Life for the Data

Chapter – 2

Corona claws

Coronamon’s face rose from sand. Sand. Why was he in sand? Coronamon rose shakily to his feet and placed a paw over his forehead and scoped out the landscape. It was just dunes upon dunes of sand as far as he could see with what felt like the noon day sun beating down on him. He groaned, maybe he had fallen asleep after… Where was Lunamon? Why was he here? He should have been deleted either underwater or by the claws of a Kuwagamon. How did he end up in the middle of a desert zone with no Lunamon in sight? This was bad, Lunamon hated being alone, she would be panicking out the wazoo right now.

Well, he had better be going, what better direction than forwards. He began his trek through the lonely desert, hoping to find some trace of his lost friend and some trace to where in the Digital World he was.

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Do you know how fast it takes to tire out a Coronamon in the desert sun? Not long apparently. Why was he so tired this quick? His throat was parched and he heard himself panting. Something wasn’t right, he shouldn’t be panting, or even tired really. He was fire embodied! He should have had an advantage in the terrain, instead he was nearly out of breath and thirsty as heck.

He saw an odd red rock formation in the distance, it looked… pointy? Most mountains in the Digital World were odd, lonesome things that looked like something out of an old fiction novel. Which they probably were as their teacher said the Digital World was comprised of data from everywhere. He wasn’t quite sure; he never really paid attention to class, or even attended really.

But that’s when he felt it, his legs wobbled and his entire body ached. He fell to the shifting sands and lay there. He was immobilized, not muscle on him obeyed his command to move. Exhaustion, he realized, had caught up to him. He felt the sands covering his still frame, threatening to cover him completely and make this desert his new burial ground.

He watched as the light of the desert began to fade. This was it, deletion time. Deletion in a desert with no idea where he was, could be worse. Just then, his vision was struck with a layer of green. He felt himself being lifted from the hot sand and floated above the ground. A raspy voice spoke.

“What about this one then Echo? He looks like we may squeeze out a few drops.”

A different voice spoke, more female but equally as raspy, “Sure, why not. It’s not like they’re gonna complain about what we bring back anyway. We’re all starved as it is.”

“Alrighty then.” said the first.

Coronamon was hoisted onto the back of something black. Then he heard buzzing and they were lifted off the ground. So it was an insect Digimon, great, most insect types were viruses. He had a bad feeling about what the first one said though, ‘squeeze out a few drops’ was a rather menacing phrase to be heard when you couldn’t move.

He raised his head just slightly enough to see another one flying alongside the one he was riding. It was covered in black armor; holes littered its feet and horn. Blue compound eyes looked straight ahead, not even noticing his movement. It had light blue transparent wings and a grey-black tail. He saw the dunes rapidly leveling out. Soon the waves of sand transpired into a craggy earth, followed by horribly jagged points of rock. They came into a dark cave, the buzzing of the insect Digimon wings echoing everywhere dulling all other senses. Then, it was light again, sharply cutting at his tired eyes.

His eye’s gradually returned to normal, and he had to say he was impressed. The interior of the mountain was hollow, but not such an open roof that it cooked them all.

The walls of the red mountain were covered in holes, each with its own insect Digimon. They all watched them fly into another cave; this one wasn’t as dark though. Odd fluorescent green goo hung to the ceiling and clung to the walls, illuminating the cave. Soon, the rapid buzzing ceased, and they descended to the stone floor.

The first spoke, “My queen, we have found a creature in the desert sands, it is near death.”

A new voice spoke this one much clearer and had a sense of authority to it.

“Very good, bring it to the crusher. Get as much love from it as possible.”

The Digimon he was riding bowed, allowing him to see what must have been the digivolved version. A much larger version of the insect Digimon sat upon a throne of ebony. It was two, maybe three feet taller, its horn was crooked and it had actual aqua blue hair and a small crown upon its head.

Wait, what did it mean ‘crusher’? And ‘get as much love from it as possible’? He had to get away from here!

Summoning what energy he had left, he cried out, “Petit Prominence!”

Coronamon felt his body warm up, familiar strength regain its vigor in the burst of power. It was almost as if the desert finally said, ‘fine I’ll help’ and gave him a boost. His frame was lit aflame and the heat of the desert finally co-operated. The Digimon he was riding cried out in surprise and threw him off his back, Coronamon landing with an acrobat’s precision. The other Digimons’ horn began to glow; needless to say Coronamon predicted an attack.

