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1- It's a watch... I think2,620 words
2- Meeting Rarity3,151 words
3- New Encounters3,403 words
4- That's my spot4,148 words
5- Why I don't like babysitting4,521 words
6- Too Close to Home4,118 words
7- Back to Basics6,017 words
8- Training for Dummies5,242 words
9- Sibling Rivalry7,332 words
10- FoxFire5,815 words
11- A chance to rest5,387 words
12- Jokes on You4,383 words
13- The gang's all here5,702 words
14- Catching Up6,399 words
15- Which Witch?4,305 words
16- Echoes of the Past8,359 words
17- A Friendly Visit (Part 1)4,036 words
17- A Friendly Visit (Part 2)2,933 words
18- Outbreak5,363 words

17- A Friendly Visit (Part 2)

Author's Note:

Part 2. Something to help tie things up. Even though Rena's mind is now at ease... Fate has other plans in store for her.

By the time morning rolled around, Sweetie Belle was up early and eager to get the show on the road. Her partner, Rena, did not seem to suspect that anything was amiss as she took her time with getting herself some breakfast and doing her chores this morning. The only thing that the Renamon was aware of was that Spike had Leona be with them since he had to be in Canterlot and that Sweetie was going out with her friends today. Yet, she had no clue as to what exactly was in store for her today.

Though, Leona herself wasn’t taking any possible chances with Rena finding out what was going on today. Going as far as to wrap one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders bandana’s around the renamon’s digivice to ‘blindfold’ her and prevent her from seeing what was going on outside. To which, Sweetie Belle was not exactly fond of. “I thought we were trying to not make Rena think we were up to something.” the filly whispered to Leona as the Coronamon was walking next to her and her friends.

“Something tells me that she doesn’t really care,” Scootaloo replied as she trotted alongside the unicorn. Both Apple Bloom and Button were also with them too as they continued to trot towards the edge of town, before the pegasus spoke up, “So, how exactly is this going to work? Is there someplace we need to go to? Will somepony be waiting for us?”

“I’m… not sure,” Sweetie Belle shrugged, “She told us that she would send somepony to get us, but nothing outside of that-”

At that moment, the side of a nearby tree practically split open as a digital gate formed, a changeling poking its head out to look around before spotting Leona and the rest and coming out all the way, followed by two others who then saluted to the coronamon.

“Huh, I stand corrected,” the unicorn immediately corrected herself.

“Wait a minute. Our escorts are changelings?” Scootaloo asked, looking back at the drones with a bit of caution, “They don’t follow that Chrysalis lady now, do they?”

“No no, nothing like that-” Sweetie Belle was quick to respond.

“Hey, Scoot, let’s not be quick to assume the worst of them,” Apple Bloom interjected, “These changelings look nothing like the ones from the Wedding. Maybe they work for that ‘contact’ that Leona knows in the digital world?”

“I think your friend might be right, Scootaloo,” the group now heard Monodramon speak from the pegasus’ digivice, “I’m having the digivice scan them and it looks like their DNA consists of half the ‘changeling’, as you would call it, and half FanBeemon. A rookie level insect digimon.”

“Ahem,” Leona coughed loudly while blushing. “These changelings are my grandchildren,” she then chuckled awkwardly. “And trust me, they are trustworthy.”

“Have you told Rena about that?” Sweetie then asked her, just out of curiosity.

“Maybe?” Was all the Coronamon could reply with, honestly not remembering. “But that's not important right now! Onwards! To our destination!” She shouted before walking right through the portal. Sweetie Belle herself just looked back at her friends for a moment, before giving off a shrug of her shoulders as she went through the portal. Followed by her three friends as each one went through with the changelings following behind them.

The moment that they stepped out on the other side, everypony found themselves at what looked to be at the front of a giant lodge that was stationed along a long sandy beach. As they were walking towards the entrance, they noticed several other changelings like the ones that were escorting them. However, each one of them were wearing some fancy vacation clothes like the ones from Haywaii. There also looked to be digimon as well, but many of them were participating in various beachside activities like swimming and building sandcastles.

The changelings led the group into the lodge’s main lobby, where they found the front desk occupied by a Elecmon and a Palmon. “Welcome, welcome to the Daybreak Lodge! You must be the VIP guests that we’ve been expecting.”

“Been… expecting?” Button now asked, raising an eyebrow as Lyall now came out of his digivice.

“Who has been expecting us, though?” The Strabimon now spoke up.

“Why Madame Lea of course,” the Palmon replied, “She told us last night that she was looking for some extra help with something that she was doing. Since Madame Lea allowed us to live in her hive, my friend and I felt as if we needed to do something to repay her for her hospitality.”

