Digimon in Equestria Folder 1: Agumon in Equestria

Chapters

File 1: Beginnings
File 2: Ambitions
File 3: Courage
Shaking Courage: Greymon's explosive debut!
File 5: Bonds
File 6: Mysteries
File 7: Trust
File 8: Fear
File 9: Regret
File 10: Heart to Core
File 11: The Ultimate Quest
File 12: Scattered
Sub File- Spike's Log- Entry 1: Captured
Sub File- Sweetie Belle's Laments- Chapter 1: Of Pefidy and Parting
Sub File: The Adventures of Apple Bloom, Part 1: Escape from the Sharkmen!
Sub File- Sunburst's Journal Entry 1: Captured Squared
Sub File- Scootaloo's Tottally Epic Journy: Chap 1: My not so epic capture...
Sub-File: Tales from the pit of Twilight 1: Rock Bottom
Spike log- Entry 2: My first contact with the griffons
Sub File- Sweetie Belle's Laments: Chapter 2: Of Distress and Duress
The Adventures of Applebloom Part 2!: A rather uneventful second capture
Sunburt's Journal entry 2: P.o.W= chroncler

File 1: Beginnings

My name is Connor Sanders. I’m a 25-year-old man with way too much free time on my hands as evident by me spending most of my time online doing… whatever has caught my interest that day. Sure, I have a job. I’m a web designer and programmer, but lately work has been hard to come by.

So! Here I am, snorting at stupid memes on Reddit and occasionally booting up my ps4 when that gets boring. Today was a bit different however... no, scratch that. Today was a LOT different.

I was doing my usual lazy surfing of Reddit when a sweet artwork of the OG Digimon team popped up.

“Ah man, that brings me back,” I mused with a small smile as my eyes fell on Tentomon.

Back when I was a little kid, Izzy was my favorite of the Digidestined (even if Agumon was my favorite Digimon), mostly cuz I could relate with him, being both an orphan and an outcast due to my… interests. Tech and all that had always interested me as a kid and the idea of a digital world and digital monsters just made those things that much more enthralling.

Seconds after this thought had popped into my head and I received a Gmail, “Who the hell messages someone on Gmail….” I muttered as I opened it.

The user name would be completely unreadable to most people, it was in binary, as was the message.

After giving a good look over and double checking (no room for mistakes when messing with code and binary) I determined it probably read like this:

Sender: Princess Celestia

Message: Greetings Mr. Sanders,

I hope this message finds you well. I’m afraid I can not say the same for myself or my people, or at least for our future. You see, I have received a vision of the future that centers around you. In this vision, you saved my-” I had, at this point, stopped reading it under my breath and started laughing my ass off.

“Oh man! This is a great prank. Gonna have to send this to a friend after tweaking the binary,” I said to myself, letting go of one more chuckle before going to click off the page… as an error message appeared.

“I wasn’t asking?” I read out loud with a dumbfounded look on my face. Immediately, my monitor collapsed in on itself as a dark blue, black hole… blue hole? Doesn’t matter, the point is I was letting out extremely manly screams as I held on to my desk for dear life. My lower half having already been sucked into the tunnel.

It took all I had to keep a hold of my monitor. Though, you must be wondering. Why struggle? I'm not entirely sure myself, maybe it was the fear of the unknown, a fear of being killed in a world not my own, or both. All I knew was that I was scared as hell and all I could think was:

“FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK,” Yeah... just that on loop as my arms slowly lost their grip on the desk. Not the most heroic of thoughts to have, but hey, when you get sucked into an interdimensional wormhole by the most powerful booty call in the universe, then you can judge me.

“Stop being so stubborn!” A feminine voice on the other end said.

“AHHHHH- wait is that Tara Strong?” I asked no one, pausing my screaming at the recognition of the voice of Raven from Teen Titans followed by a pain in my left arm, causing me to lose my grip. There was however, the sudden realization that I had lost said arm washing over me.

Scream.EXE has restarted.

“What wait no! Don’t release his partner now! He hasn’t cleared the data stream yet!” The Tara Strong voiced lady cried as I started flying backward. As I continued my manly screams of manliness, said fearful manly screams were quickly replaced by pain as I slammed into something small and hard.

The both of us screamed as I watched my remaining arm quickly rip part, stripped into simple 1s and 0s. The pain... or perhaps my body, simply ceasing to be caused me to lose consciousness.

And now we are all caught up.

“What are we going to do now, Twilight? He was supposed to be partnered with an Agumon. NOT FUSE WITH ONE!"

This new voice was the voice of a much older lady. She sounded pretty irritated... I opened my eyes and looked down to see two yellow, three-clawed arms. What she had said before decided to click in just then.

“Why am I an easily marketable yellow dinosaur?” I asked while looking up and glaring at the large white horse with rainbow-colored hair, a long-ass horn, and wings.

She seemed a bit taken aback as if she had just noticed me.

“Oh, my apologies. I didn’t realize you were awake. Greetings, I am Princess Celestia, the Prin-” She began taking a proud and regal pose, her introductory speech well underway… but nah bitch. You pulled me from my home against my fucking will. Fuck. You.

“Yeah I don’t care, send me home,” I say bluntly, gladly staring daggers at her.

“How dare you say that to the Princess!” A purple pony with purple hair and a magenta stripe in her hair shouted. She also had a horn and wings... does everyone in this universe have wings and a horn? Eh, probably not. Sides, getting in the face of a mini t-rex is not the best idea, she’s lucky I’m not a complete asshole or I'd have bitten her face off.

I then recognized her as the voice from the wormhole.

“Ah, Tara Strong... You shot my arm off,” I said, giving her an equally angered look.

Tara Strong the pony suddenly looked very apologetic before all of what I had said fully registered.

“Tara Strong? My name is Twil-”

“Tara Strong, yes I’m aware,” I say with a smirk, I have a feeling I’m not going home so might as well get some petty payback.

“That's not my name! It's Twi-

“Tara Strong.”

“Twi-

“Tara Strong.”

“Stop that!”

“Mmm... no.”

“That’s quite enough you two, it's time we got down to business,” Celestia, yes I'm ignoring her title if she ain’t my princess.

“Ah yes, sending me home,” I said, giving her a look of indignation.

She bit her lip before saying slowly, “I’m very sorry, but I’m afraid I... can't do that. As your original body no longer exists, your connection to your homeworld has been… severed,”

“FUCKING HELL!” I snap, causing the two ponies to jump in surprise. Sure, I expected this but it didn’t make it sting any less.

“I'm sorry,” She said worriedly, making a move to put her hooves on my shoulders.

“YOU'RE SORRY!? YOU RIP ME FROM MY HOME AGAINST MY WILL AND ALL YOU CAN SAY IS YOU'RE SORRY!?” I roared at her, although it was probably more like an angry squeak given my body. I was seething in rage, a feeling within my stomach suddenly flared up as I felt a rush of energy going towards my mouth. Unfortunately, I realized way too late what was about to happen.

“Pepper Breath!” I shout out of instinct more than anything, a ball of fire flying straight at Celestia. It was blocked as soon as her horn lit up with what I assumed was magic, blocking the attack.

“Mr. Sanders please calm down, you might burn poor Fluttershy’s home….” Celestia said in what I assume must have been a soothing voice had I not been so fucking livid.

Tara strong didn’t seem to know what to do, just watching me with a dumbfounded look on her face.

“CALM DOWN!? YOU WANT ME TO CALM DOWN!? SEND ME HOME YOU FUCKING WHO-” Celestia’s eyes went wide as I started to finish my insult before being smacked upside the head, it didn’t hurt but it did surprise me.

“NO. None of that, watch your language young man,” A new voice, another woman said.

I whipped around to see a pink-haired pony with a butter yellow coat,and just wing. Just as I was about to snap at her, I noticed the look she was giving me… those damned light blue eyes of hers... when I met them, I was filled with a feeling of dread. It was the kind of dread you get when you broke your Dad’s windshield and you know he’s gonna beat your ass when he finds out. I couldn’t help but tremble under her gaze.

“Good, now I believe you have something to tell the Princess,” She said, giving me a stern look that reminded me of my mother.

“I’m sorry,” I bitterly mumbled under my breath.

“For what?” the pony said, keeping her stern tone.

“For cursing at you,” I said, hanging my head in defeat.

“Good, now listen to what the Princess has to say,” She said, her tone a bit gentler now.

“Uh…” The princess said looking dumbfounded before shaking her head and regathering her composure, “Thank you Fluttershy. Now, as I was trying to say before… our world has been having trouble with creatures called 'Digimon' appearing out of nowhere and wreaking havoc. For the past month or so, the royal guard and the Elements have been able to push back these creatures, but recently a more powerful Digimon who calls himself SkullMeramon had appeared,”

Celestia lit up her horn, causing the world to fade around us and be replaced by an expanse of fields.The first thing I noticed was the battalion of white ponies dressed in gold armour holding spears. There were quite a few of them, probably more than a hundred by my rough estimate, with Tara, Fluttershy, Celestia (who was clad in golden armour and wielding a large warhammer in her magic, as well as at the very front of the pack) and five other ponies I didn’t recognize. One with fluffy pink hair and a pink fur coat. She seemed to stand in a firm battle stance or what I assume she thought was a battle stance when in reality she was just getting super low to the ground and looked ridiculous. To the right of her was an orange coated pony with long blonde hair and a cowboy hat, she held a lasso in her mouth and seemed to have much better posture then the pink one. Hovering to the right of her was a rainbow maned, sky blue pony, she had a smug look on her face but the nervous twitching of her wings revealed her smug confidence was just a front, and to the right of her, planted firmly on the ground was a very posh looking white pony with purple hair and heavy dark blue eyeliner. She looked incredibly annoyed. To the right of Celestia was a pony with a long horn and wings the color of the night sky, no not the smog infested black you see in urban areas, I'm talking the pollution free dark blue. Her mane was a shade of midnight blue with a royal purple highlight and her eyes were light blue like Fluttershy’s. She was wearing glimmering silver armour and several long silver swords hovered around her in her magic.

“They look prepared,” I said after looking the small army over.

“Yep, we even brought the e
Elements for this one,” Tara said pointing out the golden jewelry, each one matching the main color of the six poines directly behind Celestia and the other winged and horned pony.

“Elements?” I asked with genuine interest.

“The Elements of Harmony are our world's main defense against most forms of evil,” Celestia explained.

“They use the power of my friends and our friendship!” Tara said happily, giving the group before a big smile

“Oh boy… friendship ex machina,” I muttered.

“Hmm?” Tara said, turning to give me a curious look.

“Oh nothing,” I sighed.

This gave me a raised eyebrow from the purple pony but she didn’t say anything.

“And that,” Celestia said pointing to the left of us, “Is the Ogremon and their lackeys."

I looked to see a group of Ogremon (about six I think) followed by a large company of Goblimon. The Ogremon (incase you don’t know what they look like) are large green skinned creatures with devilish horns that point up like bulls, long white unkempt hair, and a large mouth that is always open even when they aren't using it, giving them the appearance of always laughing maniacally. Their knuckles are covered with small metal disks that are embedded into the knuckle itself, and on their shoulders pop out three claw like bones. They wear red leather straps on their left arm and right thigh, leather straps on their right arm and left thigh, and they wear black leather shorts, topping all this off they wield a femur bone of a fallen dinosaur Digimon as their main weapon.

The red haired Goblimon however were short creatures with the same sickly green as their larger comrades. They had brown leather opened vests with a metal stud running along where the sleeve would begin if they had them, they also wore brown leather shorts held up by a belt of the same color, their weapon of choice was a wooden club that had metal screws poking out of it.

They marched in a more concentrated mass then the neat ranks of the ponies, but they seemed far more confident, chatting among themselves and exchanging laughs like they were heading to a football game or movie. When they got within a few yards of the ponies, they stopped. This seemed to confuse the ponies. The digimon simply held their position grinning at the ponies devilishly.

A few minutes passed.

“Well what are we waiting for?” The rainbow pegasus shouted having lost her patience.

“Something doesn’t sit right…” Celestia said, “They’ve never hesitated in charging before…”

The pony next to Celestia looked at the digimon before shouting, “What do you expect to gain from hesitation, creatures?”

The Orgremon howled in laughter and the Goblimon giggled mischievously, but they all held their tongues.

“We’ve waited long enough, let us push these creatures out of our lands sister,” The dark blue pony growled, looking to Celestia.

Celestia remained silent, watching the digimon carefully, a look of confusion on her face.

“SISTER, what are we waiting for?” The pony pleaded.

“Luna, I do not think it wise to take action without knowing what they have planned, they may be brutes but do not forget, they are also quite cunning, or lest you forget why you are without a guard?” Celestia said, giving her a disappointed look.

Luna winced but remained silent.

“Don’t you worry yer purty little ‘ed pony, da boss will be ‘ere soon, den you'll have a good fight,” One of the Ogremon said before getting a smack upside the head by one of his fellow Ogremon.

“Ah, so you are waiting for your leader,” Celestia said, a smirk growing on her face, “Well, let's make sure they have no one to lead,”

Luna got an excited grin on her face, “Does this mean we may commence the battle, dear sister!?”

Celestia nodded, gripping her hammer tighter in her magic and pointing it towards the mass of digimon, “FOR EQUESTRIA!!” She cried as she charged the mass, the rest of the ponies quickly following with a battle cry.

The digimon let out a roar as they charged to meet the pony’s head on. A mighty clash of digimon and ponies commenced. The Orgremon held the frontlines, clashing with Celestia and her sister Luna. Celestia was able to smack one of the Ogremon off its feet causing it to let out a grunt of pain, but another Orgremon quickly charged her, its club swing being blocked by one of Luna’s sword. The Orgremon surrounded the Princesses as the Goblimon tried in vain to push back the ponies, the cowgirl using her roped to swing a Goblimon into another like a make shift mace, the rainbowed haired one pulling off some fancy martial arts and knocking the Goblimon around as Tara and the posh mare blasted away at them with magic, the pink one seemed to just being dashing around throwing pies as Flutteryshy stayed back and gave moral support.

“So good, I guess,” I mumbled.

“This is how it usually went,” Celestia said as her past self, helped by Luna, blasted the Ogremon away with a quickly expanding shield of magic. Celestia’s eyes however (both past and present) were locked on the now quickly opening hole in the sky, not dissimilar to the one that brought me to this world.

“Sister, move!” Past Celestia shouted, after making a realization.

A second too late, something large slammed into the grounds where the sisters had just teleported from. Smoke cleared as a tall figure stepped out of the small crater he made. He had dark blue hair that spiked up and waved in an invisible wind, an aura of blue fire crackled over him, viciously sparking out every so often. His eyes seemed to glow red like hell fire, and his arms were covered in many sinister looking chains. He had a large muscular frame and a metal mask that gave him the look of constantly smiling mockingly and wore black leather jeans with a flame like artwork climbing up for the bottom of his jeans.The thighs had four large rings on each leg that wrapped around the entirety of his legs and heavy duty boots with a metal skull emblazoned on the end. Having seen him many times in games, and once in the show, he had always looked a bit silly, but seeing him here and in person I could only feel dread.

Despite myself, I shivered in fear at the sight of him, as did everyone else both past and present.

“Hey there, my little ponies, name’s Skullmeramon,” Skullmeramon said although he couldn’t change his facial features I couldn’t help but feel he was smirking when he said that, “Now if you could so kindly give up, I might let you live... for now,”

Luna scoffed, “We have no reason to fear you, creature. we have defeated plenty of your ilk before, and we will do the same to you!”

“Oh sweet cheeks, you ain’t never even dreamed of anything like me,” Skullmeramon said, his eyes' glow increasing for just a second.

Luna scoffed, “We shall see how long that bravado lasts, beast,” She then fired a beam of magic at the Skullmeramon, the beam striking him dead on, but to the ponies horror, the newcomer didn’t even seem phased by the attack.

“That's all you got?” The digimon asked, by his body language he looked… disappointed.

Luna quickly recovering from her shocked, quickly snapped, “Hardly!” And brought her twelves swords to bear as she charged the digital giant.

Skullmeramon outstretched his hand towards Luna, his chain tightening in anticipation and his eye glowing just a bit brighter. “Chain of Pain!” he said with a sickening laugh as a strand of chain shot out, catching Luna by surprise and wrapping tightly around her wings and legs The chains then lit into a furious blue flame, causing Luna to scream in pain... Much to the enjoyment of Skullmeramon.

“More, MORE!! Let me hear those delicious cries of agony!” Skullmeramon exclaimed letting out a sickening giggle.

“Let her go!” Celestia snarled before releasing a blast of magic from her horn and vanishing into thin air. The blast, as expected did nothing, as Skullmeramon just rolled his eyes before realizing she was gone.

“Now where did yo-” Skullmeramon mumbled before Celestia appeared right next to him on the opposite side from where he was looking, slamming her hammer into his left temple. Not even budging him, this momentary distraction as he turned to look at Celestia did free Luna from the chains, allowing her to teleport on the right side of Skullmeramon slashing at him with her swords. The blades harmlessly bouncing off his skin and chains much to their disappointment.

“Impossible!” Luna cried shock and horror spreading over her face like a tide of despair.

“iMpoSsIbLe,” Skullmeramon mocked before laughing, grabbing Celestia by the horn and using her as a hammer to slam Luna into the ground before spinning Celestia around like a top, letting her go with such force that she sailed like a boomerang over the battlefield.

“She’s going going going, and GONE!! SHE OUTTA HERE, HOME RUN!” Skullmeramon said cheering, the Goblimon and Ogremon who weren’t caught up in fighting the guard stopping to do the same. He then did a victory lap around Luna, humming the classic home run tune. Luna got up from where she was lying, a bit of blood dripping from her mouth.

“Ready for round two sweet cheeks?” Skullmeramon said, stopping to leer down at her, his eyes brightening once again.

“No…” Luna said chuckling.

“What's so funny?” The digimon asked, perplexed.

“I'm not the one you should be focusing on, sweet cheeks,” She gestured with her head to her right.

Skullmermon quickly looked to see Tara and her friends charging some kind of magical attack, the Elements glowing with magic power.

“Huh, that's neat,” Skullmeramon said, giving Luna a kick, to send her back on her side, “Whatcha doing, little ponies?”

“Bringing an end to this,” Tara said with a smirk, her eyes glowing white as a beam of rainbow energy spiraled out, slamming right into the goliath of a digimon.

To their credit, Skullmeramon was staggered back for a second, but he soon began to walk throug the beam seemingly only ever so slighty pushed back by it before he grabed onto the crown atop Tara’s head, and crushed it into tiny tiny pieces. He stoodevelingg in the pain, shock, and most of all fear, on Tara’s face.

“Th- tha-”

“What? Speak up, doll face. That’s not possible? This can’t be happening? Tough shit, it is. Now here’s what's gonna happen now. This whole area, is mine,” Skullmeramon gestured around him to the rest of the area as he nonchalantly grabbed the rest of the elements and crushed them in the faces of their wielders before he stopped at Fluttershy, he got down onto one knee looking the absolutely terrified pony in her eyes.

“Ya scared, doll face?” He asked, his eyes glowing brighter then ever before.

She couldn’t even stutter out a word, all she could do was nod rapidly.

“Oh thats good, that makes me feel real good,” He took his right hand and grabbed her head in it, stroking her cheek slowly with his thumb, tears of terror began to stream from her cheeks, “Ya know, I have a real likin for purty things, might have to come back later and grab you up, you’d make a amazin pet,” Skullmeramon said with a foreboding chuckle before letting go of the terrified mare. Her friends looked on in rage and disgust. Tara and the cowgirl holding back the rainbow haired one, saying things along the lines of: “We’ll get’em later,” or “It's too dangerous to charge him now,” which the pegasus seemed to outright ignore.

“Welp this was... fun, I guess. You can leave now, I got some shit to do. I expect proper accommodations for me and my crew when we get to your capital, now go on and get ready to welcome your new king,” Skullmeramon said with a laugh as he walked through the now lined and amassed group of Ogremon and Goblimon, “Come one boys we’ve got a crest to find!”

“So far, all attempts to stop him and his gang of Ogremon have been fruitless. Things seemed hopeless until I was contacted by a man going by the name, ‘Gennai’.He offered his assistance in return for locating a “DigiDestined” to bring to this world, apparently no longer possessing the power to do it himself. As for how he lost this power… he said it didn’t matter right now, he then gave us a time frame for when the Digimon partner would arrive and when to bring you in. As you can see it… didn’t go as planned.As I stand, you can’t be a Digidestined because you ARE a digimon. Thankfully, the digivice found another Digidestined that was hiding right under our muzzles,” She said the last bit gesturing to Fluttershy.

“So are you up for it,” Tara Strong asked with a large, forced smile.

“Fuck no,” I said with an 'Are you serious?' expression.

“What, why? Are peo-” Tara said looking very angry.

“Okay, don’t get me wrong, I am on board for helping. Mostly cuz I don’t really have a choice now, but SkullMeramon is an Ultimate level Digimon, and I’m a fucking Rookie-level Digimon. He could kill me by glaring too hard,” I said giving her a cold deadpan look.

“Rookie… Ultimate… what are you talking about?” Tara asked with a confused but curious look on her face.

I let out a sigh, of course they wouldn’t know about that, “Okay exposition time….”

I went on to explain the levels of Digimon (using a portable chalk board Tara teleported into the house cuz why not) to the ponies who, to their credit, couldn’t interrupt. For those at home who are just as clueless as Tara and Co. Digimon are complex creatures that have multiple levels of “digivolution” similar to pokemon if you need a frame of reference.