“Corona-knuckle!” he yelled, punching the black insect directly in the face. It rolled head over heels as the force of his upgraded punch connected.

The other one was charging an attack as well.

“So you want some to huh? Corona Flame!”

All of the fire on his body sank into his head crest; it glowed white hot before releasing a large fireball at the small insect. It screamed rather comically before being launched with explosive force, and probably some third degree burns.

But before he even had a chance to turn to face the large one, he was enveloped in the same sickly green aura. His body was restrained and he was floated up to the ebony throne.

“My my, you are quite the little bundle of energy aren’t you?” said the larger one.

“Let me go!” he yelled at... her?

She laughed rather annoyingly, “Or you’ll do what? Light on fire again, cast a fireball spell only to have it reflect back at you?”

Coronamon paused for a moment, “Fireball spell? What?”

Now it was the black Digimons turn to be surprised, “That wasn’t magic? Then what were you doing hmm?”

Coronamon stopped thrashing, “Magic? You mean like Wizardmon magic?”

The large black bug looked him over, “What on Equis are you?”

Coronamon found out he could point a claw at himself, “Me, I’m a Digimon, aren’t you?”

The bug nodded, “No, I have never heard of a creature known as a Digimon, I am Chrysalis, queen of the Changelings.”

Coronamon felt his eyes widen, “W-Where am I?”

“You, small lion thing are in the old hive of the changelings, located in the desert just south of Equestria’s borders. Also known as the ‘badlands’, I’ll let you figure out why.”

Coronamon didn’t believe what he was hearing. Just an hour ago he was with Lunamon, nearly drowning because of a stone they found, now, he was having a discussion with a big bug that wasn’t a Digimon and called itself Chrysalis. His head hurt.

“Listen little lion thing, I think we may have gotten off to a bad start, how about we re-introduce ourselves?”

Coronamon was set down on the floor, “Um, okay. My name’s Coronamon, I’m a Digimon from the Digital World. I’m at rookie level and am a base type of beast but with fire abilities.”

“Hello little Coronamon, “I am Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings, ruler of a no-ones land and plotting revenge on those who deprived us of our food source.”

“Oh, okay so not a Digimon. Great, so I’m in the real world but in some kind of alternate reality.”

Chrysalis raised a brow again, “What do you mean, ‘in the real world?’”

“I’m from the Digital World, a world made up of all the left over data that humans made over the years. The Digital world is full of Digital Monsters or Digimon for short. We inhabit that plain of existence; there are many varieties of Digimon, all come in different strength sizes and color.”

“And what is data?” she asked innocently.

Coronamon realized just how far away from home he was, “Data is the information that fills computers and other technological devices. I don’t know everything about it, I bet if Lunamon was here she could tell you a lot more.”

Chrysalis scratched her chin, “I have no idea what a Human is, or what data and these computers you speak of are, but perhaps it could serve as new home for my Changelings, we’ve had to resort to using the crusher to get food.”

“By the way, what does the crusher do exactly?” time to pass judgement.

“I think the name explains a good part, but it uses special crystals imbued with Changeling magic to make all the love that a creature had within them drained. We use it for larger creatures or un-sentient species, but we’ve had to resort all the way to crushing the love out of some of our own to feed. It is a very hard life.”

“Y-you kill your own for food? Can’t you eat like a cactus or something!?” Coronamon half-yelled, it was a disgusting revelation.

“I’m sorry, but we don’t eat physical food. We literally absorb love, it nourishes us and the more love a creature has, the more plentiful the harvest. When we aren’t crushing the love from living things, we send scouts into Equestria to collect it and return to us. They don’t always come back…”

Coronamon now at least partially got it; it was like deleting a Digimon and absorbing its data, nothing physical but still very revitalizing.

“Is that the cause to your appearance? You don’t look so loveable.”

“Watch your tongue Coronamon,” she hissed, “we may not be loveable in appearance, but we are masters of deception. Our special ability is to change our appearance to another, usually filling the role of a loved one that had just left, or a friend that you haven’t seen for a while, even making our own versions of a pony and living a normal life. Some have gone rogue, others mad, minds unable to take the stress of being so many ponies at once, it can be hard, which is why I made it law that we only have a max cap of three active pony forms at once.”

Now that was something interesting. But there was something that was bugging him.

“So, if you guys feed off love, then why are you living in a mountain in the middle of a desert?”