“My daughter is as impressive as usual,” Leona chuckled with pride as a motherly smile spread over her face, her true age bleeding through her current form for but a moment before she returned to normal. “I don't know what I would ever do without her~”

As the Coronamon said that, the Palmon handed everyone their room keys that were attached to the end of the vines that served as her fingers. “Here are all your room keys. We have free refreshments out in the lobby and free games and activities out on the beach. Just talk with the digimon in charge and they’ll let you take part.”

Though, it was when they all were looking at the room keys that Apple Bloom noticed something. “Uhm… why is Leona’s room key different than ours?”

“Because she was placed in the couple’s suite,” the Elecmon responded, before looking at what looked to be a list on a clipboard, “Along with what appears to be a digimon named Rena-”

“Ssshh!!” Sweetie Belle and the rest of her friends acted on instinct. Silencing the rookie, yet getting a strange look from the Palmon that worked next to him.

“Now why are you shushing out my friend like that?” the plant digimon asked. Though, before anypony could say anything, Lyall beat them to it.

“This is supposed to be a surprise for her,” the strabimon explained, something in which caught both of the digimon behind the counter off guard, “My sister doesn’t actually know we’re here right now, but she’s in Sweetie Belle’s digivice. If she ended up hearing what Elecmon said, then the surprise would’ve been ruined.”

Both Elecmon and Palmon looked to each other for a moment, before they began to talk among themselves. It was unclear as to what exactly they were talking about, but after a few moments, Palmon looked back towards them. “Our apologies. We weren’t aware of the circumstances of your stay. Though, I believe there’s something we can do right now to remedy that.”

“How so?” Scootaloo now asked, who decided to have Monodramon come out of her digivice now.

“You mentioned that your… friend is in her digivice, correct?” Sweetie Belle nodded in response to the question that the Elecmon asked, “Well, if you can give it to Leona, then I can guide her to their suite. If your friend did happen to hear anything, I’m pretty sure the mother of Madame Lea can explain everything.”

“Meanwhile, I can provide a tour for the rest of you,” Palmon replied, “The Daybreak Lodge is meant for visitors to come and ease any troubles they might have. It would be a good idea to be familiar with the services we have to offer.”

In Sweetie Belle’s mind, the suggestion from both Digimon seemed like a good idea. Though, it felt as if this wasn’t her decision to make. As she looked back towards Leona, the filly had one question for her, “Leona, what do you think?”

“I am fine with it. Would any of you mind me taking Rena away for a bit for some… alone time?” Leona asked with a slight blush as her mind started to wander. A question that was only met with silence from everyone, before she realized the full extent of what she said. “Oh gosh, why did I think of that at this time!?”

Sweetie Belle was hesitant at first, but after a couple of moments, she levitated Rena’s digivice to Leona as the Coronamon swiftly grabbed it. “Here you go. Though… you probably have some explaining to do-.”

“Got it, will do, remind me when I get back! I don't know for how much longer Rena will stay in her digivice once she is no longer able to detect your presence!” Leona called back as she bolted down the hall, her guide chasing after her. “Have fun!” was the last thing they heard from the coronamon before she was completely gone from sight.

Leona’s sudden departure left everypony else, including the other digimon, at a loss for words. They were all trying to process what exactly just happened, including all the staff at the Lodge that Leona darted past on the way down the hall.

The silence that lingered was soon broken when Monodramon spoke up. “So… about that tour?”

“So, is this the room?” Leona asked as she finally came to a stop, Rena’s digivice in one paw and her key in the other, doing her best to keep the digivice covered the whole time in hopes that it would keep Rena in and sound mostly out. As she swiped the key by the door, it opened for her and allowed for her to step inside the room. The suite itself was much bigger than that of the room that Rena and her shared back at Carousel Boutique and was also a lot more spacious. Though, since this was the ‘couples suite’ it also had a lot of romantic items in a basket that was by the door. Including a note from Lea.

Though, she wasn’t exactly alone yet. The Elecmon that had to chase after her was just outside the door as he looked on. “Y-yes it is. Madame Lea wanted for the two of you to reside in the most comfortable of rooms during your stay. She picked this one specifically for you-”

“Well you all did well, I will certainly commend your efforts to my daughter~” Leona said as politely as she could with her heart beating at hundreds of miles a second, “Now I hope you don't mind, but I should really let my friend out of her digivice before I get in trouble, so I must bid you adieu.” the coronamon then finished while gently closing the door as she went to set Rena’s digivice at the foot of the bed with a bright pink blush spreading across her body. Then, she ever so timidly reached out and tugged off the bandanna from Rena's digivice...

At first, nothing really happened. Though, a couple moments afterwards, the renamon immediately emerged from the digivice. When she first appeared, she was anything but calm. “Okay, you got five seconds to-” However, when Rena’s eyes met Leona’s, her tone immediately shifted as she looked back at her, “Wait… Leona?”

“H-hey Rena.. Hahaha, you're probably pretty confused aren't you?” Leona chuckled nervously while scratching the back of her head. “Just to start things off, let me welcome you to this beachside resort! Congratulations, it's a surprise vacation!”

