1- It's a watch... I think

The Fox and the Filly- It’s a watch… I think

Carousel Boutique

Like almost every morning for the young unicorn filly named Sweetie Belle, she was trying to do anything that she could to try to cure herself of her boredom. Normally, she would do her daily chores and then go to her friends to try and have some fun with them. However, her Sister Rarity had to leave on short notice when she was being called by Twilight and the rest of her friends. Leaving without giving Sweetie Belle a to do list of chores to do. Now the young unicorn was drowning in her own boredom as she tried to look through her bedroom with something she could do on a sunday afternoon.

“Ugh… When will Rarity ever get back from her trip?” Sweetie Belle wondered, opening her closet and using her levitation magic and her hooves to try and rummage through the mess that was in her closet. She was going through books, clothes, dresses from her time at the Canterlot Wedding, camping gear from her time with Applebloom. “Now, where did I place that darn cape? I knew it was somewhere in here-. AHA!” came the valiant cry as she pulled out what she was looking for. The cape that each of her friends had to show that they were part of the cutie mark crusaders.

However, when she pulled out the cape and was tying it around her neck, it sounded like something else fell to the floor. When the filly turned her head, she curiously found something… odd lying on the floor. It looked like one of Twilight's contraptions, but it was smaller in size. It had a miniature screen on it, with a couple of numbers on it along with a blue ring and two blue buttons on it underneath the ring. It also looked like it could clip onto something like a strap for a bag or a necklace. Sweetie Belle herself though, paid more attention to the numbers and turned to the nearby clock, seeing that the time on the contraption was exactly the same.

“This is… one weird watch.” She told herself, picking it up with her hoof so she can look at it a little closer. “Hmm…” Within a few seconds, she decided to keep the watch with her and placed it in the saddlebag that went under her coat. It would be useful for her to have if she needed to get back to the boutique before nightfall. With a spring in her step, she stepped outside, making sure to put the CLOSED sign up for the boutique before using her key to lock the boutique behind her. Just as she was stepping out though, she heard a familiar voice call out to her.

“Morning, Sweetie Belle!” Turning around, the Unicorn was greeted by Spike, assistant to Twilight Sparkle. The Princess of friendship and Celestia’s student. “How are you?”

“Alright so far… hey, I thought you would be with Twilight and the others going to that village place or something like that.”

“Yeeeeaaaahhhh, I told her that I had other plans. I promised Rumble that I would play in the next hoofball game with them since Pipsqueak got grounded for not being able to finish his chores. They needed a running back and I thought I could help step up a little.” The Dragon sighed, blushing a little from embarrassment.

“Well, I hope you have fun today. I was going to go see the girls and maybe get to some crusading-.” Sweetie Belle said, before being interrupted by the young dragon.

“I’m not quite sure if that’s possible, Sweetie Belle.” Spike said as he looked into the clouds where Rainbow’s house would normally be. “Rainbow Dash would normally bring Scootaloo here, but Rumble told me before I left the castle that she was stuck in Cloudsdale. Also, with Applejack gone, Applebloom needs to pitch in more around the house since her sister isn’t there.”

That, surprised her. A lot. “Oh… guess I don’t need to be wearing this then, see you around.” She said, using her magic to untie her cape and stuff it in her saddle bag, drifting her head down as she looked around at all the children that were playing with the other ponies they saw as friends. She had a lot of ideas and plans for some fun that the filly could have with her two best friends. But with what Spike just said, she now had to take all the plans she wanted to do and push them off to the side. Of course, she could still do them if she wanted to, but Sweetie Belle was more comfortable with friends by her side.

However, there was one thing that she wasn’t aware. Well, that one thing was more likely two other ponies as she pulled a drink from her saddlebag. As Sweetie Belle turned around and saw the pair of ponies, her ears began to fold. “Oh no… not now…” She told herself. “Not now…”

“Well well… look what we found here. The lone crusader!” One of the voices said, belonging to the filly named Diamond Tiara. She was with her friend Silver Spoon and the two earth ponies just happened to be trotting along when they saw Sweetie Belle. All by herself for that matter. Sweetie Belle wanted to run, but she knew that it would just show that she was afraid. If Scootaloo and Applebloom were here, they would stand up to the bullies. But now, it was just two of them… and just one of her.

Sweetie Belle was forced to back up into an alleyway, tripping over a rock in the ground as her bag fell down. Its contents being emptied onto the ground. “Well… what do we have here? You seemed like you were going to go off on some grand adventure like you would do with your friends.” Diamond Tiara teased. “So… Why are you on your own, Sweetie Belle.”

“A-applebloom had to help her family while Scootaloo was stuck in C-cloudsdale.”

“A shame really,” Silver spoon said. “It wouldn’t be that much of a problem… if she can actually fly-.”

“Hey! Watch your mouth!!” Sweetie snapped. All Diamond Tiara did was laugh as she rummaged through the items on the ground. Taking the unicorn’s allowance while tossing a lot of the items she called junk in a nearby trash can. However, when Diamond got to the newfound object Sweetie found earlier (and was currently holding onto), all she did was raise an eyebrow.

“Now what the hay is this exactly?”

“It's… a watch… well, that’s what I think it is.” Sweetie Belle groaned.

“You think?” The earth pony said. “Okay Ms. Smarty Pants. What does that watch do?”

“It… tells the time?” All this got was a duet of laughter from both of the fillies as they moved closer to her.

“Well, that’s just something… Hand it over.” Diamond Tiara told her, narrowing her eyes and cracking a evilish grin.

“W-what? No! I found it in my room! It’s mine!!” Sweetie Belle protested, trying to keep it out of the reach of both fillies as she backed away, only to bump into a wall.

“I said… hand… it… OVER!” Diamond Tiara growled, hitting Sweetie Belle with one of her fronthooves in a straightforward jab. This in turn caused the unicorn to set off some magic that burned a piece of Diamond Tiara’s tail. And when she noticed it, the filly was furious.

“... You know what? Forget the stupid watch. This Blank Flank needs to be taught a lesson in respect.” The Filly growled as she loomed closer. The young crusader was now fearing for her life. There was nopony around, but she wanted to just scream for help. All she could do though was close her eyes and hold the newfound heirloom close.

“Somepony please help me! Anypony please!!” She prayed to herself. Thinking that no one would be able to answer her prayers. However, what she did not know was that the watch like device… was actually glowing and the colors on the outside were now… changing.

“What the hay-?”

In a flash of light, Sweetie Belle felt herself being pushed back against the wall. If she had her eyes open earlier, the unicorn filly would have seen the two other fillies that were cornering her being pushed back several feet. Now though, as Sweetie Belle did open her eyes, she saw a small light emerge from the watch and grow in size. Forming a strange creature from it as the light began to fade off. One with golden yellow fur and white snow fur along with purple sleeve bands that had a strange symbol. It was a bipedal creature with a strange set of eyes that were black where it was suppose to be white while its pupils were like Ice. As it stood there, it looked at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, who were shocked at what happened and even more scared at what this creature was. Only to have more shivers run down their spines when it spoke.

“I suggest you apologize. Now.” It said, softly but equally stern. Both earth ponies, scared out of their minds, apologized hastily and ran off like fillies with their tails between their legs. As the creature turned around though, Sweetie Belle saw this figures eyes widen as it looked at her.

“P-pearl? Is that you?”

Sweetie herself was shocked by the figure’s words. “P-pearl? No, I’m Sweetie Belle! P-pearl was my mother!” She struggled to get back on all four hooves while trying to maintain her composure. “W-who are you!?”

“Me?” The figure asked, getting on one knee and kneeling down to the filly. “I knew your mother when she was a little filly… Maybe if we see her again, she could expla-.” While speaking, the figure noticed the expression on Sweetie Belle’s face change. “What’s wrong, child?”

“S-she’s… gone.” Sweetie Belle said, trying to hold back any oncoming tears. “S-she d-died when I was very young. I-i was just a foal when it happened.”

The figure’s eyes widened in response. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know about that happening to her… I knew her when she was about your age. To her, I was her protector. Her guardian. Now… it seems like my task falls upon being your protector this time.”

Sweetie Belle then looked up, shocked and surprised. “R-really?”

“Yes. You have my digivice…” the Fox told her, “It shows that I am your partner. I can explain more if we find someplace safe to talk about this.”

“S-sure… Um… What’s your name, miss?”

The fox chuckled, looking back at the little filly as she messed with her mane a little. “My name is Renamon… Though, your mother would always call me Rena.”

“Okay um… Rena. Follow me.” Sweetie Belle said briefly, before noticing Rena disappear back into the digivice that she was holding. “Rena? Where did you go?”

“I’m right here, Sweetie Belle.” The voice of Rena echoed through the device. “I can stay in here whenever you are outside. Just let me know when you are back home.” Sweetie Belle nodded, the young filly soon scurrying back to her home as she raced inside and locked the door. Galloping up the stairs, she slammed the door to her room, letting out a deep breath.

“Um… Rena? We’re home.”

The same light glowed from the digivice as Rena soon landed next to her. Looking around, she smiled a little. “Well… This sure brings back memories.” Noticing a confused look on the filly, the fox simply smiled. “This used to be your mother’s room when she was your age.”

“It was?” Sweetie Belle asked, resulting in Rena nodding her head. “Well, I think that explains finding this… digi what’s it name… in my closet.” The filly then hopped onto the bed, patting on it with a hoof and signaling for Renamon to sit down. Smiling, the fox complied. “Rena… I’m sorry about this but… I really have a lot of questions to ask you.”

“No worries, Sweetie Belle. Take your time.” The fox insisted.

“First… what are you exactly? You don’t look like a pony, but you talk like one and… well… have feelings like one.” Sweetie Belle asked, causing her guest to sigh to herself a little.

“That… may be complicated.” Rena assured her. “In one life, I was just an ordinary teenaged girl instead of what you see now. However, when I got a doll of Renamon and the digivice you now hold, I felt myself getting pulled away from everything I once knew and waking up as what you see now. When I first arrived, it was… I would think twenty years ago or so. Everypony saw me as an animal and tried to chase me out of any town I entered. However, it was Pearl who was kind and generous enough to let me in. That’s how we became partners.

To answer what I am though, to put it simply, I’m a digimon. Short for digital monster. Most of my kind exist in the digital world, a world that’s invisible to yours but has expanded because of advancements in technology across your world. However, those digimon are dangerous. They have powers like unicorns and alicorns have magic and Pearl and I have had to fight a few to protect her home and people she cared for.”

“Wow… Rena, how do you know all of this?”

“I said your world’s technology formed the digital world. Therefore, the information that anypony can access on any device we can access as well. However, I have not been to the digital world in a long time. Before you brought me out, I felt like I was taking a long nap.” Rena shrugged. “The last I heard from Pearl, she had just had a foal and moved back into her old home from Canterlot.”