Chrysalis seemed to shrink a little, “That is my fault. I went to Equestria, finding it full of love and tolerance, so I seeked out its rulers. I was found by a pony named Princess Mia moray Cadenza, or Cadence, I feared the worst, and locked her in ancient forgotten caves beneath Canterlot, their capital. I took her form, finding that she was having a wedding not long from then, unfortunately, her groom found out I was not his bride, and threatened to alert the guards. I could not simply send him to the caves as well, I had felt his love for her, tasted it, it was… intoxicating. Placing a mind control spell, I made him forget about me not being his bride, and the event continued.”

She stopped to look at Coronamon, sizing him up.

“Well?” she asked out of the blue.

“W-what, what do you mean well?” stuttered Coronamon, surprised by her sudden un-answerable question.

“What do you think so far, where had I gone wrong? I have asked my subjects, but they are all biased and said I did nothing wrong. I fear my ability as queen is fading as I cannot see the holes in my own plan.”

Coronamon thought about it for a while, “Well, is there any more?”

She nodded, “Yes, I had him set up a force field in order to feint an attack, when in reality, it gave my anxious subjects time to prepare. Nobody got in, or out. Perfect for an assault, we were not discovered, but then, they came.”

“Who? I need more info.”

“Princess Celestia’s prized Elements of Harmony, a force that had saved Equestria from a dark creature that wanted to bring eternal night, or a god of chaos, looking to extend his reign. Now, I felt that my disguise was sound, and then I found I missed an important detail about my disguise. Twilight Sparkle, sister of the groom, student of Celestia, and a good friend of Cadences. So much in fact, she had foal sat Twilight when she was younger, and even made their own personnel dance! She began to see the holes in my disguise as you see them in my hooves; I had to get rid of her. But, yet again, I was foiled by my own maneuver, sending her to the same caves as Cadence, they worked together to escape and crashed the wedding.” She stopped for a moment, reminiscing on events past.

“I had to reveal myself, initiate the attack early and fight off the regent of the sun! I was fueled by the love of Shining Armor, the groom, and it was blurring my vision. What was supposed to be a simple plea for entry into the country, ended up as a full out assault. Ultimately, we were defeated by the very thing that brought us there, love. Shining Armors mind spell was broken, Princess Cadence was helping, and I was getting cocky. Shining Armor and Cadence combined with their love for one another and created a shock wave like spell that flung every one of us out of the country itself, back to where we came.”

She looked back down to Coronamon, expecting a verdict.

Coronamon sat there, scratching his chin.

“Well I suppose that if you hadn’t acted so harshly against one of the Princesses in the first place, let alone the bride to an upcoming wedding, then none of us would be here, and I would be deleted in the sand.”

“You have to understand, I could not just let an Alicorn go yelling that there were monsters in the city, I would have never gotten my hearing.”

“Still, explaining calmly that you weren’t a monster, and in fact another royal figure looking for a hearing, chances are she would have listened.” reasoned Coronamon.

“Well, perhaps. But if she didn’t, I would have been sent to the dungeons for sure!” Chrysalis countered.

“Even if you did, I doubt that the Princesses would have not been interested in an odd creature claiming to be a queen.”

“Well… You know what, your right. *Sigh*, I should have really thought the plan over more; I suppose all I really needed was a good un-biased talking to. Thank you Coronamon.” Chrysalis actually bowed a little, though she stayed sat upon her throne as if it would be stolen the moment she left it.

“No problem, everyone makes a bad decision when they panic, and you said that Shining Armors love was clouding your vision, you weren’t at your best.”

Coronamon’s voice was reassuring, and it seemed to help as the queen smiled a little, just a little.

“You know what little Coronamon, I think I like you. You have a way with words and can handle yourself in combat.”

Coronamon smiled at the comment, and then his stomach growled loudly.

“Oh right, I haven’t eaten since breakfast. Then we went exploring and…”

Chrysalis raised a brow, “We, you mentioned a Lunamon earlier, I imagine you two are acquainted?”

Coronamon looked up, “Yah, were good friends. But that’s not what’s worrying me, it’s the fact that she HATES being alone, she starts to act a little… odd.”

Chrysalis snickered, “I think you have an admirer Coronamon.”

Coronamon blushed a deep pink, rather well outlined on his fire red fur.

“W-What? No! We’re friends, that’s it! I help her with her chores occasionally, and she agrees to come on the occasional adventure with me!”

“Ooh, an adventure, how romantic.” teased the queen.