Rena blinked, unsure how exactly to process this as she looked back at the coronamon. “Leona, I… don’t get me wrong, I appreciate all of this. Though, why-?”

“Because I- WE have all been worrying about you! You have been so stressed out lately to the point that even Guilmon started pointing it out. So, we all thought you might be overworking yourself with everything since the meeting a while back and… and…” Leona started to explain before she broke down into a sniveling mess as she tackled Rena into a hug. “Argh! There is so much that I want to do for you and so much that needs to be said but I just don't know what to do-” The coronamon blubbered after giving up on making a proper explanation, though it didn't help that she was still blushing as she hugged the other mon.

“Whoa, whoa, slow down!!” Rena interjected, “I… think I might get what you mean.” Taking a moment to think to herself, the fox digimon began to look back at everything. “I just… wanted to try and keep everyone safe. Though, I didn’t realize that what I was doing affected you this way.”

“Then rely on me more! It's lonely when you try and handle everything on your own, especially since you have someone like me around…” Leona sulked, puffing up her cheeks into a mini pout.

“It’s… not that simple, Leona,” the renamon told her, “Thirty years ago, a lot of good digimon were lost because of the Barba Virus. Digimon that we called our friends. Guilmon himself is no longer who he used to be because of what happened back then. It took me a long time in order to find happiness again. Something that I found through you, Sweetie Belle and everyone else.”

Rena then let out a sigh as she got up and placed Leona on the edge of the bed as she sat down next to her. “Though, it was just as I felt that I became myself again that I learned that the one thing that I wanted to stay buried is still out there. And I… I fear that if I just sit by and don’t do anything, everything that happened back then would repeat itself. I don’t want to lose my friends, but… more importantly.”

She then looked back directly at the coronamon, who could see a couple of tears running down the side of her face. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“Rena, do you remember everything I ever mentioned about my old world?” Leona asked, reaching out and grasping Rena’s paws with her own. Her voice had suddenly taken on a tired tone. An old tone, the sound of someone who understood what Rena was going through and then some. “About how I was the sole digimon sovereign over there and how that world was erased from the multiverse?”

Rena nodded her head briefly, but before she could ask where Leona was going with this, the coronamon continued. “Lets ignore the fact of who my parents were and look at that, I too was once much like you at one point. A young human thrust into an alien world known as Equestria, where I went through many struggles and hardships. Losing friends and new family alike along the way.”

Leona paused for a second to recompose herself, though after a couple of moments, she picked up where she left off. “But the ones who were and are no longer there and still are were still supporting me with all their might. I know how you must feel, and even if something were to happen, you won't be able to handle it without those around you who care about you. So please rely on us, even if you are afraid of the worst possible scenario. Because the second you let that fear control you, then the ones who want to make you hurt will have already won.”

Rena was speechless for a moment. She… wasn’t entirely sure what to say. Though, when she finally did, the renamon hugged the coronamon. An action that had the already obvious blush on Leona intensify. “I-i… don’t know what to say… Thank you, Leona.”

“Hey, it's what friends are for,” Leona smirked.

“Really?” Rena giggled, “Because I think we’re more than just friends at this point.”

“How much more?” Leona asked with a hopeful expression.

“Much more than words can describe,” Rena told her, before pulling Leona close and kissing her, “After all, actions do speak louder than words~”

“Eep!”

“So, what do you think Rena and Leona are possibly doing?” Sweetie Belle asked Lyall as they arrived at the beach and got themselves settled. Many of her friends either gave off simple shrugs or personally didn’t really pay too much attention to it, for they were more focused on hitting the beach and having fun.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” the strabimon told her, “If anything, it sounded like Leona wanted to talk with Rena about everything that’s happened and how she’s concerned for her. Maybe even go to spa treatment or something that the lodge provides afterwards to get her to relax? I’m… not really the best person to be asking.”

“Huh… sounds kind of boring.”

“That it does,” Lyall sighed, looking back towards the lodge for a moment before joining Sweetie Belle and Button on the shoreline. Whatever the case was, if this would help Rena out, he didn’t really care what exactly his sister was doing with Leona. So long as she can be herself again.

Elsewhere

When he first found it, it was purely by accident. A simple walk to clear his head led to him hitting a branch and stumbling down a hillside. Though, when he got back up, Tsukaimon found himself in a place that he thought didn’t even exist. He only heard about it through rumors and speculations from his boss, but finding it in person was something he didn’t think would happen.

It was the hive. The home of the hybrids that were half digimon and half of a species back in the real world that were known as changelings. At first, he thought that this was some kind of mistake. Though, as time passed and nothing around him seemed to change, Tsukaimon saw this as more than just a real place.

He saw an opportunity, “Oh, the boss will definitely want to hear about this.”

End Chapter 17

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