The Fox and the Filly- Meeting Rarity
Carousel Boutique
By the time the sun began to rise, the young filly named Sweetie Belle was wide awake as she hopped out of her bed and back onto her hooves. The smell of food cooking from downstairs caused her to race down and see what was going on, only to be surprised to see that Rena herself was the one in the kitchen. Using the stovetop to scramble some eggs while a couple pieces of bread was in the toaster. The Digimon didn’t even notice that Sweetie Belle was up until she heard her little hooves walk into the kitchen.
“Why good morning, Sweetie Belle.” Rena acknowledged her as she finished cooking the eggs and began to place them on a clean dish plate. Followed by her using her quick reflexes to catch the toast that popped out of the toaster to her left. “How did you sleep?”
“Great!” The filly replied as she sat down at the table. Rena smiled, picking up the plate of eggs and toast as she set them down by the young filly. As Sweetie Belle began to eat, she soon was overwhelmed by the taste of the morning meal that her newfound partner had cooked for her. It was only the night before that Renamon had cooked hayburgers and hayfries for her, something that she wouldn’t normally have because Rarity would freak out of the big mess that would ensue from even trying it. “This is very good Renamon! I like it!”
“Why thank you, Sweetie Belle.” The fox replied. “I knew a lot of recipes from before I was partners with your mother. You should have seen her though when I tried to have her watch the dishes. She would freak out at the first sign of a mess.”
The filly laughed a little as she cleared her throat by drinking from a glass of water. “That just sounds like Rarity on a lot of different things. Me? Not so much.”
“I see. You telling me about the sister makes me remember a phrase I once knew,” Rena replied back. “Like mother, like daughter.” The statement though, just left the filly in a state of confusion.
“I don’t get it…”
“Well, it’s a saying that means a lot of the traits, personalities, likes, and dislikes of somepony like your mother is seen in their children, like you and Rarity. From what you told me, Rarity is very much of a neat and tidy kind of pony and I can see that you are very optimistic and adventurous.” She tried to explain to her, “Those were traits that Pearl had when she was your age and also as she grew up.”
Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow, raising her head a little from her finished plate as Rena picked it up and began to clean them in the sink. “You haven’t even seen my sister… She’s… kind of a hard pony to understand at times.” The Filly said as Rena began to run the water for her to clean the dirty dishes.
“Really now?” Rena asked. “Let me ask you then… does she pressure herself when it comes to her line of work?” The digimon remembered Sweetie Belle explaining that their home was a boutique that her sister would run in order to make dresses and suits for anypony who had enough bits to pay for her services.
“Well… yeah. I’ve seen her at times crying into the couch while drowning herself in ice cream. So yeah, she’s emotional.” Sweetie Belle nodded her head, acknowledging Rena as she had now begun to dry them off with a dishtowel.
“What about OCD?” Rena then questioned the filly, chuckling a little.
“OCD?” The filly asked again, not sure how that was suppose to be funny.
“It’s a joke I came up with when I found out how far she goes in terms of neatness.” The Fox responded, now taking the clean dishes and putting them away. “Obsessive Cleanliness Disorder.”
Sweetie Belle nodded her head. “Yeah, that’s definitely her.”
“What about a certain expectation of quality?” Rena then asked her, looking down at Sweetie Belle as they walked into the living room. “Like if she was looking for a crimson scarf, she would specifically want crimson. Not scarlet, red, ruby, rose, or burgundy because that would not be exactly what she was looking for.”
“Rarity’s like that when she asks me for favors when I’m out in town or if she’s in a hurry to finish a dress. Not only that, but she would want top of the line quality items instead of knock offs.” Sweetie Belle then stopped trotting and looked back at Rena, still confused as she looked back at Rena. “Um… I’m sorry, but I really don’t understand what you are trying to tell me, Rena.”
The Digimon chuckled, looking back at Rena with a smile on her face. “What I mean is that all the things you said Rarity does… I’ve seen before in Pearl when she was young. I helped her through many tough times… When she first met me, our meeting was… complicated.” She said briefly as Sweetie Belle made her way to the restroom to clean her mane, leaving the digimon to head back into the kitchen as she was getting herself a glass of water. However, it was when she was beginning to inhale the drink, the sound of magic could be heard on the front door as it unlocked the door.
“I’M HOME!!!!”
The outburst from the front of the boutique startled the digimon, causing Rena’s glass to slip and fall onto the floor. Shattering into pieces as glass flew across the floor. The digimon’s eyes widened, trying to find a dustpan and broom in order to clean up the mess. But as she was cleaning up her mess and putting the broken glass in the trash can, a white unicorn mare with a curly purple mane and tail, a cutie mark of three diamonds, and a pair of eyes that were widening with each second that she stared at Rena was watching her clean up the mess.
