Twilight sighed as she walked through the halls of her castle, listening to the echo of her hooves on the crystal floor. She had never in her life been so happy to be home, especially after her little time loop incident. “I’m just glad it’s here...” she muttered to herself as she walked out onto one of her balconies, looking up at the sky. She stayed there for a few moments, then blinked a few times as a sudden flash of light caught her attention. She looked over, watching a few of the branches swaying, a hard feat to accomplish since they were crystal. Resting on the branch, rather precariously she thought, was a large white egg with blue spots. “What in the world is that doing out there?” She spread her wings, taking to the air, hovering in front of the egg. Not trusting her hooves, she levitated the egg into her grasp, quickly returning to the balcony.
“Now how did you get up there?” she asked, looking it over, being careful not to drop it. It wasn’t like it was a bird egg, it was at least as big as Spike’s egg, maybe bigger. She moved inside, levitating the egg alongside her, determined to figure out just what kind of creature would lay such an egg.
“Maybe some kind of dragon...?” she muttered to herself as she walked into the library. She placed the egg in Spike’s spare basket, which he kept in the library for her longer study sessions. She moved over to one of her many towering bookshelves, scanning her meager selection on dragons, barely paying attention as the egg shook, its shell starting to crack.
Isaac blinked as light hit his eyes, bringing his hand up to protect his eyes... or at least he tried. “The hell?” he asked, his voice high pitched and very squeaky. He looked around, frowning as he saw he was no longer on the showroom floor but instead in some kind of shiny ass library. “Uh... hello?” he called out, trying to move, only for something to slide down in front of his eyes. “A little help here! I can’t move my arms.”
“Uh...” A clearly female voice reached his ears and whatever was blocking his sight was lifted out of his eyes. Staring down at him was... a purple horse... They stared at each other for a while, neither of them saying anything. “Did you just... talk?”
“Talking horse!” Isaac shouted, jumping up instinctively. “Don’t eat me!”
“Whoa!” She put her hooves up, eyes wide. “I’m not going to eat-” She ducked down as Isaac blew a few bubbles at her. Her eyes went wide as they popped, melting the walls slightly. “Sweet Faust!” She whipped her head around just in time to see Isaac bounce off, screaming at the top of his lungs.
“Twilight!” Starlight burst into the room, panic in her eyes. “What happened?! Why are you shouting!?”
“Quick, Starlight! Get the nets!” Twilight ordered, zipping around the room, collecting some scrolls and quills.
“Nets?” Starlight asked, blinking. “Why do we need nets?”
“To catch whatever it is that hatched from that egg! Now quickly! Get the nets!”
“Where-”
“In the closet, under the emergency inflatable life rafts!!”
“Why do you have-”
“Don’t question! Just do!”
“Okay...” Starlight gave her mentor an odd look before trotting over to the closet. Despite Twilight rambling in the background, Starlight took a bit to analyze the space before her. The storage closet was huge, crammed full of items to counter any emergency that could arise. “They were right... she is nuts...” She dug through the items, even coming across a box of tomato sauce, then quickly locating a pair of butterfly nets. “Uh... I got ‘em.” She closed the door, trotting over to Twilight, the nets hovering in her magic.
“Excellent!” Twilight squealed, taking one from her, grinning ear to ear. “Now to catch us a hatchling!”
Starlight raised her eyebrow. “You sound way too excited about that...” Twilight, however, was too caught up in the excitement, having already rushed out of the room, leaving the befuddled unicorn alone. “I didn’t sign up for this...” she sighed, following Twilight out of the room.
“Search everywhere!” Twilight commanded, peeking under a table. “But be careful, it spit acid at me.”
“Wait, we’re looking for something that spits acid!?”
“Relax, it’s just a baby, I doubt it’ll cause permanent harm.” Twilight waved a hoof dismissively as she walked further down the hallway.
“How does Spike put up with this...?” Starlight groaned, turning around and walking down towards the other end of the hall. She cast a small sound dampening spell around her hooves, leaving her movements completely silent. She popped her head into various rooms, leaving the doors open to mark her progress. She paused, flicking her ears as the faint sound of crying. Moving toward the source, she spotted a small blue blob hiding under a table, crying its eyes out. She cast a glance at the net, quickly deciding that, if this was a newborn, she wasn’t about to traumatize it with a net. She set it down, the soft noise catching the blob’s attention.
“S-stay away from me!” it shouted at her, its large eyes moist with tears.
“Wasn’t expecting that...” Starlight muttered before putting on her best non-threatening smile. “Hello there! My name is Starlight Glimmer, I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.” The creature didn’t say anything, it just stared at her.
After a few minutes, he sighed, looking away. “It’s not like it matters...” He looked at his reflection, closing his eyes. “I’m not even human anymore...” He turned to look at her. “Look at me, I’m a freaking Digimon.”
“Huh?” She asked, tilting her head. “What’s a... ‘Digimon?’”
“I am, apparently.” He bounced up to her, hopping onto her back. “You don’t mind if I catch a ride? I don’t exactly have legs anymore...”
“No, it’s fine.” She smiled gently. “I’m not exactly sure what’s going on, but between Twilight and myself, I’m sure we can figure it out.”