“That must be Rarity! She’s my older sister!”

That caught Rena’s attention rather quickly. “Well… that I did not know.”

“I can tell you more about her later, but right now, she’s away visiting someplace with her friends.” The filly told her. “But one thing I was curious about was that you said that powers. What kind?”

“Well, they’re more like certain attacks I have,” Rena said, extending a paw as some crystalline shards the shapes of diamonds began to form in her paw. “This one is the one I use the most. Diamond Storm.”

“Wow! That’s just like Rarity’s magic!” The filly stared in awe for a bit before the digimon had the crystals disappear.

“That’s kind of ironic actually. One of Pearl’s special spells involved crystals and I helped work on it with her.” The fox said. “Maybe when your magic improves, I can teach you too.”

“Yes please!!” Sweetie said, hugging Rena with her hooves and squealing out of pure joy. “Thank you! For… well saving me earlier.”

“Oh no need to thank me there. I’m your partner,” The Renamon replied. “Therefore, I was just merely protecting you.”

“I understand that… Rena? Is it okay if… well… I call you a friend?” The curious filly asked. All the fox did was smile as she tickled Sweetie Belle with her tail.

“Yes it is Sweetie. I’ll be your friend.” She smiled, looking down at her. “Now, you seem a bit hungry. Want me to make some dinner?” The filly nodded happily, racing downstairs as Rena just watched her with a smile on her face.

“Brings back old memories, doesn’t it Pearl?” she thought to herself. “It definitely does for me… Your children will be safe with me… I promise.”

End Chapter 1

2- Meeting Rarity

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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

3- New Encounters

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The Fox and the Filly- New Encounters

Ponyville (Night)

It was calm and quiet when Rena had finally decided to leave the Digivice. To breath some fresh air. But to her surprise, it seemed to be that the night was still young as not many stars were in the night sky. Not to mention that Sweetie Belle was still awake as the fox turned her head to see the young Filly.

“Rena? Are you alright?” She asked, a little concerned for her.

“Yes dear… I just needed some time to think.”

“You’ve been thinking for almost four hours.” The filly deadpanned, looking back at the fox while facehooving herself. “Seriously, what were you thinking about?”

“Just… something personal.” The fox replied. “I’ll tell you later-.” However, when she was going to finish that sentence, something caught her attention as she looked out the window. “Sweetie Belle… we may have a problem.”

“What kind of problem…?” She asked, only to notice that her digivice was vibrating a little on the nightstand. “Oh…”

“It’s picking up a digimon. I’m not sure if it’s friend or foe, but that means we need to go out there and see for ourselves.” She said, having Sweetie Belle hang onto her back as the fox slowly opened the window. “Hang on.” With that, she jumped from the windowsill, only to slowly go back up and close the window. The digivice was tracking the conflux of energy from the digital world that Rena had felt and was guiding the two of them like a compass.

“It looks like it’s picking up in the Everfree forest.” Sweetie Belle replied. Only causing more flashbacks for Rena. The first opponent that she and Pearl had encountered was a berserk Veemon in the middle of the Everfree. The only difference though is that the digivice was not distinguishing what this digimon was.

“Stay behind me, Sweetie.” The Renamon advised, having purple flames from her Power Paw attack to wrap around her paws. “Keep a safe distance. I think the Digimon is nearby.”

Sweetie Belle nodded her head, taking a moment to hide behind the trunk of a tree as Rena got into a fighting crouch. Placing her flaming paws together to form a fiery projectile that she had at the ready. The sound of somepony breaking a twig had Rena tilt her head to the left as she let loose the fireball. But what she found though… was something else entirely.

As the fire began to died down, a small figure shaped like a sun drawing emerged with a single red flame on its forehead. As it’s eyes opened, so did it’s mouth and the outburst that it had for Rena.

“What the heck was that for!?” It shouted at Rena as it hovered over and got in her face while puffing out its cheeks cutely.

“Hey, you came here to cause trouble. I’m only doing what I can to protect my tamer and her home!” Rena snapped, having diamonds form around her paws for if this figure wanted to try anything.

“And you just woke me up after falling asleep from remaking the digital world after it was destroyed!” It snapped back before it started losing altitude, “Urgh… I’m too tired for this…”

However… one thing that the figure said didn’t synch right with Rena. “What do you mean about the digital world being destroyed? Last I was there, it was perfectly fine!!”

“Wait… who are you? and what do you mean it’s perfectly fine?” It asked.

“My name is Rena. My tamer is Sweetie Belle over there.” Renamon pointed, showing the filly coming out from behind the tree.

“Wait… Did you say tamer? how long was I asleep!?” It said as it started to panic at Rena’s feet.

“Honestly, this is the first time I’ve seen you or another digimon.” Sweetie Belle said. “Rena was with my mother twenty years ago when she was a filly… but now it’s my turn.” It was then that the Digivice that she was holding around her neck dropped down, hanging in front of her.

“Wait… Sweetie Belle?” It said noticing the filly before gaining a contemplative look, “Where did I leave it… I need to check the time!”

It was then that something fell on top of Sweetie Belle’s head, dropping to the ground as the Filly tried rubbing her head a small bit from the bump. “The heck is this? Another weird watch?” Inspecting it, she carressed the object in her magic as it was surrounded by a white glow. “That’s odd… it looks like a hoofstep counter now. And it looks almost… ancient.”

“My digivice!” It shouted before diving for the rusted and slightly cracked object in Sweetie Belle's magical grip. which she raised a little higher as the being crashed into the nearby tree. “Ouch…”

“Sweetie Belle… Be nice.” Rena told her, causing the pony to pout a bit as she set the ancient looking item on the figure’s forehead. Patting it with a hoof and saying… there there as a way to comfort the figure. “Thank you… Now, onto more important matters… Who in the name of the Digital World are you suppose to be?”

“My name is Leo… Holy crap! i’ve been asleep for how long!?” Leo said as it looked at the screen of the object Sweetie Belle found.

“ …… Rena? Is it appropriate to say that this pony’s flat out crazy?”

“Sweetie, I told you to be nice.” The Fox insisted.

“Um, miss? when you were last in the digital world… Did you ever see any yellow bug like ponies with scorpion tails?” Leo asked, fear and sadness consuming its features.

“No actually. When I was last in there, the Digital world looks a lot like Equestria now… with some people in a group of Sovereigns. But nothing like that. My last partner was the only pony that had gone into the digital world.” Rena explained, recalling on old memories.

“So… there's no chance you would have seen my daughter…” Leo said as tears began to flow down its small face.

“Wait… daughter?” Rena asked. “Leo, I’m confused. Is your daughter a Digimon or something else-?”

“Hybrid…” Leo interrupted, “First, and probably last, of her kind...”

It was then though that another voice echoed, almost male as the group soon turned in the direction of the sound. “Well… This is an interesting gathering… It’s been almost two decades Rena…” It looked like a stallion, with a tiger like pelt. But soon began to glow and change as Rena recalled the name.

“Baihumon.”

It soon took form into the huge tiger like form as yellow orbs flowed around it. “It has been a long time my friend… and with time… may come some… odd predicaments.” As it moved one of it’s paws, another form stood behind the Sovereign as it looked towards the little figure in front of them. It’s eyes staring in disbelief.

“Mom?” Asked a yellow bug like pony with a strange tentacle like tail.

“Lea!?” Leo cried before moving towards the strange pony like creature at impossible speeds and taking it to the ground, “Oh thank Crux you're alive!”

All Rena and Sweetie Belle could do was just stare at what was happening. Confused. “Okay, just what the actual hell is happening?” The Renamon asked, only seeing her partner shake a little.

“C-changeling!!” She screamed. “Rena-!!”

“Easy there, young filly.” The Tiger Digimon urged. “These are not like the changelings you are familiar with.” He then sighed, the golden orbs along it’s body moving a little. “Now, I believe all of you have some questions that need to be answered.”

“Well, the first thing I want to know is what's going on… and what Lea has been up to while I was asleep.” Leo said as she looked at the yellow bug pony, causing her to give her a sheepish expression.

“Well first… Your old home is gone Leo. But all the ones you cared for are safe. Myself and the other sovereigns have been looking over them in the digital world for a long time… two hundred years in the digital world to be exact. Which is only twenty in this one.” The digimon turned around, looking at Rena now. “But something that you are familiar with though… is not so familiar to Rena over here.”

“That part being?” Rena asked.

“Leo… Rena is like you. She is a Displaced.” The Sovereign spoke briefly. But those words were all that Leo needed to here.

“WHAT!?” Leo shouted before she jumped on Rena, “Another digimon displaced!? Awesome! Someone who can understand me!”

However, Rena only tilted her head in confusion as she looked at Leo. “Okay, what exactly are you talking about?”

“You used to be a human once, right.” Leo said with a cheeky grin.

What Leo said though, caused Rena to tense up as Diamonds formed around her paws. “How the hell do you know something like that?! Give me one good answer before I am tempted to have these fly towards your head!”

“You know… If I was at full power I would laugh right now… But that is certainly intimidating when one is stuck in their In-Training form…” Leo said as she slowly backed away from Rena.

One crystal flew past her head, hitting a tree. “Pick your words carefully. How I arrived here was the same way I got separated from my little brother. And he was all that I had left before I had Pearl and now Sweetie Belle.” This in itself was new to the filly that was next to her, even surprising for Leo.

“Well… Seeing as I grew up in a human orphanage, I can certainly understand how precious true family and friends can be.” Leo said as she gave Rena a smile that only someone who could understand her situation could. “I’m going to take a guess this isn't the equestria I used to know and that I’m going to be staying here then?” She asked Baihumon.

“You are right.” Baihumon replied. “Your old world is gone, however, the one you called Crux reached out to us and was able to evacuate all of the residents before it was destroyed. As for now though, you might want to continue your explanation to Rena.”

“Do I have to explain this to her? I’m not a very good teacher, even if I have Jedi training.” Leo asked causing Lea to chuckle.

“Either that or have your body become a target. Your choice.” Baihumon insisted. “As for me, I will leave you be. The other Sovereigns need me and I can’t be absent from my post for long.” With that, the tiger faded away, turning into dust as it left the four of them on their own.

“So… where should I begin?” Leo chuckled nervously.

“You were at the part where you were going to tell me what a Displaced is.” Rena replied, eyes narrowing a little as she folded her arms.

“Um… Displaced are beings sent from their home universe to another while being given either powers, new forms, or whatever… In our case, we were turned into digimon.” Leo tried to explain.

“Again… I said what a Displaced is. Not the general concept.” Rena clarified, looking back at Sweetie Belle as she sat down next to the filly. “Were they human like us at one point?”

“Some of them, but not all. also, I may have grown up on a human world and may have looked like one… But I wasn’t a human… I don't really know what I was…” Leo chuckled.