Coronamon only stuttered, and blushed a deeper shade of pink. Chrysalis laughed at his reaction.

“I’m joking, that’s what friends do right? Joke? I’m afraid I don’t have a lot of friendship experience, any missions I went out on were always much more mature.”

“O-oh, okay, I knew that.”

Just then, a sound echoed through the stone hallway, the eerie green making it seem like a monsters approach.

A Changeling buzzed within viewing range, “Princess, it’s another bandit raid!” he cried out.

Chrysalis rose from her throne, “Take all those not worthy for battle underground and assemble all who are willing to defend our last hive!”

He gave a curt bow before buzzing back into the dark cave. Chrysalis began to take steps down from her throne.

“Bandits? Like ponies that want to steal things?” asked Coronamon.

“Worse, they’re a band of ponies and outlaws along with other such creatures that where exiled from Equestria. They have found and marked our hives location and send occasional raids to try and defeat us.”

“Chrysalis, I might be able to help.” offered Coronamon.

She shook her head, “You are strong, but, you are an easy target. I do not plan to lose the first friend I’ve had since the days Changeling hives were feared, and there was more than a single one remaining.”

She buzzed off down the hall, leaving Coronamon alone in the green lit cave. He wanted to run after her, but his stomach protested. He looked around for anything to eat, and only found some of the green goo. He gingerly reached out a paw to one pile, scraping up a little; he licked it with closed eyes. It tasted like… not bad actually, it was kind of sweet, but still had enough of its own unique flavor that it was desirable. He filled up on the green stuff, hoping it wasn’t feces or something and moved on.

She had said he was an easy target, he was about to prove her wrong. These bandits were attacking a dying race, he wasn’t about to let that happen. He began to march down the lukewarm tunnel, determined to see justice served.

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“Wait… nope, nothing. I’ve definitely lost it. The magical signature is completely gone.” stated Twilight, disappointment in her voice.

One of the night guards yawned, Luna turned and frowned, “It seems that we should be returning, lest one of us fall asleep where we stand. The sun will be up in a few hours, sorry for wasting all of your time, hopefully we can resume our search tomorrow or perhaps even today.”

Twilight nodded, “I need to get some sleep, I planned to re-sort the shelves today.”

Luna nodded as Twilight left in a flash of light. She turned to her night guards, “We will make for the nearest clearing and take off from there.”

She watched them as they all nodded in conformation, “Yes princess!” they all yelled in unison.

She moved ahead, already spotting a patch of fading moonlight on the forest floor. She would need time to think about this, a creature with the ability to shift space. That was a topic that required much thought, and discussion with her sister. They reached the clearing; she spread her wings and took off. She loved a good flight every now and then. The wind beneath her wings, over her fur, she could feel normal then. Not a princess, not a regent of the moon, just another Alicorn taking a midnight flight. She loved it, but alas, she had duties and an image to keep.

Still, what that rabbit thing was deserved a thought or two of its own. First off, she had confirmed it was not a rabbit as it had four ears and an antenna. Next, how it had gotten here, it seemed too small to have done it on its own; it also ran in the face of danger so it wasn’t really a threat. So, it might have been an accident, but that was odd considering the lack of other creatures or magical artifacts. The matter was troubling Luna too much, she would sleep and talk with Celestia later, and had her nap, naps were important.

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Coronamon had reached the mountains entrance, it hadn’t been easy. The entrance was a good ways off of the ground, at least a thirty foot drop. He surveyed the area ahead; the same desert was present, only this time it was speckled with black and clouds of dust, showing sign of activity. He scaled down the entrances main wall, landing firmly on his two paws. He ran towards the clouds, this was gonna be fun.

He was a fair ways away but he already heard the sounds of clashing metal, and magical blasts. He entered the dust cloud, and was greeted by the body of an odd creature. It had the body of an eagle, but with a lion’s rear. It was also mangled, the head was missing. He gulped down the green vile collecting in his throat, these were real creatures, but the changelings needed an ally now of all times. He trudged on; ignoring the gore of the battle, bodies of both forces littered the sand, leaking red and green blood from their bodies, or what was left of them.

The sounds of the battle was becoming little more than a whisper, was he going the wrong way? This question was answered by a large blast of magic clearing the dust. Coronamon covered his eyes from the torrent of sand, opening them to find a rather disgusting sight. Bodies seemed to pile the highest near the center, a river of green blood flowed from a mound of changeling bodies, upon then stood three horned ponies, rivaling the queens height. Speaking of the queen, she was standing in front of the group, horn glowing with bright green energy.