It starts at the egg stage. Digimon do not digivolve from this stage but simply hatch into the fresh stage, which soon (after about an hour) digivolves to an in-training form which can take a few months to digivolve to Rookie (the lowest level that can actually succeed in combat).

After many years (depending on how strong the champion level for this digimon is, stronger = longer) they reach the Champion level. Then, after that, it can take decades if it happens at all to reach the next level; Ultimate. Despite the name, Ultimate is not the final level.

After centuries or some outside means, a digimon can reach Mega (at this point the digimon is considered a god in their world as Mega are unbeatable by lower level digimon unless you have a literal army of Ultimates who MIGHT be able to beat the average Mega).

Then there is the last level and the rarest as only a handful have achieved it and the majority of them are fusions of two Megas (a fusion or DNA Digivolving is much stronger then just slapping the two together and calling it a day. Most DNA Digivolution can beat hundreds of a lower level digimon in a single attack), I then finished this with a bonus lesson of the type differences of digimon. Virus beats Data , Data beats Vaccine, and Vaccine beat Virus.

“Dear God, that was some long ass exposition…. Let's never do that again!” I exclaimed while giving them a look of righteous indignation.

“What are you talking about? That was great! Your points were concise and to the point just as a teacher should be,” Celestia beamed, apparently trying to encourage me.

Tara could do nothing but nod her head rapidly in joy as she looked over her notes… Fluttershy then raised her hoof shyly.

“Yes?” I asked while trying to raise my non-existent eyebrow.

“So, if it takes so long for Digimon to digivolve, why did Gennai even bother bringing you in? No offense but it sounds like you wont be able to fight this bad guy for years!” Fluttershy asked, looking a bit defeated, this realization also deflated the other two, their faces now downcast.

“Ah, don’t worry about it too much. You got that Digivice right?” I asked, feeling uncomfortable with their sudden mood change.

Fluttershy nodded, taking out a small Tomodachi that was mainly pink with green highlights.

'Not very suitable for the Greymon line of digimon as far as colors go,' I thought to myself before saying, “That thing lets me draw on your strength of will to Digivolve, lets see… for champion, you need to be in danger for me to Digivolve and I need enough energy. For Ultimate you need to do something to prove your unshaking courage and probably that crest he mentioned, and for Mega….”

The trio seemed to hold their breath in anticipation.

“No idea.”

The trio nearly fell over in shock.

“What do you mean no idea!?” Tara screeched at me.

“Just that, I have no idea. The first time Tai’s MetalGreymon Digvolved to Wargremon was after they fulfilled a prophecy. It was pretty much a miracle,” I shrugged.

“Wait, the vision you had Princess!” Twilight said, getting excited as she gained a hopeful look.

“Will no longer come to pass, I'm afraid. The vision showed him as a human with a Digimon partner, seeing as he is the Digimon now, and his partner is Fluttershy, we can no longer rely on it for guidance…” Celestia said, shaking her head.

“Drat,” I muttered, “Oh well, we’ll figure it out eventually… probably,”

“Well… I must return to Canterlot, you two should seek out the crest Skullmeramon spoke of, and pray Connor’s hunch is correct,” Celestia said with a sigh, before teleporting away in flash of golden light.

“Welp, this is gonna get interesting,” I said, dreading the inevitable encounter with the ultimate level digimon.

Author's Note

If you see grammer mistake tell me what the mistake is so I can fix it asap

File 2: Ambitions

“Alright, it's time for us to get going,” Tara said cheerfully, grabbing some saddle bags in her magenta magic.

“Us? Oh hell no! There is no US! There is me and Butters over here,” I snapped at her, causing her to reel back in shock.

“What do you-” Tara said, getting a defensive look on her face.

“What I mean is, you shot off MY FUCKING ARM! ALSO, aren’t you the reason I’m trapped in this body? I’m stuck with her,” I said pointing to Flutters, “Because I can’t digivolve without her. YOU can go to hell.”

The two ponies gasped in shock as Flutters began to get that strange look in her eyes, that did something a few minutes ago, but I was ready for her this time.

“You know something nice about digivolution? You kinda need a bond of trust for it to be activated with the digivice,” I said smirking as I glared at her, “Which means if I can’t trust you not to mind rape me every time I say or do something you don’t like, I can’t digivolve!” This wasn’t entirely true, I could still digivovlve to champion and maybe even ultimate, but they didn’t need to know that. Anything I can use to my advantage here needs to be used. I’m not on their side... I’m on my side. They brought me here and now they have to deal with all the hell I’m gonna give 'em in exchange for tearing me away from my home.

Fluttershy realized the implication almost immediately and looked a bit ashamed, apparently these ponies do have morals...

“So... what? You're going with only Fluttershy? No offense, but she is useless outside of animal care,” Tara snorted, giving me a frustrated look, “Why not take a powerful Alicorn such as myself for protection and guidance seeing as I’m one of the most knowledgeable ponies in the world~”

“Okay Tara Dickhead. One, cuz you're a bitch and shot my arm off, and two, I can’t trust you after YOU SHOT OFF MY ARM!!!” I screamed that last part.

“You got it back...” Tara said sheepishly pointing to the wrong arm.

“Wrong fucking arm. And besides the point, I was LITERALLY attached to that arm. Oh, and thanks for putting me into a body that isn’t even remotely like my old one. Going from mammal to reptile... do you think that’s EASY to adjust to… ugh, God I feel like shit.” It was true, the reptilian feel of my new body was beyond uncomfortable. I didn’t notice earlier due to the adrenaline no doubt, which also means digimon have that… good to know.

“Don’t you think you're overreacting just a little bit? For the record I didn’t put you in this body, it was an accident,” Tara said, giving me a look a mother gives to a toddler having a tantrum. Oh hell the fuck no.

“How about I take off one of your legs and see how much you ‘overreact’,” I growled as the familiar burning feeling of my pepper breath built up in my gut.

“You're welcome to try,” Tara smirked, getting into a battle stance, lower to the ground.

My peripheral vision seemed to fade away, giving me the worst case of tunnel vision I’ve ever had, but I really didn’t care right now. This bitch was gonna get what was coming to her.

“PEPPER BREATH!” I once again instinctively shouted as a fireball was launched from my mouth, apparently catching her off guard and slamming into her, sending her through the glass window that was just above the admittedly nice dark green padded oak couch that Fluttershy owned. I let out a low growl as I dashed through the broken window, the glass trying and failing pathetically to cut into my scales. Instead, they were left breaking even more on contact.

Tara was not so lucky. Thankfully, she was covered in several cuts and had a few bits of glass jutting out of her body causing some bleeding, not to mention I had burned her chest area pretty badly. She whined in pain as she shakily got back to her hooves only for me to slam into her with all the speed I could muster, with me having just jumped out a window that was a bit off the ground.

Even though she was a bit bigger in size then I was, I was heavier, and thus pinned her to the ground. The look of fear on her face was delicious, I had no pity for her in this moment as I went to fire another Pepper Breath point blank...

“STOP!” Fluttershy said, right before something very large and hairy slammed into me. I was now flying through the air before hitting the ground hard, pain flooding through my body. I however quickly recovered with a snort, turning to face my attacker.

It was a goddamn grizzly bear... Never actually seen one in person, and honestly, I was a bit intimidated. Fluttershy was at Tara’s side, helping her back onto her feet.

“That’s enough! You won, you don’t have to kill her!” Fluttershy exclaimed, tears in her eyes as she turned to me, a mixed look of rage and fear in her eyes. A twinge of regret filled me, I… didn’t want to kill her, right? No, I wouldn’t, but I was going to… that last attack would have put her in her grave… the tunnel vision fully faded away and the heat that had been pumping into my veins vanished. I looked down at my claws, I had never blown up like that before. Sure, I was angry, but that wasn’t a reason to kill her… but a part of me wanted to. It REALLY wanted to. It had to be the new body… right? It wasn’t me, right?

“Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked snapping me out of my stupor, I looked up to see she was not talking to me but rather Tara.

Looking around, it seemed Fluttershy lived near a large forest in a tree looking house. I could tell it wasn’t really a tree due to the brick walls and smokestack though. The bear gave me a growl, which I returned despite myself taking a step back, panic beginning to set in. My body was actively moving on its own now... not cool. I didn’t like Tara, no, scratch that. I hate her… but I can’t justify killing her to myself, not even by accident. Which means… It was time to use the Joestar Family’s signature technique.

I ran the fuck away.

Where exactly? No idea, all I knew is that I needed to get away. So... I ran in the opposite direction of ponies and kept running, the grass crunching softly under my feet as I ran into open plains.

“Wait!” I heard Fluttershy cry from behind me, she was gaining and I needed to speed up. Which is hard to do when you're a three-foot yellow dinosaur. I could hear the flap of Fluttershy’s wings fly over me, seconds later she was landing in front of me and blocking my path.

“Where are you going?” Fluttershy asked, giving me a look of worry, no doubt cuz she still needed me to fight Skullmeramon.

“Anywhere but here.” I snap running to the right of her trying to go around her. Unfortunately, she is faster than me and she simply dashed to the right. I then tried going left and watched as she dashed to the left with me.

“Please, just listen to me,” Fluttershy said, sounding a bit frustrated.

“We have nothing to talk about. I nearly killed someone cuz my body is acting against me, and I don’t want that to happen again, so… sorry, but I've got to go.”

“But we need you!” Fluttershy whinnied in desperation.

“Did you miss the part where I nearly killed your bitch of a friend, lady?” I said getting fed up with being forced into the hero role, “And besides that, I have no reason to help you people.” I decided to be more direct and just push past her, she quickly cowers backward keeping in line with her name.

“But-” She began.

“But nothing, you guys ripped me from my home to fight your battle!” I growled looking back at her. I could

Fluttershy’s head hung low, before she jerked back up again suddenly.

“So you need a reason to fight with us, right?” She asked with a neutral look on her face.

I blinked as I fully turned around, “Well, duh.”

“Alright, come with me. I’ll give you a reason.” Fluttershy said, gesturing one of her wings to the right of us.

I blinked once more and looked to where she was pointing. There was a village in the distance, even from where I was standing it didn’t look to be in the best of conditions.

“What is that place?” I asked, giving her a quizzical look.

Fluttershy didn’t answer, simply trotting off towards the village. Having nothing better to do, and genuinely curious now, I followed.

It didn’t take us very long to get to the village, what we found there sent shivers down my spine. The village houses were black as if they had been burned, many of the walls being ripped through with long strokes most likely a chain of some kind. This was Skullmeramon’s doing, no doubt about it, Fluttershy walked to where a large tree house (a tree that was made into a house) that had once sat nicely near the center, now lay on its side, the inner house burned to nothingness.

“I made a lot of good memories in this library,” Fluttershy sighed, the usual shimmer in her eyes missing.

“So… SkullMeramon-” I began only to be cut off by the butter-colored pegasus.

“Destroyed the village and killed anyone who didn’t make it out in time or tried to stop him, we did our best to evacuate but… we couldn’t save everyone,” Fluttershy's eyes watered up a bit, but she shook her head, shaking away the tears, “There is somewhere else we should visit, but we’ll have to fly…” She said looking skyward.

I was hesitant of course, she could be lying to gain my trust or something like that.

“If you still don’t want to help us after our last stop, I'll fly you out of equestria myself, you’ll be out of Skullmeramon’s reach… probably,” Fluttershy said, giving me a neutral look.

I only nodded slowly.

“Alright then,” She said, walking over and lifting me up with some effort (I wasn’t light after all), and took to the air. My stomach lurched as I tried not to look down, I never was a fan of heights and Fluttershy didn’t seem to be stopping her ascent as she headed straight up into the cloudless sky. She didn’t seem to strain that much even though it was hard lifting me up, like she was secretly stronger than she looked as we neared the cloud village. A small part of me was racing in excitement… the same part that tried to kill Tara. This is going to take a lot of getting used to.

I mulled over these thoughts for a while, wondering how the hell I was going to reign in this part of me and whether or not it was aware of how much control it had over me. In fact, I was so deep in thought I didn’t realize Fluttershy had set me down for a few seconds until she spoke up.

“We’re here.”

I blinked and looked around, we were in some kind of cloud city, or at least I assumed that's what it used to be. Now it seems to be made into one of those relief camps that are made after a disaster that leaves people homeless. There were a lot of ponies sitting underneath tents, families huddled together, ponies sitting alone with a look of despair on their face and mothers soothing foals. There were ponies moving around from tent to tent giving out food and other such reliefs. It was clear that, with what Skullmeramon had done, they had been forced into exile, living as refugees.

“So this place is a relief shelter?” I asked, looking up at Fluttershy who nodded solemnly.

“None of the Digimon that have shown up so far could fly, so Princess Luna had the idea of moving all the ponies to Cloudsdale. So far, it's been the only safe haven for many ponies,” Fluttershy murmured, her eyes locked onto something. I followed her gaze to see the pink pony that had been with her during the fight against Skullmeramon, holding a couple of crying infant ponies.

“They didn’t force you here, you know, the ponies here, the people who, much like you, lost everything. Their homes and even some of their families. I'm not asking you to forgive Twilight and Princess Celestia for what they did to you, but I'm begging you.” Fluttershy turned to me, tears streaming down her cheeks, “Please... help us free our home from these monsters. Do that and I will do everything in my power to get you home. I swear.”

I looked around once more at the ponies, the pink one from earlier locked eyes with me, and for a minute I felt her pain through those eyes. I quickly looked down at my claws as I felt the weight of the sorrow around me. I couldn’t just stand by and let this happen could I? I mean sure, I'm still pissed at Tara and Celestia, but Fluttershy was right. These people had nothing to do with that, why should they suffer because two ponies fucked up? It's not like I have to make nice with Tara and Celestia either. I guess I would have to keep a closer eye on which part of me was pushing my decisions.

“Alright, you’ve convinced me. For now anyways,” I said looking up at Fluttershy.

“Thank you!” She exclaimed, her sorrowful look becoming one of joy… and hope.

“Don’t thank me yet, we have a shit ton of work ahead of us, and I’m still not certain on all of this.” I muttered looking around again.

“Right, so where do we start?” Fluttershy asked, still shimmering with hope.

“Not entirely sure myself… but I need to get stronger first.” Can’t just go rushing to fight an Ogremon and hope for the best. THAT would be stupid.

“So did Tara have any leads or anything she wanted to look into…” I asked the butter colored pony, who was now wiping her eyes clean of tears.

“Um, we were planning on heading up to the Crystal Empire to make sure everyone there was okay and to tell them about what's happening. Communication magic has been on the fritz, it was a miracle we got Gennai’s message at all.”

“Will she be heading there now?”

“No, she said she had something she wanted to check.” Flutters said, her hair waving a little as she shook her head.

“I see. Let's get some supplies and head out for this Crystal Empire.” I said, deciding that was as good of a start as any.

Fluttershy gave me a nod of agreement, and we got to work.

Twilight’s POV

I couldn’t understand why he blew up like that! It was just a limb that he immediately got back, not to mention the livelihood of an entire people should be far more important than a silly limb... but that didn’t matter now. He had gone off somewhere and my friend Fluttershy had gone after him. Things were getting worse and worse, but I suppose sometimes they have to be before they get better. There is no point in whining about it, I’m a princess for Celestia’s sake! Speaking of which, Princess Celestia wouldn’t be whining about her problems, or rambling while walking through a dark forest with the shards of what I was able to salvage from the Elements in my satchel…

I stopped in front of the withering frame of the tree of harmony. I had been getting dreams about it since Skullmeramon…. did what he did, and I had been putting off visiting because I was afraid.

“Hello? Tree of Harmony?” I asked, my voice shaking a bit. Silence was all that met me, for a good five minutes.

“Well so much for that…” I muttered as I trotted closer.

I casted a scanning spell on the tree, hopefully I could find a way to help it through that. Of course, the tree had other plans it would seem, as it lit up and began to… well I'm not sure how to describe. It was like it became ones and zeros for a few seconds as its form distorted. I quickly backed up as the remains of the Elements reacted by glowing bright with rainbow light.

“What is going on!?” I asked out loud.

The beams of light swirled out of my bag forming into an orb as the tree began to shrink down. The orb became a purple and magenta Digivice, and the tree became some kind of sky blue egg with a navy blue triangle pattern. The digivice then hovered in the air before me.

“What does this mean, what is this!?” I questioned, desperately trying to process what was happening.

A somehow familiar voice filled my mind, “A second chance,”

And with that, the Digivice fell to the ground. Thinking quickly, I caught it in my magic and clipped it to my bag before walking over to the egg.

“I guess we don’t need Connor after all.” I smirked as I took the egg and carefully placed it into the bag.

File 3: Courage

After Flutters and I had packed up nicely, Thankfully Flutters had packed some meat for me assuming that I was a carnivore, which of course she was right. We had done some idle chit chat, with me asking random questions like what the mark on her rear was, which had gotten a blush from her for some reason. Apparently it was called a ‘Cutie Mark’ and it was a sign of what a pony's special talent was. The next question I asked, of course, was what her special talent was.

“I can talk to animals,” She had said after she was done blushing, a soft smile on her face, matched by a far off look in her eyes. It was a happy look at first… but it soon faded to gloom.

“I see…” I said wanting to ask if she had lost any animals in the attack but figuring it was too soon to ask such questions. It might have come off as insensitive.

“We should get going,” She said quickly as she finished fastening the saddlebags to her sides.

I nodded and she picked me up again between her hooves. Taking flight, we flew down to the rolling hill below, setting down a fair ways off.

“Unfortunately, I can’t fly us all the way there. I'm not that great at flying and you're too heavy for long flights even if I was,” Fluttershy said, giving me an apologetic smile.

“Yeah it's fine as long as we get where we're going without trouble,” I shrugged.

“We would have taken the train… if Skullmeramon hadn’t blown it up…” Fluttershy muttered.

“Wait, you guys had a train?” I asked, that felt out of place from what I’ve seen. I thought I was in a medieval period world, this world just keeps getting weirder.

“Yep,and thankfully, I do have a good sense of direction and a map!” Fluttershy said, quickly taking said map out of her bag and fumbling around with it in her hooves, before realizing something.

“You can’t walk and look at that map,” I said, giving her an amused smile.

“Yep,” She blushed as she handed the map to me.

“Alright, so you said we were going to the Crystal Empire?” I said looking over the map, choosing to ignore the Las Vegas and Manhattan analogs, “So where are we on this?” I asked as we began to walk.

“Right outside Cloudsdale, it should take a few days to get to the Crystal Empire, a week if we are delayed by something,” Fluttershy said after thinking for a second.

“Alright then…” I said, a bit discouraged by all the walking now before us.

“It won’t be so bad! I can treat you to some of the adventures me and my friends have had while we walk!” Fluttershy said, trying her best to cheer me up.

“I guess that sounds fun,” I muttered, my thoughts quickly turning to how annoying it’s gonna be to hear about Tara and her antics for the next few days.

Twilight’s pov:

“Okay, so that was unexpected,” I said, blinking at the tiny, red slime-like creature with three little feeler-like things on its head, and big black eyes that looked up at me in wonder. I had taken the egg back to my temporary abode at Rainbow’s house in Cloudsdale. Thankfully, her home only needed a moderate amount of cleaning.

“Puu?” It seemingly tried to ask of me.

“I wasn’t expecting you to hatch so soon, I mean you were just made yesterday, right?” I asked it, making a quick note in the journal I had grabbed to keep track of my information on Digimon.

“Puu,” It said, rolling on its side to mimic a shrug motion, at least it seemed to be intelligent.

“Well… I suppose I should be grateful, after all, we don’t have much time to wait for you to grow up,” I said as I reread the notes I had made during Connor’s speech. He had mentioned the first three stages passed by within the span of a few days, but he neglected to mention how fast the egg stage went, although I suppose the in training stage lasting a few hours should have clued me in.

My thoughts were interrupted by the creature speaking, “Punimon Digivolve to!” It cried before being encompassed within a sapphire-blue glow that gave it the appearance of being covered in a weave of glowing azure gems. Its feelers merged into a talon-like horn that came out of the top of its head, and it took a chubby head shape rather than a round slime.

“Tsunomon!” The now self-named Tsunomon said happily, “Oh boy, oh boy, I digivolved! And it only took 2 hours!”

“That’s great Tsunomon!” I said, giving it a big smile, picking it up in my magic and hugging it close, “You're gonna be so strong when you're all big. That mean old Connor won’t stand a chance!”

The door then unceremoniously slammed open behind me, “And SkullMeramon too, right Twilight?” The familiar voice of Rainbow Dash called out from behind me.

“Yep,” I said with a smirk, 'But that can wait until after I've taught that ungrateful brat a lesson,' I thought to myself.

“Oh cool, it got bigger,” Rainbow said, having just gotten back from getting the various food types I had asked her to retrieve.

“Yep, it’s developing at a wonderful place,” I said beaming down at the small Digimon that now snuggled up into my chest like a foal.

“So, when do you think it’ll do that Digimicsomething again?” Rainbow asked, setting down the bags of food.

I used my magic to take the fruits, vegetables, fish, meats, and hay packets out of the bag.

“Now to find out what this little guy eats,” I hummed as she placed the vegetables, some kind of cucumber, in front of the Digimon.

Tsunomon looked down at the cucumber for a few seconds, apparently unsure of what to make of the veggie.

“What is that?” He asked curiously looking up to me with wonder in his eyes.

“A cucumber,” I said pushing it closer.

“OOOO,” He said with a sound of absolute awe in his voice as if it was the most amazing thing in the world, “Can you eat it?” He asked sniffing it before recoiling in disgust, “Apparently not, it smells awful!”