Rena sighed. “And now this just gets a little more confusing. If you talk so much about them, are there other worlds outside of the digital one? Because something tells me that with the next sentence you're going to say, you will be saying yes.”

“Correction, other dimensions. Expect to encounter many more equestrias in your future!” Leo said with a smug grin at rena’s expression, “By the way, are you single?”

“Mom!” Lea shouted as she gave leo an incredulous look.

“Honestly, relationships are only my… second concern. My main one is if these Displaced that you mentioned will somehow make protecting my home and my partner more… difficult.”

“Meh, it depends. some of them are friendly but there are bad guys out there.” Leo said.

“So it’s a toss up?” Sweetie asked.

“Sounds like it…” Rena replied. “Leo, I thank you for explaining this to me… but I have a question…”

“Shoot.” Leo replied as she floated over to her digivice and started to mess with it.

“Why did you ask if I was single?” The question in itself had Sweetie Belle roll her eyes as it made Leo blush a little. There was a brief pause, in which Rena allowed for the chance to take Sweetie Belle back to the boutique. But in doing so, Leo could finally respond once they were on the roof of the boutique

“W-well… You're cute for a Renamon, and I don't really have anyone besides my daughter and dimension hopping father. And the relationship between me and Lea’s father… Is complicated.” Leo said shifting about with a nervous blush consuming her face.

“That… is actually the first time I have been told that… ever.” Rena replied, surprising Leo.

“I… Uh… Um…” Leo stuttered before flopping onto her ancient digivice as a blush consumed her tiny body.

“Leo… I’m sorry for if I made you feel embarrassed… But honestly… I had not been able to find anyone in the same position that I was in for over twenty years… Even though relationships are… my second concern… That’s only because I haven’t been in one before… If you are willing to though,” The Renamon paused, looking back at her. “I wouldn’t mind giving it a try.”

As soon as Rena finished speaking though Leo had stopped responding for some reason…

“Mom?” Lea asked as she poked Leo who was mumbling incoherently. “Well, If you need me I will be starting a hive in the Everfree.” She told Rena as she chuckled at her mother’s antics.

“Actually… if you want… I can talk to Twilight and introduce her to you. Maybe she can do something to help you out.

“Yeah… Not a good idea…” Lea chuckled, “Well, later.” she then turned and flew back towards the everfree.

Several hours had passed since Lea and her mother had made their presence known. But now the sun had risen and a new dawn had arrived. However, to her surprise, when she was up, she found herself staring at a little brown colt with a pinwheel hat on his head and a Digivcie around his neck.

“Oh cool, it’s awake!!” The colt cheered in glee. “Hey Strabimon, come have a look at this!”

“Oh joy… another digidestined…” Leo sighed as she tried to go back to sleep.

“Excuse me, but can you refrain from acting like that around my tamer?” A new voice asked from behind Leo, causing her to look up and see a digimon that was hanging from the tree she was sleeping on like a ninja.

“I will when ponies learn about personal space…” Leo complained as the colt repeatedly poked her.

“Button, be nice.”

“Aww man…” The colt groaned. “Alright Strabimon.”

“Thank you. So you're a Strabimon? That’s both rare and impressive.” Leo commented.

“You make that sound like you have met other Digimon like myself. No wonder Button believed that you were some kind of tourist.”

“Tourist? More like refugee. My names Leo, you have a name other than Strabimon that I can call you?” Leo said.

“My name was once Lyall. I have been here for a while, but honestly, you are the first digimon that I’ve met.” It replied. “I keep feeling the presence of another Digimon, but I can’t make it out for some strange reason.”

“That must be Rena, she’s the only other digimon besides me that I know is around here.” Leo said. Only to duck a few minutes later when a slash of a claw went over her head. “Hey what was that for!?”

“Watch your tone. That’s the name of my sister for god’s sake.” Strabimon growled.

“What does that have to do with anything!? I was just telling you the name of the only other digimon around here!” Leo snapped.

“Look, pipsqueak. I have been separated from my freaking sister for god knows how long and unless your friend is named Rena and has a missing brother, then you better be more specific in your explanations.” However, it was only then that Leo actually could put two and two together.

“If I wasn't so exhausted right now I would turn into my champion form and kick you butt you stupid rookie.” Leo growled, “And as a matter of fact-”

“Leo, what the heck is going on? I was just making sure that Sweetie Belle got to school and now I found you like this?” The Renamon walked over, looking at the group.

“Rena! This rookie is picking on me in my weakened state!” Leo cried as she jumped towards Rena. The only change though was that the Strabimon’s eyes widened upon hearing Rena’s voice.

“R-rena? Oh god, is that you?”

It was only then that Rena herself was shocked. The voice she knew… the voice she remembered… and the one she missed for over twenty years. “L-lyall?”

“Sister!!”

“Wait, this jerk is your little brother?” Leo asked as she hovered over Rena’s shoulder.

“Yes he is… And I can’t believe he’s here” Rena said, tears forming from her eyes as she hugged the Strabimon in front of him. “I’ve missed you brother… Just please don’t pick on Leo.”

“Not pick on the squirt? …… Heh, what the hell? I have my sister back. I’m fine with that.” He said, rubbing Leo’s head.

“Call me squirt again and I will use my old title to get a wild digimon to attack you.” Leo hissed as she increased the temperature of the flame on her head in an attempt to burn his hand.

“Oh really…? Button, do you still have the blue card you found?” Strabimon asked. The colt nodded, having it slide through his digivice as the Strabimon had lines of code swarm around him. He was digivolving. And when the light faded… Strabimon was now Lobomon.

“We found an extra blue card earlier. You should give your tamer this, Sis.” The Lobomon said, handing the card to the Renamon as she put it in her arm sleeves.

“So you have a blue card, so what? hero of ice.” Leo quipped. Only to shut up at the sight of two lightsaber like katanas in Lobomon’s hands.

“The force is strong in this one.” Rena chuckled, pretending her best to act like Yoda from Star Wars.

“Great… now I’m remembering the pony version of Yoda… Why did you have to do that Rena!?” Leo whined.

“Hey, when I saw those, the first thing I thought was Star Wars… either that or No More Heroes with Travis Touchdown.” Rena chuckled. “The bloodier one if you ask me.”

“I don't know the second one, but I’ll let this slide for now… Though I’m now wishing I had my lightsabers that I got from Lea’s father…” Leo grumbled as she floated back over to the tree and retrieved her digivice from its hiding spot.

Lyall smiled, retreating back to his former form as he looked back at Rena and Leo. “Yeah… what’s this thing though with you being Leo’s girlfriend?”

“What? got a problem?” Leo asked as she gave Lyall a suspicious glare.

“No I just… found it surprising… Because surprisingly… you look cute when you're angry.”

“Compliments won't get you anywhere!” Leo shouted as she dived into Rena’s sleeve to hide her blush. Only to hold her out of there by a small pinch.

“Both of you should… apologize.” Rena suggested.

“Yeah, sorry about what I said before, Leo.” Lyall responded, sighing a little as he looked back at her.

“Apology accepted…” Leo relented as she dangled in Rena’s grip, “Why do I feel like a christmas tree ornament?”

All Rena did was laugh a little as she set her down. Now, things were looking very good for the three Digimon and the young colt with them.

For once… Rena didn’t feel like she was alone.

End Chapter 3

4- That's my spot

View Online

The Fox and the Filly- That’s my spot

Ponyville

It was almost around the time when Ms. Cheerilee was finishing up her lesson for the day and when the bell rang that Button Mash felt relieved to not be in the same room. He was almost late for class after a little adventure of his this morning led to him losing track of the time and also having to run all the way to class, just barely making it into the room as the bell rang. Thankfully, he wasn’t given a lecture over his lateness and as the bell rang, he could only think a little bit about a few things as he put his Saddlebag on.

However, that slight distraction did not really help him any as he soon crashed into one of his fellow classmates. He couldn’t remember who, but he thought that the name of the pony was… Feather… something. That was the least of his concern right now and instead, he was more focused on the fact that when he checked his saddlebag, something was missing. He couldn’t find it on the floor or in his bag and he was slowly beginning to panic. However, the young colt was soon relieved that he found what he was looking for… from the most unlikely of places.

“Hey, Button. Did you drop this?” His fellow classmate asked as she held it in a small grip of levitation magic. When he nodded his head, she just giggled a little as he gave it to him. “Man, you must be really clumsy for your digivice to fall out like that.” Hearing that though, caught him by surprise and almost made him feel a bit defensive. But soon, he saw the filly hold up a device similar to his. Just with his in a orange and brown while hers was white and pink.

“Y-you have one too!?” He asked her, almost thrown off guard by the revelation. Sweetie Belle nodded, chuckling a little as she watched him try to process everything.

“Yup… Wait… if you have one of those… then does that mean you have a digimon as well?” She asked him. The Colt nodded as they walked outside to find their partners not far from the school playground. “Oh look, there’s Rena.”

“W-wait a second… Rena’s your partner?” Button asked, trying not to blush and embarrass himself while doing so.

“Why yes actually… She knew my mother when she was a filly and I came across her digivice in my closet back home,” The filly told him, only to think of something else in order to ask him. “How did you come across your digivice? Did you find it at your home or something?”

“No, strangely enough. It was a prize inside one of those arcade games. You know, the one with the claw arm and the stuff animals and you needed to lower the claw at the right angle in order to win a prize?” Button explained, trying to provide some kind of demonstration in order for Sweetie Belle to get a better understanding. “Well, I got it through that. Took me five tries and when I first got it, I honestly thought it was a portable gaming device from Pega before they stopped making consoles.”

Sweetie Belle kind of chuckled at that as she turned towards Rena and the mysterious partner that belonged to the Colt next to him. “Hi Rena. Who's your new friend?” The other digimon smirked a little as he folded his arms, chuckling a little as Rena looked back at him. “What’s so funny?”

“Well, to let you know, Rena’s my sister. I’m Lyall, her younger brother.”

“Wait, you two know each other!?” Sweetie Belle gasped, making Rena chuckle a little.

“Yes we do, Sweetie Belle. In fact, I was thinking that we might get the chance to talk it over some more back at Rarity’s place. Button can come along too if he wants-.”

“Yes please!” The colt interjected, leading to a facepalm from the Strabimon as the filly and colt both trotted back to the Carousel Boutique with their partners in their Digivices. By the time they reached Sweetie’s home though, someone else was following them that they weren’t aware of.

“Since i'm awake now, no thanks to Lyall, I’m coming with you... Tree’s aren't as comfy as Rainbow makes them out to be…” Leo muttered as she hovered along behind Sweetie and Button with her digivice in her mouth. Only by both of them turning around did they see her in the air and both of them fell backwards because of it.

“Leo! Where did you come from!?!” Sweetie Belle cried out as she looked at the digimon. Who was just minding her own business from the looks of things.

“I was following you since I had nowhere else to go.” Leo grumbled, “And I could really use a nap… Stupid Lyall wouldn't stop picking on me and I wasn't able to get any rest.”