“Y-YOU MONSTERS!” she screamed at them.

The one in the center just smiled, “Monsters eh? Never seen you so angry your majesty, we musta don somtin’ wrong.”

The other two chortled after he finished, they looked identical, both grey coated with black manes.

“How could you! We are the last hive! If you kill us, there will be none left!” she yelled in response.

The red one in the center laughed, Coronamon spotted multiple scars covering his body, and some were fresh.

“Exactly, do you know da bounty that Equestria has put on ya? 200 bits per Changeling, if we kill you all, we get rich off da corpses!”

“You idiots! Equestria is a land of peace, the corpses will get you nowhere but a one way ticket back to where you came!”

The red one just smiled maniacally, “Worth a shot. Let’s get ‘er!”

“Corona Flame!” he yelled, firing a blast from his crest.

The red horned pony recoiled slightly, before putting up some kind of shield to block the blast.

“Ooh, looks like we missed one, get it boys!” he yelled, eyes filled with death.

The grey ponies laughed and charged their horns. He took a fighting stance, each of his crests bursting into flames.

“Come and get some!” he yelled.

The grey ponies charged, heads lowered and horns forming some sort of glowing lances.

“Petit Prominence!”

He felt himself heat up, flames engulfing him completely. As the two ponies drew near, he jumped into the air, easily dodging their attacks. As they looked up to see him, he fired off a volley of fire balls at them. The each started to trot backwards in fear as the fireballs scorched the sand and burned their skin.

“Corona Flame!”

His hands lit up this time, each glowing with white hot fury. He fired off the two fire missles, each met their mark on the grey feeling unicorns.

There was an explosion, screams, then silence.

Coronamon finally reached the ground, touching down in a kneeling position. Oh the wonders of eating, he hadn’t felt this good all morning!

“Hehe, well looky ‘ere. I got myself a flamin’ lion. Hey bud, just so you know, I ain’t gonna be so easy to kill.” He said, voice carrying the same maniac mock tone.

“Wouldn’t have it any way else.” Countered Coronamon, flames re-appearing on his crests.

“Not without some help, you won’t.” said Chrysalis.

Coronamon felt energy begin to fill him. He looked her way to find that she was directing her energy to him. He felt something, it felt good.

Soon, an series of runes appeared beneath Coronamon, and a shield of energy surrounded him.

Both the queen and the bandit watched as it the egg shaped energy grew, and grew, and grew.

Soon the energy dissipated, the egg shattering in a shell like fashion, revealing that he was not the same.

“Firamon!” he yelled, digivolution complete.

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“What in the name of…” Chrysalis never finished, instead, this new guy sped on ahead using wings he had apparently sprouted.

“Fira Claw!” he yelled, flames flowing over his claws.

The Bandit King barely had time to put up a shield before the attack struck, shattering it anyway.

“Fira Bomb!”

The winged lion charged his forehead, sending a flaming ball of fire at the red unicorn at near point blank. It struck him, and sent him flying away, into the dust of the desert.

The winged lion leaped into the air, wing propelling him above all else.

“Flame Dive!”

Chrysalis watched as his entire body was encased in flames, before streaking down like a meteor where the Bandit King had landed. There was an explosion, then nothing.

“Well, that escalated quickly…” she commented, predicting the Bandit Kings death.

She walked cautiously towards the small crater that had formed where the new lion crashed. Or attacked, it was hard to tell with these Digimon. When she reached the crater, she found the bottom to be layered with glass, that pony definitely didn’t survive. She reached the center of the crackling pit, finding Coronamon asleep in the very middle, not a scratch on him.

“Okay… that’s a bit odd.”

This entire event confused her, first, the Bandit King himself attacks them, then, Coronamon disobeys her and joins the defence, though she admits that she probably should have let him. If she had, a lot less Changelings would have died. Next, she gives him what was left of her power to help him defeat the Bandit King and he… Did she do that?

There was a runic circle then flash and he had become a large flaming lion, she couldn’t explain that, she would definitely need to question him later on. Chrysalis lifted the small lion Digimon onto her back and began her return flight to the hive. Though his body was warm, that didn’t help comfort her, she had lost more than two thirds of the hive in that attack, and they needed to leave, soon. Another bandit attack would leave the Changelings extinct, she wasn’t about to let that happen.