“Thanks, Starlight,” he nodded, a bit odd given his spherical form. “My name is Isaac, by the way.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Isaac.” Starlight turned, heading down the hallway. A bit of pride filled her, having completed her first, true assignment as Twilight’s student... now she just had to make sure her teacher didn’t traumatize her new friend.
“So, your body was changed out of the blue, and you say that you’ve lost all your friends too?” Zecora asked, sitting down at her table and taking a sip from her tea, as she glanced down at her guest. Sitting on the table was a small green blob, its tail ending in a leaf that hovered above its head. In its mouth was what looked like a pink pacifier, or was it its mouth?
“Yeah, I didn’t exactly expect to hatch out of an egg this morning,” the blob responded, gazing up at her. She had found said egg out in the Everfree and, mistaking it for an abandoned dragon egg, taken it back to her hut. Only, to her surprise, it hatched into the being before her, fully articulate and claiming to be an adult. “I mean, I thought you were just a fictional character but here I am, as a freaking Leafmon, having a conversation with a talking, rhyming zebra.” He paused for a moment. “Hey... do you all rhyme...?”
Zecora stared at him a bit and he gulped, fearing that he had said something horribly offensive. After letting him sweat it out a bit, Zecora broke into a smile. “Worry not, my small friend. The same rhyme twice, I will not send. A zebra’s rhymes perfectly strike, as no two are ever alike.”
“So...it’s a cultural thing? I hear ya.”
“You know my name, but if I may be so bold, I don’t know yours, truth be told,” she asked, taking another sip of her tea.
“Oh!” he jumped up in surprise, looking at her. “I’m sorry, I got so worked up other this mess I completely forgot to introduce myself! I’m Jethro, but you can just call me Jet if you like. Most people do.”
“Very well, then I shall call you Jet.” She grinned, setting her cup down. “Now, should I assume the table should be set?”
“Well...” Jethro blushed, his stomach growling. “Now that you mention it... I could use some food...” Zecora nodded, getting up and moving over to her cauldron, grabbing some ingredients. She paused, looking back at him.
“Tell me my friend, as without a doubt, you can not eat if that thing won’t come out,” she asked, gesturing to the pacifier. He blinked, looking down at it.
“I... have no idea...” He contorted his face, doing his best to spit it out. “Come on, I just need to get this thing out...” He glowed briefly, his body shifting. No longer was he a blob, his lower half covered by a hard brown, spiky shell. His upper half included a pair of arms, a sideways insect mouth, a pair of rabbit like ears and a string growing out of his head.
“Do my eyes deceive or a change in form did I perceive?” Zecora asked, nearly dropping a jar.
He blinked, looking down. “I digivolved...” he sighed, hanging his head. “I guess...I’m truly not human anymore...” He blinked again, then looked up... to see Zecora smiling down at him.
“Do not fret my friend, tomorrow we shall visit Princess Twilight, she is sure to have a cure for your plight,” the zebra assured him before returning to her pot, starting to cook them some dinner.
“Yeah...” he sighed, looking over at her. “I really hope so...” He closed his eyes, a tear running down his face. “I just want to go home...”
“This is your fault!” Simon hissed as he flapped through the air, giving his comrade a baleful glare. “You just had to get those stupid cards! Couldn’t just order them online could you? No, you had to get them right then! Now look at us!” The infuriated Demidevimon snarled, his glare deepening.
“Oh yes, I planned to buy some rare cards from some weird guy and get us turned into Digimon, that was totally my plan!” Steve shouted back at him, the Keramon hissing back. “Because that was the goal the whole time!!”
“If I had hands I’d wring your neck!” Simon growled, slashing his talons at Steve, who grabbed the bat, punching him in the face a few times. They rolled around on the ground for a few minutes, trading blows in anger.
“Well, well, look what we have here.” As a vaguely familiar voice broke through their violence, they paused, gazing up, only to be greeted by a grinning clown.
“Simon...:
“Yeah Steve?”
“Is that Piedmon?” They stared dumbly at the larger digimon, who just grinned at them.
“Yeah, yeah it is...”
“We are so dead...”
“Now, now, my lovely new friends.” Piedmon grinned further, pulling the two of them off of the ground. “I have no intention to harm either of you fine gentlemen!”
“Then... what are you going to do with us?” Simon asked, taking to the air again, making sure he was at eye level with the mega.
“Lend you a guiding hand, of course.” Piedmon threw his arms out. “Why, I see so much potential in the two of you. You just need someone to send you down the right path...”
Steve frowned, scratching his cheek. “I don’t know about this...” Getting turned into a digimon was one thing, a very horrible thing, but when one of the big bads of the franchise just shows up and isn’t trying to kill you...
“Where else are you going to go?” Piedmon asked, giving him an appraising look, folding his hands behind his back. “I might even be able to send you back to where you belong.”
“Come on, Steve,” Simon goaded, landing on his friend's head. “We want to get home, right?”
“Well, yeah...”
“Then you have no reason not to come with me.” Piedmon turned, starting to walk off, not looking back at them.
“I’m so going to regret this...” Steve mumbled, floating after him, Simon perched on his head.