“Well that just reminds me of Rainbow Dash when she’s with Scootaloo,” Sweetie said as she used her magic to open up the door. “Rarity, I’m home! I brought some friends too!”

“Welcome home Sweetie-.” Rarity stopped for a moment, looking at Button and Leo before turning her attention back to her little sister. “Sweetie dear… would you have happened to met these… friends of yours because of Rena?” When that question was asked, both Lyall and Rena emerged from their own digivices as they looked back at Rarity

“You’re not wrong, but there’s a bit more to it than that.” Rena mentioned casually, looking at Lyall. “Rarity, I would like you to meet Lyall. He’s Button’s partner as well as my little brother.” Looking over at Leo, she then pointed a thumb towards her. “And that’s Leo…… Her story is well… complicated.”

“Hey!” Leo protested before flying over and started trying to headbutt Rena with a pouty face, let it be said it was more cute then dangerous. Only for Rena to be holding her by the head and watch her struggle like an immature toddler that needed to be put in a time out.

“Well, something says that this might take some time so go ahead and make yourselves comfortable while I get some tea,” Rarity insisted as she left the room. Rena herself stood next to Sweetie Belle while Button Mash and Leo took up a chair each. However, Lyall decided to just wing it and plopped himself on the first thing that he saw that looked soft.

“Uh… Mr. Lyall…” Sweetie Belle said to him. “I don’t think that’s a good idea… That’s Rarity’s couch.”

Looking confused, the Strabimon then asked a simple question. “So?”

“You don’t understand… that’s Rarity’s couch. Only Rarity sits there and nopony else does,” She replied, seconds before her older sister trotted in the room and set the tray with tea and teacups down on the nearby table. When she was counting though, she saw Lyall on her couch and then stared him down.

“That’s my spot… Nopony but me sits in my spot.” She said, forcing Lyall out by using her magic to toss him onto another chair before she used a duster to sweep any loose hairs.

“Told you.” Sweetie Belle remarked, only getting a groan from the Digimon.

“Karma~” Leo sang as she snuggled into her seat.

“Oh shut up, little Simba.” Lyall groaned folding his arms as he sat next to Button Mash. It was then that Rena decided to speak up in order to change the topic and prevent Leo or Lyall from causing any trouble.

“So what questions did you have to ask Rarity?” She asked the Unicorn.

“Well I was wanting to know about your friend Cleo here… That’s his name right?”

“My name is Leo, L E O Leo! And I’m a girl.” Leo stated.

“Right than, Neo it is.” Rarity said, causing Leo to groan. “He’s not quite the same as Rena or Lyall, so I was a little… confused about that. Why is he much shorter than you two?”

“Its because I’m stuck in what is called a ‘in-training’ or otherwize called ‘baby’ form right now, and if I could I would digivolve so that I could kick Lyall’s butt.” Leo huffed.

“Leo, be nice.” Rena sighed. “You are here because you are bored. But we are not babysitting you.” That just caused both Button and Sweetie Belle to giggle as the looked at the mini digimon and saw smoke coming out of her ears as it tried to fight back, but this time being levitated by Sweetie Belle’s magic.

“Sweetie, please don’t pester her. It’s not going to work out for anyone if you do.” Rena insisted, causing the filly to groan as she dropped Leo onto the ground and on her face. Leo sniffed as she pulled herself off the ground and returned to her chair before going inside her digivice to pout.

“If we gave her a chance, then we would tell her that Leo is kind of a boy’s name, right?” Sweetie tried asking.

“Not now, Sweetie. That just might make the situation worse.” Rena insisted. “Alright, now we should focus on something else… It might be a bit before Leo calms down.”

“Ah yes. I see what you mean,” She replied. “How about yourself Lyall? Anything you would like to tell about yourself?”

“Not much to tell really,” He groaned. “Rena’s my older sister, I’m her little brother and she and I probably ended up here the same way. I’m still trying to get use to this body. It’s a lot like my old one, but with some differences.”

“What kind of differences?” Button then asked.

“Unlike when I was a human, I now have claws and also have just as much athletic ability as Rena. Then there’s digivolution, but that's a totally different can of worms that I rather not open just yet.” He replied, notices a few minutes later that Rarity was grossing out over the thought of a can of worms. “What? It’s a figure of speech.”

“And what is that gross thought suppose to express?” Rarity asked, still a little disturbed.

“I think what Lyall was trying to say is that he wants to save that topic for later since it’s a lot more… complicated to explain.” Rena interjected, choosing her words carefully in order for Rarity to not be confused. “It’s almost like if you are trying to teach a filly how to control magic for the first time.”

“Wait, you know about magic?” Lyall questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“Of course. With my previous partner Pearl, I was more than a Guardian and partner. I was also her tutor,” Rena explained, having some pixel like blocks form in her hands before that formed some sort of projection screen. “Remember Lyall, anything that can be connected has data that we can access. This includes anything small to something incredibly big.”

“Hey, I’ve only been in this form for a couple of days. I’m still new to a bunch of different things.” The Strabimon tried to speak up, only causing Rena to chuckle a little. It was just like her brother to try and come up with some sort of excuse and reason for not knowing something or to ignore his laziness. Since she had not seen him in quite some time, seeing this now brought back good memories before they were sent to Equestria.

The only good memories. Life had been rough for both Rena and Lyall before ending up in Equestria. Both of them ran away from home after their abusive father won custody over them when their parents filed for a divorce. They had been living on the street for almost a year and when Rena ended up disappearing, the last thing she remembered was getting a Renamon plushie for her brother’s 14th birthday.

“Rena dear?” The sound of Rarity’s voice caught her attention as she looked up. “Is something the matter?”

“W-wha-? No. I was just… distracted. That’s all.” Rena sighed, trying the white lie so Rarity wouldn’t question her any further. However, that just put her in an even more awkward situation.

“Sis… you're thinking about home, aren’t you?” Lyall said, only causing Rena to sigh a little as she nodded her head. This though, confused Button, Sweetie Belle and Rarity as they just wondered what they meant. All the Strabimon did though was sigh as he looked back at them. “From where we were, Rena and I did not exactly have the ideal childhood that we would’ve wanted. Before we came here to Equestria unknowingly, our parents were going through a divorce and our father was not exactly the kindest of people.”

“Oh… Would you rather not… talk about it?” Rarity replied to him, sounding understanding, but also curious as to what they exactly meant by that.

“Let’s just say that he had a drinking problem and because of court orders, custody of us fell into his hands. After that, we were living on the street for two years.” Lyall stated blankly, rather not going into major details over the incident. “Rena and I were the only ones who looked out for one another. But when I heard she disappeared, a few months went by afterwards and I was still fixated on trying to find her again.”

“That sounds sad.”

“Yeah, but at least we were able to find each other in the end,” He said, picking up Leo’s Digivice and messing around with it by tossing it in the air. “I am just curious about Leo. How did she get involved in this?”

“Can’t you just simply ask her?” Sweetie Belle asked him.

“We could… but I’m not sure if she’s in the mood to talk right now given the fit that she has been having for a while now.” Lyall shrugged, tossing the digivice to Rena.

“Yeah, but I highly doubt playing with her Digivice like it’s a toy is going to do you any good there Lyall,” Rena told him. “You do realize that she feels possibly everything that’s going on outside with her device? She could feel you tossing her up into the air, you playing with her like she was a yoyo before handing it off to me. Not a good lineup of charges there, brother.”

“Oh come on, it’s not like she’s actually hearing us… is she?” Rena then looked back at the Digivice as it began to glow.

“I’ll let you see for yourself.” she replied back as she set the digivice back on her brother's lap.

Leo burst out of her Digivice and smacked into Lyall’s chest before plopping onto his lap. “Yes I… Could hear you… And feel everything…” Leo said, before vomiting all over him.

“And with that, we have Karma.” Rena chuckled.

“Oh haha,” Lyall groaned, “Can someone help me clean up after Leo? I might need a shower after this.”

“You.. Erp~ Asked for it…” Leo said before grabbing her digivice in her mouth and floated over to Rena before collapsing into her lap.

“You have to admit, she’s kind of right.” Rena sighed. “Which reminds me, there was something that I was going to ask you Leo if you are up for it.”

“What do you want to know?” Leo asked as she reoriented herself in Rena’s lap for the most comfort.

“Well, I was going to ask about the whole Token thing you mentioned earlier. What do you mean by that?”

“Tokens are Items that are used to summon other Displaced. For example, my token is a digivice.” Leo explained.

“Okay, are those pre-determined or do you have to make one?” Rena then asked.

“You make them… Though mine is a bit confusing in my opinion. Every displaced I give a copy to becomes personalized.” Leo chuckled, remembering the first time she met another displaced.

“Well,” The Renamon then sighed, looking back at the digimon. “Can you help me make one for Sweetie Belle and I? I believe it would be a good learning experience for her if she was around more ponies like that.”

“Just a fair warning, but traveling the multiverse is a bit complicated. Are you sure you want to make your token right now?” Leo asked before floating out of Rena’s lap.

“Why not? If we don’t do it now, I’ll be more likely to forget later on.”

“If you say so… The first step is to find something that symbolizes you.” Leo sighed. Rena thought about it a little, before conjuring a crystal from her Diamond Storm ability before handing it off to Leo.

“This could work since Rarity’s talent is with Gems and I can use Diamond Storm.”

“Ok, the second step is to channel some of your energy into it.” Leo said, chuckling at the irony of her choice of token. Rena did what Leo requested and even Sweetie Belle herself chimed in with a little bit of her magic in order to help with the process.

Once they stopped channeling their energy into the diamond a rainbow colored circuit like pattern spread across it as it glowed. “Well, that should work to personalize it.” Leo said, “Now say something you want whatever Displaced that finds it to hear, like a catchphrase.”

“I am Rena. The protector of my partner and guardian of the digital world. If you wish for our assistance, shatter the crystal and we will come.”

“Now for the final step…” Leo then took the diamond in her mouth and tossed it before a black portal appeared and sucked it up. “Send it into the Multiverse.”

“Do we keep one token for ourselves?” Sweetie Belle then asked. A portal appeared over Sweetie Bell and a copy of their token fell out and onto her head.

“I think that should answer your question.” Leo chuckled. “Any other questions?”

“Nothing that comes to my mind no,” Rena replied, followed by Sweetie Belle shaking her head. “Anything we should know first before going over anything. It’s getting close to dinner.”

“Yeah, not all displaced are friendly. But many of them are nice too, So be careful when you’re summoned, and please let me know when your summoning someone.” Leo said as she retrieved her digivice.

“Okay. Maybe sometime you can introduce us to a few Displaced that you know?” Sweetie Belle suggested as the Filly looked back at the In training digimon.

“I think you would have fun with Doctor Who.” Leo giggled as she followed Rena and Sweetie Bell into the dining room.