“Well, you won’t know if it's awful till you try it,” I pointed out to him.

Tsunomon gave the cucumber another disgusted look before taking a bite, immediately recoiling and hacking up the chunk of a vegetable, now covered with saliva.

“I don’t want to try any more pony food, that was awful...” It whimpered.

“Well you have to eat something,” I huffed, “Let’s try some fish,” I took the fish out of the packet and hovered it in front of him, jumping back when he hungrily gulped the entire chunk down in one bite.

“Oh yay! That one was really tasty!” Tsunomon exclaimed, bouncing in place happily.

“O-okay then, wait, why did you just eat it up…” I said looking at it quizzically.

“It smelled good,” Tsunomon said, trying to do the shrug motion, which was now even harder due to it being even more head like than before.

“I see…” I said, making a note of that in my book.

“So, how are we going to get him to Digivolve to champion?” Rainbow asked, and that was… an excellent question to boot... Although giving him a gender was silly, Digimon aren’t like ponies. They're just data constructs. They don’t have genders.

“Well, it needs me to be in danger for it to Digivolve further, so we could go after some Ogremon I suppose,” I pondered.

“Um, Twilight?” Tsunomon piped up.

“Hmm?” I hummed, cocking my head to the side.

“Am I… a real person?” Tsunomon asked, looking a bit worried.

“Of course you are silly, just because you don’t have a gender doesn’t mean you aren’t a person. It just means you're different from ponies like Rainbow and me,” I reassured it.

“Oh… okay! That’s good! I wouldn't very much like not being a real person…” Tsunomon said, his worry fading away.

“Alright, now let's get to planning on your third Digivolution,” I declared, confidence filling me as I floated a map of Equestria in front of us while Rainbow went to get more fish for our little friend.

Connor’s Pov

“FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK,” I said as I ran, Fluttershy just a little ahead of me.

“You don’t have to swear!” Fluttershy squealed in horror as we ran.

“Yes, I do!” I retorted, curving to the right quickly so as to narrowly miss being bit in half by the big red bipedal dinosaur Digimon right behind us.

“What even is that thing!? It just popped up out of nowhere!” Fluttershy screeched.

“It's a Tyrannomon, a champion level Digimon with an attitude problem!” I explained, trying to run faster as I felt the beast's hot breath on my back.

“Attitude problem!?” Tyrannomon snarled, “I'll show you, ya little pipsqueak!”

I felt claws gripped around me as I was pulled back toward the red Digimon, “Pepper Breath!” I cried, blasting him in the face. He let out a roar of pain and shock as he dropped me. Thankfully, the gap between Champion was large but not as ungodly so as later stages. I landed on my tush before jumping back up to my feet. I quickly turned to see that Fluttershy had stopped a ways away, but not far enough it would seem.

“Tyrano Flame!”He declared, launching a large swirling blast of flame directly at Fluttershy.

“Pepper Breath!” I said desperately blasting at the much larger fireball, my tiny blast being deflected easily by the blast, said blast soaring over me and nearly hitting Fluttershy.

“Just get out of here, go! You’ll just get yourself killed! I'll distract him,” I shouted out at her.

She looked like she wanted to argue, but apparently, her fear pushed her forward more than her regret as she flew off as fast as she could.

“Just me and you now, fat ass,” I growled, looking up to the large dino.

Tyrannomon growled, “I'm gonna enjoy killin' you, boy,” He took another bite at me I in turn jumped back.

“Pepper Breath,” I said, blasting him in his rightmost eyes, causing him to let out yet another ear-splitting roar as he staggered back, holding said eye with his right arm. He then began blindly swinging wildly with the left one.

“You little runt, I'll make you pay!” Tyrannomon roared wildly, letting loose streams of flames around him. I only narrowly dodged the flames by jumping back out of range.

“Pepper Breath!” I blasted him in the face with my fireball, this time it only seemed to stagger him for a second. He didn’t show any sign of slowing this time before charging me.

“Wild Buster!” An aura of intense winds cloaked him as he dashed at me. Even if I dodged the direct charge, the winds would still send me flying, which is what happened when I tried to jump out of the way. I was now on my back lamenting the difference in our power and skill as I felt a great weight on my lower body. He had pinned me with his foot.

“Shows over, kiddo, see you in Primary Village,” Tyrannomon said with a smug grin as flames began to build within his mouth. This was it... some hero I turned out to be. Being wasted by some random Digimon that came out of nowhere. I suppose he came from one of the portals, but that didn’t matter anymore. Funnily enough, I found myself wondering if Fluttershy would be fine without me. I hoped she wouldn’t get cornered by some high-level Digimon on her way. But my thoughts were cut off by a yellow blur slamming into the side of Tyranomon’s head, he was not staggered or pushed back (in fact the blur was the one that was sent flying in the opposite direction. Connor would have laughed his ass at the sight if he wasn’t about to die) this momentary confusion and distraction caused him to lose his flames. He turned curiously to where the blur had landed, as did I.

There was Fluttershy, getting back on her hooves, shaking like a leaf. Fear gripped me once more.

“Get out of here you fucking idiot! It's no use!” I screamed at her.

She shook her head, “I-i c-can’t just leave you here!”

“Okay then, guess you can die together,” Tyranomon laughed, building flames into his mouth once more.

My fear melted into a rage as a felt a heat, unlike anything I’d ever felt before, “NO! YOU WON’T TOUCH HER, AGUMON DIGIVOLVE TO-”

To be continued~

Shaking Courage: Greymon's explosive debut!

Fluttershy’s Pov

“NO! YOU WON’T TOUCH HER!” He said in a voice much deeper than his normal one, it was like an adult dragon's voice! It was really scary, but when he said that, I felt something in my bag vibrate. I had to quickly turn to see that the pocket I had put my Digivice in had started glowing.

“AGUMON DIGIVOLVE TO!” Connor shouted in that scary voice, his body glowed like he was covered in shiny orange crystals, he began to quickly grow until he was only a bit bigger than Tyrannomon. No offense to Tyrannomon of course. Tyrannomon jumped back, jumping off of him in shock and letting Connor get to his feet as he gained sky blue stripes on his tummy and a longer tail. The Tyrannomon didn’t wait for him to finish, he took a big swing at Connor trying his very hardest to hit him, but Connor was too fast and caught the arm, as a large sharp horn popped out of his nose, two arched horns popping out of the sides of his head as an armour like shell formed on the top of his head.

“GREYMON!” Connor roared, finishing his sentence as the crystal layer shattered around him. He spun around super fast, his tail slamming into the big meenie and sending him flying back. His helmet like carapace on the top of his head, as well most of the horns (with exception of the light blue stripes that curved around the horns) were a deep brown, his skin now a deep orange as opposed to his normal yellow. His eyes had also changed color, from that beautiful emerald green he had when he was an Agumon, to the intense red he had now, but the thing that was really scary was the huge row of razor sharp teeth he had now.

Connor’s Pov

I’ve never felt so strong in my entire life... power seemed to blast through my veins like a rollercoaster. It was intoxicating, but I didn’t have time to sit and just enjoy the feeling, I had a big red ass to kick.

I turned to Tyranomon who was just standing there in shock, “So… ready for round 2?” I asked, ignoring the change in pitch my voice had taken. Although it was weird to go from a high pitch to deeper than my original voice, now wasn’t the time to dwell on such things.

“Uh… Y-yeah, let's rumble,” Tyrannomon replied, seemingly still unsure on how to process what the hell just happened.

I didn’t wait for him to snap out of it and charged him full force. As I slammed into him, I hoisted him up with my horns and flung him up into the air, watching as Tyranomon soared into the air.

“NOVA BLAST” I shouted instinctively as I tried to launch a pepper breath… though it would seem that it's been replaced. Although the white ball of plasma was obviously much stronger, it was slower causing me to miss Tyrannomon completely.

“That was close, Tyrano Flame!” Tyranomon shouted, recovering quickly and blasting his fireball at me. Thinking quickly, I whipped around and swatted it away with my tail.

“Go Connor! You can do it!” Fluttershy cheered, I didn’t turn to look at her of course, but I could smell where she was, she was out of the way for now, but I should still try and end this quickly.

“I'm gonna wreck you, Greymon!” Tyranomon roared as he charged me head on, a perfect target.

“Nova Blast!” I roared, blasting another spiraling mass of pure energy, taking on the shape of a ball of white flames. Of course, even I could hit a target that was nearly right on top of me. It hit him with tremendous force, sending him back and onto his back. He began to static and I could swear I could even see his 1s and 0s as I placed a foot onto his chest.

He looked up at me in fear, “See you in Primary Village,” I snarled, “Nova Blast.” The last blast shredded him into nothing but tiny balls of energy that were slowly rising up to a now opening portal.

For a moment I considered trying to absorb his data, it would make me stronger in the long run, but… then he would stay dead. I decided this was not the way to go and let out a sigh of relief as I felt my energy burn out. I felt myself shrink, falling forward and onto my face, I felt tired as all hell and barely heard Fluttershy calling my name.

“Are you ok?” Fluttershy asked. I didn’t have the energy to look up to her, but I could hear the worry in her voice.

“No,” I said in a more exhausted tone than what I was aiming for.

“Oh your poor thing, um you can nap on my back for a little while, but you’re so heavy….” Fluttershy muttered, “I don’t know if I could keep a hold of you for too long,”

“Hmm,” I grumbled, “Lemme try something,” I brought the warmth I got before I Digivolved to Greymon to the forefront of my mind again, and mentally broke down what I had felt. Mostly I just remembered the flood of energy coming from somewhere near my heart, so I decided to go out on a limb and tried to shove what little energy I had left back into my heart area.

“Agumon De-Digvolve to… Koramon!” I yawned as a began to shrink again, “Oh yay it worked,” I said my voice making me sound like a baby.

“Aw~ you're a little pink baby… thing,” Fluttershy cooed, because of course she had to coo at me. Why wouldn’t she? Ugh, now I’m grumpy and tired.

“I’m going to sleep now, wake me up before we die,” I said with a yawn as I closed my eyes, Fluttershy picking me up and humming some lullaby like I was an infant, even if that part of me enjoyed it.

Twilight’s pov

“Alright Tsunomon, let’s go over this one more time,” I said, it had taken a while to get to this point. It was not the sharpest tool in the shed, though that may simply be due to being born today... I had been trying to explain our plan of attack on an Ogremon camp a unit of the guard had found a few days ago.

“Why are we fighting them at all, can’t we just be friends?” Tsunomon asked, looking up at her hopefully.

I scoffed, “Friends with those monsters, no, they aren’t the kind of people you can make friends with, Tsunomon,”

“I thought you said anyone could be a friend…” Tsunomon mumbled.

“Well they aren’t anyone so I’m still right,” I spurted out, knowing that wasn’t the greatest of counterarguments.

Tsunomon went silent.

“Well alright then, so we will wait until dark, you will probably digivolve to your rookie form by then, and surround the camp with the guard. After that, we should make quick work of them before they even know we’re there,” I said rather pleased with myself as it was a wonderful plan.

“Hmm okay… I can remember that, I’m glad you left all the big words out, like cirmumbence,” He mused.

“Circumference,” I corrected.

“See, big words like that,” Tsunomon said excitedly, seemingly excited to hear the word again. He certainly had a lot of energy.

“Well I guess we will leave the thinking to me from now on,” I laughed, Tsunomon blinked and considered this.

“I mean, I guess,” He said, most likely realizing that my intellect was far superior to his own.

“Well, then I guess we wait til you decide to Digivolve,” I sighed.

“I'm sorry... I’m trying my best,” Tsunomon said, drooping a bit.

“Well, you could try a little harder,” I said thoughtfully.

“I… I’ll try…” Tsunomon said looking down at the ground. Well at least he had a conscience, unlike Connor.

“Well, I could just feed you more, as energy seems to be a factor in Digivolution,” I said, breaking out my balance book from the bookshelf I had brought to Rainbow’s house, thankfully it was directly to our left.

“Now how much more can we spare to feed you…” I said as I didn’t want to spend too much after all, I doubt he would stick around after his original purpose is complete. Sunset did tell me that most programs end after they’ve run their course, so a Digimon should be no different, let alone an artificial one like Tsunomon.

And with that, I began to calculate my balance.

Several hours later, Connor POV

I felt myself being jostled around at an uncomfortable pace as I began to stir, my body felt bigger again, so I must have Digivolved back to Agumon in my sleep. Groggily looking around, I realized I was on a cart of some kind. Panic set in and I began to flail in an attempt to get onto my feet.

“Connor!” I felt two soft wings gently but quickly wrap around me, “It’s okay, we bumped into some of my friends on the way, we’re traveling on their cart to the crystal empire.”

I blinked and looked around the cart again. The first thing that caught my eyes was a small yellow foal with a long red mane with a big pink bow tied behind her head in her hair.

“Hiya! Mah name’s Apple Bloom, what’s yours?” She said, giving me a big excited smile that had an underlying nervousness to it, “Well, I already know it, but it’s only polite to ask,” She had a southern accent, funnily enough, making me wonder if this world had a Texas equivalent.

“Uh… Connor,” I replied, still a bit groggy from waking up. Getting shaken by waking up in a new place isn't the best after all. Although I probably should have expected it due to us traveling.

My thoughts were cut off by an orange pony with a long blonde mane that was tied at the end, she also had a cowboy hat, which I found hilarious but figured saying so would be insulting.

“Howdy, Connor. mah names Applejack. Yah've already met mah sister, Apple Bloom and that feller over there,” She pointed at the huge red stallion that was pulling the cart with a messy dark orange mane, “Is Big Mac,” I choked back a snicker, my mind immediately going to the Mcdonald's special.

Applejack raised an eyebrow, “ Somethin' funny partner?”

“Nothing, it's just… that's the name of a kind of burger where I come from,” I explained hoping that would prevent a misunderstanding.

“Burger?” Apple Bloom asked, cocking her head to the side, which was every bit as cute as a puppy. I kinda wanted to pet her, but I doubt that would be acceptable in this world.

“Uh, hmm, okay. SO! You take a patty of cow meat, and you put it between two slices of bread, kinda like a uh-” I said trying to help them visualize it.

Applejack's eyes quickly lit up with mischief, “A… beefcake?” She said with a huge grin.

“Eh, nope,” Big Mac protested from the front, getting a laugh from all of us, even Fluttershy had a chuckle.

“What’s a beefcake?” Apple Bloom asked a question that was swiftly ignored.

“Ah, yer gonna fit in just fine, partner,” Applejack chuckled.

“Eh, as well as a bright yellow dinosaur can,” I said with a grin, ignoring the now pouting Applebloom.

This got another chuckle from the cowmare, “So, I’ve heard a lot about you from Fluttershy.”

I tensed up a bit, “How much?” I said meeting her stare.

Her eyes weren’t as friendly as they were before, “Enough. Your tussle with Twilight and you saving Fluttershy’s life, in my head it evens out… for now. I doubt I can threaten you anymore, but Twi is still my friend so if you want me to help you, try not to kill her okay? You can get snippy, you can cus her out if you please, but don’t hurt her. She’s a good mare, she’s just changed a lot recently,”

Her request came off more like a plea than a firm statement, but I could see the fire in her eyes. I could tell I would have to fight her if I ever got in a scuffle with Tara again, and as much as I hate that purple bitch, I don’t trust it not to just bulldoze through her to get to Tara.

“The only promise I'll make is to try not to kill that bi-” I looked turned to Apple Bloom was giving me a quizzical look, Applejack was furiously nodding towards her, “Uh, Big nerd.”

“Nice save,” Fluttershy hissed into my ear, “Now watch your language or watch your food get halved.”

My other half was screaming at me, “WE NEED FOOD NO SAY SWEARS” And for once, I agreed with it.

Applejack sighed, “Guess that’s good as Ah’m gonna get huh?” she looked a bit depressed after saying that.

I debated telling her about it but decided against it, figuring I would come off as crazy.

There was silence for a few minutes. Apple Bloom looked at me fearfully but then got a hopeful look in her eyes.

“Even if ya don’t like Twilight, you're gonna save equestria, right Mr.Connor,” She said with her giant puppy dog eyes.

I wanted to say, 'I don’t have much of a choice now do I?' But instead, to my absolute shock it made me say, “You can bet on it,” Applejack gave me a look of shock, before a warm smile appeared on her face. I didn’t really know what to say myself, but I felt a warm resolve begin to build from my other half.

“I will not quake in fear, before the Skullmeramon, but I wonder, can you say the same?” A somewhat familiar deep voice said in my head.

I had no answer, so I silently looked out over the back of the cart, watching as we dashed past trees, rocks and the rolling hills. It was getting colder and I had a feeling things were about to get intense.

File 5: Bonds

Run, That's all I could think to do. I had never been so scared in my life! It was going to get me, it was right behind me, I could feel it right behind me as I ran. I ran through the forest faster than I had ever gone before, the trees seemingly leaning in to crush me as I dashed through, the creature’s heavy footsteps falling quickly behind me. I felt my foot catch on a tree root and time slowed as I fell to the ground.

I turned quickly, now sitting up to face the creature, a tall milky white skeleton of a demonic dinosaur, a single pulsing meaty orange something in its rib cage, most likely whatever passed as a heart for this thing, to top it off he had a huge missile atop it back.

“Skullgreymon…” The word left my mouth before I could even fully process what was before me.

The creature loomed over me, and I could feel its hatred gush out of it like a furious torrent, it’s empty socket burrowing into my very soul.

“W-what do you want!?” I managed to choke out.

Skullgreymon did not answer, he simply slowly approached, not seeming to be in any hurry.

“G-get away from me,” I said, scooting back as fast as I could, fear overwhelming my mind.

A demonic laugh escaped Skullgreymon’s mouth, “If you were worthy you would stand and fight...”

Before I could reply Skullgreymon lunged forward, his jaws clamping around my form. The pain was unbearable as I felt his fangs piercing my skin and cut through my muscles, I slammed my fist against its hard bones… Wait, my fist? I looked down to see I had a human hand... my hand.

The shock from all this caused me to wake up, not in a sweat cuz dinosaur, but nonetheless I was breathing heavily. I looked around to see I was in a tent of some sort, remembering vaguely the making of the camp and dozing off in the same tent as Fluttershy. I felt something soft and feathery drape around me.

“Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked in a soft, quiet tone as she pulled me uncomfortably close.

“Fine, it was just a nightmare,” I said, shrugging her off, as I stood up and left the tent.

“I’m always here,” I heard her call after me, but it was less of a call and more a whisper. I ignored it, better not to discuss the possibility of me turning into a monster. Well, a monster of the savage kind anyways. I looked over the campsite, finding the fire already put out and Applejack and her brother were packing the cart for travel. Applebloom was most likely still asleep seeing as she wasn’t up and about. Quickly losing interest in watching Applejack go over the supplies in the back of the cart, I lazily looked over to the horizon, tall snowy topped mountains looming off and in the distance still long ways off as far as I could tell.

“We still have about two days left, Connor,” Fluttershy said as she sat down to my left, “It won’t be much longer hopefully,”

I didn’t say anything, honestly, I didn’t know what to say. Half because I was still shaken from that dream and the other half because well, I had never seen a mountain before, not in person at least, and I know I was still too far to get a good look at it but it was still… breathtaking. I can see why some people enjoy sightseeing. Can’t say I enjoy the cold though, it nipped at my skin in an almost painful way, but the misty air did smell nice, apparently we were in a point where there's still melted snow, on top of it being early morning, so I got to enjoy that nice early morning mountain air.

“Connor, are you even listenin' tah me?” Apple Bloom's voice cut me out of my daze.

“Huh?” I asked looking at her with a look that I’m sure made gawk at by the vastness of my intellect, to have made such an astute reply. Ah yes the look of admiration, looks exactly like the glare of someone who is about to slap a bitch.

“I was tellin’ ya about how great tha Crystal Empire is!” Applebloom said looking exasperated, as she glared at me, but honestly, it was more an adorable pout than a glare, which of course made me grow the stupidest grin.

“Stop smiling it ain’t funny!” She said choking down a giggle at my grin, which of course prompted me to widen it slowly, my large dino jaw ever so slightly creaking open every two seconds, Applebloom bit her bottom lip to try in vain to prevent the inevitable.

“A!” I said as my jaw fully opened, catching the filly by complete surprise, she was soon on the ground laughing her head off. Fluttershy giggled, still sitting on the left of me.

I glanced over to the cart, making sure Applejack didn’t think I was killing her sister or something. Instead Applejack was holding onto the cart for support as she laughed, Big Mac wiping a tear from his eye.

“You guys are easily amused,” I commented as I chuckled.

“Nah it’s jus… I wasn’t expecting somethin' like that from ya,” Applejack chuckled, “Though I had you pegged as the overly rough, bitter type, uh no offense."

“After the incident with Tara, I can’t blame you,” I said, a bit annoyed by the assumption but I had no reason to hold a grudge against her for it, I did almost kill her friend after all.

“So you're just going to keep callin her Tara?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yep, she is Tara Strong to me now and forever,” I said adamantly.

“Why?” Applejack asked, looking both amused and confused.

“Won’t say,” I said firmly. It would remain my little in-joke.

“Okay, why?” Applejack looks a bit annoyed now.

“Because never knowing the reasoning behind her nickname will drive her mad,” I said with a sinister grin.

Silence draped over the campsite like a thin blanket.

“That’s messed up,” A deep voice said, the low baritone made me do a double-take before realizing it had come from Big Mac.

Everyone looked at Big Mac in surprise.

“Ah approve,” He finished with a nod, before hooking himself up to the cart.

Everyone’s jaws, including mine, slammed into the floor at terminal velocity.