She stepped inside of the old mountain, looking it over, she would miss this place. It had served as her fortress for centuries, and now they had to abandon it, or risk extinction. She remembered the days when her Changelings could roam free about the desert, when they could fly high above everything else with no fears. When she had siblings and the other hives would come to visit. Before the Cataclysm, an event that left them endangered. And now she, the last queen, was part of a ding race, one destined to die by times ruthless hand.

She felt Coronamon shift on her back, reminding her of his presence. Maybe, just maybe he could help them escape that fate. Maybe, if they tried, they could gain entry into Equestria. A thought came to her head, they had enough Changelings left, maybe they could make their own village. A sanctuary for Changelings in Equestria, a place that they wouldn’t be continuously hunted. She sighed, that was a dream though, an impossibility. Chances are, Coronamon would use them as stepping stones to find his friend. He had fire in his heart, more that literally, and it searched for his friend. He would like Equestria.

That settled it; she would announce their moving to Equestria, even if Coronamon was the only one to make it, then they had done some good.

She reached the interior of their home, cleared her throat and began to address her subjects.

“Attention all Changelings, we have defeated the Bandit King himself! But this victory is not one to celebrate, for we have lost many.”

She watched as Changelings head popped out from their homes in the walls, each eager to see who returned.

“I fear that we may not live to see more than a year, for we are now not only the last hive, but also some of the last Changelings alive. But, even so we must be strong! We WILL move to Equestria, we WILL make our home there. We will NOT be hunted by the angry and insane, we will have peace! I know it is scary, but even if you don’t want to go, we must, we don’t have enough Changelings to defend the hive and our low food supply means death is imminent here.”

She watched as Changelings looked and conversed with one another, obviously gossiping about what happened.

“We leave upon sun down, prepare yourselves until then.”

With those words, Chrysalis flew up to her chamber in the mountain, Coronamon still sleeping soundly. It would be a few hours until sundown, until then, she would wait for Coronamon to wake and ask him what exactly just happened. Was she the one to change him? Was it the nature of her Changeling magic mingling with a creature from another world, or was it something he had been holding back?

Whatever the reason, they had plenty of time to talk, given he woke up soon. Chrysalis buzzed back into her chambers, finding it slightly dimmer than usual. She searched around and found a pile of the fluorescent secretion gone, devoured. She looked back at her passenger, had he eaten that? Well, that was a stupid question; he was the only one who required physical food. How did he stand it? She had tried it once, it was horrible! It was sweet with a very undesirable flavor. The only real use of it was for lighting, which was its original design. A Changeling adaptation to the dark tunnels, and it gave a rather menacing lighting effect. Of course, it deteriorated over time and needed to be replaced, that pile was getting old so his behavior was acceptable.

Just then, he began to stir.

“Ugh, my head… what happened?” he asked, voice groggy and confused.

“You changed, a lot. You went from being a 3-foot tall bipedal lion, to being a 6-foot tall winged flaming lion that killed the Bandit King.”

He suddenly perked up, “You mean I digivolved! Awesome! I didn’t know I could do that!”

She set him down, “Digivolved, what is that, some sort of rapid temporary evolution?”

“Well, sort of, only it requires energy, a need, and a full stomach. I met all the requirements I suppose, you gave me energy, I had the need, and I ate just before the battle. Sorry about the goo by the way, I was hungry.”

“So, if I ever need your help, I can give you power to become stronger?” she asked, this could be valuable information.

“Well, only if you really need it. As you can see, it’s temporary and tiring. If we ever meet an enemy to beat ourselves, you can always give me a little juice and POW! Firamon.”

Chrysalis scratched her chin with holey hooves, “That is quite the ability, do you have any stronger forms?”

“Yes in fact, I do. There are six different stages to a Digimon, first is a Fresh Digimon. A Fresh one has almost no form and is VERY vulnerable. Next is In-training, a stage higher, they can defend themselves better, but are still weak. Then there’s Rookie, my level, we’re a kind of all a rounder. We are small, have plenty of firepower and don’t require constant energy to sustain this form.”

“Right, so you’re a rookie, I suppose the name fits but what did you become?”

“I went to the next stage, Champion. It’s a slightly costly form, but a champion is a powerful Digimon, capable of leveling villages in minutes. After that, is Ultimate. They are truly feared and rare Digimon who pack quite a punch. Though they require a lot of data, or energy to sustain their form, it is a balanced cost for the amount of power gained between forms.”