“I’m sorry, but did you say Doctor Whooves?” Button asked when Lyall finally caught back up with them. “He’s the town clockmaker that my mother visits whenever she needs one of our clocks repaired or something like that.”

“I think Leo means somepony else, Button.” Lyall advised him.

“You never know,” Leo said, “He does go by Doctor Whooves in some dimensions.”

“O… kay then,” Rena replied, rolling her eyes a little as she looked back at them. “Leo, can you and Lyall help set up the table? It’ll give some time for everypony to get themselves cleaned up beforehand so I can help with dinner.” Lyall and the others nodded their heads in agreement, but it took Leo a little bit more time to adjust before she complied. While that was going on, Rena looked in the cupboard to find a recipe for Mac n Cheese and the ingredients needed for a salad on the side. setting them up and getting the warm water ready, the Renamon personally began to work on the main dish while everypony else was preparing themselves.

“That should be everything we need.” Leo said as she placed a vase full of flowers on the table after having floated everything else onto the table manually.

“Alright. Now I just need the main dish to be cooked for a little while. In the meantime, you guys can prepare the salad if you want.” Rena told them as she handed the ingredients required and the salad bowl that she handed to them as well.

“...” Leo just stared at the salad bowl and the ingredients for a bit before looking at Lyall. “I’m going to leave this to you.”

“Oh come on, Leo. It’s not that hard.” Lyall told her as he got the ingredients out and began to mix them together. “See? You don’t need to pretend like you’re trying to do it telepathically.”

“I don't have hands… or telepathy.” Leo groaned.

“I know, I almost forgot that you aren’t a rookie yet, you little rascal.” Lyall smirked, rubbing Leo’s head a little bit.

Leo’s eye twitched before she made the flame on top of her head burn Lyall’s hand. “Stop picking on me!”

“Hey, easy! We’re not setting things on fire tonight!” Lyall insisted as he withdrew his paw from Leo’s head. Leo just glared at him before floating over to Rena’s shoulder and sitting on it. Only for Rena to put Leo in the chair next to her.

“I wish I could turn back into a rookie already…” leo sighed as she watched Rena work. The Renamon giggled a little as she helped finish the final preparations as dinner was done cooking. She got out six plates and put on there enough food for all of them, including Leo. But there was still the issue that Leo didn’t exactly have any hands for eating, so Sweetie Belle had to resort to Spoon feeding her like he was a toddler. which, as you could guess, she didn't enjoy.

“Oh come on, quite being so picky Leo!” Sweetie Belle insisted as she tried to put the spoonful of mac and cheeses in Leo’s mouth.

“Maybe we should call her Leia so that we know that she’s a girl?” Lyall suggested, shrugging a little.

“First, I will not be fed like a newborn! it's degrading! and second, I have a daughter named Lea so that would be too confusing.” Leo said.

“What do you suggest then Leo?” Rena asked.

“I dont know… Im not very good with names- MMFF?!” Leo was interrupted mid sentence when Sweetie Belle put another spoonful of food in her mouth, catching the digimon off guard. She then swallowed the food before glaring daggers at Sweetie Belle, “Are you TRYING to choke me!?”

“N-no… You just look hungry.”

“Leo, what have I told you about shouting at my tamer?” Rena said, narrowing her eyes at her. “That’s rather rude, especially since you are a guest here.”

“Sorry…” Leo muttered nervously as she tried to escape Rena’s glare.

“Don’t apologize to me, Leo.” She said, looking back at Sweetie Belle again. “Apologize to her.”

“Sowy…” Leo said to Sweetie Bell as she sank into her chair cushion.

“It’s okay Leona.” She replied, snuggling her head against the in-training digimon. “Hey, I think that might work as a name. Leona.”

“I guess that could work.” Leo replied, accepting the new name.

“Well, then I have an idea,” Rena suggested, raising a glass. “How about a toast? To friends, family, and a bright future ahead of us.” Everyone else nodded, getting their own glasses and when Sweetie Belle notice Leo was missing one, she was the first to get up.

“I’ll get a sippy cup for Leona!”

“No! not the sippy cup! anything but a sippy cup!” Leona begged. “I like straws just fine!”

“Sweetie Belle, it’s fine-. Oh whoops, too late.” Rena sighed, looking back at Leona as Sweetie Belle returned with the sippy cup. “Sorry Leona, I tried.”

“My pride has officially been shattered…” Leona whimpered as she floated up to the table before faceplanting into her plate. Everyone reacted in their own way, but Rena could tell that tonight was definitely going to be a good night to spend with friends and family. Even if someone else's pride still slowly had to heal.

“Rena?” Leona said through her plate.

“Yes Leona? What is it?” The Renamon asked her, curious to find out what’s on her mind.

“Can you help me get clean?” Leona asked. The Renamon smiled, using a wipe to help clean the food off of Leona’s face. However, when she got up was when the two of them realized what Sweetie Belle was thinking of when Leona said that.

“She better not be thinking of decorating me…” Leona muttered to Rena. She shook her head, pointing out something else that made the in-training digimon freeze in horror.

“Something tells me that Sweetie Belle see’s you as a newborn and wants to take care of you.” Rena chuckled as the filly walked over.

“NOO!” Leona cried before she zipped away from Sweetie Belle. Only causing the filly to run after her as Rena tried to contain her laughter. Yep, this was definitely going to be a good night for her.

End Chapter 4

5- Why I don't like babysitting

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The Fox and the Filly- Why I do not like babysitting

“...And thats how I stopped the dark lords from conquering Equestria!” Leona boasted, wobbling about a bit from drinking an excessive amount of cider. Rarity herself sighed a little and Rena felt like she was having to do babysitting… which she highly doubted calling it babysitting if the baby you were referring to was in a drunken stupor like she was right now.

“I…… see.” Sweetie Belle sighed before looking at Rena and then looking at the clock. “Oh man, I need to get ready for school tomorrow!”

“I can take Button home and see you guys tomorrow,” Lyall told everyone from the position where he was before looking at Leona. “In the meantime, I think our little savior here has to have a much needed bath. She smells like she had one too many mugs of cider tonight.”

“I can help!!” Sweetie Belle declared, holding up Leona in a magical aura as she trotted upstairs and brought the digimon with her. “Come on Leona, it’s bath time!!”

“Huh? Why is everything spinning?” Leona wondered as she just dangled in Sweetie Belle’s magical grip before retching all over the floor behind her...

And causing a particular fashionista to freak out of her mind. “Oh THIS IS THE WORST POSSIBLE THING!!!”

All Rena did was just sigh, following the trail to where Sweetie Belle was and seeing her clean up Leona’s face while the water and the bubbles in the bath were beginning to rise… before she picked up Leona and plopped her in the tub.

“GAH! WATER! I HATE WATER!” Leona suddenly blurted out before the bathroom was consumed with a sudden steam explosion. Sweetie Belle just raised an eyebrow, but it soon lead to Rena facepalming herself as she looked at the filly.

“I almost forgot… Fire does not work well with water…” Rena said, looking back at Sweetie Belle.

“Well how else are we supposed to clean her?” Sweetie Belle asked as she picked up Leona again in her magical grip.

“There’s… one possibility… but it may require us to head outside.” Rena replied to her as the Renamon lead the filly outside while Leona was stretching out and leaving smoky burn marks on the carpet. Once outside… and facing away from the boutique, Rena used the most unlikely thing in order to wash her down. A gardening hose… besides, with someone like Leona, desperate times call for desperate measures.

“Huh? what's tha… Snake! Die snake!” Leona shouted as she saw the hose, charging at it like an angry parasprite. Rena was able to wash the digimon off… but now she had a new problem. And that was Leona tearing the watering hose apart and still getting splattered in the process.

“Sweetie Belle…” Rena sighed, looking back at her. “Can you go get the pointer?” The filly nodded, rushing back to her room before coming back down with something in hand and giving it to the Renamon. With a few clicks, Rena had the pointer working and a mini red dot was seen on the ground where Leona was, causing her to solely focus on that single light and that one alone.

Practically forgetting that the hoze ever existed leona started to chase the lazer, her drunken stupor now making her seem like some kind of cat… if a cat could look like a miniature sun that flew around like a deranged will-o-wisp. Even if it crashed into the side of a wall. “... help? I seem to be stuck in something…”

“Well, that’s one way of trying to get her to calm down I guess.” Rena replied as she walked over and plucked Leona out of the wall. “Come on Sweetie Belle. It looks like this one needs some much needed sleep.”

“But I don't wanna! And I’m… Much… older than…” Leona said before passing out in Rena’s soft paws. Causing her to chuckle in the process as she walked back inside. She then looked at Sweetie Belle and told her something that caught her by surprise.

“Leona will be sleeping in your room tonight.”

“Yay!!” She squealed, hugging the sunmon like a teddy bear before going to sleep in her room. This was going to be an awkward conversation by the time Morning comes back around.

‘‘Why do I feel like I’m being surrounded in fluffle puffs?” Leona thought as she groggily started to wake up, her memory of the previous evening completely blank. As she opened her eyes though, she immediately froze, her face just inches away from a soft white muzzle about as big as her. “Okay, why am I in a bed with filly Sweetie Belle and just how much did I have to drink last night?” She wondered aloud as she realized her current situation.

“Too much…” She heard, turning her head to see Rena standing in the corner. “DO you need me to give you the entire list of damages?”

“As long as it does not involve sun butt I may be able to atone?” leona said.

“You threw up in Rarity’s living room, had Sweetie Belle and I resort to washing you down with a garden hose… before you annihilated it because you thought it was a snake and lastly, you were chasing a laser, crashed into a wall and passed out in my paws,” Rena explained, recounting everything from the night before. “Also, you almost kissed Sweetie Belle. May I say more?”

“Would it mean anything to you if I said it could have been worse?” Leona said sheepishly, ironically relieved that that's all she did even if she was a bit put off by the thought that she almost kissed a filly.

“You were also sleep talking about me.” Rena deadpanned, causing a blush to appear on Leona’s face.

“I know no-thing!” Leona shouted in a german accent while turning so that Rena couldn't see her face.

“To be honest… It was kind of cute to hear you like that.” Rena replied. “Still though, it may be best for you to get out of bed. We got some stuff to help Sweetie Belle with and there's the fact that she may specifically need you for something.”

Leona slowly nodded in response before floating out of the bed before freezing in place again. “Wait, help with what?” Leona asked nervously.

“It’s with what she has going on at school today,” Rena replied as she pointed at the calendar on the wall. Specifically today's date. “Today is Twilight Time at her castle.”

Alarms immediately went off in Leona’s mind when Rena said the name of a certain lavender unicorn. “W-w-what w-would you h-have me d-do?” Leona asked, this time terror filling her voice.