“Why?” The mares, and filly, asked in unison.

“Don’t support kidnappers,” Big Mac shrugged.

“My man,” I said, giving him a nod of approval, and a big smile.

“As long as you don’t go one-upping her by killing somepony, I'll side with you on this one friend,” Big Mac said with a firm nod.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said shivering a bit, my nightmare resurfacing in my mind.

“You okay partner?” Applejack asked, giving me a worried look.

“Yeah, it’s just cold out here,” I quickly spurted out, she narrowed her eyes but didn’t push.

“Well pile in then, we’ve got a long two days ahead of us,” Applejack said, Applebloom quickly galloping up to the cart and scampering over the side as she hopped in. Fluttershy walked next to me as we walked to the back of the cart and found that the cart was about twice my height, so I had to grab the side and flail my legs until Fluttershy gently nudged me into the cart.

“I would have gotten in…” I muttered.

“Of course, but that doesn’t mean I can’t help you,” Fluttershy cooed because of course, she had to coo, make me feel even more like a baby.

“Hmph,” I said annoyed by this answer, this got a chuckle all around at my expense.

“You’re kinda cute when yer grumpy,” Applejack teased.

“I am a ferocious, bright yellow dinosaur. Ignore the adorably large green eyes,” I pouted suppressing a grin as I sat in the corner of the cart, the group had another good laugh and we were off. My mind started wandering off, as the girls engaged in the things that girls talk about, Fluttershy occasionally giving me a worried glance.

Twilight’s pov

“Tsunomon digivolve to…… Gabumon!” Blue light like thousands of sapphires woven together encompassed Tsunomon just a second before we were going to leave for the camp. He grew and grew before he was a small dinosaur-like creature with what seemed to be a light blue wolf pelt with navy blue stripes like a tiger. It had a large unicorn-like horn protruding from its head and had deep maroon colored eyes. Its most eye-catching feature was its strange light blue oval with pink markings on its stomach.

“Yay! I digivolved!” Gabumon cheered, jumping up and down happily.

“Took you long enough,” I remarked.

“Sorry,” Gabumon said, his joy melting into disappointment in himself. Honestly, I expected a program from the tree of harmony to have better processing.

“Welp! What's done is done, It just helps our chances now I suppose,” I said with a sigh, “Let's get going!” Gabumon nodded and together we headed to where the guards were waiting down below.

There was a group of around six guards, a standard unit. They wore dark purple plate armour with light purple highlights and a light blue gem that had a slit not unlike a dragon's iris at the center. They had dark grey fur, deep yellow eyes and black leathery wings like that of a bat. They were six of Princess Luna’s best and unlike Celestia’s guard, they were hardened veterans having been sealed in the moon with Luna long ago, only recently being released after Nightmare Moon was defeated. The problem was they were all moon blessed, I.e they were immortal as long as they never stepped into sunlight which would burn them horribly, I believe they were the true origin of the vampony myth.

“Princess, we are ready for the assault upon the invaders,” The lead guard said, drawing a blade that glowed with light blue aura, obviously enchanted. His companions drew their weapons, two more drew swords, the other three removed the crossbows from its place near their quiver and slid an arrow into it.

“Alright I will teleport us within 30 meters of the campsite, once we’re there, we will split into groups of two and surround the camp. On my cue we will rush in all at once!” I said explaining my strategy magnificently.

The crossbow wielding guards looked a bit concerned, no doubt worried about engaging Digimon so directly.

“Don’t worry to-” I began to reassure them before being cut off by a familiar voice.

“TWILIGHT, Don’t tell me you're gonna do this without me!” Rainbow whined as she landed next to me.

I let out an exasperated sigh, “Aren’t you supposed to be helping Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie with the civilians?” I asked, giving her a raised eyebrow.

“Pinkie's doing fine by herself, besides Rarity is helping out a bit when she can, and Fluttershy is heading to the Crystal Empire with Connor to see if the library has any info on those crest things!” Rainbow said waving her hoof in the air, “Besides I'm way better than any old guard.”

“Wait, you let Flutteshy go with Connor alone!?” I shouted, getting in Rainbow’s face, my anger building.

“What… uh yeah well she is his partner and stuff and well I just heard from Pinkie where they went,” Rainbow said, lurching back sweat dripping down her face.

“I… ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?” I screamed at her, “He’s a psychopath and a danger to everyone around him!”

“Well I-I,” Rainbow stuttered, while staggering back away from me.

“DIDN’T THINK, no of course not, Celestia forbid you actually use the poor excuse for a brain you have,” I growled, lashing out at the mare in front of me.

“I-im sorry Twilight, I just-” Rainbow said, her ears flatting to the sides of her head.

“Just… Go back to Cloudsdale. It's obvious I can’t rely on you, so go do something I know you can do, like rearranging water bottles or something! Anything, I don’t care,” I said turning my flank to her as I faced the guards, “Alright, let's go,” and with that I channeled my teleportation magic, and in a flash of white light, and we appeared thirty one meters from the campsite to no small amount of annoyance and embarrassment on my part. Thankfully, nopony else seemed to notice.

“Alright positions everyone!” I whispered, the guards and the Gabumon nodding in acknowledgement. I and my Gabumon snuck over to the three o'clock position around the camp and waited for the rest of our group to be in position. The digimon were sitting around the campfire, though what they were talking about I couldn’t hear and I really didn’t care as they would soon be data. When I was absolutely sure the guards were in position...

“NOW” I shouted, jumping up and charging head first into the camp. I could hear Gabumon struggling to keep up behind me before I let loose a blast of magic into the back of the head of one the Goblimon, it lurched forward falling into the fire and screeching in pain as the flames jumped onto him like hungry timberwolves.

The Ogremon of the group jumped, “Shortooth!” Instead of attacking me, he foolishing attempted to save his underling from the flames, grabbing him and rolling him in the dirt, “Yo-” before he could finish his inquiry one of the guards shot an arrow into his side, causing him to let out a roar of pain.

“FOR EQUESTRIA!” I declared as I blasted another goblimon with a blast of magic.

“FOR EQUESTRIA!” The guards said as they began to engage the Goblimon, cutting at the startled monsters with their swords.

“For Moqusitama!” Gabumon squealed, trying to match our intensity, and failing miserably, didn’t even get the name right…

I slammed into the Ogremon throwing him back as I pinned him with my hooves, charging a blast of magic. The blast elicited another roar from him as he slapped me away.

“You dare attack me and my sons!? I will crush you, pony!” The ogremon roared.

“Sons!?” I couldn’t help but laugh, “As if a wad of data like you could even dream of what the bond between a parent in its child is like,”

“Wow… racist,” The Ogremon said, seemingly taken aback a bit.

“It's not racist, that would imply that you're living things, which of course you're not. You are just digital constructs,” I retorted deftly.

“Oh Yggdrasil, you're one of those,” Orgremon sighed putting a hand on his head in annoyance, “Welp, there goes any empathy I had for you or the family that is about to lose you,”

“Try if yo-” I began my taunt but this creature had no honor and thus hit me back by charging me, slamming me out of the campfire as I felt his grip on my horn, pulling me up.

“You guys need this for your magic right?” Orgremon snarled, “What happens if I snap it?” The pain was unbearable, as I felt him tighten his grip on my horn.

“Blue Blaster!” Gabumon’s voice rang out, there was a thud and I felt Ogremon’s grip on my horn dissipate as something large fell behind me. I turned to see that Gabumon had knocked the Ogremon off its feet, thankfully the guards had just finished off the last goblimon and joined us for a firing line.

“Your reign of terror will come to a close soon, Ogremon. Never again will you terrorize helpless ponies,” I said holding my head high as we prepared to fire.

Orgremon got to his feet, gritting his teeth, before saying, “All I've been doing is taking my sons camping through a new world through a portal we found...”

“LIES, you're a servant of Skullmeramon,” one the guards snapped.

“Skullmeramon?” The Ogremon looked confused, “Oh hell no, I want nothing to do with that loon, he’s nothing but trouble,”

“But you're an Ogremon,” I snorted.

“WOW, so all Ogremon are the same to you!?” Orgremon asked giving me a sickened look, “I would ask if all ponies are this racist but that would make me the racist,”

The guards looked uncomfortable, most likely, due to a threat still in front of us. It’s not like anypony could possibly consider these things actual creatures, or alive.

“Well what are you waiting for!? FIRE!” I shouted, charging a blast of magic.

The guards did hesitate for some reason, “What’s the problem?” I questioned, giving them a quizzical look, the guards wincing. I thought these were supposed to be hardened VETERENS. I guess Princess Luna's guards aren’t all they’re chalked up to be.

“Nothing Princess,” The three archers said, now preparing their crossbows.

“Alright, FIRE!” I declared majestically pointing at the foul Ogremon.

Three arrows, and a supercharged magic blast from yours truly, ripped through the Ogremon as he charged us in a counter attack, but it was too much and he was now slowly dissipating into data as he slumped to his side.

“Well at least I'll see my boys again,” Was the last thing he said as he finally dissipated.

I then realized that Gabumon hadn’t fired, “Why didn’t you attack with us Gabumon,”

“Well I … it didn’t feel right….” Gabumon mumbled, oh sweet celestia what am I going to do with this program.

“Okay…. So basically, you're “feeling” sympathy for that thing. Look, they're not real. They're just data!” I said, giving him a warm smile. It didn’t seem to put him at ease at all, it looked down at his claws and looked up at me with a questioning look.

“Am I just data?” It asked, a simple question, that I really should have seen coming, “Uh well,” it looked at me intently.

“Of course you are, You are a special digimon after all." I said gritting my teeth, it wouldn’t matter if I lied to it, as long as it didn’t find out before its program finally ends. Just had to make it think I cared about it a bit longer.

“Oh… okay I guess that makes sense,” Gabumon said nodding slowly and looking a bit relieved before he looked back to where the ogremon fell. He looked ...sad? Surely it wasn’t capable of remorse, if so that would mean… no that's crazy. They're just data… just data. Nothing but ones and zeros.

“Are you okay Princess?” One of the guards asked me.

“Of course I am, I am a princess for Celestia's sake,” I snapped at him. My patience for these guards was growing thinner by the second.

He looked taken aback before calmly replying, “Of course Princess, my apologies, I did not wish to offend,” He said, giving a quick bow.

“Be sure you don’t,” I said, giving him a glare, “Anyways, head back to Luna and report to her, I will be heading to the Crystal Empire after some preparations at Cloudsdale. It will take a few days to make a teleportation circle strong enough to teleport me straight there.”

“Of course, Princess!” He said saluting before he and his group flew off into the distance.

“Why are we going there, Twilight?” Gabumon asked.

“To settle the score,” I said with a huge grin.

Author's Note

Gonna be aimin for one chap a week from now on, this isnt promise as mush as it is a personal goal

File 6: Mysteries

Falling… I’m falling? What was I doing before… I… I can’t remember. I can’t feel anything, I smell nothing but the rushing wind as I spiral down. I see nothing but the inky black void… I taste nothing but stale air and I hear nothing but rushing winds, and then….

I didn’t even have that. For a good while there was nothing. No sounds, no smells, no feelings, sights. Before long I could see an orange light… a light that glowed like a flame, I could feel the heat pouring from it! I could… smell the smoke? I coughed and spurted as I tasted the ash, but what I heard was not just the roars of the flames, but the screams… People were screaming, my eyes focused and I saw the city. Crates abound, burning, as ponies ran to and fro, fear in their eyes like I had never seen. I was looking down at them… was I flying?

“Connor?” A familiar voice asked from below me, I looked down to see Fluttershy covered in ash and blood.

“What did you do?”

I outstretched a hand instinctively, a boney arm was what raised… my arm…

“No. My arm, MY BODY. IT’S ALL MINE!!!” Skullgreymon’s voice snarled into my mind.

I woke up with a start again… another nightmare. This was the fourth in a row, the last two I had been chased by SkullGreymon… I guess he finally got bored. I had stopped sleeping in the same tent as Fluttershy, stating that it would be improper for us to sleep together seeing as I'm a guy and she’s a lady. I got Applebloom’s as she was fine sleeping with her sister, it was small but so was I so I didn’t mind it too much. Especially since it gave me a moment to recollect.

If this keeps going, I’m not so sure that I’ll be able to handle it, but it’s not like I can talk to anyone about this. My relationship with these ponies is on very thin ice and after my fight with Twilight I’m sure I’m in an enemy of my enemy is my friend situation. If they found out there was even a chance of me turning evil… I shook my head trying to clear these thoughts from my head, thoughts that had repeated every morning since the nightmares began. I needed to keep a cool head if I was going to get out of here alive.

“Connor it’s time to go! Wake up sleepy head!” Applejack called from outside my tent, “It’s time ta git goin'!”

“I’m up, I’m up!” I said, ironically thanking the nightmare for removing any morning grogginess I would have had. Sure, I still felt tired but at least I was alert. I got up and shivered once I noticed the biting cold, and walked out of the tent.

“Alright, pack up your tent and let’s get going!” Applejack said as she pushed the large bag that carried our supplies onto the cart.

I turned my gaze to the tent and set to work putting it back in its bag-like sleeve.

“How did you sleep?” Fluttershy asked from behind me.

I didn’t turn to look at her, pretending to be busy putting the tent away, “Fine, you?” A pretty good deflection if I say so myself.

“You talk in your sleep,” Fluttershy said simply, causing me to drop the tent before I heard her walk off in the directions of the cart.

I looked up at the cold grey sky, snow was falling slowly down to the ground taking its time to reach the ground. I turned my gaze to the mountain blocked horizon, and I saw a large sparkling city that loomed nearby. We were about an hour away from our destination. I was excited… but I was also anxious as something in my gut said something was wrong.

“Connor, ya comin'?” Applejack asked, a hint of worry in her voice. I turned to see that Fluttershy was next to her with a somewhat blank expression on her face, obviously she had been whispering something to her. Applebloom had obviously been listening as those big orange eyes looked at me quizzically.

“Yea… I’m comin',” I said, my nostrils flaring as I vented a bit of steam from my nose. That still feels weird, but it was starting to become the norm.

“Well, alright then,” Applejack said, shooting me a somewhat forced smile.

I walked to the back of the cart and grabbed the back of the cart and as I struggled to pull myself up, a yellow hoof was offered to me. I ignored it and with all my little dino strength pulled myself onto the cart. There were a few moments of silence.

“Alright Big Mac, let’s get going,” Applejack said awkwardly.

The ride was uncomfortable, to say the least. There was a silence that seemed to push inward like a tight grasp around my throat, but I didn’t dare break it, trying instead to keep warm. It was harder than it used to be for sure. An hour passed and Big Mac pulled through the sparkling crystal gates of the city. Ponies that shimmered as if they were made of transparent gems were watching us in curiosity. A curiosity which soon turned to fear when they saw me leaning out of the cart to look around. They began whispering amongst themselves almost immediately, some even running into their crystal-like houses.

“They sure do like crystals,” I muttered.

“Well it is the Crystal Empire,” Applejack chuckled.

I snorted in amusement before my attention was attracted to the large crystalline spire castle at the center of the city and our apparent destination. Honestly, it was quite the sight, reminding me a little of my trip to Paris with my family a few years back. That little thought of course immediately bummed me out, but I did my best to hide it by turning away from the group as the cart went silent for a bit.

“Can we visit Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle after we go to the castle, big sis?” Applebloom asked, breaking the silence.

“Oh, right. Almost forgot they volunteered to help Spike with his diplomatic duties!” Applejack said, letting out a chuckle.

“Spike?” I asked as I turned to look at them.

“Looong time friend of ours, he’s a dragon too!” Applebloom said excitedly, before looking embarrassed, “Wait, no yer a dinosaur, not a dragon.”

“I’m a human in a dinosaur’s body, yes,” I said in annoyance.

“Sorry…” Applebloom said apologetically, her head drooping and causing me to feel a sharp pain in my heart.

“Look it’s fine, you didn’t mean anything by it,” I awkwardly said quickly.

“He’s right, sugar cube! You didn’t mean nothin' by it,,” Applejack assured her, patting her on the back. Another memory of home surfaced, but I shoved it down well enough; there would be time for that later.

“So, there are dragons in this world?” I asked my curiosity building.

“Oh, yeah! They even have their own lands far to the west, it’s not very nice there, but the dragons don’t mind!” Applebloom said excitedly.

“To be honest,” Fluttershy whispered to me, “The real reason for the girls going to the Crystal Empire is that Scootalo’s aunt and Sweetie Belle’s sister Rarity thought they would be safer in the Crystal Empire. Applejack didn’t feel comfortable with sending her sister off where she couldn’t be sure she was safe so they the diplomacy duties were arranged,”

“Neat,” I said, it made a fair bit of sense to me. If these girls were as close as I assumed, it would be less of a hassle getting them to behave if they didn’t feel like it wasn’t their choice, I assumed it was brought to them as if they had a choice.

“Just wish I coulda come, but ma family needed my help on the farm,” Apple Bloom sighed longingly.

“Well, at least you get to stick with your family,” I said, though I must have come off as irritated because the young filly flattened her ears in recoil.

“Sorry….” She mumbled, her head drooping.

“It’s fine….” I murmured, letting out a sigh.

A few more minutes of silence passed.

“What was your family like?” She asked eventually.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I replied quickly, the scent of apple pie and the open field I used to play in my grandfather’s old farm coming to me. Worse still… I could still remember my mother’s voice telling me to wake up for school. Once again I turned away from the group.

“So-” She began.

“It’s fine,” I snapped, I didn’t really mean to, it just slipped. All this talk of family was starting to irritate me.

I looked around a bit more, catching sight of a few guards, they looked tired. Heavy bags under their eyes, barely held wavering upright spears, and sluggish movements… that didn’t bode well.

“You said the Crystal Empire was safer right?” I asked, turning to the cowpony.

“That’s right, there haven't been any Digimon sightings in the last 6 months the Digimon have been ere’! Ain’t that fantastic!?” Applejack said cheerfully.

“I think that that little record’s been broken,” I said pointing to the guards.

Applejack and Fluttershy’s eyes went wide in realization, Applejack’s attention being drawn down to Apple Bloom as the filly tapped her chest area.

“You think the girls are okay?” Apple Bloom asked, her eyes filled with fear and the beginnings of tears.

Applejack pulled her close and said, “Of course they are sugar cube, everything’s gonna be a-okay, they're with Shinin' Armor and Princess Cadence after all!”

This seemed to comfort the filly as she snuggled close. My immediate thought of that hug feeling really warm melted into a realization that the air around us felt warmer than it had before we reached the city. I looked up and saw a light blue energy shield that seemed to dome the city.

“How did I miss that…” I muttered under my breath. Cocking my head to the side, I realized it was harder to see depending on how much direct sunlight it was receiving. Of course, I started cocking my head to either side rapidly to amuse myself with this new thing.

“Uh… well we’re here partner, ya'll can stop having a stroke now,” Applejack chuckled.

I snorted out some steam and jumped out of the cart from where I was leaning on the side. With a thud, I was on the smooth stone road and just like everything else, it had a brilliant shine to it. This time it didn’t look like it was made of crystals but of some kind of really smooth asphalt.

“Ya comin', or are ya gonna admire the ground some more?” Applejack laughed.

I chuckled, “Sorry, it's just this city is so different from what I'm used to.”

“Yeah, it's somethin' else,” Applejack said, taking a deep breath before letting it out with a satisfied look on her face. After a few seconds, she cocked her head toward the castle in the universal 'Lets go' motion. My reply was a small nod as I followed along, Fluttershy deciding to trot close to me on my left. As I walked, I came to a startling realization.

“Uh, how are we gonna get up there?” I said pointing to the bottom of the castle as we walked under the castle which had no obvious entrance.

“There is a magical transport circle,” Fluttershy explained.

“Huh... neat,” I said as I stood with the rest of the group below the center of the castle.

Fluttershy looked upward and let out a whistle, a glowing white circle was slowly drawn at the bottom of the castle. The circle turned out to be a disk as it descended down to our level, after we backed up to give it some room, two sparkling pony guards with long spears, which they were barely holding onto with deep bags under their eyes appeared.

“State your business,” The guard to the left said in the most monotone voice I've ever had the displeasure of hearing.

“Uh, we’re here to see the princess, we need her help!” Applejack said after a few seconds of recovering from the shock, even if her face still told me that she was uncomfortable.

“Name…,” The right one said before yawning, and nearly passing out on the spot.

“Applejack!” She said a bit of pride before saying, “Element of Honesty!”

“You mean former Element of Honesty. I heard you guys got your flanks handed to you on a silver platter,” The right one snorted, before a frown came over his face, “Sorry that wasn’t funny… I’m just… nevermind you're on the list.”

Applejack raised and eyebrow but nodded, “Well alright then,”

“You guys look tired. Shifts been hard?” I asked.

“Nothing the crystal empire’s finest can’t handle,” The two guards said in perfect unison.

I turn to see Applejack, but meet Fluttershy’s eyes instead. I see that she shares my suspicion that something is up, but she seemed to take this moment of locking eyes to bore into my soul like she was looking for something, I turned away. A sound of satisfaction or perhaps confirmation coming from her.

The disk quickly floated back up to the castle, a feeling I likened to an elevator from back home, though a bit more unnerving due to the lack of walls. After that, it was a short walk through the long hallways and into the open windowed throne room adorned with crystal walls and royal purple drapes. Another winged unicorn, this one pink in fur with a long well kept mane that started with a very light yellow stripe before alternating between magenta and dark purple with the last three stripes. Her visage reminded me of the only other two winged princesses, Celestia the one that had kidnapped and force fused me and her accomplice Tara who had shot my arm off.

