My Little Digi-Cat

by Lucky Star Kona-chan


(2): The mysterious watcher and slight hints of improvement.

Derpy walked at a moderate pace, in no hurry to get to her home, apparently.

Tailmon didn’t mind too much; sure, it was a waste of her time, but since there was no other option. Derpy's request had been the only one available and thus, she had to endure helping the gray mare out.

Still...

“Oh, I feel the hate in the air, ” Tailmon exaggerated her voice, noticing the distrustful stares of the local ponies they passed, “What a welcoming town.”

“Huh?” Derpy was confused by that comment, “Hate? What hate? Ponyville doesn’t hate you, silly.”

“Gray,” Tailmon said, flatly, “I know you're an idiot like the rest of this town, but don’t abuse it, please.”

Derpy took offense on that, “Hey! That’s not nice!”

I’m not nice, I told you like ten times already.”

“That’s not true! You are nice, really! You're just trying to act cool so nopony notices.”

Tailmon facepawed.

“Why do I have to deal with such stupidity?” she murmured under her breath before raising her voice, “Alright, whatever you say, Gray. At least you're not being a hypocrite like the rest of these losers.”

“Why are they hypocrites?” Derpy asked, innocently as ever.

Oh yeah, this was going to be fun.

“It’s simple Gray,” Tailmon began with a smile, raising her voice so that everypony passing by could hear, “they want me out of here for kicking their princesses’ butts and then some, but they expect someone else to do it for them.” Her smile took on a sharp edge. “They don’t have the guts to stand in front of me and say anything. Sure, I totally destroyed Blue, Orange and Purple, but at least they actually had the courage to stand against me.”

By now, several ponies had stopped to listen and this just made Tailmon's smile morph into an evil smirk.

“I despise those pathetic sickos that want something so bad, but are too weak to do it themselves! They just stick around to see it happening because of someone else’s actions, but I have to admit it is amusing to see such trash scared!” Tailmon finished her rant with a sinister laugh.

Some ponies looked in shock, others with anger, not that Tailmon cared.

“What? You idiots have anything to say?” she waited for an answer that didn't come, “I thought so.”

Derpy just stared, unable to come to a conclusion of what just happened. She didn’t understand even half of what Tailmon was rambling about and now ponies were shooting nasty glares at the digi-cat....who was walking off without her.

“Kitty, wait for me!” she hurried after Tailmon trying to ignore the stares of those around them, “You don’t know where my house is!”

“Hurry up then,” Tailmon told her without looking back.

Catching up Derpy said, “Why is everypony so mad now?”

“Because they don’t like being told the truth on their faces,” Tailmon responded with glee.

“What truth? I didn’t understand all that complicated stuff you told me back there, can you repeat it a little simpler for me? Please,” Derpy asked, innocently.

“Do you really want me to do that Gray?” Tailmon asked with sinister smile, “It could be spooky for you.”

“I can handle spooky stuff, Kitty,” Derpy proudly said.

“Can I get a glass of water or something first?” Tailmon complained, “How far away is your house, Gray? We have been walking on this ugly road for, like, twenty minutes now.”

Derpy stopped and looked around, she noticed a little problem, “Oops...I went the wrong way again.”

Tailmon’s eye twitched involuntarily as she watched Derpy chuckle, nervously, before she lifted one claw.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Derpy gave her a nod and then Tailmon walked towards a tree that was close by.

She extended her claws, which somehow looked way sharper than before, and plunged then deep into the tree's trunk. Then, she started to pull.

Within seconds, then the sound of the ground breaking echoed across the street and every pony in sight, including Derpy, watched as Tailmon ripped the tree from the ground, roots and all, leaving a sizable hole on its place. Several ponies let out strangled cries and ran for cover, a couple were too stunned – and scared – to move, but Derpy just blinked at the sight like it was just another bump in the road.

Holding the tree over her head, Tailmon turned to look at Derpy, “Wait here.”

“Okay!” Derpy nodded with a smile; she didn’t need to know what was happening, everything could be explained later.

She thought about apologizing to the pony who owned the tree if there was any, because obviously they would feel sad that their tree was no longer there. It was the only considerate thing to do.

But Tailmon had asked her to wait, so she waited.

Fifteen minutes after that Derpy was getting a little worried: Kitty didn’t came back and she couldn't help but worry. What if she got attacked by a timberwolf? Or frozen by one of those nasty snake-birds? What were they called again? Cock-a-soming? She fought the urge of entering the Everfree to search for her new friend, wanting to do as she said.

Suddenly, the ground under her hooves gave off some slight vibrations. She looked at the ground, confused. An earthquake? Another cow stampede?

But as soon as these vibrations started, they stopped.

Looking back up, Tailmon came walking out of the woods with a small broken piece of wood on her left paw. Squinting her mismatched eyes for a better look, Derpy saw Tailmon’s fur stained in various areas with some Bordeaux coloration, her left claw was dripping with liquid of the same color. Halfway to Derpy, she then threw the piece of wood behind her with a satisfied expression.

Finally, Tailmon noticed Derpy, “I'm back.”

“Kitty!” Derpy said, happily, “what happe-“ Then the smell nation attacked. “Ewww…” Derpy lifted a hoof to shield her nose of the pestilence that came from Tailmon’s body. “What is that smell?”

“You don’t want to know, Gray,” Tailmon insisted with a giggle.

“Let’s just go home, so you can take a bath,” Derpy suggested, waving a hoof to try and make make the smell go away.