“Mostly just making sure that nothing out of the ordinary happens… but I did hear that Twilight was going to have the girls do a show and tell today, so Sweetie Belle might be reluctant to use us for that part.” Rena replied, just as Sweetie Belle turned in her sleep and pulled the sunmon closer to her.

“S-so warm…”

“Gah! Cuteness levels overloading mah brain!” leona squeaked in surprise before giving in to the sleeping filly… Just as Rena opened up the curtains and let there be light in the room. Causing Sweetie Belle to slowly wake up as she rubbed a hoof to her face.

“Aww man. I was having the best dream!” Sweetie Belle asked. “I was laying down next to Leona and she let me pet her.”

Leona said nothing as she pretended that she didn't exist, her entire body consumed in the wrath of her embarrassment induced blush. That was… until Sweetie Belle noticed and then tilted her head. “Rena, why does she look like Rarity whenever she gets embarrassed?” Sweetie Belle asked innocently, causing Leona to become even more embarrassed. “Why do I always find myself in these kinds of situations!?” Leona cried.

All Rena could do was just sigh for a minute before looking at the two of them. “Let’s get you some breakfast first before we go anywhere.” Almost immediately after Rena said that, Leona was gone from the bed and floating as fast as she could towards the door, taking full advantage of the change in subject. However… there was one problem for her once she got to the door. She couldn’t open it.

“Gah! Open you blasted door! Let me free!” leona complained as she teethed the door handle to no effect after ramming it with her head about seventeen times.

Rena sighed, walking to the door as she grabbed it. Leona was trying to push the door open… But the real catch was that the door needed to be pulled instead as she did so for the sunmon. Blushing even harder now Leona quickly zoomed to the first floor before getting lost in an attempt to try and avoid embarrassing herself further, which obviously backfired.

“Something tells me that this is going to be a long day…” Rena sighed as she followed Sweetie Belle downstairs, going to the kitchen and trying to make sure that Leona did not start a fire on accident.

Suddenly there was a cry of surprise as something in the lobby of the boutique audibly came crashing down. “LEONA!!!”

Rena sighed, only able to get some toast out of the toaster before she and Sweetie Belle ran after the little troublemaker. They needed to keep her on a very short leash if they did not want her to cause this much ruckus across ponyville.

Needless to say, it happened anyways. “MY CABBAGES!!!”

“Flaming parasprite! Run for your lives!” A mare with a Daisy cutiemark screamed while running past the boutique, not noticing Sweetie Belle or Rena standing at the front door after having grabbed their breakfast in a rush.

“Well great, it looks like Leona ran off to the market… this is going to be our day isn’t it?” Rena then asked, only to notice someone else coming over and holding sunmon by the head. “Oh thank god, Lyall got her first.”

“Looking for this rascal?” He asked, tossing Leona to them as Sweetie Belle caught her in her magic again. “She not only messed up the market place, but almost set Mayor Mare’s home on fire in her attempt to escape.”

“I know no-thing!” Leona said, denying everything Lyall was saying.

That was when Sweetie Belle turned her around, had her look deep into her eyes and give her most intimidating look on her face. “I’m very disappointed in you Leona…”

“... I plead the fifth?” Leona asked, deciding it was best to surrender to her current better.

“We will talk about this later. Right now, let’s get to Twilight’s castle and hopefully not have anyone stop to question us…”

“Lyall, Leona is not contraband. Please don’t refer to her like that.” Rena sighed, causing Lyall to look back at her and fold his arms.

“If you say so… Now tell me how exactly are we going to smuggle her into Twilight’s castle? It is heavily fortified.” The Strabimon pointed out.

“Lyall!!”

“I refuse to become that madmare’s experiment!” Leona cried out in panic, struggling to get free suddenly.

“She’s not a madmare,” Sweetie Belle sighed. “I’ve been told she’s a little too curious for her own good, but not a madmare.” However, that wasn’t exactly helping Leona right now as she was ignoring what Sweetie Belle was telling her.

“I bet smartypants would like to disagree…” leona muttered after giving up in her attempt to escape the magical grip holding her in place.

“If anything, she might think you look like Princess Celestia’s cutie mark.” Sweetie Belle said on the side as she began to walk to the castle. However, it did little to help calm Leona down. Especially when she heard the name “Celestia”.

“Oh, don’t even get me started on THAT madmare! Me and Sunbutt do not get along, ever.” Leona deadpanned, not at all liking that she was compared with her ‘pony counterpart’.

“That was your Celestia. This one may be different-.” Rena tried to reply back before being cut off in the process.

“While that may be true, I will not risk being brought before another embodiment of the sun as they say. Especially if Luna’s around.” Leona groaned, remembering the ‘friendliest’ meeting she had ever had with the two alicorns back in her original dimension.

Soon though, they all arrived at Twilight’s castle as Rena and Lyall hid in Sweetie Belle's and Button Mash’s digivice, leaving Leona and the two younglings to see Spike open the door and walk them in. However, it was then that something dropped on the floor… and had Spike unknowingly pick it up.

“Hey there Sweetie Belle, Button Mash. Thank you for coming!” Twilight said upon greeting them. “You can set your flaming stuffed animal over there and Spike can help put it away… once you use a fire extinguisher on it first.” She soon had a spring in her step as she pranced over to another part of the castle while Sweetie Belle handed off Leona to Spike.

“Cool, I’ll place it in my room alongside one other cool looking toy that seems rather ancient.” Spike said, walking upstairs and placing Leona on his bed next to what he found earlier. “Now where’s that fire extinguisher? AH! Here we go!!”

Leona wasn't paying attention though, because as she saw what Spike found she went into shock… it was her digivice, but it seemed different for some reason that she couldn't figure out at the moment. Because when she tried, she was soon blasted by white foam as the baby dragon tried to put her out with the fire extinguisher he found in the kitchen. “Gah! My eyes! It’s in my mouth! MY EYES!!!!” Leona suddenly cried out before flying about blindly while spewing out expletives.

“Holy dragon scales! You can talk!?!” Spike snapped, soon grabbing Leona and taking her to the bathroom to wash out her eyes. “S-sorry!! I just thought you were a fire hazard!”

Leona immediately froze after getting washed off and realizing that it was Spike that was talking to her tried to resume her stuffed animal act while sweating profusely.

“Uhh… It’s okay to talk. I did hear you a few seconds ago.” Spike mentioned to her. “Are you okay? Are your eyes better now?”

“Do you promise to tell Twilight nothing?” Leona asked, putting emphasis on ‘nothing’ when she said it.

“Umm… Yes?” Spike answered. “Why?”

“I am a being as powerful if not more powerful than Princess Celestia, but I come from another world which no longer exists and I’m living here in secret.” Leona said, trying to dumb it down for him.

“That…… is……… AWESOME!!!”

“Quiet! I don't want purple to find out about me and turn me into a research subject!” Leona hissed, trying to make him quiet down after his loud outburst. “Or report me to Sunbutt” She then added too quiet for spike to hear.

“That’s fine. Your secret is safe with me miss…… who are you?”

“Leona… you may call me Leona.”

“I’m Spike. It’s nice to meet you miss Leona-.” He said, before Leona cut him off midsentence.

“I knew your name already, but anyway… Congrats young dragon, you have recently become a very important person in your world alongside Sweetie Belle and I think his name was Button Mash?” Leona said, not too sure but wanting to get most of the details of what Spike had gotten himself into over and done with since the longer she had to explain stuff the higher the risk of being found and or captured was.

“Ooh sweet! We all have a secret now!!” The baby drake cheered, causing Leona to drop her head into the floor and groan to herself. This was going to be a LONG day for her. That, she knew for sure.

It was only a few moments after finally getting finished up with Twilight and when Sweetie Belle returned to her saddle bag, she knew that something was off right away. Taking out her digivice, she then spoke up so her partner could hear her. “Hey Rena? Where did Leona go?”

“I thought she was with your saddle bag.”

“That’s what I thought too. Now she’s not here… Oh dear Celestia, please don’t tell me that she’s going to cause some more problems like what happened this morning.” The filly groaned as she recalled that small series of unfortunate events on the way to the castle. Once outside, she caught up with Button, who was waiting for her as they began to trot back to the boutique. “Hey, Button? Have you seen Leona anywhere?”

“I thought she was with you.” Button replied honestly.

“She wasn’t in my saddle bag when I last checked… Oh man, I have a bad feeling about what kind of chaos would happen if we left her alone out there.”

“Well, if it is anything like what we had to deal with this morning… I think she’ll be fine.” The colt replied back. “Besides, I was going to ask if you wanted to look over my card deck with me.”

“Card deck? What is this, some children’s card game?” Sweetie Belle questioned Button as the two of them came to a clearing outside of Ponyville where nobody was able to follow them.

“No, not necessarily,” Button shook his head, letting Lyall and Rena emerge from inside their digivices. “Lyall told me that Digimon Tamers use special cards in battle to enhance a digimon in combat and also perform digivolution. Of course, mine is probably different from yours, but the concept is still the same.”

That part got Rena confused as she looked back at the colt. “How different?”

“Well, my digivolution process relies on spirit evolution and the spirits of the ten legendary warriors in the digital world. Button has some cards in his deck that allow me to undergo spirit evolution, which is my equivalent of digivolution,” The Strabimon began to explain. “Remember when I turned into Lobomon? Well, based on the cards, it would be similar to if you digivolved into your champion form, Rena. However, they are referred to as hybrids.”

“What about your other evolutions?” Rena then asked.

“Button and I have only figured out our champion form, but if I was to turn into an ultimate level digimon, my best guess would be that I would be KendoGarurumon. But then again, this is hypothetically speaking.”

“Hypo-what? Are you trying to hypnotize somepony?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“No no no, Sweetie. He was saying that as a theory. He believes that the outcome would be what he said, but he’s unsure about it.” Rena then clarified for her. “That also brings up another point… do you think we would be seeing more about those ten legendary warriors anytime soon?”

“Legendary what?” Sweetie Belle asked again, even more confused than before. Only causing Rena to facepalm herself as she looked back at Lyall.

“You got some explaining to do, brother.”

“Fine fine…” He groaned as he cleared his throat. “The ten legendary warriors are a group of heroes that represented the ten elements of the world and fought against an ancient evil in the past. The elements are fire, ice, wind, thunder, light, dark, steel, water, earth and wood. I myself am the legacy that remains of the Legendary Warrior of Light. Which only means that there is a possibility for more to be out there… and for more tamers like you too.”

“Hunh… Interesting…” Sweetie Belle said to herself before looking around to notice something in the distance. “Hey, is it just me or am I seeing Leona laying on top of Spike’s head like a hat?”

It was indeed Leona… and she looked both annoyed and troubled at the same time for some reason as Spike ran over to the group. “Oh sweet! You weren’t kidding Leona when you said they had partners.”

“Help me…” Leona mouthed while attempting to give Rena the best puppy dog eyes she could muster.