“Oh joy, another one,” I muttered bitterly, slowly turning to the fully armoured white furred stallion with a dark blue mane that seemed to have heard my muttering and turned to give me an angered look.

“Care to repeat that?” He said, narrowing his eyes at me.

“Oh. Joy. Another. One,” I said growling as I made sure to emphasize each and every syllable, I could feel the heat from my fight with Twilight resurface, but this time I shoved it down as it wasn’t able to catch me off guard. My vision however was still restricted a bit, my peripheral fading to nothing. All of this disappeared as I felt a firm slap upside my head.

“No, none of that,” Fluttershy hissed.

I snorted, the heat exiting from my nostrils in the form of small jets of flame.

“You’ve got something against ponies, friend?” The armoured pony said with an accusing undertone.

“Not all ponies, just ones with a horn and wings,” I replied coldly.

“Why you little-” The pony began attempting to take a step forward, being stopped by the pink winged unicorn, something about this pony was irritatingly familiar.

“No, Shining Armour, we aren’t here to start a fight. You're Connor Sanders right?” The pink pony asked, giving me… a look of remorse?

“Yep, how do you know my name?” I asked, crossing my arms as I awaited her answer.

She gave me a small friendly smile, which I suppose was supposed to put me at ease, it did not, but it didn’t hurt her case.

“My name is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but you can call me Cadence. We got a letter from the capital that told us everything!” Cadence said with a friendly smile.

I couldn’t help but laugh at my italian lessons after high school coming back to me (I had gained quite the interest in Italian after learning spanish in high school).

“Is something funny?” She said, giving me looking confused and a little insulted.

“I'm sorry, but in one of the languages I know from my homeland, your name translates more or less to, My love, Cadence or I love Cadence!” I said chuckling.

She blinked a few times before laughing, “Oh my that is funny! My name here means, boundless love!” She said. Maybe this one was okay.

“Huh, neat,” I blinked, “Guess that means there are quite a few different languages here too.”

She nodded, before Shining Armour fake coughed turning her head to him.

“Oh right! We’re quite glad you’ve arrived. We have a problem,” Cadence began.

“Digimon have been using guerrilla tactics to tire out your guards to make them easy pickings for taking over,” I said nodding, catching the Princess off guard.

“I was thinkin' the same thing, Connor,” Applejack agreed, “Guard ponies don’t normally look all tired like that, Ah reckon their attacks were a might too frequent not allowing the guards to get a wink of sleep.”

“Yes, that is correct, how they are getting past the shield, Celestia knows!” Cadence sighed, shaking her head.

“Then let’s ask her,” I said with a grin.

“What?” Shining and Cadence asked in unison before getting my joke, Shining rolled his eyes and Cadence giggled before giving Shining Armour an unapproving look, she then whispered very loudly to him.

“Lighten up a bit, they're our guests, you're being rude,” Cadence hissed, her brows furrowing.

“He tried to kill my sister,” he hissed back, cocking his head in the direction of me.

“She shot his arm off, besides we both know Twilight needs a wake up call, she’s been going crazy ever since Ponyville, you know,” Cadence snapped back.

“That doesn’t give him the right to attack her, besides look at him, his arm's fine!” Shining said a little loudly.

“Yeah! Because he was forced into a body not his own!” Cadence snapped, “So how about you stop treating her like a perfect little princess and see her for what she’s become, a neurotic heap of rage and desperation that snaps at the slightest bit of pressure!"

“She’s not the only one…” Shining muttered barley audibly.

“These guys whisper pretty loudly,” I said leaning over to Fluttershy and giving her a little elbow to join me in my chuckling.

“You can hear them?” She whispered to me.

I blinked, “Uh... yeah, you can’t?”

“No…. oh wait, you're kinda like a dragon right? I hear they have great hearing!! All apex predators do usually,” Flutteshy whispered back.

I mulled this over and chalked it up to yet another enhanced sense before the fear of pain arose of being enhanced came to mind, but I banished it as fast as it came.

“Sorry for the wait, there is something we need to show you,” Cadence said apologetically before gesturing to an opening door to the far right of the throne. Out stood an orange furred unicorn with a reddish mane, white boot like marking on the ends of their hooves and length of his muzzle matched with light blue eyes. In his magic he held a pale white unicorn infant with a purple mane with a light blue stripe that matched her light blue eyes, her comically large wings having a pinkish tint.

Then, I was shocked to my core as the infant had a pure digivice with pink buttons in her mouth, floating next to her was a long white serpentine like creature with a more fox like head with a tiny red tipped nose, black tipped ears, a golden ring around where its neck would be if it had such a thing with golden markings stretching down most of its body. Now, although I was a big fan of Digimon, I couldn’t be expected to know every last one of them, but I could infer some things about it. For one, it had a holy ring around its neck, this means it was a holy digimon and most likely as powerful as a digimon of a level higher then it. This one by its size and looks was most likely a rookie, normally I would be hesitant to name it as a rookie due to gatomon existing (a champion that looked like a rookie), but there was no way it had enough time to reach champion and then master it to the point of not having to return to Rookie. It flew over to me and gave me a warm smile.

“Oh my I did not expect to see an Agumon in a place like this. Greetings Agumon, it's nice to meet you, my name is Kudamon!” Kudamon said warmly, it had a british accent funnily enough.

“My name is Connor, and yeah nice to meet you,” I said, taking a step back due to how close it was.

“I don’t mean any disrespect, but as you surely know, it is tradition for a Digimon to be referred to by its species, as unless they are part of a family. Unless... Do you have a family?” He asked, excited at the possibility. It was an innocent question, he didn’t mean anything by it, but I couldn’t help but feel quite angry at the question.

“Yes I do, but unfortunately due to the actions of certain individuals, I won’t be able to see them again for the foreseeable future,” I said calmly, but something in my tone made the digimon flinch.

“Ah, my apologies. I had no idea, Connor,” He said with a very apologetic smile.

“So where did this Digivice come from?” I asked the Kudamon, turning to the child’s caretaker.

“From the Crystal Heart funnily enough, this little troublemaker got up in the middle of the night and we had to chase her all the way to it. Then there was a flash of light and Kudamon’s egg and this Digivice came out of it,” The unicorn explained.

“Anything else,” I asked calmly.

“Well, there was an outline of some crest before the digivice appeared,” He continued.

“Could you draw the crest for me?” I asked.

“I actually already did,” He laughed, showing me the sketch. It was rough and a bit off but I could recognize it all the same. It was unmistakably the Crest of Light.

File 7: Trust

The Crystal Empire was in flames. A roaring, vicious beast of a flame thrashed from house to house. It's very existence spreading a wall of pure malice. The flames were a cold dark blue tinged with a jet black. Looking at it all, I was larger than I was used to, but looking down at my right arm I saw that I was, thank whatever god was out there, not a Skullgreymon... Just a normal Greymon. I felt a familiar pain in my left arm… , it was gone and the remaining stub dripping with the crimson liquid of life. Shock flooded through me as I panicked and tried to stop the bleeding with my right arm as a peal of mocking laughter echoed around me. A tall figure soon emerged from the wall of flames in front of me. Skullmeramon looked up at me, boring into my soul through my eyes with his piercing stare.

“You can’t stop me. You're just a coward who wants to run home to their safe cushy life. You are not worthy of that power, so he will take it from you,” Skullmeramon cackled.

“He?” I asked, managing to sputter it out.

“Skullmeramon,” The Digimon said as bones exploded out of his back, blood and gore flying out of him as the skeletal form of Skullgreymon began to rip out of Skullmeramon’s body, now looming over me.

“You only digivolved from the ponies courage not your own. YOU don’t have any! And you will die, and MY power will go to that disgusting creature,” Skullgreymon growled.

“What makes him different from you?” I snapped despite myself.

The soul black eyes of skullgreymon, gained an intense red glow.

“You DARE!? I am nothing like that creature! I do not spend my days playing with ponies, I only seek out the strong!” Skullgreymon roared.

“Then why do you keep showing me burned down cities and dead people!?” I growled, meeting his gaze and trying very hard not to piss myself.

“Oh ho, now you pretend to be brave, but only in dreamland, where nothing can hurt you… physically at least,” Skullgreymon said with an amused snicker. He turned to leave, seemingly, before whipping back around and clamping his jaw onto my throat. I felt the agony of his sharp teeth cutting through my throat and the flow of blood as I lost my breath as the shock woke me up.

I felt an air of grogginess as I threw off the sheets, rubbing my giant right eye with my right arm as I slumped off the bed, looking to my left arm. Seeing that it was still there I sighed in mixed relief and… longing. I walked around the bed to the balcony on the other side of the room, walking through the curtain and on to the top of the moonlit balcony. I looked up, seeing the night sky of this world for the first time. It looked different from home, obviously, but not in a bad way. The sky was more of a purple with several intricately designed constellations that seemed almost like they were painted onto the sky using stars as opposed to outlines. The constellations were all ponies of various builds and types, two unicorns, two earth ponies, and two pegasi.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Fluttershy asked from my right, out of my peripheral vision. I turned to see her balcony was to the right of mine, with only five feet of pure nothingness between mine and her’s.

“How long have you been out here?” I asked, turning back to my stargazing.

“As I said… you talk in your sleep,” She stated.

“So I do,” I said, turning back to my room.

“You don’t have to deal with it by yourself you know, you're not the only one with nightmares,” She said in a more subdued tone.

“I’m….” I paused to find the right words, “Handling it just fine by myself,”

“Is that why you’re up at 3 o'clock in the morning staring longingly at the stars?” She sassed, with an underlying tone of frustration.

“Like I said, handling it,” I spat bitterly.

“Look, I know that what Twilight and Princess Celestia did to you was horrible, but you don’t have to take it out on me, I had nothing to do with it,” Fluttershy said, and her tone was quite angry.

“I don’t remember blaming you for anything, don’t put words in my goddamn mouth!” I shouted, turning around to face her.

She was taken aback for a second before a glare came over her face, “Then why shrug me off? Why won’t you let me help you?”

“I can’t say,” I replied, turning to leave. Fluttershy had moved quickly, flying off her balcony to grab my left arm and pull me back to face her.

“Can’t or won’t?” She asked as I met her eyes, they were filled with confusion, anger, frustration, and a bit of hurt.

“Won’t,” I growled, trying to turn again and feeling her grip tighten as she tried to pull me back once more.

“Why? You obviously care about me right? If you didn’t, you would have done what you did with that Tyarnomon! Why are you shutting me out?!” Fluttershy questioned furiously, sounding more like she was pleading then demanding.

“I wo-” I began.

“Why!? What are you so afraid of?” She asked again, tears building in her eyes.

“I just…” I ripped my arm from her grasp, “I need to be alone.”

I couldn’t look her in the eye so I looked at the floor instead. She was… quiet, but eventually, I heard the fluttering of wings as she left. A part of me felt… sad; secretly hoping she would return. Instead, my more rational side pushed me forward and out the door of my room and into the dark hallway of the castle. I decided now was a good time as any to go on an exploration, so I walked down the hall passing the guard who was patrolling this floor and gave him an acknowledging nod, which the guard returned.

Wandering the halls, my mind kept returning to Fluttershy. I hoped that my words hadn’t hurt her , but I wasn’t ready to tell her about my nightmares. I couldn’t risk her turning on me or worse, telling the others and they turn on me. So I instead tried to get my mind off of Fluttershy, hoping to find something that would kick this feeling of guilt. Eventually, I remembered something which prompted me to seek out the nearest guard.

“Hey, is there a library in the castle?” I asked the guard, who had been startled back awake when I approached.

The guard looked at me with a groggy stare, “Huh?” he asked looking like he was barely standing.

I felt bad for the guy, remembering the talks I had had with Cadence in the Crystal Empire group, filling her in on everything I knew about Digimon and her, in turn, filling me in on the goings-on in the Crystal Empire.

“The library, could you tell me where it is?” I asked trying to keep my voice low since the guy obviously just woke up.

“It's outside down that way," He pointed out, "It has a big old griffon statue out front. Can't miss it,” The guard said, almost interrupting himself as he yawned.

“Thanks,” I said, receiving an annoyed snort from the guard.

I followed the hall out of the castle, using the little disk thing which even someone with no magic could due to the spell thing that was put on it, you just needed to think the mental password, banana. I walked down the way, the library looming over me. With a bit of a pep in my step, I walk into the library, rows upon rows upon rows of bookshelves meeting me.

“Well, shit...” I muttered, my plan to try and find a book that would help me in finding a way home just got a bit more… difficult. I walked around the row in a daze, having no idea where to start. Thankfully, I could understand the written language of the ponies, as evident by the titles of the books being legible.

“What are you looking for?” A familiar british voice asked behind me.

“A book on inter dimensional travel, Kudamon,” I said with a sigh.

“Oh, okay Agumon, do you want some help?” The holy digimon asked, with his usual friendly tone.

“Again my name’s Connor,” I said, turning to give Kudamon a narrowed look.

“Oh, right. Sorry,” The Kudamon murmured, giving me a guilty look.

“It's fine… wait shouldn’t you be taking care of Blurry Heart or whatever her name was?” I asked, trying to raise an eyebrow that didn’t exist.

“OH RIGHT! I forgot, um… I'm kinda looking for her...” Kudamon replied, spinning around happily.

His joy was met by a moment of silence.

“WHAT!” I roared in rage, stretching my arm and grabbing him at the place where his head began and his body ended, “YOU LOST THE BEARER OF LIGHT!?”

Kudamon choked in my grasp, “Not… my… fault,” My rage subsided as quickly as it came, realizing I had let my other half affect my temperament again.

“Sorry, sorry… continue,” I said letting go of him, the heat in my gut receding.

“She snuck out, or at least I think she did. I don’t really know how she got out on her own, Starburst put a protective spell to make it to where she can’t leave by herself,” Kudamon explained after clearing his throat with a cough.

I yawn, before grumbling, “What about something coming in from the outside?”

“Huh?” Kudamon asked, not hearing what I said.

“What about something coming in from the outside,” I repeated louder than my normal voice, guess I was groggier than I thought.

“I didn’t think of that. I tried to wake up Sunburst but he didn’t want to be woken up,” Kudamon said thoughtfully.

“Hmm sounds more like a kidnapping,” I muttered, before it clicked.

“MOTHER-,” I growled, “Okay, so we got some bad Digimon to hunt,”

“Oh! Can we join!” A male voice asked to the right of us.

I turned to see a group of four, an orange pegasus with purple hair, a white furred unicorn with a spiral purple and pink mane, the one up front was a purple lizard looking thing with a green underbelly and green fin like things in place of ears, the last one I recognized was Apple Bloom.

“And you are?” I asked with a more irritated tone than I intended, gesturing to the three I hadn’t met.

“Spike the dragon! And these are my friends Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle!” Spike said puffing his chest out proudly.

“You're a dragon?” I asked and blinked. He barely looked like one, but on closer inspection he did have more dragon then lizard traits, “Are you a wyrmling or something?”

“Wyrmling?” Spike said, giving me a confused but curious look.

“A young dragon that can not be classified as a hatchling but isn’t old enough or grown enough to be considered a full dragon,” I clarified.

“I guess?” Spike seemed to think that over for a second before taking offense, “I am a full dragon though!”

“Not without wings, you're not,” I snorted.

Spike was taken aback by this, Scootoloo jumping to his defense.

“Spike is just as much a dragon as any other dragon!” Scootaloo snapped at me.

“I never said he wasn’t a dragon, I simply said he isn't a full dragon, meaning he can’t be considered a fully fledged dragon yet,” I said, giving the young filly an annoyed glance.

“What does that even mean?” Apple Bloom said, looking very irritated with me.

“It means he hasn’t earned the title of dragon yet! Dragons are creatures of legend, beasts of immeasurable size and power and feared and respected by all things. To be a dragon is to be the personification of power and regality itself,” I explained, my Digimon side seemingly choosing the words, taking great pride in our draconic blood.

“Oh,” They said in almost unison, looking down at the ground for a second in thought.

After a long moment of silence Spike piped up, “Do you think I'll ever be a true dragon?” Looking at me with hope filled eyes.

“No idea. I don’t know you that well, but if it makes you feel better I'm sure you will make it there eventually,” I said waving off his concern. This didn’t seem to put the dragon at ease but if he had further concerns he didn’t voice them.

“Anyways…..” Apple Bloom began trying to break the awkward silence, “If Flurry Heart is in danger we want to help!”

“Yeah!” The other three exclaimed, their eyes lighting up in excitement.

“Okay, here is how you can help, go get Fluttershy,” I said bluntly.

“But-” they began.

“No buts, you all look around 12 years old, and there is no way in hell that I'm letting you come with me when I know for a fact there is gonna be a tussle with some dangerous digimon,” I snapped.

“13,” Spike muttered under his breath.

“Still a minor, now turn your little hineys around and go get Flutters,” I snapped, causing the group to flinch.

“Should we get the Princess as well?” Sweetie asked.

I went to say no then remembered it was her daughter we were rescuing, “Eh, might be trouble later for me if you don’t, also she might actually be good in a fight,”

The kiddies nodded then ran to the castle.

“Welp looks like my midnight study session is over,” I growled in frustration.

Kudamon gave me a worried look, “Why were you up this late anyways, I thought Agumons like you slept during the night?”

“I have my reasons,” I said bluntly as I turned away from him.

Before he could reply, a flash of pink light appeared in front of us as Cadence, Shining Armor, and Fluttershy all stood looking on the edge as hell.

“Those little shits work fast,” I mused smiling for the first time in a few days.

Fluttershy seemed to catch this, giving me a look I couldn't quite pin. It was definitely a mix of a bunch of emotions to be sure.

Cadence however only had fear and rage on her face, “Those Digimon have gone too far this time,” She growled, “I'll tear my foal from their lifeless corpses if I have too!”

Everyone just kinda gave her creeped out looks for a few seconds after that.

“Why are we just standing here!?” She snapped, obviously on edge.

“Uh... right! So how are we going to find them in the first place?” Shining Armor spoke up, “Kudamon did you see anything?”

“Nope! I remember stargazing out the window and suddenly, WHAM!! I was asleep and when I woke up, Flurry was gone!” Kudamon replied looking quite embarrassed.

“Okay, so the holy noodle got jumped, the foalnapper fled the scene and got the fuck out of dodge, most likely out of inense fear of mama coming down on their asses. Do we know which direction the Digimon come from usually?” I asked, after piecing together what we knew.

“Holy Noodle,” Kudamon muttered in confusion as the other three suppressed their laughter.

“No, they usually surround the city in a tight circle and just pop up out of the snow around the city. The barrier stops the smaller ones, but the big ones are able to force holes in the shield for the smaller ones to get through, but we would have felt if they did that!” Shining Armour explained looking stumped.

“Does the shield defend against tunnels?” Kudamon offered, little guy is sharper than he looks.

“Well no, but our guards would have easily discovered any tunnel entrances, and we surely would have heard them digging,” Cadence said confidently.

“Unless you're too tired to bother looking properly, or too focused on a battle to even hear someone digging,” I pointed out.

The ponies went silent as realization washed over them.

“So that was what they were planning….” Cadence muttered.

“We assumed they were just trying to wear us down with frequent raids, but…” Shining Armour trailed off.

“You're assuming they only had one plan,” Fluttershy piped up.

“I agree with Butters, the best tacticians have multiple plans of victory. while the tunnel may have been the main focus, the raids also had the possibility of giving them what they wanted.” I explained.

“You people seem to be well studied in the art of warfare. I regret that ponies don’t have nearly as much experience, but only because we find ourselves at war with the Digimon,” Cadence said, looking impressed.

“My people… have had a lot of practice,” I put lightly.

The group just gave me a look of worry.

“How much practice?” Fluttershy asked innocently.

“Enough to run your rivers red with blood,” I said darkly.

Horror washed over their face for a good ten seconds.

“ANYWAY!” Cadence said panicky changing the subject, “We can assume we are dealing with an intelligent Digimon, most likely Skullmeram-”

“No,” I cut her off.

“What?” Cadence asked, giving me a look of confusion and annoyance that I had cut her off.

“Why not!?” Shining snapped.

“This isn’t his m-o,” I said plainly.

“What do you mean?” Kudamon asked.

“Simply put, he doesn’t seem to care much for long thought out plans. He attacks a place with all his might, burns it to the ground, then gloats about it to his boys. He’s a gangster and a punk, not a taction. That's not saying he isn’t smart, he just doesn’t seem like the kinda guy to play the long game. If this was him, he would be in our faces letting us know it was him,” I said holding a claw under my chin in thought.

“Then who?” Kudamon asked with a worried tone.

“No idea, but whoever they are, they are a bigger threat than Skullmeramon could ever be… cuz they just won,” I said, my words returning the looks of horror to their faces.

Meanwhile in an undisclosed location

“Oh my goodness this is getting exciting, isn’t it old pal!?” A creature that was a mishmash of various creatures said gleefully as he watched the scene through a one viewing spell. “When you said, Discord you should join me it will be so much fun, you weren’t kidding!”

Discord clapped in glee, before suddenly turning to his companion, who sat on a regal throne, his features hidden in the dark.

“What's that? Oh, you're not even getting started? How wonder-” Discord went quiet in surprise, “Oh yes,” An evil smile grew on Discords face, “Oh don’t worry, that can be most certainly arranged,” He said swiping at the viewing portal to the image of Twilight Sparkle drawing a magic circle as Gabumon watched intently.

“She won’t know what hit her!” Discord grinned.

File 8: Fear

“What are you talking about? They couldn’t have gotten too far, right!?” Shining Armor protested.