Chrysalis nodded, “So Champion, powerful, Ultimate, more so, what is the last one?”

Coronamon sat down, “Mega. A Mega Digimon has godlike power and can crack the very code of the Digital World. They are the rarest, almost always requiring a tamer or special event to reach the form. The few mega’s that have been seen have been known to mess with the very code of the digital world, changing its shape and purpose for their own dark causes. I doubt I’ll ever see Mega, let alone Ultimate, too much power to reach that level of strength.”

Chrysalis sat as well, eyes wide, “Alter the very shape of a world… to have such power. They remind me of the royal sisters, Celestia and Luna, they control the sun and moon.”

“Really? And they’re not evil? That’s great! Nearly every Mega that the Digital World see’s is evil.”

Chrysalis laughed sheepishly, “Too bad that I’ve gone and gotten on their bad sides. 200 bits per Changeling hostage is quite a price.”

Coronamon nodded, “It is, but as you said, your masters of deception and you’re going extinct, you are expansive creatures.”

“Thanks for the reminder.” She said, voice leaking large amounts of sarcasm.

Coronamon just smiled sheepishly, then there was the sound of buzzing.

They both looked down the hallway, seeing another Changeling come into view.

He landed a few feet away from the queen, “Your majesty, we are all ready. It is nearly sundown, we might as well leave.”

She nodded, “Thank you Double Vision, you may go.”

The Changeling bowed before flying back down the tunnel.

She looked over to him, “It seems that our time has come. we are leaving this place for Equestria.”

Coronamon raised a brow, “We’re leaving? But isn’t this your home, your palace?”

She stood, raising a hoof, “Do not remind me Coronamon, this is hard decision. But, I rather that we survive than die at the end of a bandit’s sword or by our own bellies.”

He stood up himself, “Sorry,” he apologized, “I didn’t mean to open fresh wounds. We had better get going.”

She picked him up with her magic, placing him on the odd saddle-like growth that appeared on every Changelings back. She never liked that thing; it made her feel like she was meant to be ridden upon. It didn’t help that her passenger was the perfect size to do so. She let him have so much slack for some reason. This friendship thing was weird, it made her judgement less than strict and she felt sort of… bubbly. It was almost like being fed love, only that it was a little less… pure. It gave her strength, but not as much as love did. Perhaps friendship was like a watered down version of love? Whatever the reason, it did not matter now. They had purpose, they were a team. He fought well, she could make him better.

She lifted herself off the ground via her wings and flew out of the cave that was once her throne room. She would never see that ebony throne again; no doubt it would become the new Bandit Kings throne once they raided this place. She hated those idiots, thinking that Changeling corpses would mean a get rich quick scheme was in order.

But the only one she hated more than those damnable bandits was herself. She had messed up the invasion plan from the beginning; it wasn’t even an invasion plan to start with. Hen every bandit raid, she found herself a little stunned during the combat, as if she couldn’t end their lives even for the sake of her Changelings. Then today, she didn’t even have the strength to slay a single bandit, fear had gripped her when she had seen the bandit hoard. She told her Changelings to be strong, and they were. They slaughtered the bandits, but then they came.

The Bandit King and his infamous henchmen, the Grey twins. Her changelings fought valiantly, but they were overpowered by the unicorn’s magic. Then came Coronamon, seem ably powered by the noon desert sun. He easily dispatched of the Grey twins, then with a little help from her, destroyed the Bandit King before he could release an attack. He was cool like that.

“Ahem?” something coughed overhead. She looked around and realized that she was buzzing above her subjects.

“Ah yes, thank you Coronamon. My dear Changelings, we have suffered a great loss today, many have fallen in defending our last hive. We are all that remain of the Changeling race, and I plan to keep our race alive! We will fly to Equestria, enter through the Everfree forest and hide out there. It will be much easier to prepare food if we are near our prey. It will take time to prepare a proper hive there, but I know that we can manage. We have suffered hardships that no other can endure, and I plan to keep it that way. Let us fly, for Equestria, for our new home!”

There was a chorus of cheers, followed by the sound of hundreds of wing beats. She flew upward, out the mountains hollow top while her subjects flowed out the main entry. This was just the beginning; they needed this, a way into Equestria. Even if they were caught, they could make the excuse that they were going extinct and she knew that Celestia would never abandon them. She hoped, at least.

This was it, now or never. She increased her wing beat, flying ahead of the swarm, guiding them to their new home.

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