“What happened to Leona?” Sweetie Belle asked. “She looks like me whenever I get dragged along on one of Rarity’s shopping expeditions.”

“My guess is that either Twilight got to her… Someone used a fire extinguisher on her… or somehow it involves her digivice being in Spike’s claws.” Lyall pointed out to them, causing everypony to see what he just told them.

“The first of those options has yet to happen… the rest are right on the spot though.” Leona whimpered.

“Well, as least he’s been able to keep your cover hidden right?” Rena then asked.

“Yup. Had to get creative at some moments, but I was good nonetheless,” He smiled, wiping what appeared to be a bit of dirt off of Leona’s head as he looked back at them. “Who knew that Leona’s best disguise would be a basketball?”

“I still have yet to forgive you for that…” Leona growled, hovering away from the young drake and over to Rena. “I have an owie… can you kiss it to make it feel better?” She said as cutely as she could as she snuggled up to the Renamon, making sure to give her a clear view of where she had made impact with the ground when Spike had used her as a basketball to trick a group of kids who had gotten a little too curious.

“I said I was sorry!” Spike proclaimed, only to be interrupted by something else. “Oh hey look, your digivice is glowing.”

“Huh…” Leona muttered, looking towards the rusted old digivice in Spike’s claw. The old device soon began to shed away all of the old exterior trimmings as it now became a digivice similar to Sweetie Belle’s and Button’s. With the only difference being that the color scheme was similar to Spike’s scales.

“Congratulations on finding your newfound partner in crime Mr. Leona. We hope that you and your new partner Spike will become a good pair of tamers and take on any challenge that you see in front of you. Have fun.” The voice that came from the digivice said, which reminded Rena of the AI lady from Borderlands 2 that was in charge of the New-U machines for everytime a player dies and respawns in game. Going as far as saying things like “Between us, the guy who killed you is a total d**k. Please disregard this message if you’ve committed suicide.” and so on. Rena and Lyall before they were displaced were lucky enough to play these kinds of games sparingly at the local recreation center.

However… now was when Leona was no longer whimpering… but downright angry.

“What… How… This… NO, no no no no! That better bucking not mean what I think it does!” Leona began to rant, “If that whatever it was means what i think it does… I COULD HAVE BUCKING PREVENTED THIS-!?” She then snapped, just as she glowed a little and began to change back into her rookie form. Which was now the same size as Spike as the dragon looked at the Coronamon before looking back at both Rena and Lyall briefly

“To be honest… I thought you would be taller.” Spike then mumbled, the only ones hearing that being himself and Leona… resulting in her sending him flying across the field they were in with a swift punch to the gut.

“You better hope that by the time I regain the ability to go Mega I have forgiven you… or I will step on you like Rena would step on a bug.” Leona warned, a vein in her forehead pulsing violently. That was when Rena went over and kissed her forehead as she looked at everyone for a brief moment.

“Well… now that there’s three of us… How about we head back to the boutique and get Spike caught up on what’s going on. Because I have a feeling that from here on out… the next few digimon we’re going to meet are not going to be as friendly as we are…” Rena suggested.

“I know where Rarity keeps her Ice Cream stash!” Sweetie Belle gleefully pointed out.

“Ice cream does sound like a good way to cool off right now. The heat’s really making me sweat.” Lyall replied, before clarifying something. “And no, I’m not talking about Leona.”

“Don't test me kid.” Leona growled as she clung to Rena’s leg for some reason, “And it's been years since I had actual ice cream so I will gladly join you.” With that, all of them soon made their way over to the Carousel Boutique for some much needed cold treats and a way to beat the summer heat.

Later that night...

“Applebloom, don’t forget to feed Winona before bedtime!” Applejack called out to the filly as she put on a pair of goggles around her neck while making sure to feed the Apple Family’s pet dog. However, the filly was not so much done yet. Even when it was this late, there was one more hungry mouth that she needed to feed and to do that, she needed to take some of the bread she got earlier from the dinner table along with a few apples and bring them with her in her saddle bag.

Carefully, Applebloom snuck out the back side of the barn, the darkness providing enough cover for her to hide from Big Mac out on the porch with Granny Smith in her rocking chair as she trotted all the way to the shed where the Apple Family kept their old tractor before it broke down a long time ago. It was not quite the best place to find something you might be looking for… but it is if there was something you didn’t want found in the first place.

Slowly, Applebloom opened the creeky metal door as she stepped inside. One hoof at a time as she looked to the back of the room. “Hey there… I brought you some food. Do you like Apples? Maybe some bread?” What she was talking to soon moved through the dimly lit shed as it took a moment to sniff each of the things that was brought to it. Snatching the bread, but completely ignoring the apples as it ate the entire loaf whole.

“Whoa nelly… You must be starving… Did that help you out?” She asked as the creature moved a little closer before licking her face. It’s red and black scales lit up with the light of the moon. “Hehe… I guess that answers my question.”

“Thank you, Applebloom-mon!” It said, going as far as to hug the filly before it looked at her with a sad pair of eyes. “Applebloom-mon?”

“Yes?” She said, going up a little closer to the creature.

“I miss Buttercup.” Hearing the name had Applebloom freeze a little. But she kept herself calm as the filly them snuggled up beside the reptilian creature and let a tear from her eye fall down.

“I miss mama as well, Guilmon… I miss her so much.”

End Chapter 5

6- Too Close to Home

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The Fox and the Filly- Too Close to Home

Carousel Boutique (Night)

“Alright. That should just about do it with tidying up this place,” Rarity chimed a little, finally making sure that all of the dresses that she was working on in her workspace were in tip top shape and nothing was left astray. The Unicorn always made sure that at the end of the day before making supper that everything inside the Carousel Boutique was put away precisely. Not to mention that with Sweetie Belle and Rena being with her friends in Appleloosa, which made it more of a challenge on her part.

But just as she returned to the center of the boutique, there was something… off that stood out to the Unicorn. The door to the boutique was open, all the way in fact. Rarity could’ve sworn that she had locked it while she was closing the boutique earlier, grumbling a little as she used her magic to close it again. But just as she locked it, the sound of something scraping against the floor made her body shiver.

“W-who’s there?” She spoke, fear in her voice as the scraping got closer and closer. Her heartbeat was accelerating with every second that passed, fear creeping in as the Unicorn thought that there was an intruder in her own home? Who was it? A mugger? A monster? What brute would want to break into her own home at this hour… and why? The only way she would know would be to turn around and confront the intruder that she thought was behind her.

Swallowing the fear that lingered in her, she turned around quickly, planting her hooves and thinking that whoever was inside her home had was behind her. Only to find… nothing. No intruder and no sounds of their presence as Rarity walked away from the door, thinking that she was somehow hallucinating as she used a switch along the wall to bring light to the pitch black room.

But, even though the light provided clear visibility for her, the Unicorn was unaware that from her own shadow, something began taking form. A beast with dark purple fur, claws made from blades with two pairs of bat wings. One around it’s neck and the other covering it’s demonic eyes. The only thing giving away its presence being the low predatory growl that it gave to make it’s presence known. Causing Rarity to shiver once more while she was trying to put away her tea set.

Slowly, she turned to see the beast… and what she saw caused her to drop the teapot that was in her telekinesis spell as it shattered on the floor. This beast… whoever it was, it was more then frightening… It was as if it had emerged from her greatest nightmares as a young filly and was given life.

But just as she thought this… That was when the beast spoke. “Hello there… Daughter of Pearl. It has been a looooooong time since I’ve seen you.” All that was heard afterwards was the sounds of a mare screaming in horror as the full moon’s light shined upon Ponyville.

Next Day… (Morning)

By the time the early morning train had arrived in Ponyville, the Cutie Mark Crusaders hopped off the train along with Applejack as they finally returned home from their weekend in Appleloosa. Sweetie Belle was really eager about wanting to tell her sister about them meeting Troubleshoes and about everything else while on their adventure, but she did feel a little sorry for Rena. Throughout the whole weekend, she had to keep her partner inside her digivice, fearing that bringing her out in the open would cause a bit of a panic. Sure, she let Rena out to stretch her legs in the evening, but there wasn’t really much going on around then.

“I can’t wait to tell Rarity about our trip-.” She said, only to be interrupted by seeing several ponies around her scrambling like something had happened. It was then that they saw Spike and Button Mash run over to the two of them as well, both of them with a small look of relief on their faces.

“Sweetie Belle? Oh thank Celestia you guys are back!” Spike told them, breathing a sigh of relief. Even though the girls were… rather confused.

“Spike, what’s going on?” Sweetie Belle asked with a confused look on her face. “Why is everypony running around like some monster invaded the town?”

“That’s because there was one that did…” Button spoke up, looking at them this time. “Last night, several ponies that were out at night saw a monster attack Carousel Boutique. They weren’t able to see who it was, but the entrance to it was ripped off and-.” Sweetie Belle’s mind drowned out the rest of Button’s voice. Something went after the boutique? But that could only mean that…

“Button, where is Rarity?” She then interrupted him, her heart racing a little as the young filly waited to hear her friend tell her the answer to that question.

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Whatever attacked the boutique hurt Rarity and put her in the hospital.” That made Sweetie Belle panic and before her friends could say anything, she took off. Galloping in the direction of the hospital.

“Sweetie Belle? What’s going on? Your heart rate just skyrocketed!” Rena asked, concerned for her partner as Sweetie Belle made a sharp turn around a corner and kept running. “Sweetie Belle-.”

“Rena, something attacked Rarity last night and put her in the hospital!” She quickly responded without a second thought. “I’m hurrying over there now to see if she’s okay! Dear Celestia, please don’t have this happen like before…” That last part had Rena confused a little as Sweetie Belle continued running to the hospital.

“Wait… what do you mean ‘like before’ Sweetie Belle?” The Renamon asked her, trying to understand what the young filly was talking about.

“There was one other time that Carousel Boutique was attacked and that was when Rarity and I were a lot younger… My mom was the one that got hurt and… she didn’t survive,” The unicorn filly told her just as she arrived at the doors to the hospital. “But I am NOT letting that happen to Rarity!” Her vow of determination lead to her having to race through the crowd of ponies all around her, only to soon notice a familiar face at the end of the hall.

“Twilight!” The alicorn at the end of the hall turned to see her as her eyes widened a bit. She honestly thought they would be coming back with Spike since she had sent him to go find them in the first place. But it seemed like news traveled faster then that and right now, she could tell that based on the look that was on the young fillies face. “Where’s Rarity?! Is she okay!?”

“Ssssh… Sweetie Belle, settle down! You’re in a hospital.” Twilight urged the young filly, trying to have her calm down. When the filly had stopped panicking, the alicorn was finally able to explain how Rarity was doing. “There… Now, for the most part, Rarity is okay. She’s getting some rest and the doctors want her to stay overnight while her rather… strange wounds are healing up.”