“Yeah, we still have a chance!” Cadance agreed, giving her husband a nod.

“If they have a flying Digimon, probably not,” sighed, shaking my head.

“Well no flying Digimon have come to our world as far as we know! In any case, we should at least try!” Fluttershy said giving me a look, her eyes begging me to agree.

“I'm with them, if there is even the slimmest chance for this to work we should take it!” Kudamon piped up, flying to Fluttershy’s side.

“Alright fine, but keep in mind this might be a trap,” I said, irritated.

“Besides I don’t see how you could say they’ve already won from just getting Flurry,” Shining Armour snorted, getting a glare from Cadence, causing him to flinch.

“Without all the Digidestined I doubt we’ll be able to stop whoever took her in the first place. Furthermore, the crest of light has always had a special importance to it, even among the other crests. Liken it to your element of magic if you need a reference,” I explained as we rushed out of the library.

“Right, so it's like the Elements, we will need all these crests things in order to win in the end?” Cadence asked as we dashed through the streets of Canterlot.

“Probably,” I nodded looking around for any holes.

Kudamon flew higher into the air with Fluttershy and Cadance and began looking for the air, Shining, and my-self searched the ground.

“You know I'm really starting to hate your guts,” Shining hissed at me just quiet enough so his dear wife couldn’t hear.

“Oh,” I replied coldly, I’m beginning to think being a cunt runs in the family.

“First you attack my little sister for little to no reason, then you almost refuse to help us save a foal, not to mention from what I’ve heard you have no respect for authority,” He snapped shooting me a glare over his shoulder.

“One, your dear little sister shot off my arm. Two, I’m not the kind of guy to enjoy rushing into an obvious trap, and three! Your “authority” hasn’t earned my respect,” I said, answering with a monotone voice as I looked around.

“Oh shut the buck up, you got it back almost immediately!" He argued, "You're just being a whiny little brat about it. Besides, according to her, she wasn't even aiming for your arm, you were being a coward and refusing to let go of your desk so she shot a blast to scare you into letting go. Second, that's no excuse not to run for a foal’s rescue and third, our princesses are hundreds of years old, so I think that deser-'' Shining began.

I punched him in the face. It was good for my soul.

“What the hell is wrong with you!” He growled as he got off his side from where I had knocked him down.

“Are all unicorns sociopaths or is your family just special?” I snapped looking up at him straight into his eyes.

“Well I'll have you know unicorns are extremly logical beings that don’t get caught up in stupid shit that gets immediately fixed and unlike psychopaths like you, we care about foals!” Shining Armor growled.

“That’s one hell of an assumption there Shiny, so I'm gonna ask you one simple question and I want you to answer honestly, m’kay?” I asked a familiar heat building in my gut as I tried to keep a blank expression.

“Sure go for it,” Shiny said gritting his teeth.

“What would happen if I died? Ya know, me. YOUR last hope to stop Skullmeramon, the person your princess and sister ripped from his home for the sole purpose of making him fight a war for them he had nothing to do with?” I asked, my monotone gaining an underlying tone of annoyance.

Shining Armor was stunned into silence.

“I but-, WAIT, Twilight has a digimon partner she said so in a letter!” He said gaining a stupid grin as if he had just won.

“She’ll never reach the champion level, let alone Ultimate,” I said plainly.

“WHY NOT!?” He roared at me, grabbing me by thoat.

“Let. Go. Now,” I said slowly and deliberately, my rage building to its boiling point.

“Not unti-” He began.

Wrong answer.

“PEPPER BREATH”

The blast of flame knocked him ten feet back, as he dropped out of sight.

I blinked in surprise, before laughing and yelling out, “Found the tunnel!”

The flies quickly swooped down next to me as Shining Armour climbed out of the hole his fur burned and he himself covered in soot, rage building in his eyes.

“HOW DARE YOU!?” he roared out, charging a magic blast at me before Cadance spoke.

“Shining, I swear to Faust if you fire that blast ,you will have a lot more than him to deal with,” She hissed, looking quite pissed herself.

“But, he attacked me!” he said pointing accusingly at me.

“You grabbed me by the throat, and refused to let go until I answered your stupid question,” I said my other half happily preparing another pepper breath.

“Well I-” Shining began.

“Just shut up and get over here Shining,” Cadence said with a sigh, Shining Armour drooping his head in defeat and sulking over to her.

She looked up and down and asked, “You should have gotten a lot more burns than those little things. How did you even survive?” She looked genuinely surprised.

“I managed to make a shield spell at the last second, It took most of the blast,” Shining said proudly, holding his head high.

“Ah, so you are the master of the pussy magic,” I said, getting a smirk out of my own joke.

Shining glared at me, “I'll have you know shield magic is only for the most brave at heart…"

“Yes! There is nothing braver than someone hiding behind a bubble shield,” I snickered, before getting slapped upside the head.

“Stop antagonizing him Connor,” Fluttershy scolded.

“Well since you asked so nicely,” I sassed getting a glare from her.

“Alright fine,” I sighed locking eyes with Shining as he was receiving some kind of healing spell from Cadance. He glared back at me returning the glare.

“Alright that’s the best I can do for now. Sorry Shiny, healing magic is more Aunt Celestia’s thing than mine, I can do nothing but ease the pain,” Cadence sighed as the aura of light blue magic that had been on Shining's chest area dissipated.

“It’s fine Cady, I’m sure you’re doing your best,” Shining said sweetly as he shot me another glare, receiving only a snort from me. If Cadance noticed the glare she didn’t show it as she jumped into the tunnel, Shining following close behind.

“Well I suppose we should follow,” Kudamon said nervously.

“Hmph,” I grunted, walking forward and jumping into the pit. A warmth coming to my eyes, as the darkness turned the world to black and white, not unlike looking through a security camera at night.

“Ugh it’s so dark,” Cadance whined as her horn lit up. The area around her regaining its color, Shining doing the same for the same result.

“It’s not that dark,” I heard Kudamon mutter.

“Not for us, it looks like we have some kind of dark vision,” I whispered to him.

“I guess that explains why the tunnels don’t have any lighting,” Kudamon muttered back.

“They don’t need it,” I finished for him, before turning to see that Fluttershy hadn’t entered the tunnel, “Kudamon, go on ahead I'll… catch up,” Kudamon nodded.

“Okay… don’t take too long, okay Connor?” Kudamon said before zipping through the tunnel after Cadance and Shining Armour.

Walking back I looked up to see her peering into the dark tunnel, fear in her eyes.

“Hey, ya coming?” I asked her.

She shook her head rapidly, she was scared. And I wasn’t a fan.

“Hey... it’s okay, you’re not gonna be alone, I’ll be right there okay?” I said outstretching my claw to help her down, with my warmest smile on of course.

Her eyes slowly widened, “O-oh, okay,” She stuttered, slowly and hesitatingly outstretching her hoof. Gently I took it in my claw and helped her down into the tunnel. Holding a ponies hoof is… a strange feeling. It’s like you're grabbing a hard bone with a soft furry covering, but that wasn’t the weird part it was to be expected. The weird part is that I could feel some kind of invisible force grabbing back. It wasn’t quite like a hand, not as precise or strong... it’s like it latched onto something inside of me rather than my hand. I guess this is how ponies grab things, they must use some small innate magic that they have to grip onto things, like a magnet if everything was magnetic. She slowly entered the tunnel, her grip on my claw tightening when we entered the tunnel. As we walked down the tunnel, Fluttershy’s grip lessened albeit ever so slightly.

“It’s funny,” Fluttershy said, her voice barely above a whisper, “I can count on you to help us when I’m scared, or when I’m in danger, but you can’t do the same,” Her voice carried a layer of guilt, sorrow, and bitterness. She sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

“You're still on that?” I said scoffing and immediately regretting doing so.

“It’s not funny!” She snapped, her voice changing to one of intense anger and frustration, “You are suffering from who knows what in your dreams and you don’t let anypony help you!”

“I’ve always been like this, I solve problems on my own. It's who I am,” I replied coolly, this was technically true, I had been on my own for a few years before coming here, on the other side of the country from my parents… and baby sis, she was only a few weeks old… would she even remember me? I was thankful for the darkness, she couldn’t see me wipe away the few tears I had shed remembering home.

“You're lying, or at least not telling me the whole truth… I just… want to understand,” She paused for a second and a feeling of dread ran down my spine, “Are you protecting me from something?”

My mind went wild looking for an excuse, but it was too late, Fluttershy had planted her hooves into the ground.

“Tell me,” It wasn’t a demand, it was a plea, “We’re alone here, no one will hear us, and I won’t tell anyone, please… you can trust me,”

“We should catch up with the others… we’re lagging behind,” I mutter weakly.

“CONNOR! Faust damn it, why are you so stubborn!?” She sounded exasperated, “You put some much emphasis on the trust between a digimon and their partner, but…I can’t trust you if you hide things from me! We can’t keep fighting like this either. We have far more important battles to fight then whatever the Tartarus this is!” I felt warm droplets fall onto my claw.

I opened my mouth, but… couldn’t find the words. What was I supposed to say? That I have a monster inside of me, that I could turn into a creature of destruction at any moment? That wouldn't help me.

“Tell her the truth,” Skullgreymon’s voice echoed into my head, “You can’t let your fear control you. You are the partner of the courage bearer after all,” He was right, I knew he was right, but it didn’t make it any easier.

“I…I’m not the only one in this body…” I said, my gaze falling to the ground.

“What? W-what are you talking about?” Fluttershy asked her voice wavering.

“The Digimon that was gonna be my partner! It's still part of me and he’s been haunting my dreams, taunting me with the fact that if I do digivolve past champion I'll become a Skullgreymon. A monster worse than Skullmeramon could ever be...” I finally laid out the nightmares I've had so far flashing in my mind.

“That’s not tru-” She began to try and reassure me.

“No, it is, because I’m a coward. I don’t want to fight Skullmeramon, I just want to run home as soon as possible. That’s why I was at the library! To find a way home so I didn’t have to fight him,” I said, keeping my gaze on the floor fearing the look she must be giving me even though she can’t see in this darkness.

“W-we we had a deal…” She sniffed.

“I know… I'm sorry,” I said letting go of her hoof only for her to grab it again.

“No… It's fine I can't fault you for that but…”

She slapped me, and damn did I deserve it.

“Okay, so let’s make a new deal,” Fluttershy said firmly but her voice still shaky as I could hear tears falling onto the ground, “Neither of us hides anything from the other, and when Skullmeramon is beat we get you home!”

“That’s just the previous deal but more…” I muttered.

“Payment for all the stress you’ve put me through,” She said, recovering her composure completely and giving me a giggle.

“Yeah but-” I started, and she turned me around to face her, a hoof under my chin as she lifted my gaze up to meet hers.

“We will face him together. You won’t be alone like in your dreams, I promise. You... You can trust me, right?” Fluttershy asked, her gentle gaze unfocused due the darkness but it didn’t lessen the impact it had on me.

Before I could answer, a scream echoed down the tunnel.

“FLURRY NO!” Cadance screeched.

My heart lept out of my chest as I grabbed Fluttershy and ran, her saddlebags bouncing noisily as we dashed down the tunnel and out of it after a few seconds.

We found ourselves not far at the edge of a ravine, Cadance ,Shining Armor, and Kudamon surrounded by a dozen SnowGoburimon (normal Goburimon, but blue-skinned and wearing more winter friendly gear) and a Hyougamon (Ogremon, but blue and with large ice crystals jutting out of his shoulder and a large ice shard in place of the bone club) was panicking as he took grabbing swipes at Flurry who was flying above the ravine. She was looking quite tired but had been able to fly out of range of the Digimon, tears of fear falling down the poor thing's face and a piece of crystal around her horn, so no magic for the little tike.

Flurry’s wings finally gave out, and for a moment that seemed to stretch on forever, the young girl began to plummet down the ravine. An unearthly screech of terror and agony echoing from Cadence as she tried to dash towards the ravine, kudamon at her side, only to be dogpiled by the Snow Goburimon. My body acted mostly on its own as I rushed past the panicked Hyougamon and jumped down into the ravine.

“CONNOR!” Fluttershy screamed, as a familiar warmth washed over me.

“Agumon digivolve to!” I began, once again my body began to increase in size as the feeling of a thick carapace formed on my head coupled with a slight pain as three horns popped out of my head, one on my nose and two out the sides my head, I was falling faster now, my massive orange glowing hand out-stretching towards the tiny screeching infant.

“GREYMON!” My transformation complete I grabbed the infant in my right hand and slammed my left into the ravine, easily smashing through the stone until I was elbow deep in it. My arm cut downwards in the side like a knife through butter until my momentum was finally stopped halfway down the ravine. I looked down at the shivering child in my hand, she looked like the size of a marble in comparison.

“There there,” I cooed, my deep voice not helping my case, “I'm not gonna hurt ya, let’s get you back to your mama, okay?” The child looked up at me, her face betrayed her fear, but as she looked into my eyes, I could see the feeling of relief wash over her and, while her sobbing didn’t stop, she did nod her head.

I carefully lifted her atop my head and heard her whimpering as she climbed up. I could soon feel her gripping the area between my back horns with all her little might. Slowly, I turned and with my right hand I punched ravine. Now that I had both my claws elbow deep into the side, I kicked off with my taloned feet and made my own foothold in the side. Thus, I climbed, punching in hole after hole until I rose out the ravine after two short minutes. The Hyougamon who had been watching looked terrified as he backed up to his group.

“You fuckers just nearly killed a child,” I growled, my voice not dissimilar to that of Skullgreymon, but right now I didn’t care.

“I-it was an a-accident Mr. Greymon sir,” The Hyougamon said laughing nervously.

“Here’s what’s gonna happen, you're gonna turn your as-,” I remembered I was in possession of a child, “Err, hineys around, and go back to your boss, and tell them if they ever try this again, I will personally escort them to hell.”

The Hyogamon could do nothing but nod furiously as he gestured to the cowering Snow Goburimon behind who had since let their captives go. They all ran whimpering like dogs as they disappeared into the forest and out of sight. Sighing in relief, I carefully set my head down to ground level.

“FLURRY! Oh thank Faust!” Cadence cried, rushing over and tears pouring down her cheeks as she took the child from atop my head, “THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!” she sobbed as she held Flurry close to her, the child nuzzling up while still sobbing. Kudamon floating at her side, hanging his head in a mix of joy and...guilt? He wasn’t the only one who looked guilty.

Shining Armor looked at me with an expression of guilt topped with shock.

“I… I misjudged you... I thought you were just a coward that was out for himself but… you could have died trying to save my baby girl,” Tears fell down his cheeks, “I'm sorry, and I owe you more than I'll ever be able to repay,” He looked at me before turning and rushing to his wife and child's side, joining them in their tears of joy and receding fear.

I felt Fluttershy's hoof on the side of my head, “Good job Connor,” She said warmly, “Good job,” And for once … I felt good about myself, I think… I'm going to sleep well tonight.

File 9: Regret

“Okay let’s take this from the top,” Cadance said, “I hereby call the first Crystal Empire and Equestria Coalition War Meeting to order.”

We were at a large round table, Cadance opposite from me and Fluttershy, Shining Armor at her right and Flurry being held close in her magic, fast asleep. Flurry’s caretaker, Sunburst to the Princess’s left and next to his Kudamon. Kudamon was on Fluttershy’s left and Flutters on my left. To my right was a Gabumon who kept giving me curious puppy-dog looks, and to his right…. Was a stuck-up purple bitch, who was thankfully ignoring me. To her right was Spike, who had tried to introduce us later only for us to walk past each other without a word. The dragon seemed to be stewing over the confusion that encounter had given him. The last member of the war meeting was Applejack, apparently being the former Element of Honesty gave her the right to sit in on a war meeting even though I’m pretty sure she was as civilian as it comes.

“Yesterday, at approximately four A.M,” Cadance paused to give her sleeping daughter a mixed look of relief and sorrow, “My darling girl was foalnapped by a group of Digimon. They used a tunnel system that they had dug under our shield, the tunnel was filled in earlier this morning and guards have since found five more… ALL of which have been filled in. we have reason to believe that Skullmeramon is not the culprit."

Tara snorted, “Oh really? Then who else could it be?” She asked.

Cadance gave her an irritated glare before continuing, “As of right now, we do not know, but keeping in line with Skullmeramon’s usual methods this is very unlike him.”

Shining Armor then cast a spell which turned the table into a 3D map of Equestria Several cities and towns were already highlighted in red, “As you know, Skullmeramon prefers a more ‘in your face’ method of attack. Busting in with his lackeys and burning cities and towns to the ground as he revels in the panic and chaos. This was not that. This was subtle, calculated and efficient. The enemy knew what they wanted and had several well-orchestrated plans in place and they almost succeeded if not for the actions of Connor,” Shining then gave me a sheepish grin with a nod.

I gave him a devilish grin, “Nah Shining, the credit’s all yours for finding that hole in the ground."

Shining gave me a deadpanned look as Cadance giggled, I could feel Fluttershy's disapproving glare on my neck, but it was worth it. The rest of the table looked confused, (minus Kudamon who’s default state is confused).

“Yeah, if we call you knocking me in me finding it,” Shining rolled his eyes.

“You deserved it. You were making an ass of yourself,” I retorted.

“Oh right, I almost forgot to ask about that, but we can deal with that later in private,” Cadance said, giving Shining a now unamused look, who gave her another sheepish smile.

“Oh no, I want to hear all about it now!” Tara demanded slamming her hooves on the table giving me a furious look.

“Twily now is-” Shining began in a nervous tone.

“NO, let’s hear it. If we’re supposed to trust each other we should have all the cards on the table. So go ahead Shining, tell them how this psycho attacked you,” She said pointing her hoof accusingly directly at me.

“Psycho!?” I shouted, “She’s the one that trapped me here, blasted off my arm, and demanded I save her world and she calls ME the psycho?” I snap at Tara.

“SHE WHAT!?” Cadance said looking absolutely furious as she turned to a now surprised and confused Tara, “Twilight Sparkle, I would expect that Celestia would have taught you better!”

“Okay, first of all, I was aiming for the desk because you were clinging to said desk. So really, it’s your fault you lost your arm. You should have just come quietly. Secondly you did get your arm ba-” Twilight began to say.

“Okay I’ve been letting it slide but it's really starting to annoy me. I didn’t get my arm back,” I snapped.

Tara smuggly pointed towards one of my arms before, tauntingly humming and pointing to the other and giving a sarcastic gasp of surprise, “Looks like you did, dumbass!”

“Does this look like a human arm to you?” I asked with a growl, bringing up the arm that replaced the one I lost.

The room went quiet so I continued.

“This isn’t my body. This the body of another person, a Digimon. The one that would have been my partner if you and your Princess had been patient. Yes, I would have joined you if you had sent the message even a few more times, or used that portal to communicate to me rather than kidnap me,” I snapped.

“See he can’t even keep his facts straight! Digimon are just data. They're not people, they don’t have feelings. They’re just programs, doomed to end when they finish their duty!” Tara looked like she had snapped, her hair looked like the worst case of bed head ever, her eyes had become insane swirls and her voice was that of panic, as she began to laugh maniacally.

“Twily?” Shining asked, looking in horror.

“Faust, she’s finally snapped,” Applejack said looking on with a grimince.

“You have the nerve to call me a psycho!?” Twilight snapped at me, “How could I be? All I've done is for the betterment of Equestria. it's all that matters! Why can’t you see that!?”

“Jesus, she’s gone crazy!” I said, stepping away from her, glancing at the Gabumon in between us who… was looking down at his paws, tears falling down his face. Poor little guy.

“I'm not real?” he sniffed, seemingly snapping Twilight out of her raving as she looked down at the digimon, “B-b-but you s-s-said-” He whimpered, getting a horrible case of the hiccups as he sobbed.

“I lied okay! I lied because… because…” A look of confusion came over her face as she tried to justify her actions, seemingly failing to even convince herself.

“Twilight, please just calm down. We can han-” Cadance began trying to calm the mare down, being cut off by the castle itself being shaken with a considerable force.

“What in tarnation is going on!” Applejack shouted, Sunburst keeling over seemingly having an intense headache.

“T-the shield, they broke the shield!” Sunburst gasped in agony, his horn cracking near the base, blood trickling down it and onto his face.

“Oh, my goddess! Sunburst are you okay!” Cadance gasped, breaking her attention away from her now crying daughter, rough way to be woken up.

“Go time Flutters,” I said, giving Fluttershy a look as I ran out of the war room.

“Right behind you!” She exclaimed as we charged down the hall.

“Come on Gabumon we’ve got to go,” I heard Tara say seemingly unable to get the Digimon to follow her. I however had more important things to do.

We caught up with the fatigued guards that had been trying to rush to the exit, “Stay back with the Princesses! We’ve got this,” I said to the guards, a look of surprise and defeat washing onto their faces.

“You can barely move as it is. You would just get in the way,” Fluttershy said softly, with a worried smile.

“I'm sorry we aren’t much use… good luck!” One of the guards said as they gave us a nod walking past as we used the platform down.

The city was in a panic... ponies running from Snow Goburimon and quickly being corralled by the Digimon into the plaza. The girls, and Big Mac among them. The population of the Crystal Empire was now surrounded by a tight circle of Snow Goburimon. A tall thin devil like creature stalked towards the circle with a kind of twisted elegance, its skin a pale white with an icy like texture. His wings are ragged and hole ridden, as if they had been frozen and the skin below had died from the cold. It had two horns on either side of its head that were thin, but curved sharply upward towards the end. Its eyes were a sickly purple that seemed to glow with malice and pride. On its chest was a deep, magenta colored bat-like symbol, the mark of evil and a symbol of pride for some virus type Digimon that took pleasure in their misdeeds. Below his waist he wore three belts, two going around his waist at an angle to the left, and one going in the opposite direction, far more than what was necessary to hold up his tattered milky white jeans, on his feet he wore spiked boots the left of which also had the mark of evil.

