17- A Friendly Visit (Part 1)
The Fox and the Filly- A Friendly Visit
It had been nearly a week since Scootaloo and Monodramon encountered the digimon named Witchmon along with an explanation from Rena about what had happened long before she became Sweetie Belle’s partner and in that time, not too many things happened. Personally, Rena thought that retaliation would happen and that another digimon would be sent in order to attack Monodramon. Though, nothing like that actually occurred in the last fews days. Even though they took some precautions, such as letting Scootaloo stay at the Carousel Boutique for a couple of days so that way Rainbow did not get caught up in another attack, nothing of that sort happened.
To the renamon, part of her felt relieved that nothing happened, but another part of her felt as if something would happen the moment that she let her guard down. Whether she was in her digivice or doing any training with the other digimon after classes were done at Ponyville elementary, she couldn’t shake off this uneasy feeling. If anything, it felt as if it followed her everywhere Rena would go.
Of course, this wasn’t something that the renamon kept to herself. Sweetie Belle, her friends and their digimon partners also noticed the difference in her behavior too. Especially her brother Lyall, who was just as concerned for his sister as everyone else was. So, one afternoon, Sweetie Belle left Rena back at the boutique to help Rarity while she and the rest of her fellow tamers met in the Cutie Mark Crusader clubhouse at Sweet Apple Acres. It was the only way for them to be able to talk about this without having Renamon overhear anything.
“Alright, looks like everypony’s here,” Sweetie Belle remarked, before closing the door to the clubhouse and looking back at the others, “Well, mostly everypony.”
“Isn’t that what we’re here to talk about?” Spike then asked, “I mean, even Leona’s been kind of antsy about this too.”
“I think we all feel the same way,” Lyall spoke up from Button’s digivice as the Strabimon took a deep breath, “The only question is… how exactly are we going to do this? If we don’t figure out what we’re doing, then we’ll just make Rena even more worried.”
“Well, let’s put our heads together and see what we come up with then,” Scootaloo replied, “It’s at least better than just sitting around and not doing anything.”
“W-well yeah, but… where would we even start?” Monodramon was next to speak.
“Ah think that part we already know,” Apple Bloom replied next, “This whole thing kinda started after that digimon attacked Scootaloo. You know, when she was talking about that virus thing with us?”
“She didn’t exactly look down in the dumps when Leona was teaching us about the different stages of Digivolution though,” Button reminded them, “If anything, I think this whole thing might have started the next day. I mean, that was when Lyall first noticed it.”
“Guilmon noticed it too!” The rookie digimon cheerfully declared from Apple Bloom’s own digivice. Something that made the filly chuckle while she and her friends were trying to figure out what could have caused Rena’s change in behavior. Though, doing so was easier said than done. Mostly because they were having trouble trying to determine what could have been the possible cause. In the time between Leona’s lecture and the following day, Rena didn’t really leave to go anywhere or do anything by herself.
However, it was when they began to try and think about it some more that Spike remembered something. On the day of Leona’s lecture, just as she was finishing up and the girls were discussing their plans for ice cream and he was going to ask if the coronamon wanted to join them, the dragon remembered seeing Twilight talking with both Rena and Leona. He didn’t want to interrupt them at the time, but looking back on it now, Spike was beginning to realize that might’ve been a mistake.
“Oh dear…” He muttered. Something that caught the attention of Sweetie Belle as she looked back at her friend.
“What’s wrong, Spike?” The unicorn asked him, “Did you remember something?”
“Y-yeah, I think so,” the dragon admitted before looking at each one of his fellow tamers, “I don’t mean to sound like Leona when I say this but… I think it accidentally might’ve been Twilight’s fault.”
“Yeah!! … Wait, what?” Was Leona’s only reply, sounding both as if she had just been slapped and as puzzled as everyone else at the same time. “What did you say about me-!?!”
“Spike, could you elaborate a little on what you mean?” Lyall then asked.