Tailmon shrugged, “Whatever.”

“Follow me, Kitty,” Derpy started walking in the (hopefully) right direction, this time.

Watching the entire sequence of events from the safety of a cloud, Rainbow Dash watched: she had been following Tailmon ever since she left the portal on Twilight's orders. She didn't trust the white digi-cat and had been the first to volunteer for this 'mission', determined to keep an eye on the digi-cat throughout her two month stay.

'This cat being here is not a good idea', Rainbow made a face before deciding to take flight, turning tail and making a beeline for Twilight's castle.

Unbeknownst to the prismatic pegasus, a figure covered by shadow also watched from from the safety of the Everfree border, deep blue eyes following Tailmon as she departed.


Ten minutes later, the pair finally made it to Derpy’s house.

Derpy strolled around happily while Tailmon took a moment to look at the house interior. Cushions, blankets, pillows, some dishes and trays, and lots of paper cake cups were scattered all over the furniture, as though a tornado blew through and left no survivors.

“Why is everything so messy?” Tailmon asked.

Derpy giggled sheepishly, “Sorry, I was in a hurry before and I didn’t make time to clean up.”

“Are you sure about that?” Tailmon asked, lifting a tray that was swarmed by ants and then throwing it behind her with a loud clatter.

Derpy’s expression soured a bit.

“I told you that I’m not nice, but you didn’t want to listen,” Tailmon re-stated, “Anyways, where's the bathroom?”

“Down the hallway, second door to the right,” Derpy said with disheartened voice and pointed at the hallway with a hoof.

Tailmon followed the direction, but caught Derpy’s sad expression. She didn’t care, but for some reason, she wasn't as annoyed as she thought she'd be.


Standing in front of her castle, Twilight paced back and forth, glancing at the sky every now and then. She'd gone straight there after the Princesses left, though not before sending out Rainbow Dash to make sure Tailmon actually checked the bulletin board in Town Hall.

It wasn't that Twilight didn't trust Konata or Rinna. She just didn't trust Tailmon.

A flash of a prismatic mane broke her out of her nervous thoughts and she looked up to see Rainbow Dash touching down before her.

“Rainbow, what did you find?” Twilight nearly tackled her friend to the ground, “did Tailmon look at the board?”

“She took her sweet time getting there, but yeah,” the blue pegasus grumbled.

Twilight winced, preparing for the worst, “And?”

“Derpy crashed into her.”

Twilight gasped, one hoof going to her mouth, “Is she okay?”

“She's.....fine,” Rainbow said with a confused frown, “something weird happened.”

“What?”

“Tailmon accepted Derpy's help request,” Rainbow reported, nose scrunching up, “Whatever it was...”

After her heart rate evened out, Twilight needed a minute to process that.

“So… she’s with Derpy right now?” Rainbow nodded. “And you just left her there?”

That got Rainbow's attention, “Uhhh...”

“Sweet Celestia!” Twilight's panic spiked all over again, “anything could be happening to her right now!”

“Oh horseapples,” Rainbow got airborne fast, “I-”

“The gray mare is safe,” a new voice interjected.

Both ponies gave a start: they were the only ones who stood before the castle gates and Twilight would've known if it had been Spike from the other side of the door.

“Who-?” Twilight didn't get a chance to finish.

“Do not be afraid. I am an ally, sent to watch Tailmon,” the disembodied voice spoke again.

It dawned on Twilight first, “Are you the one that Konata’s mother sent?”

“Indeed,” the voice replied, “Lady Mihoshi trusted me with the responsibility of watching Tailmon’s progress on her quest.” A pause. “She also ordered me to do the same with the ponies involved in the incident.”

“We don't need a babysitter,” Rainbow put her hooves on her hips, sounding insulted at the insinuation.

“I have orders to intervene in case of an emergency,” the voice continued, “I felt the need to inform you before I returned to my watch. Farewell.”

“Hey, wait just a-”

“I think she's gone, Rainbow,” Twilight frowned, looking around them with a wary expression.

“Want me to head over to Derpy's place?” the prismatic pegasus still looked ready to take off at a moment's notice.

There was a pregnant pause between them and it very nearly brooked Rainbow to take off anyway, but Twilight made her decision and shook her head.

“We're just going to have to trust Konata's mother and the person she sent to watch over Tailmon,” she said.

A sour expression on her face, Rainbow landed: she wasn't about to let Tailmon off the hook just because some disembodied voice said so.


When Tailmon finally left the bathroom – which she had to clean up in order to clean herself off – she saw that Derpy had moved.

Curious, she explored the house for a bit, taking in all the trash as she did so: this amount of clutter was not normal.

She finally came upon the kitchen, sticky corners and cabinets covered in muffin batter, and it was there that she found a note on a table.

'Dear Kitty,

I’m going to take nap, so please make yourself comfortable. If want something to eat, there are fresh baked muffins in the oven.

Love, Derpy

Tailmon crumpled it into a ball and threw over her shoulder; she might as well take one, since she wanted something sweet to eat after her little exercise.

Taking one of the dozen of muffins that were in the (dirty) oven, she took a bite...and her pupils shrunk.

“This taste…”

The taste of the muffin was familiar to her.

It was very similar to Rinna’s muffins, an observation that caused a warm feeling to rise inside the feline's chest.

“How can someone with this talent be so…” Tailmon was about to say something mean, but stopped at the last word. Looking around at all the trash in the room, she sighed and adopted a determined expression. “Might as well start by helping this one a bit. Not like I have anything better to do.”