“Who is that?” Fluttershy asked, a hint of fear in her voice as she pointed to the Digimon.

“IceDevimon, the arctic counterpart to the infamous Devimon, and if I had to guess… the one behind the attacks,” I muttered, “Better Digivolve.”

Fluttershy nodded and held the digivice up to me, the screen lighting up and gaining the crest of courage… but the crest was blacked out, only the outline being visible with a glow of orange emanating from the device as I felt power rushing through me.

IceDevimon suddenly stopped and seemed to perk up looking to his left away from us before turning right and locking eyes with me.

“AGUMON DIGIVOLVE TO-!” I shouted, once again transforming into the behemoth known as, “GREYMON!!”

“Oh my… You must be the Greymon that's been causing us trouble. Your reputation precedes you,” IceDevimon said, a sly smirk upon his face.

I stomped towards him, “Thought I warned you what would happen if you showed your face here again,” I growled in my deep gravelly voice, “Let's get this over with."

“Oh ho, you are a mighty specimen. The power of your ancestor, AncientGreymon, is not wasted I see. I would be a fool to fight you, however. Not only am I weak to fire based attacks, as I'm sure you already knew, but I'm of the virus type meaning a vaccine such as you has inherent advantage,” I continued my advance towards him, just a few more feet til I could wring his little neck.

“Not to mention the Greymon family line is known for being powerful beyond their level. Even able to hold their own against Ultimate levels, and with luck, even beat one. No doubt this power is what allowed your Patriarch AncientGreymon to survive his clash with Lucemon,” He continued to prattle seemingly unperturbed by me being almost on top of him at this point.

“You talk too much,” I snapped, my shadow not looming over the much smaller Digimon.

“On the contrary,” he quipped, his smile growing from ear to ear, giving him a maniacal look, “One must talk quite a great deal to distract one as perceptive as you,” Before I could process what he just said, the wind was knocked out of me as something side checked me on my left and sent me flying over the gathered people and through the doors of the library.

Bookshelves crashed and shattered over me as books piled on top of me. With a groan, I brought myself back to my feet, the books washing down my back having been uncomfortable but not painful.

“Sup Greymon,” A voice almost as deep as mine said, my vision recentered and before me, no, looming over me, was a huge serpentine dragon-like creature. It had a metallic helmet much like my own carapace helm, but without the horns. Instead, two horn-like extensions to the helmet pointed back on each side of its neck. It had a dark sickly purple tint to its scales, its hands seemed to have been replaced with two metallic claws, the heads of which only had three claws. In the center of its palms I could see the tips of a missile. The last few features I saw were its dark grey metal wings, the same color as its claws, and of course how could I not be transfixed by its glowing hungry yellow eyes.

“Gigadramon…” I growled, meeting the Digimon's stare.

“Heh, hey Icy, he knows about me,” Gigadramon said with a hearty chuckle seemingly pleased, “Hey, just for not getting me mixed with Megadramon, you get to live! Can’t say I won't rough ya up first though,”

“So is IceDevimon your boss?” I asked, ignoring his “mercy”.

The Gigadramon looked over to where IceDevimon had set down near them, he can fly… good to know. The Gigadramon seemed to be looking for confirmation or perhaps orders. IceDevimon simply grinned and nodded, getting a laugh from the Gigadramon.

“Yep,” He laughed.

“Huh didn’t know champion’s could have ultimates as pets,” I quipped with my own grin.

“Oh ho, that's the most damage you’ll do to me today boy,” Gigadramon chuckled.

“NOVA BLAST” Was my elegant reply as I blasted him point blank with a white hot fireball. Before the smoke cleared Gigadramon’s claw arm shot out and grabbed my front horn and dragged me close.

“Now that wasn’t very nice,” Gigadramon said coldly seemingly unscathed by my attack and bringing his other arm to my chest, “But guess it's my turn. Genocide Gear,” he said in a bored tone as not just one missile, but a barrage of them had fired from his claw. As he let go of my horn, the force caused me to be flung through the back of the huge library in a matter of seconds and knocked me to the outside of it. The pain was nearly unbearable, but I was able to get to my feet with some effort.

“The toughness of the Greymon is only slightly over exaggerated, eh?” the Gigadramon asked as he took his time slithering through the library towards me.

“NOVA BLAST” I roared, firing another ball of white flame at the creature and causing smoke and ash to surround him in a cloud. Not more than a few seconds later, Gigadramon slithered slowly and deliberately out of said cloud, not the faintest hint of harm on him. There wasn't even a smudge on his metallic armour.

“Aw, come on!? Where is that fire you Greymon are known for?” Gigamon taunted with a sadistic grin on his face.

“NOVA BLAST,” I said once more, knowing it was pointless but not knowing what else to do other than run, and deciding being a distraction was the best plan for now, hopefully giving everyone else enough time to escape.

“Connor!” Fluttershy cried to the left of me, filling me with fear and dread.

“Fluttershy!! Get the hell out of here!” I roared to her, “He’s too strong!”

“Aw stop it~ you're makin' me blush!” Gigamon chided, making an “oh you” wave with his right claw.

“I can’t just leave you,” Fluttershy cried, still flying mid air just a feet from me, she had stopped flying towards me but she didn’t make any move to leave.

“You can and you will, get out of here, take the others and lea-” I was cut off by the sounds of an explosion from the castle.

Twilight’s pov

What was going on…

First my friends turned on me, and now the castle is being attacked! And to make matters worse, Gabumon wouldn’t respond to my commands!! Was the program broken? Did he become corrupted? NOTHING Sunset had told me about computer programs explained why it was acting like this!

“Come on we have to go!” I begged trying to grab its arm and move it, but it held still looking down at a claw with a look of… pain…. But it was just a program… it couldn't really feel, right? It was just mimicking emotions right… Of course! If it could, then that meant I-… No! No no no no no, let's not go down that path. I'm not crazy. Not crazy! Yes, I'm the Princess of Friendship! I can do anything! I can figure this out, I can prove that human wrong.

“Twilight! Snap out of it!” Applejack’s loud voice rang through my head. I blinked and looked up to see the farm pony had been shaking me.

“We have ta get the Princess outta here!” Applejack insisted, “Lets go!”

“What, no! Me and gabumon can handle this. It just needs to Digivolve!” I said confident in the program’s ability.

“He,” The gabumon growled, to my surprise.

“What?” I asked, looking at him in confusion.

“I'M A HE, not IT, a he,” It snapped at me, looking up from his claw with an angered look, “I am real! I feel, just like you!” He said pointing at me, “I'm not fake, because… I know I'm real!”

“That is horrible logic,” I sighed, rolling my eyes, “You can’t be real. YOU are just a data program made to defeat the invading Digimon."

Rage, sorrow and fear washed over the digimon’s face, but mostly tears, “T-that's n-not true, I'm r-real, I'm real!”

It couldn’t actually be breaking down. If it was, then that means they are actually sapient creatures which means I would be a mur- NO, I-im not a- I'M NOT CRAZY.

“Of course you are!” An elegant yet somehow foreboding voice said echoing through the room.

“Who are you!? What do you want with us?” Cadance demanded, I turned to her to see her tightening her grip on her daughter, my brother taking a defensive stance as a still recovering Sunburst tried to stay standing at Cadance’s side. Flurry Heart's program, Kudamon looking agitated as it floated over the table to place itself directly between Flurry and where the voice was coming from. I turned to face the intruder, a white ice like devil Digimon.

“I am IceDevimon and wish for nothing more than the bearer of the crest of light, and their Digimon!” IceDevimon replied with a devious smirk.

“You will not touch my charge!” Kudamon said with a growl.

IceDevimon laughed, “Oh? And what will you do little Kudamon? From what I hear, you failed to stop a few Snow Goburimon from taking her last time. What makes you think you can stop me?”

“I-I may have failed before, but this time… I won’t let her be taken!” Kudamon proclaimed, charging the creature.

“Kudamon wait!” Cadance cried.

“Bullet Whirlwind!” Kudamon cried spinning like a drill directly at IceDevimon.

“Tundra Freeze,” IceDevimon hissed in twisted joy, a dark blue beam of light firing from his eyes and hitting Kudamon, causing the digimon to fall to the ground now frozen solid. “That should cool you off,” He quipped before bringing back his head to let out a sinister laugh.

“Kudamon!” Cadance cried out in a pained tone, “You monster…” She growled.

But no one made a move for a few seconds, “What's wrong?” IceDevimon taunted, “Don’t tell me you’ve gotten cold feet, or is it hooves? Ah, but it doesn’t matter. Give me the foal, and I will spare you,”

“Never,” I said, placing myself between my former babysitter and the creature.

“Oh dear… The child abuser comes to the aid of a child, ironic,” IceDevimon hissed, his expression changing from one of arrogance and amusement to one of rage, “You dare value one life over another as it suits you? That Gabumon deserves better, watching my kin suffer brings me no small amount of pain!”

“Your people have murdered plenty of foals, don’t play innocent!” I snapped, “Gabumon will end this skirmish in a moment. Digivolve Gabumon,” I said, I was sick of these bucking Digimon thinking they could do and say what they want! Skullmeramon, Connor, and now this pretentious prick, no one in the room could beat him, that was true. Without the Element of Magic, I was barely a match for a normal champion like Ogremon, but this guy was far from normal. My brother was a defensive style magic user, so he didn’t do well in direct combat, as for Cadance, she was never much of a fighter even before the war and Sunburst could barely even stand.

“I can’t, I already told you...” Gabumon mumbled, looking down in despair.

“You can and you will!” I snapped back taking out the digivice and pressing its buttons, “One of these has got to do it!”

The device began to glow with a black light, and the screen beeped red with an alarm blaring from it.

“S-stop it,” Gabumon protested, I wasn’t paying attention to his tone, I was busy trying to get the thing to work.

“It must have some kind of safety measure…” I muttered.

“What are you doing foolish pony!? Stop this at once!” IceDevimon protested.

I laughed, giving him a glare, “What's wrong, scared of Gabumon’s power?”

“You would be too if you knew the consequences of forcing a Digimon to Digivolve! Its emotions will run ram-” IceDevimon bluffed.

“I'm sick of you and your cohorts lying! THEY ARE PROGRAMS! THEY DON’T FEEL!” I practically screamed before getting an idea, “I'll just over load its safety measures with my magic!” And as I did just that, the device went silent. Confused, I looked it over all while the device was slowly turning grey. Was that supposed to happen? I turned to check to see if Gabumon had changed.

He was twitching like he had a cold, his head jerking unnaturally every few seconds and his eye glowing a menacing red as he whimpered in pain.

“T-twilight?” Applejack said looking on in horror, her eyes pin pricked and sweating profusely, “I-i got a r-really bad feelin' 'bout this,”

“Twilight, what in Tartarus did you do to him?” Cadance asked in a horrified whisper.

I was equally confused, and more than a little put off, “H-hey buddy are you okay?”

The Gabumon began to glow with a dark purple light, not dissimilar to dark magic. I quickly felt something wet on my hoof, I looked down to the Digivice to see its screen had cracked open as black ooze dripped down from it.

“What in Faust’s name?” I said looking on in horror as my digimon began to grow.

“MY TIME TO SHINE!” A voice sang as a portal opened up and a ball of multicolored energy was fired out of it and hit the growing Gabumon, “Just a little bit of chaos~”

The portal closed and before I could process what happened.

“Gabumon….Dark Warp Digivolve to-”

“ALL OF YOU RUN NOW!!! HE’S BYPASSING THE CHAMPION LEVEL!” IceDevimon screamed with a tone of pure unadulterated terror, but I couldn’t move as I watched the twitching body of my Digimon begin to ooze out the black substance out of every orifice.

The ooze forming a layer around him as he grew to where he barely fit in the 30 ft tall room. The ooze stuck there like a dark cocoon before hardening, a twisted tint of blue glowing from inside.

I heard Cadance and the rest run past me, Applejack stopping to try and move me but… I couldn’t stop watching. Watching with a new feeling… Guilt? Dark magic can only be brought out through intense negative emotion, so if that was true… that means Digimon must have feelings which means… Oh sweet Faust… What have I done?

Suddenly the cocoon burst open, a large creature loomed over me, It had the head of a male goat, pupil less magenta eyes. Two jet black wings like that of a great dragon jut out from its back, two long strong arms with a silky smooth but thick layer of dark purple fur covered its body, and two strong goat hooved legs with the same layer of dark purple fur completed its form.

“Mephistomon,” It said in a voice darker and more terrible than I had ever heard, even facing down Tirek didn’t fill me with the same fear that I felt now. Not even Skullmeramon filled me with the despair I felt wash over me in this moment. Its eyes locked onto mine and I felt my soul leave my body. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t even breathe, I was going to die and it was because I was too stupid to see what was right there in front of me.

“You… will… suffer,” It said in barely a whisper. It had no need to speak any louder, the chilling cold to its voice was enough to inflict upon anypony who heard this… an inescapable feeling of terror.

It moved faster than I could see, and I was in its grasp, both hands holding me in a crushing grip.

“Despair,” It said as it bored into my soul through its eyes, as it decided to only hold me in one hand as it looked over to the entrance of the room, “Dissidia Cannon,” It said with an outstretched hand, a black beam of pure dark magic blasting through the walls of the castle.

Connor’s POV

I whipped around to see the beam of dark energy blasting out of the side of the castle, a huge goat like digimon jumping down to the ground, the very sight of it sent a shiver down my spine.

“Who is that?” Fluttershy asked with a horrified look on her face.

“I… actually have no idea, I only watched the anime. If I had to hazard a guess, this one must be from one of the games or maybe the manga,” I muttered turning to the Gigadramon, “Friend of yours?”

The Gigadramon looked nervous, “Nah… thats Mephistomon. Didn’t know their kind ever left the dark ocean.”

I looked back to the Mephistomon, to my shock, Tara was held tightly in its grip. Before I could process that, Cadance holding Flurry Heart, the IceDevimon who was now holding a frozen Kudamon, and the rest ran up to us.

“Cadance, what the hell’s going on?” I asked, pointing to the giant digimon.

“Twilight did something to her digivice and Gabumon turned into, whatever that is,” A fearful Cadance gestured to the Mephistomon, who was now moving towards where the ponies had been gathered by the now shitting themselves Snow Goburimon.

“Damn it, it must have Dark Digivolved… then this must be a champion level Digimon. It's kinda big for that though,” I muttered.

“Oh no, Mephistomon is an Ultimate. Another outside force gave the Gabumon enough energy to bypass the champion and go straight for Ultimate,” IceDevimon cut in.

“I see, so you're not the one in charge,” I growled at IceDevimon.

“Perhaps,” It said as it glared back.

“Hmph, well anyways we’ve got an Ultimate Digimon to deal with,” I said, turning to the Mephistomon as it loomed over the group, the Snow Goburimon having already fled.

“Good luck with that!” IceDevimon said, dropping the frozen kudamon and taking flight, Gigadramon followed close behind.

“Damn it, you cowards!” I roared after them.

“You can’t expect them to stick their necks out for an enemy I suppose,” Cadance sighed in annoyance, “Shining and I will take this group and get out of here, you go save Twilight and the city,”

“Save Tara, sure. I'll fit into my schedule,” I laughed sarcastically.

“Connor, she doesn’t der-” Cadance began.

“Oh no, she most certainly does,” Fluttershy of all people cut her off, “She has let her anxiety and obsession for perfection push her to shoving Digimon into the “unredeemable evil” or “not sapient because what they are made of is not usually sapient” box, she’s had this wake up call coming for awhile now."

“Okay but does she deserve to die for that?” Cadance snapped, “I get it, she bucked you over big time, but let her actually pay for her crimes not die and get off easy for it!”

“An excellent point,” I muttered, “I'll do what I can but the people are my focus, not Tara.”

“Alright fine, just don’t die,” Cadance snapped, “I'll just hope I have a chance to talk with Twilight when this is over. She isn’t evil she’s just going through a rough time,”

“Wasn’t planning to, now get out of here,” I said, turning back the massive digimon who was watching the ponies run around in a panic. Some were moving towards the exit of the city only to find a shield of black magic blocking their escape. Their panic quickly turned to despair, and the Mephistomon seemed to revel in it, outstretching its palm towards the group of ponies at the shield and turning slowly to look down at Tara who was in its grasp. A glow from his eyes caused her head to forcefully turn towards the ponies.

“Watch,” It said simply, a feeling of dread jumping down my spine as I was frozen in place, “Death Cloud” A crackling cloud of black mist floated down to the ponies, surrounding them as they began to cough and sputter.

“Wait no stop!” Tara cried, “They don’t have anything to do with this!” She tried to force her head away but its grip was too strong. A dark chuckle left the Digimon's mouth, as the ponies began to melt, screaming in horror and agony as their fur and flesh became goopy sludge that slid off their bones. Their screams were cut off as their now eroding bones fell to the ground as even those became nothing but mist.

Tara promptly lost her lunch all over ground, causing the Digimon to roar in laughter.

“W-why are you doing this?” Tara sobbed.

“They are just flesh and bones, they don’t have feelings,” Mephistomon said, with the biggest grin spread on his face. The look of fear on Twilight’s face changing to one of utter and complete despair and guilt.

“Connor we have to do something!” Fluttershy said, but I couldn’t move. This thing was downright terrifying! It wasn't long before he pointed his palm at where Big Mac was holding the kids close, looks of terror on all of their faces.

“NO!” I roared, charging forward, and jumping onto the titans outstretched arm, sinking my teeth into it.

It let out a howl of pain and began to shake its arm, but I held onto it for dear life. It couldn’t attack while I was on its arm and if it wanted to use its arm, it would have to let Tara go, something I was sure it wouldn’t do.

“Release!” It demanded, trying to shake me off.

“Fuck you,” I mumbled, but it came out as a garbled mess as I clenched my jaws tighter.

“GET’EM CONNOR!” I could hear Scootaloo cheer from below.

“You can do it!” Spike spurred.

“Bite his big ol arm off!” Apple Bloom offered.

“Don’t forget to brush your teeth after!” Sweetie Belle said, I could feel everyone giving her a look, “What?” Adorable, I thought as I clenched my jaws even tighter. I could feel his arm’s bone crack under the force of my jaws, filling with a primal excitement and spurring to tighten it even more, as the beast tried to shake me off by slamming me into the castle, but I was so focused on ending this bastard that I could barely feel it.

“RELEASE!” It howled slamming into the castle repeatedly. Finally, out of pure desperation, it must have dropped Twilight as I felt its grip on my tail as it tried to pull me off.

“FUCK YOU!” I said once again, my words garbled as I bit tighter than ever before. I felt my jaws snap shut, and a warm coppery liquid flowed into my mouth sweet as honey. But the moment was ruined by the howl of agony followed by me being thrown through the castle and falling down on the other side. Looking up, I found that I had bit the creature's forearm off, causing him to bleed profusely from the wound.

“DIE'' It roared with an outstretched palm towards me, “DISSIDIA CANNON!” It fired a beam of dark energy from its palm, but I expected this and rolled onto my feet and barely dodged the attack as I charged forward.

“NOVA BLAST!” I roared, firing the blast at the Mephistomon, hitting him in the face and staggering him back, but it quickly recovered.

“DISSIDIA CANNON!” My charge had put me too close to dodge, I realized my mistake too late, but before the beam could reach me I felt something small but forceful slam me to the side. Recovering quickly, I turned to see Tara had taken the blast for me, her horn having cracked from trying to block the beam with a shield. Blood had started dripping down her face as she weakly stood on her hooves.

“Damn it, Tara you idiot!” I snapped at her.

“Y-you're the idiot for r-rushing in like that,” She laughed despite her vacant eyes, “But that doesn’t matter now. If you die… Equestria is finished, I see that now,”

“Little late for that,” I snapped, returning my focus to my opponent who looked... tired. Good, his digivolution was wearing off, I prepared to fire another blast.

“NOVA BLAST!” I fired it slamming in the stomach and causing it to fall onto its back, one more!

“Get up close and finish this Connor!” Fluttershy shouted, flying over to grab Twilght and get her out of the way.

“On it!” I heard everyone cheering for me as I jumped onto the chest of the creature causing it to spurt up blood from its mouth as I stared him down.

“Sorry kiddo you’ll be nappin as an egg for a bit k? NO-” As I began to fire the Nova Blast, I felt an unwelcome cold as I reverted from my champion form. The aura of shock and horror was tangible as everyone realized what had just happened, I was out of time.

Mephistomon cackled and, with a flick of its remaining wrist, sent me flying. It took everything I had to keep my data from dispersing from that attack alone as the pain was unbearable. I landed with a thud at the foot of the castle.

“Pest” It grinned, outstretching a palm towards me, but before it could do so, a blast of yellow magic pierced its forearm. Celesita had arrived.

“That’s far enough, monster,” Celestia commanded as she floated above the creature.

“H-how?” I managed to get out as I got to my feet with the last of my energy.

“Spike sent me a letter as soon as the city was attacked, I got here as fast as I could, but it took my sister and I pooling our magic together to teleport here. Regrettably we could only send one of us and with my sister’s injuries we thought it best to send me,” Celestia explained, “But that matters not, you did well to weaken the beast Connor, now forgive me as I must now ‘steal your kill’ as my sister would put it,”

“Don’t interfere” Mephisto growled.