“Well,” Spike said as he scratched the back of his head, “After Leona was done explaining everything about Digivolution and we were going to get ice cream that day, I remembered seeing Twilight talking with both Rena and Leona before I left. I… don’t want to jump to conclusions, but…”
“You think she might’ve said something that bothered her?” Scootaloo then asked, “Like something that’s making Rena act this way?”
That just had the dragon nod his head, before he picked up his digivice, “Leona, I know this… sounds a bit sudden, but do you happen to remember what Twilight and Rena were talking about then? Maybe it can help us figure out what’s bothering her.”
At first, Leona was silent. Whether she was thinking about what Spike had told her or if the rookie digimon was being uncooperative was unknown to anyone. Though, after a bit, the coronamon spoke up, “Sparklebutt only asked Rena a boring question about when she was talking about the stuff in the past. I don’t see how that would-”
“What kind of question?” Monodramon interjected, much to Leona’s dismay.
“If you would let me finish what I was saying,” The rookie countered, her tone sharp as a knife. The tamers couldn’t exactly see it, but Leona was giving Monodramon a glare of murderous intent, “She was asking about the other demon lords. Ms. Book horse was asking what became of them after hearing about Barbamon.”
Leona seemed to get more serious as she went on, continuing her explanation. “Rena was telling her that all the demon lords are gone, aside from one digimon that was able to have themselves return to being a rookie again for changing to the good side. Then she was asking about something regarding who could be behind this virus coming back now with the demon lords gone. Though, after that, things got kinda quiet and we ended up just following after everyone else when the pause was getting too heavy.”
Even though Leona played it off like it was no big deal despite getting more serious with her explanation, some of the others that were in the clubhouse did not exactly treat it like that. Especially Lyall, who seemed to have put some of the pieces together into what exactly might have been the problem. “Oh boy, I think I might know what the problem is.”
“Really Lyall?” Button now asked, turning his digivice around so he could look at the front of it, “You figured out what the problem might be?”
“Yeah, I believe so,” The strabimon replied back, “Whatever Twilight had asked about the demon lords and that virus is probably making her worried that something’s going to happen now that the virus isn’t exactly gone like she thought it was. If I had to take a guess, Rena is probably feeling rather nervous and worried about those that she cares for getting hurt if whoever was working for Witchmon decided to retaliate. It might also be why she’s been acting this way.”
“Acting this way?” Sweetie then asked, “I’m… not sure if I understand what you mean.”
“Let me see if I can try to simplify it,” Lyall let out a small breath, “Based on what I’ve seen, Rena has been acting more… protective. Like she’s almost anticipating some kind of attack on Ponyville, even though there have not been sightings of other digimon besides us within the last week. That’s not the kind of behavior you would expect to see from someone who lives in a peaceful village. If anything, you would expect that from some creature that lives in a place where people are constantly fighting, such as a battlefield. Where if you let your guard down for a moment, there’s the possibility that someone can attack you when you’re not looking. It’s… like a completely different side of her.”
“It sounds to me like she might need a vacation… Stressing out is not going to help anyone if what the pup said about Rena is right.” Leona muttered followed by a long humming sound as she contemplated.
At first, Lyall was going to say something about Leona calling him a pup. Though, after a bit, he then said something completely different. “You know what, Leona? You might be onto something.”
“… Is Discord nearby? Because I could have sworn I just heard Lyall agree with me…” Leona said, surprised.
“I heard it too,” Monodramon added.
“So did we,” Apple Bloom also replied to Leona, “Besides, ah think Discord’s just at Fluttershy’s cottage.”
Lyall just waited for a bit for the chatter in the room to cease for a moment, before he started talking again. “Come on, guys. Me agreeing with Leona is not really weird,” The strabimon told everyone, “If anything, the idea of a vacation might be what Rena needs. I mean, who knows how long it’s been since she last had one?”
“We didn’t exactly do anything like a vacation with our previous tamers,” Monodramon pointed out. “I think Sky told me back then that vacations were expensive. That and ponies would freak out if they saw us outside of our digivices.”