When the digimon set the broom down and cleaned the dustpan, it turned around to see the mare, slack jawed as it tried to make sense of what was going on. Rena though, was the first one to break the silence.
“Um…… Sorry about the mess?”
What followed suite was a panicked mare screaming her head off and grabbing the broom that Renamon had just set down to try and smack the Digimon. Her attackers frantic cries and attacks didn’t provide Rena many options to defend herself because most of them involved some form of self defense. Plus, this was just a major misunderstanding.
At one point, when this was occurring, Sweetie Belle had heard all the commotion and then trotted into the room. “Rarity, why are you attacking Rena?”
The mare just looked at the filly, dumbfounded by what she just heard. “You… know this… thing?”
“Yes… I met her yesterday while you were away on your trip, and guess what?” Sweetie said, now sounding a little excited. “Rena says that she knew mom!”
That was when Rarity took a moment to look back at the fox, putting the broom down. “W-what?”
“She is right,” Rena said, remembering something as she pulled out an old photograph she kept in her sleeves of both herself and Pearl in the same picture. “I knew your mother when she was just Sweetie Belle’s age. We were friends for a long time… Though, I had not seen her in twenty years. When I met Sweetie Belle though, she told me that Pearl… passed away.” In this moment, a few tears began to fall from the fox’s eye. One that did not go unnoticed by the children of her former partner.
Rarity herself was the first to speak when she notices Rena’s tears. “Is something wrong dear?” She asked, having calmed down.
“N-no it’s just…” The fox paused, looking up. “I had not seen her in a long time... and now, I find out that I can’t see her again.” Taking a moment to wipe her tears away, she took a deep breath before speaking again. “I did not come here to Equestria by choice. But when I did, everypony would try to hurt me or make me run away. Some even threw stones and shouted dreadful things. Calling me a monster, animal… a wretched beast. But, your mother was different. Despite what everypony else said and did, she allowed me to stay in her home and cared for me the same way I cared for her. She was the only pony I knew that I can trust…” When the Digimon did finish, both Sweetie Belle and Rarity looked at the fox in shock. Neither of them actually knew about this and hearing about it for the first time took a while to get used too. The Element of Generosity took more time than her little sister, given the circumstances and her recently trying to hit the fox over the head with a broom like she was a mouse.
“I-i’m sorry to hear that…” She said, looking at Sweetie Belle as she looked around in the Kitchen. “Sweetie Belle…”
“Yes, Rarity?”
“Why are standing there, darling? Your friend is upset,” She told her, turning her head and making eye contact. “What do we do when a friend is upset?”
Sweetie Belle sighed, looking back at Rarity. “Prepare a hot beverage.”
Renamon lifted a head to make eye contact with Rarity. “I thank you for your generosity, but I don’t think-.”
“I insist, darling.” The mare interjected as Sweetie Belle began to try to pour water into a kettle so it can boil. “You are clearly in distress and a guest in my home, I want to make everypony that comes into the Carousel Boutique as comfortable as possible.”
“I understand your reasons… but I’m a little more concerned with having a filly trying to operate an open flame on a stove top.” Rena deadpanned, causing the mare to stop for a minute and look at Sweetie Belle, who was trying to balance herself on one hoof as she poured water into the kettle. All the while the flame on the stove top was lit.
“Uhh… Am I doing this right?”
“Sweetie Belle please… sit down with… Rena for a minute. I think one accident is all we need for now. And we don’t need a second one.” Rarity insisted, remembering the mess that Renamon had made earlier and watched her clean up. Sweetie Belle pouted to herself for a minute before she turned the stove top off with her magic and then put the kettle down. “Okay dear. We don’t a hot beverage or anything like that, but I do believe that it might be easier for me to understand you if I ask you some questions… If you are okay with that of course, dear.”
Rena nodded her head as they all went into the living room, taking a seat as they got themselves comfortable before any questions were asked. Rarity herself sat on her favorite couch while Sweetie Belle took up a seat next to Rena. The Element of Generosity was taking some time to process everything before she began to ask any questions.
Once she was ready, the mare asked the first question that was on her mind. “So, Rena dear… I don’t intend to be rude, but what exactly are you? I don’t believe I have seen any lifeforms like yours before.”
The fox took in a deep breath before exhaling to compose herself. “That… may be complicated. I am a digimon. Short for digital monster. But my species is known as a Renamon. There are multiple different species of Digimon like there are with Ponykind, but I prefer to be called Rena because that is the name I had before coming here.”
“And where do these… Digimon… come from?” Rarity asked, noticing Sweetie Belle grabbing Rena’s digivice from upstairs.
“They come from a world that exists within this one called the digital world. It was formed through Ponykind’s evolution with technology and computers with all the data and information mapping out across the entire world. However, actual digimon breaking through the boundaries that exist through both worlds is rare.” Rena explained, clearing her throat. “Don’t take what I know for granted though, I haven’t visited the digital world in quite some time. I did just wake up from a twenty year nap yesterday.”