“You Digimon like naming your attacks correct?" Celesita smirked, “Then allow me to join in the fun. Solar Supremacy!” She cried, creating a huge ball of bright yellow magic, like a miniature sun, and fired at the Digimon. With both of its arms disabled, it was unable to defend itself and was reduced to data.

“Gabumon,” Tara sobbed softly as she watched it be disintegrated, “I'm sorry…”

I simply waited with a sigh of relief, watching the data reform into an egg with blue curves for markings, “Didn’t think I'd be happy to see you, Sunbutt,” I laughed weakly, before falling forward into unconsciousness.

Twilight’s Pov

I can’t put into words how massively I’ve bucked up. My thoughts bounced all over the place, starting first at the massacre of Ponyville, to the slaughter that was the battle of Manehattan, to my own atrocities that were killing that family of Goburimon and their father, an Orgremon… and now this. I turned my partner into a monster, because of my unwillingness to see Digimon as anything more than heartless monsters… ponies had died, and for what? All he wanted was a friend, all he wanted was for ME to be his friend, but… my thoughts were cut short by Princess Celestia.

“What did you do?” Her voice wasn’t necessarily angry, more pained and confused. I didn’t look up to face her, how could I?, “After all I've strived to teach you… I-im sorry Twilight but….”

“I know,” I said, I knew what was coming next but it didn’t make it hurt any less.

“...As the High Princess of Equestria, I ,Celestia…” I heard her choke back what little tears hadn’t already fallen to the ground, “Revoke your title as Princess of Friendship, you will be stripped of your title, your power, and your rank.”

A burning sensation overwhelmed me, but I remained quiet, as I felt my wings dissolve into nothingness, as well as my cutie mark.

“Im sorry Twilight…” The Princess said.

“Don’t be, your majesty, If I can’t be held accountable for my actions, what are we even fighting for…” I turned to the egg on the ground and walked over to it, attempting to use my magic to pick it up only to feel an unbearable amount of pain from my horn. It would need time to heal. I picked it up with my hooves instead as I heard Spike scamper up to me outstretching my damaged digivice.

“I found it in the castle!” Spike said proudly.

“Thank you, I can always rely on you Spike,” I said smiling weakly as I took it from him. It beeped weakly, the crest of friendship… was gone? My shock was soon replaced with understanding.

“Looks like I'll need to earn that back too…” I laughed weakly.

“We will reconvene at a later date after the shield has been replaced and the guards have been replaced with fresh units… there is much to do,” Her majesty stated, “Fluttershy, please take Connor to his quarters so he can recover. We will need his strength in the future, Twilight… it would be best if you remained in your quarters until we have need of you.”

With that I returned to my quarters, dreading what was to come.

Author's Note

Wonder if my has earned its M for mature tag yet =3

File 10: Heart to Core

A black void this time, cold and unwelcoming. It was better than a burning forest I suppose.

“It’s time we had a chat, boy,” Skullgreymon said, his voice echoing around me.

“Then come out and face me,” I spat ,checking myself over, a flicker of gratitude coming over me. I was back in my human body... I took only a moment to revel in it before the moment was ruined by Skullgreymon stepping out from the shadows. Looming over me as usual, his dark aura was as foreboding as always.

“You… did well,” It spoke in a calm, even tone.

“A compliment from you? Now I’ve heard everything,” I snarked giving the bastard a smug smirk.

“Yes, you are usually far more pathetic,” Skullgreymon with a low spine chilling chuckle, “But you did do well, fighting with a ferocity worthy of the flame of AncientGreymon, but now the real challenge begins. Our Crest is missing, it is not in the digivice as it should be and thus I am restrained to this primal form,” He sounded disgusted as he looked down to his left skeletal arm.

“The crest of courage... Maybe that's the crest Skullmeramon was looking for... you have any idea where we could find it?”

“No… but It speaks to me. It tells the tale of a pony of yore that bore it true, perhaps your pony allies can shed some light on this mystery,” Skullgreymon said, sounding annoyed. I could feel why.

“You don’t like asking the ponies for help do you?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“We- I am Greymon, I need not stoop to asking for lesser beings... assistance,” He growled.

“Then I’ll ask for you. As you said, this is your body and I’m not a Greymon,” After saying this I turned away from him, willing myself to wake up, a shining door of light opening up in the dark void.

“Good luck… Connor,” Skullgreymon said, the usual chilling tone absent. Funnily enough, his words did spur something inside me. I would bring an end to what plans IceDevimon and his lackeys had, no matter what.

I awoke in my bed in the castle, slowly opening my eyes, and adjusting to the light. My gaze falling on a familiar pink furred Alicorn at my bedside, watching me intently, her eyes lighting up when she realized I was awake.

“You’re up!” Cadance said excitedly.

“You were watching me sleep?” I asked, a bit creeped out, something she seemed to pick up on.

“OH! Um, yeah sorry. I was worried after you passed out a couple of days ago, so Fluttershy and I have been watching over you in shifts. She stayed up all night with you, past her shift in fact… so I moved her back to her room after finding her passed out at your bedside,” Cadance explained apologetically.

“Wait, how long was I out?” I said a bit panicked now, If I’ve been asleep too long that would mean that we’ve lost crucial time and with two Digimon forces each with seemingly different goals on the loose, every second counts.

“Three days...” Cadance said gritting her teeth, “We were afraid you may never wake up, our knowledge of Digimon anatomy is admittedly lacking so we weren’t able to really do anything but wait”

“Three days…” I said taken aback, it had felt more like only a few hours. “Has anything important happened while I was out?”

“Yes actually, the castle got repaired rather quickly with two alicorns, the library too! The ponies who died in the attack… well there wasn’t anything to bury, but those who survived made sure they at least had tombstones. My people’s numbers had been cut in half by that… monster,” Cadance said, her eyes flooding with tears that quickly dripped down her cheeks, “I-Im sorry,” She said quickly wiping the tears away, “OH! I almost forgot, another human arrived after Celestia left for Canterlot!”

I shot upright, “Another human? Who?” Words could not describe how excited I was to see another human after almost a month of being away from home.

“I’ll go get him! He wanted to meet you anyways and asked me to come to get him when you had awakened,” Cadance said, her eyes lighting up with excitement. With a flow of sky blue magic, she popped away and left me alone with my thoughts.

The thought of meeting a human burned away, as my mind mulled over the fight that had led to taking a three-day-long nap. That Gigadramon kicked my ass and so did Mephistomon, if not for me removing one of his arms I would… probably be dead. In the middle of the fight, death never really occurred to me, shoved to the back of my mind as my more primal side took over. It was nice sure… but IceDevimon is far more cunning and tactical, if I keep relying on primal rage and brute force, I’m gonna find myself losing due to superior skill and tactics. I need to learn to temper this primal rage, to temper Skullgreymon himself. But I’m not sure how I could even begin to do that.

The sound of Cadance’s return cut off my thoughts, a flash of light blue magic accompanying it as she returned with a tall, middle-aged man with short well kept brown hair tied into a small ponytail, wearing a snow-white hooded robe with a brownish-grey lining along the hood’s rim, and along the line of the robe itself and the pant leg of said robe. Two lines of the same soft greyish-brown color came down curved under his arms in a tight U shape, the bottom being unviewable due to the navy blue belt with a silver square buckle, he had a jet black skin-tight undershirt, a quick glance down showed me he wore white boots with light brown, almost tan soles, his outfit was complete with a humble brown leather satchel wrapped over his head and resting on his left shoulder. I had a feeling I had seen him somewhere before but couldn’t put my finger on it… or claw rather.

“My name is Gennai, it is my understanding that you already know who I am,” Gennai said with a warm smile.

“Yeah, your world has a cartoon adaptation in mine,” I said with a nod, a feeling of relief came over me. If Gennai was here then it must mean something good or at least usually does when he appears in person.

“That certainly is interesting,” Gennai said with a surprised yet curious look on his face, before said face to one of regret and shame? “Starting off, I must offer you my sincerest apologies for your current state. It was not my plan to have you forcibly taken in and forced into a form not your own. Please forgive me,” As he said this he got all the way down on the floor, his knees touching the ground, as was his head, and his arms stretched keeping him from falling on the floor.

“W-wait you don’t need to do that, it wasn’t your fault!” I said waving off the gesture in shock and a bit of panic.

He got up but still had the expression of guilt, “No, I take full responsibility. I should have been far more clear and strict when I gave my instructions, or perhaps even waited for the next digital gate… even if such a gate was unlikely to even activate any time within the next year."

“Digital Gate?” Cadance asked, cocking her head to the side as I’d noticed a pony often does when they are confused.

“Portals to other realms formed of excess data in one location. A very rare occurrence, or more often, purposely made by Mega or higher level Digimon. Ultimates can make them as well, assuming they are both knowledgeable enough and skilled enough to create one. The gates themselves are rather like… how do I describe it...” Gennai took a moment to think, “AH, like a wifi connection. It transports beings in data form between two places. It does have a limit on how much data it can carry at a time, and certain data amounts can slow down the travel.”

“Sounds like a train, kinda,” Cadance said, finding her own alteration.

“Eh, close enough I suppose,” Gennai shrugged.

“How long does it take Ultimates and Mega’s to go through?” I asked, now very interested in these digital gates, “And can their exit location be switched?”

“If you're the one who created it, yes. As for your first question, it's fairly straight forward, Ultimate level Digimon can only go one at a time unlike lower levels that can be transported with multiple Digimon, and it can take them a few months to a year depending on size and power. Once again, unlike Champions and lower which only need a few days to traverse the gate, and as for Megas and higher...” Gennai took a second to readjust his satchel, leaving Cadance and I in suspense, a sly smile forming on his face, teasing bastard.

“They can not travel the gates at all,” Gennai shrugged.

“Wait, seriously?” I said leaning back in surprise.

“Simply put, they are far too powerful and large as far as data is concerned, if they were to try and travel through the gate, all gates in that realm would crash and they would be stranded in the Dark Area, a dimension between the digital world and other universes. A nasty place, really, though apparently not accurately named being a white void and all,” Gennai commented.

“So we don’t have to worry about Mega Digimon coming to Equestria!?” Cadance said positively beaming with hope.

“I wouldn’t go that far…” Gennai said darkly, “They’re already here… I’m sure of it”

“Who?” Cadance said before realizing that his statement was a decent answer to her question, “I mean who specifically?”

“I don’t have anything solid as of now, but something about your situation is… eerily familiar. In any case, it’s clear you will need more help in the future, so I will be trying to get in touch with one of the DigiDestined from my world and send them your way, any preferences?” Gennai asked half-joking as he looked at me.

“Send the main man,” I said simply with a dramatic nod.

“Ah Izumi-Kun, or Izzy as he prefers, a fine choice,” Gennai laughed, before seemingly remembering something, “Ah yes, I tried to make a portal to your home dimension while I was waiting for you to recover, unfortunately, the portal I made didn’t last long and was barely big enough to send one of my In-Training level friends through,” He fished through his satchel and took out, to my utter delight, my beloved laptop. The one I’d had since high school and stubbornly refused to replace, even with how outdated it was. It was jet black with some Digimon and pokemon stickers, and Agumon, a Tentomon, and Reshiram from pokemon. He handed it to me and I excitedly snatched it from his hands and opened it carefully with the tip of my claws. I noticed right away that it felt heavier than usual.

“I hope you don’t mind but I took the opportunity to upgrade your device, It now has a Digimon analyzer and access to my entire database concerning everything I know about the digital world as well as digital coding, it even has a Digimon nursery in case you need to keep young Digimon safe in your computer, but you don’t have space for anything above Rookie.”

I nodded, my eyes locked on the picture I pulled up from one of my folders. The first thing I ran to, the last picture I took with my family after my sister had been born. It took everything I had to hold back my tears, but I managed ,if only to keep up appearances in front of Cadance and Gennai.

Gennai seemed to sense my change in the mood without me having to say anything, “Well anyways, there will be a war meeting tomorrow, and I would love to stay for it, but unfortunately I’ve been away from the digital world for long enough.”

“What’s going on on the other side?” I asked, managing to rip myself from the computer to look at him.

“Virus type Digimon have been wreaking chaos across the lands, Izzy and the rest of the DigiDestined have been doing well against them, but their numbers don't seem to dwindle that much day to day, no matter how many we defeat. They seemed to be replaced the next day as if by magic…” Gennai looked troubled after finishing his explanation.

“Then you must be risking a lot to even consider sending one of your own to our side,” Cadance noted, with a grateful smile.

“Indeed, but your world has just as much importance as ours, Im sure the others will agree,” Gennai said smiling warmly before returning his gaze to me, regaining his look of guilt, “I shall be looking for a way to send you home when I can, it may take some time. The multiverse is quite a large place, but as long as your world has a form of internet then it will have a DigiServer.”

“DigiServer?” Cadance asked, the girl really liked learning about this stuff, I can relate to that.

“In short, a universe sized space in the digital world made up of deleted or unused data forming a place where digimon can live,” Gennai explained, “They are connected by digital gates, I assume I don’t need to explain what a digital gate is again?” Gennai asked teasingly.

Cadance giggled and shook her head. “That's good, I will be off then!” Gennai said a cheerful smile on his face as he stepped out the door, closing it behind him.

The room went quiet, I went back to looking at the picture, I wonder what they're doing right now? They must be freaking out by now… I was due to meet them a few days ago, I wonder if they would just give up on finding me eventually, and my name would just become another name on a list of missing persons.

“Do you miss them?” Cadance asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“What?” I asked not sure if I heard her correctly, turning to see she had a mixed look of worry, curiosity, and sadness.

“Do you miss them?” Cadance asked again, a bit more matter of factly, leading me to believe she already knew the answer.

“What a stupid question,” I muttered, a bit annoyed now.

“Tell me about them,” Cadance requested, asking me more than telling me, but for what reason I couldn’t deduce.

“Why should I?” I asked in an irritated tone.

“I'm the princess of Love, what people don’t seem to get about that is, there is more than one kind of love,” Cadance said shooting me a knowing smile.

“Familial love huh, so you're a glorified counselor?” I said snorting a bit in amusement.

“Yep,” Cadance said with a perfectly serious tone, her face firm yet somehow still soft, “I'm perfectly okay with being dumbed down to that, because a ruler's job is to serve the people not themselves. Councilor's do just that, serving the people through easing their spiritual pain, and helping them through problems of the heart.”

“I'm not one of your people though?” I asked, giving her a quizzical look.

“You stuck your neck out for us on more than one occasion and risked your life to save my people and I, so tough shit Snap. You are one of us now, no escape!” Cadance declared, gaining a mischievous grin.

I laughed a bit before asking, “Snap?”

“Oh yeah! You wouldn’t know about that!” Cadance giggled, before saying, “That's what the guards have been calling you. The guards give nicknames to all members of their ranks and after your battle against two ultimates, they named you Snap, since you snapped Mephstiomon’s arm off.”

“Huh, neat…” I muttered under my breath.

“But enough about my family, tell me about yours!” Cadance in a rather excited tone, leaning forward energetically.

“Uh…” I said feeling quite put on the spot, Cadance just gave me a rapid yet reassuring nod, an excited grin plastered on her face.

“Well… I guess… They're good folks, the kind of people you can rely on to lend a hand when you need it, patient too,” I laughed, “My mother had the patience of a saint… my poor mama…”

“What makes you say that?” Cadance prodded.

“Oh cuz I used to go looking for fights when I was younger. I would walk up to the biggest meanest motherfucker at school, excluding faculty of course, and sock them in the face!” I said grinning despite myself.

“Nice,” Skullgreymon chuckled in approval.

“Hush you,” I replied almost teasingly.

“How’d that go?” Cadance said, giving me a frown of disapproval.

“Oh I got my ass kicked usually, always coming home with a black eye or a broken nose,” I shrugged, “My poor mama would tell me off for at least an hour every time,” I chuckled, “Til I stopped of course,” The guilt from that particular memory returning to the forefront after the high I got from remembering my past fights had passed.

“What changed?” Cadance asked, her tone hadn’t changed from a calm neutral since we had started this little counseling session.

“Well one day I came home pretty late… a lot later than usual, and when I got home I snuck in through the back, didn’t want to get caught coming home late ya know? So when I got in I overheard my mom talking to my dad… she was crying, going on about how she was so scared that I would get myself killed, how much it worried her that I was always getting into fights… and….” I trailed off.

“And?” Cadance pushed.

“And how she didn’t know it would be this hard when they decided to adopt…” I replied, gaze returning to the picture on my laptop, before turning back to see the look of shock on Cadance’s face.

“Did you know? I mean before hoof?” Cadanance asked quickly, and worriedly.

“No… welp… more than one way to skin a cat eh?” I chuckled.

“Morbid figures of speech besides…” Cadance said looking a bit sickened by the term of phrase, and now actually looking at said phrase, yeah… its kinda fucked up, “What happened after that?”

“Well, I stopped picking fights… didn’t stop people from coming after me but hey, free cardio!” I nervously laughed.

“Coward,” Skullgremon muttered.

“Says the pile of bones,” I mentally snapped back at him, a little irritated.

“Says that man with a 20-5 loss rate,” He fired back.

“Says the bitc-” I almost finished.

“Connor?!” Cadance asked, cutting me out of my thoughts, this mare really liked doing that.

“Hmm?” I said, returning my attention to her.

“You zoned out! I was asking who the foal in the picture is!” Cadance said a bit of annoyance but a smile of amusement was on her face nonetheless.

I blinked and noticed I had accidentally moved the laptop to a position where she could lean over to look at it.

“Curiosity killed the cat eh?” I muttered.

“What do your people have against cats?” Cadance asked, looking horrified.

“Guess the cats out of the bag,” I said with a grin, getting an obviously faked and over exaggerated gasp of horror from Cadance before she burst out giggling, “It's typically seen as rude to look at someone’s computer screen without asking, kinda like reading a book over someone’s shoulder,” I informed her.

“OH! I'm so sorry,” Cadance said, blushing a bit, “I suppose that should have been obvious though,”

“As for your question, that would be my baby sister. Technically not related by blood, but I don’t really care. She’s my sister,” I said, my eyes falling on the tiny little redheaded girl, barely a month old and tightly clenching my shirt in her tiny little fist, her eyes barely open, the faintest hint of blue behind her loosely closed eyelids, as I held her close with the stupidest smile on my face.

“I thought I understood what you lost before but… when Flurry fell into that pit, for a split moment I thought I lost everything, and in that moment I understood. I understood why you were so angry, so unwilling to forgive Twilight for what she did. Your aggressiveness towards anyone that tried to wave off what happened to you, it was never about losing you arm, or even your body… it was about losing your family,” Cadance said, tearing up a bit, biting her bottom lip.

“Yeah...” Was all I could say.

“Well, this has been insightful…” Cadance muttered softly.

“Yeah…” I said again, clicking off the pic and looking around for the files Gennai had downloaded, finding some files on digimon’s binary and other interesting topics. If it wasn’t for my background as a programmer, a lot of this stuff would fly over my head, but even with that in mind it would take a few long nights of cramming to learn what was basically super programming. Might be able to make something out of this though, maybe a gate home and an actual Digimon to replace me. Gonna keep this plan to myself though, I don't want to get people’s hopes up.

“So… what now?” Cadance asked, “I mean yeah the war meeting is going to reconvene tomorrow, but what do we do now? Twilight hasn’t left her room and you got your flank handed to you by those Ultimates. As things stand, it's not looking good for us, even if you and Aunt Tia were able to fight off an Ultimate, albeit barely.”

“If you think the Mephistomon was at full power, you're sorely mistaken,” I said, having brought up the Digimon analyzer to have it analyze the data of Mephistomon in the background while I try to learn Digi-Coding, from the data it had already analyzed it confirmed my suspicions.

“Wait… what!?” Cadance asked, horrified.

“Yep, according to this analysis mephistomon has an ability known as Black Sabbath. It instantly kills any creature comparable or weaker than it, except virus types… hmm interesting,” I muttered, “Not to mention it was a fresh Ultimate, so it was unable to access its full physical strength.”

“I think I follow,” Cadance muttered, shivering in fear, the thought of an instant-kill AoE attack with this effect no doubt fueling this fear, “Basically, since they were new to the power, they weren’t able to use it properly.”

“Yep, a freshly Digivolve Digimon can only use so much of that form's power until they’ve used that form for a bit,” I explained as I made a google doc for keeping notes while I continued my research.

“So that's why you were able to beat it? You were more experienced with your mastered Greymon form?” Cadance asked.

“More experienced period. Like I said, I used to get into fights all the time. Didn’t win many of them, but as they say, the difference between a master and a student is that the master has failed more times then the student has tried,” I shrugged.

“Wise words,” Cadance said, sounding impressed.

“Not entirely accurate ,as I'm far from a master, but close enough. As for my Greymon form I haven’t mastered it yet in all likelihood. If I had, I wouldn’t have needed Celestia’s help ,seeing as Tai’s Greymon was able to trivialize Ultimates at his prime,” I continued.

“You still haven’t answered my question though,” Cadance pointed out.

“Ah right, I’d rather wait for the war meeting, I need to gather my thoughts,” I said, giving her an apologetic look.

She nodded, giving me a smile before turning to leave, “I'll leave you alone to study then, Fluttershy might not though,” She said half joking.

I watched her go out the door before returning my gaze to the computer, time for a crash course on Digimon code.

Author's Note

Sorry for the late chap, I got sick for a bit so I just didn't have the energy to write, Im back at it though! Might make chap 11 early to make up for lost time but no promises

File 11: The Ultimate Quest