“I like the idea,” Sweetie Belle told her, “But where exactly would we go? I mean… we can’t exactly go very far unless we’re on a class field trip with Ms. Cheerilee.”
“What are you talking about? You have plenty of places to go between two entire worlds, and plenty of chaperones right in this very room. We could go anywhere you all like, and vacation in the digital world is practically free!” Leona said incredulously. “Also, how did you lot go without a vacation for thirty years!? I wouldn't have been able to keep what little of my sanity is left intact if I didn't take at least one every year, even when I was busy as the singular digimon sovereign of my old world!”
“Life got in the way, I guess,” Monodramon shrugged, “Though… have our new tamers even been to the Digital World before? I mean, aside from that one pocket during our first meeting and when we all had that emergency meeting after the Witchmon attack-”
“Mono, you’re mumbling again,” Scootaloo interjected, which caused her partner to stop.
“I think the only real time that we’ve been to the digital world was during that mountain training some time back,” Sweetie Belle added, “Of course, that was before we even knew about Scootaloo and Monodramon and it wasn’t exactly what you would call a vacation.”
That soon led to Spike asking two main questions that had formed in his head right about now. “Um… if we’re going to do this whole vacation thing, then where would we be going? And when is it going to happen”
“Well, Leona was the one that kinda brought up the idea,” Apple Bloom pointed out as she looked at her friends, “Ah reckon that she might already have some kind of idea in mind.”
“Alright, but that still doesn’t answer where they would be going,” Sweetie Belle then added, “Besides, how exactly are we suppose to hide this from Rena? You know that we aren’t exactly the best when it comes to keeping secrets.”
“Hehehehe, well I have a surprise for every pony and digimon~” Leona chuckled smugly.
“Huh?” Spike asked, “What kind of surprise?”
“I have someone we can contact in the digital world right now,” Leona said, sounding even more and more smug, “Any of you kiddos want to meet her? She should be able to help us find any kind of vacation spot we could want.”
For a moment, Sweetie and her friends began to try and process everything before they made a decision. Though, it was as they were thinking that Lyall soon spoke up, “Leona, out of curiosity, who would you be referring to? Are they friends of yours?”
“Oh they are closer than a friend, as a matter of fact they are as close to me as you and Rena are, if not closer~” Leona said, obviously teasing Lyall.
“That’s a bit ominous,” the strabimon sighed, “Though, if they might have a plan for helping Rena relax and rest her head a bit, then I’m all for it.” Some of Sweetie's friends as well as their partner’s agreed with Lyall, mostly because if they happened to have someone who can help them out, then it wouldn’t be too difficult to pull this off.
“Alright, I think that’s mostly everything,” the unicorn replied, “Are there any other questions you guys wanted to ask?”
“I had one,” Spike now spoke up, “Earlier, I asked about where this was going to take place and when. Leona answered the first part… but not the second.”
“Well, when would you all like to meet her? I can take you all to her home almost any time since there is a gate in my room to one of the entrances,” Leona replied and offered at the same time.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked at each other for a moment, discussing among themselves for a moment first before they all agreed on something, “Why not tomorrow? It’ll be Saturday and Cheerilee didn’t give us any homework to work on over the weekend.”
“That works for me,” Button replied, “What about you, Spike?”
The dragon though, had a rather different answer, “Sorry, but I don’t think I’m going to make it. Twilight’s heading up to Canterlot tomorrow to meet some of her friends from when she was in Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns and insisted that I come along to help.”
“Well, that’s okay,” Monodramon replied, “We can have somepony else look after your digivice so that Leona’s still here to help us out. I mean… this was practically her idea.”
“Correction, MY digivice. Spike just got chosen by the laws of this universe to wield it,” Leona snapped, sounding oddly defensive. “Also, is one of those friends named Moondancer?”
