leave your side. I promise you, no matter what happens, I’ll always be with you.”

Yolei hesitated for a moment. As she closed her eyes, she breathed in deeply. “...You really mean that, huh?”

“Galactic Eyes!”

“Blast Rings!”

Towards the battle itself, the attack calls rang mightily through the air. Though only three Aquilamon tribesman remained, they fought valiantly against SuperStarmon’s attacks. As they countered with their own bursts, several other attacks called out from the chosen Digimon, and the scene descended into a flurry of chaotic movements, explosions, and counterattacks.

“It’s now or never, Yolei!” said Hawkmon.

Yolei’s lips gently curved upward. “Alright. I believe in you, Hawkmon.” She held her digivice outward, pointing the screen towards her partner. “Just to make sure I don’t confuse you for those other digimon, let’s do this a bit differently. Digi-Armor Energize!”

A bright light erupted from Yolei’s digivice, enveloping Hawkmon in its power.

“Hawkmon, Armor Digivolve to... Shurimon!”

With a flying leap, Shurimon approached the scene of battle, brandishing his weaponry. Looking from afar, Yolei gazed upon the battle with tense, watchful eyes. 

“Please... be careful.”

————————

“Up ahead! Look!”

Shinobimon called out from atop TimberGarurumon’s back. Pointing a finger forward, she led the eyes of her companions to the image of the town ahead. There, MasterTyrannomon’s form stood tall above the buildings, his eyes glowing red-hot with rage.

“Master Fire!”

A stream of of blistering flames fire from MasterTyrannomon’s mouth. The attack swept across the town with wild abandon, and within seconds, the buildings around him had caught aflame. As they smoldered, several dozen digimon emerged; mostly Bakemon, but with a few others as well. One Bakemon, slightly larger than the others, floated forward and hovered in front of the group.

“It’s no use hiding! We’ll have to fight back! Everyone, swarm him!”

With a chorus of yells, the digimon charged forward, surrounding MasterTyrannomon from all sides. His body stood firmly planted in the ground as he was tackled from all directions, the bodies of the other digimon covering the entire surface of his body. As they crawled atop his skin, he let out a vicious cry.

“Hyper Heat Blast!”

A burning heat radiated from MasterTyrannomon’s body. All at once, the crowd of digimon covering disintegrated, blasted into oblivion by a shower of super-hot embers. Little flames rained out from MasterTyrannomon’s skin in all directions, scorching the ground and further stoking the fires that surrounded him.

“We have to stop him!” Kari called out from above. “The town doesn’t stand a chance!”

“Try to keep your distance!” T.K. called back. “That looks like that could hurt!”

“We’ll see if we can bind him!” said Pegasusmon. “Ready?”

“Ready!” Nefertimon called back.

“Golden Noose!”

Nefertimon’s anklets glowed alongside Pegasusmon’s, and the two digimon flew outwards, a stream of golden light connecting them. At the sound of their combined attack call, MasterTyrannon swiveled around to face them. A startled growl came from his throat as the noose wrapped itself around him, pinning his arms to his midsection.

As Pegasusmon and Nefertimon released the noose from their anklets, Shinobimon stood to her feet, standing atop TimberGarurumon’s back. “Alright, we can do this! Let’s go!”

“Master Fire!”

Another powerful stream of flame erupted from MasterTyrannomon’s mouth. It swept across the ground, heading rapidly towards TimberGarurumon, and she was immediately forced to dive to the side. Her coat and branches became singed as the flames licked at the air beside her. She tumbled onto the ground as she somersaulted away, sending Shinobimon flying backwards. The two digimon, now apart from each other, both climbed to their feet.

“That could’ve gone better,” said TimberGarurumon.

MasterTyrannomon let out another roar. His massive, sinewy muscles surged with strength at his cry, as he struggled against his bonds. With a loud snap, the golden noose binding him broke open, and disintegrated into nothingness.

“Oh, no!” said Nefertimon. “He broke free!”

“Master Claw!”

With a vicious yell, MasterTyrannomon rushed forward, claws brandished. With force enough to shatter boulders, he charged toward Shinobimon, thrusting his claw with the clear intent to impale her. 

“Ninja Spinner!”

With her sword extended, Shinobimon spun rapidly across the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust as she whirled in place.  Sparks flew as she was struck by MasterTyrannomon’s claw, retaining her spinning motion as she skidded backwards across the ground. Continuing to spin like a top, she once again rushed forward. MasterTyrannomon followed with a second claw strike, and Shinobimon was sent spinning backwards once again. The process repeated several more times, with repeated claw strikes clanging and grinding against the spinning of Shinobimon’s sword.

Finally, MasterTyrannomon gave one last downward swipe of his claw. This time, Shinobimon stood her ground as the attack collided with her spinning blade. Her feet began to drill rapidly into the ground, a noise like a sawblade piercing through the air as her attack ground against the claw, the heat force of friction sending little embers spraying out in all directions.

“Now’s our chance!” said TimberGarurumon. “Everyone, attack! Forest Fire!”

“Equus Beam!”

“Rosetta Stone!”

The three digimon aimed their attacks at MasterTyrannomon’s arm. He roared in pain as the projectiles converged on the dark spiral, and stumbled backwards from the impact, causing Shinibomon’s spinning to begin slowing. The dark spiral cracked, and subsequently shattered into countless specks of ethereal data.

MasterTyrannomon let out one last roar, and his body glowed, shrinking and de-digivolving, before falling face-first onto the ground with a massive thud.

As Shinobimon’s spinning finally came to a stop, her sword dropped from her grip, and she held onto her head with both hands. Her feet danced as she teetered back and forth, struggling to stand upright. Finally, she managed to steady herself. “Whoo! Talk about dizzying!”

“We should head back and help the others,” said TimberGarurumon. “Ain’t no telling how much trouble that SuperStarmon’s giving them.”

The others nodded in agreement, and began heading back to the hills.