“So… is it like a parallel world or something?”
“You can say that.” The fox replied, “Sweetie, can I see the digivice for a minute.” The filly nodded and within a couple of button clicks, Rena pulled up two maps of the world. However, one of them was blue and the other was yellow.
“Think of the blue one as Equestria and the yellow one as the digital world.” Rena said, pressing another button as both planes began to intersect. Merging one green like world that was the color of fresh grass. “The Digital world is basically an invisible layer that most ponies can’t see. Only tamers with digivices and a partner digimon can also fight them.”
“Hang on, fight?” Rarity interjected, dreading the word and how vicious it sounded to her.
“Not all Digimon are nice. Each one have their own personalities and some of them can be as self centered and at times can get pretty violent. When your mother was my partner, we had to fight a few of them to protect Ponyville during the night where nopony can see us.” Rena said to her. “I would fight to protect her and anypony that she saw as important to her.”
“I see…” Rarity said to herself, “Well… this has certainly been… eye opening to say the least… Rena, I know that you be going through a lot personally with just finding out about our mother passing away… but if you want to stay at the boutique and help Sweetie Belle and I from time to time… then all I can say is yes. It’s what mother would have wanted for a friend such as you. Welcome home, darling.”
Rena was at a loss for words in that moment, but felt a feeling of happiness pass through her as she looked at Sweetie Belle and Rarity again. She was going to speak again, but instead turned her head to the door when she heard the handle twist open and door pushed in by a hoof making contact with the door.
“Hey Rarity, can I talk to you for a sec-.”
It was then when two other ponies entered the door and stared at what was in the boutique as the door closed behind them. When Rena turned to look, she saw a pegasus flying in the air with a cyan coat of fur and a Rainbow mane and tail, along with the presence of an lavender alicorn with a purple mane and tail near the doorway. Both of them staring at her, but only the pegasus had the guts to do what she did next.
The pegasus bolted straight at the fox, her hoof making contact with her face and throwing her into the nearby wall. “Stay behind me, Sweetie Belle! Did this monster harm you-?”
“Rainbow, what the hay was that for?” came Sweetie Belle’s voice as Rainbow charged towards the digimon. “Rena is a friend!” The filly’s words fell on deaf ears though as the pegasus tried to show off with a spinning roundhouse kick. Only for the leg to completely miss her and in turn, stunning the Pegasus.
“What the-!?”
Rainbow’s words were stopped midsentence when she felt herself being yanked to the ground in a hold maneuver. All while Rena was looking at her in her eyes. “What the heck was that for!?”
“This thing can talk!?!”
“Rena,” The voice of Sweetie Belle from her seat caused Rena to look up. “Can you please let go of Rainbow Dash? She’s a friend of Rarity and I.” Almost instantly, Rena let go of Rainbow and returned to her position next to Sweetie Belle.
“I apologize for my actions. I was just acting in self defense.”
“It’s alright dear,” Rarity got up from her seat, turning to both ponies. “Rainbow is a bit… rash when it comes to judgement. But she is still a good pony. Also, I would like you to meet Twilight Sparkle. She’s a good friend of mine. Twilight, this is Rena. She actually knew our mother when she was Sweetie’s age.”
It took a few seconds for them to process this, but afterwards, both ponies had several questions. Mostly questions that were already previously asked when Sweetie Belle and Rarity were asking them earlier. But what the Digimon noticed during this time was that Twilight was frantically trying to write down everything that Rena was saying. Everything from what a digimon was to the digital world itself. It only left her to feel very disappointed when they asked her to please keep this to herself and to not write anypony about it. Not even Princess Celestia.
“So Rena…” Twilight then spoke, after trying to compose herself of being denied the chance to share any of the information she got. “I was going to ask you something… You told us of how Pearl found you and everything… but do you remember anything from before than? Like how you came here?” The question though, just had Rena look down a little, like the question had struck a nerve.
“I… rather not talk about it,” She said turning to Sweetie Belle for a moment. “I think I’ll just leave you four to talk. If you need me, just call me.” When the Digimon said that, she soon turned into a ball of light as she returned into Sweetie Belle’s digivice.
Inside the Digivice
Rena could hear the voices from outside go farther and farther away from her as she stepped foot into the grid like domain that was inside the digivice. Some would call it an Arc and imagine it as a ship. But for Rena, it was a place where she could just be alone for a while. Taking a cluster of data pixels from herself, she let the small blocks take form into pictures. Pictures of her memories before… and after she met Pearl.
One picture in particular though, stood out amongst the entire collection. It was a picture that she had taken… before becoming who she was now. It had two humans. A girl and a boy. The girl being slightly taller and a little older than the youngster in the picture. But as Rena looked at it, she could remember only one thing.
Being separated from her little brother.
End Chapter 2