“Maybe? It’s been several years since I’ve last been and to be honest, I’ve almost forgotten about them,” Spike shrugged, before taking his digivice and sliding it across the floor to Sweetie Belle. He then looked around the room, almost as if he was searching for something before asking the first question that came to mind, “Uh, what time is it?”
“I think it’s… three-thirty?” Monodramon’s answer made the dragon’s eyes widen, before he suddenly bolted for the entrance to the clubhouse. Doing so caused him to trip and fall before landing outside, “What just happened?”
“I don't know, but I feel like I am forgetting something important I was supposed to tell him,” Leona shrugged as she came out of her digivice.
“S-sorry, but I gotta run! Twilight asked for me to make sure I had all my stuff ready for tomorrow since we’re leaving early at sunrise,” the dragon called out to them, “I’ll see if I can bring something back from Canterlot!! Have fun on your trip!!!”
With that, the drake was gone. Leaving the ponies and their digimon in the clubhouse as they were trying to process everything after Spike’s sudden departure. Though, after what felt like a couple minutes of silence, it was broken in the most awkward of ways as the sound of a yawn could be heard on Apple Bloom’s digivice, “G-guilmon’s nap was great! What did Guilmon miss, friends?”
“Oh dear,” Lyall groaned. If anypony looked at the front of his digivice, they could see the sight of the strabimon facepalming himself. “I really hope this vacation we’re planning pays off.”
Some time after meeting her friends at the clubhouse, Sweetie Belle brought Leona back home with her to Carousel Boutique. The rest of the night was rather calm and quiet, with the only time that she actually saw Rena being around dinnertime. The renamon was quick in order to get herself something simple to eat, before heading back outside like a security guard working a night shift.
Even though Sweetie herself wasn’t exactly fond of Rena tiring herself like this, it did provide one opportunity. With Rena out of the house, she and Leona would be able to talk with this ‘contact’ the coronamon was talking about earlier in the day. All without the possibility of getting interrupted by Sweetie’s partner walking in on them. “Y-you said that there was a gate in here, right Leona?” the filly asked, looking around the room in an effort to try and find it.
“Yep, though you're not going to open it with your hooves like that. It’s a portal, and what do portals usually need?” Leona chuckled as she opened the closet and pulled out her digivice.
“I don’t know. I’ve never dealt with digital world portals before,” Sweetie admitted as she looked at the coronamon.
“Well, it needs what every good portal needs. A key!” Leona said, not even bothering to hide her laughter at Sweetie’s confusion before holding out her digivice, “Gate, OPEN!”
Within a matter of seconds, the clothes in the closet were pushed aside as the portal began to open. It was a green pixelated portal that looked similar to the other times that Leona had pulled them into the digital world. Only this time, instead of being pulled directly in, this was an entryway to what was waiting for them on the other side.
Though, the more that Sweetie Belle looked at it, the more that the filly began to think of something completely different. “So wait… you placed a portal to the digital world inside your closet?” she asked.
“Yes!” the coronamon declared triumphantly.
“That… sounds like you got the idea from The Chronicles of Epona: the Cat, the Conjurer and the Closet.”
“Uh, what's that?” Leona asked, visibly confused.
“It’s a book that the girls and I read as part of a book report,” the filly responded, “Rena told me that it reminded her of a similar story from her world. Something… Narnia?”
“I haven't read it… but that probably couldn't be helped. I didn't have access to any books during my time on earth,” the coronamon admitted, before shaking her head to refocus as she looked back to the portal, “Anyways, are you ready to meet Lea?”
Sweetie’s ears perked up shortly after hearing that, before looking back towards Leona, “I… feel as if I heard that name somewhere before, but I don’t remember who.”
“She’s my Daughter, the half changeling you met a while back!” Leona reminded her, while passing through the portal. Sweetie Belle soon followed afterwards, but not before she used her magic to close the closet doors behind her. On the off chance that Rena returned back early, it would be best for her to not think that they were up to something.
Once the two of them arrived on the other side, the filly found herself in a room that looked similar to that of Canterlot’s throne room. Yet, when she looked out from the window, Sweetie found herself staring at what looked like the interior of a changeling hive. However, this one had bits and pieces of digital space around them. The inhabitants of the hive were a mix between digimon that she had not seen before and hybrids that were half digimon/half changeling. Which was surprising since Sweetie did not think that such a thing was possible.
Of course, before the filly or Leona had the chance to say anything, another voice was soon heard.
“Oh mother, what brings you to my chambers? And did you bring a guest?” A black and yellow changeling the size of Princess Celestia with a tail ending in a bee stinger said as she stepped up to the Coronamon and the filly that was by her.
At first, Sweetie was a bit nervous. The last time that she saw a changeling of this size was when Chrysalis attacked Canterlot during the royal wedding. Though, she did her best to summon up the courage to speak. After all, they were here to help Rena and if they were going to assist them, staying silent would not get them anywhere. “A-are you Princess Lea?”
Lea stared down at Sweetie, seemingly surprised at the unexpected question but in the end she smiled and giggled before replying. “Why, yes~ yes I am~” She said, while giving Leona a meaningful look that caused the Coronamon to break out into a sweat, “Oh dear, how long has it been since someone last called me that~? I take it you are this universe’s Sweetie Belle?”
Sweetie Belle nervously nodded her head, before looking back at Lea as she tried to speak, “L-Leona said that you could h-help R-rena.”
“Hmm? What's wrong with my future mother-in-law?” Lea asked, causing Leona to go into a coughing fit.
“E-ehem! Uh, she has been stressing out a lot lately over some things that have been happening, so I was hoping you could help us plan a vacation for everyone so she could relax~?” Leona then said to try and gloss over the half-changeling’s statement while explaining the situation.
“Yeah, we wanted to make it a surprise,” the filly added, before looking towards Lea, “Also, what did you mean by-?”
“Alright, so do you have any ideas?” Leona immediately cut her off. Something that surprised Sweetie Belle since she was acting like Rarity if she mentioned something that was in her diary.
“Hmm, well I can think of a few places. What kind of vacation do y’all want to have? A trip to the beach? A waterfall pouring into a large lake surrounded by forest? Snow filled mountains?” Lea asked, simply smirking at her mother’s panic and Sweetie Belle’s confusion.
The filly though, just looked back to the coronamon as she began to speak, “Well, when we were training that one time, we were in some snowy mountains. Maybe something that’s more… relaxing? The girls and I haven’t really gone to a beach before.”
“Then the beach it is~” Lea sing-songed as a group of half digimon changelings flew in, saluting to Lea before she chittered some orders to them and they left as quickly as they arrived. “I’ll have a place ready for you all shortly, so just tell me when and my children and I will connect a gate to there for you~”
“We were thinking tomorrow… though, would you need time to, well get it ready?” the filly asked.
“Hohohoho~ Oh little Belle, where do you think I just sent that squad of changelings?” Lea smirked. “It will be ready before you know it~”
Sweetie smiled for a bit, before looking back towards Leona. In her mind, she was glad that Lea was helping them. Though, part of her was worried that something would go wrong. That Rena would either find out about what they were planning or instead have the opposite effect of what she wanted for her partner. Though, all she could really do now was trust the queen and hope for the best.
“Thank you very much,” the filly told her, before looking back to the Coronamon. “Is there… anything else we need to do, Leona?”
“Unless I am forgetting something, then I don't… think so?” Leona replied, getting a smirk from Lea. “Hush! No commentary from you!”
“Well, maybe we should head back,” Sweetie suggested, “If Rena comes back home and realizes we’re gone, she’ll know something’s not right.”
“Very true, to the closet!” Leona said, leading Sweetie Belle away and leaving behind her daughter’s hive at a rapid pace.
To be continued...
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nice work.
10468913
Thanks. I was unsure how this would turn out since this is technically the first half of what I had in mind, but I am glad you like it