The filly raised an eyebrow in response as she looked back at Twilight. “Strange? Strange how?” Twilight personally sighed as she looked back at Sweetie Belle, pulling out a book from her Saddle bag.

“Do you know the difference between external and internal injuries?” She asked as the alicorn began flipping through the pages in the book she had just pulled out. “External injuries are ones you can see on the outside like a simple cut or scrape while internal injuries are injuries that occur inside the body. The doctors found several internal injuries throughout her body and they had to bring her into surgery in order to close the wounds before they could get any worse… All she needs now is rest.” Sweetie Belle just listened to her, before staring in disbelief at the state her sister was in. Asleep on the bed with plastic tubes supplying key nutrients to her bloodstream to keep herself alive. Twilight decided to give Sweetie Belle a moment alone in order to process this. But it was in that moment that someone else decided to speak up to the young filly.

“A digimon did this…” That had the Unicorn look at her digivice for a moment, trying to comprehend what she had just heard.

“Rena… are you sure that a digimon attacked her? Why would a digimon go after my sister?” She asked, wanting to make sure she was absolutely positive about what her partner was telling her before doing anything drastic. Though, as she was walking outside, what Rena told her was starting to make sense as the Digimon began to tell her what kind of digimon would make this possible.

“The only kind of digimon that I know would be responsible for this goes by the name Sangloupmon… He’s a virus type demon beast digimon who has gained a bit of a reputation in the digital world for being a very dangerous predator. Anyone who tries to take him on will always end with the challenger’s code getting torn to shreds.” Rena explained.

“How does this relate to Rarity though?” Sweetie Belle then asked.

“His primary attack is a series of tiny blades that skewers his opponents from within… Given that the extent or Rarity’s injuries are within her body, I say he’s our culprit.” Rena summarized for her. “Get back to Spike and Button so we can inform them of what we found here. We’re going to need to get stronger if we are to survive against a champion level digimon… and last time I talked with Leona, she was eager for a training session.” That last bit made Sweetie Belle gulp. She was concerned about if that last statement was suppose to be good… or not.

Snowy Peaks (Outside Ponyville, some time later)

“Keep them legs moving ladies! We're almost to the top!” Leona shouted as she casually walked in front of the exhausted Spike, Button, Sweetie Bell, Rena, and Lyall. Strangely enough, when Rena had mentioned that Leona wanted to do a training session, she happened to mention the part that it was up in the mountains outside of town. Rena herself was ahead of the pack due to her flexibility, but for some like Lyall and Button, they were stuck with having to move… and also fight the ever so chilling cold. Sweetie Belle and Spike were already ahead of them and trying to catch up with Rena all while Leona was walking and barking orders like a drill sergeant.

“Is this really necessary!?” Lyall asked, only for him to get hit in the face with a snowball as Leona barked at him again for questioning her.

“Quit your babying, were only a quarter mile from our destination already!” Leona shouted at Lyall with obvious annoyance. Hearing that caused Spike to look at her like she was insane. Especially if she honestly thought they could go that far in these weather conditions. Sweetie Belle and Button Mash were both around ten years old and this was something that he and the girls had to go through the same thing up in the crystal empire. Still, where exactly they were going was unknown… along with if they were going to freeze to death like this out here.

“And there it is!” Leona said as they approached what looked like a plateau on top of the mountain with a recently built log cabin in the center. To be honest, it looked a lot like a lodge for a ski resort as the group finally got closer to it. Sweetie Belle, Button Mash and Spike looked around them in amazement at the log cabin along with Lyall. But for Rena, she was more confused than anything else as she turned towards Leona.

“Leona, how did you know that there was a cabin like this up here?” She asked, partially surprised along with confused.

“Because, I built it.” Leona replied smugly as she puffed out her chest, fists on her hips. That… was beyond Rena’s understanding along with almost everyone else. They knew that Leona had been finding ways in order to keep herself occupied while they were gone. But everyone’s reaction on the subject was the same thing.

“You built this!?!”

“Pfft, this is nothing, you should have seen my temple back on my old world, it was massive! Not to mention made of stone.” Leona bragged, her nose somehow lengthening momentarily. Rena raised an eyebrow at that. Of course, she had told her that back in her old world and also right here, she was practically a god. But it just took a while to process it… After all, why exactly would a sun god enjoy something similar to a ski resort? Unless polar opposites somehow attract in this case, it just confused the Renamon more than helped her. “What? Is there something on my face?” She asked, noticing the stares.

“Honestly… I’m still trying to figure out why you decided for us to train here…” Rena replied back to her. “I mean, you are a sun digimon and I would believe that you aren’t a fan of the cold up here.”

“Well, I chose this place for two reasons…” The Coronamon replied, holding up two fingers in the air and counting them off for the other digimon, ponies and dragon. “One, it's within walking distance from Ponyville but far enough away that we won't cause any collateral damage accidentally until we reach ultimate. And two, because this place looks cool.” Leona said with a shrug. Rena honestly facepalmed herself at the second reason. She thought there was more of a… important reason for this.

“Okay…” Rena replied, speaking to Leona now. She wanted to make sure to cover the reason why they were up here… because the moment Leona heard training, she took off without even hearing her out. “Leona, the reason why I was asking for your help in this is because what happened at Carousel Boutique and also to Rarity was because of a digimon attack. We don’t know why it attacked their specifically, but what we do know is that the digimon is Sangloupmon and one of his attacks can do internal damage, which happened to Rarity.”

“Ok, and this changes things how? Training is training, and if you're going to train as a Digimon you either go all out or get egged when an unexpected enemy shows their ugly mugs.” Leona deadpanned.

“Yes, but we may also be dealing with an enemy that can hide himself in plain sight. Based on the reception of this attack, no one was able to witness the culprit and see them escape. We right now need to have control of our champion forms to prepare for if we encounter them again. Button has the Spirit Evolution card for Lyall to turn to Lobomon and we have the evolution card for Kyubimon, but have never tried it. We need to get used to the forms and learn how to master them.”

“Ok? What do you want me to do then?” Leona huffed, crossing her arms.

“Simple… we need to figure out digivolution and quickly before-.” Rena stopped speaking the second that she saw Leona’s shadow stretch and take on a different form. “Oh no… Sweetie Belle, get over here.”

“Rena, are you okay? What’s going on?” Lyall asked, now concerned as Button himself was a little startled by Rena’s shift in tone. There were only a couple of words to describe what

Leona was confused what was up with Rena, and out of curiosity decided to check behind her to try figuring out what was bothering them. But, from her shadow, emerged the last digimon that they wanted to see right now… and Rena’s words only made what was going on even more problematic.

“He’s here.”

“You’re really observant,” Sangloupmon growled, his mouth grinning and with a paw, he smacked Leona towards Spike and the others. “But my business is only with you and your partner. Not your companions… Either they leave now…” With that, several blades landed just bare meters away from Leona’s feet as she scrambled to where Spike was. “Or end up just like that mare in the hospital.” Spike and the others were hesitant, but it was when he saw Sweetie Belle that he almost lost composure… but his grin deepened.

“So… there is another daughter of Pearl…”

“Did you… just threaten me?” Leona asked. Only for what she said to be overlooked when Sweetie Belle spoke up after hearing what Sangloupmon said.

“H-how do you know my mom?” The filly’s heartrate was beginning to quicken as Rena stood by her side. Leona, who was losing her cool, was being held back by Spike, was extremely mad that this digimon had the guts to threaten her in her own home. But the digimon was more focused on Sweetie Belle and Rena… and ignoring the Coronamon.

“It was a long time ago… a few years give or take… You all have no idea what is happening in the digital world. Your mother made enemies… powerful enemies. Enemies that hired me on one fateful night to kill three mares and their companions.” The demon wolf told them in a dark and sinister tone, making some of the others standing nearby shiver in fright. But the next one to speak was not Sweetie Belle… but her partner.

“What were their names?” Rena sternly growled. Causing the wolf to grin menacingly.

“Pear Butter… Sky Drifter… and Pearl Belle,” Sangloupmon growled menacingly, looking at Sweetie Belle as her eyes widened in horror. “Yes… I am the reason your mother is gone, daughter of Pearl… I killed her on the same night that I also killed her dear friends.” That caused the others to stare in shock and horror… but for something different to come across Sweetie Belle. Her eyes were closed as tears drifted down her face… but she was not feeling sorrow at all.

Instead, that sorrow… was replaced by rage. “Y-you… killed mama… you… harmed Rarity… and now, my friends…” She said as magic around her horn began to shimmer and some energy began to radiate from her digivice. A blue card being held in her magic and one that caused Rena’s eyes to widen a bit. “I… am not… GOING TO LET YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS!!”

“Sweetie, don’t-!!” But before Rena could stop her, Sweetie Belle slid the card through the device and in her, the Renamon felt something inside her change as her body began to glow. Spike and the others watched as they heard one thing echo from Sweetie Belle’s digivice.

DIGIVOLUTION ENGAGED.

“Uh oh…” Lyall said as he watched his sister morph in front of his eyes. “Everyone back up! Who know what will happen if this is pulled off!”

“What are you talking about, Lyall?” Button asked.

“If someone’s digivolution is triggered by anger and rage, then there’s a likelihood that they might lose control of themselves and attack you!” He said, picking up Button and turning to the dragon nearby. “Spike, grab Leona and hurry!”

“Don’t need to tell me twice!” He yelled, fully clinging onto Leona as both of them made a break for the cabin to stay away from what was about to unfold. Sweetie Belle watched as her partner’s fur began to peel away. And from it, began to take on a new form. But to Rena… the form that she was about to take was not her regular champion form.

“R-rena?” The filly stuttered, stunned by what was happening. The digimon tried to speak up, but she could only hear bits of what she was trying to tell her. It was enough though for her to understand though as she could hear Rena say something to her.

“S-sweetie… S-stay b-back…” She groaned in pain before red flames began to form around her body. The digimon grit her teeth painfully as her partner scrambled to hide behind a trash can that was outside the cabin. “D-Dragon Wheel!!” The flames around the Kyubimon began to spin around her violently as they were sent flying towards Sangloupmon. However, the demon wolf just easily sidestepped out of the way and avoided the attack. Only getting hit just barely in the shoulder.

“You have power… but lack purpose.” Sangloupmon smirked. “Tell me, daughter of Pearl… You have no idea how digivolution works, do you?” Behind where she was hiding, Sweetie Belle was shocked. How… How did this enemy know so much? She watched as Rena tried to move and fight, but still looked weak in the process. The filly was lead to believe from Leona that Digivolution was suppose to allow them to fight against strong opponents with no trouble at all.

If that were true, then why was she losing?

Her attention was redirected back at Rena, who was thrown into a wall and pinned down. She was going to try her Fox Tail Inferno attack, but her body was too weak to pull it off. She felt herself degenerate a little as she fell to the ground, where Sangloupmon’s paw was pushing her down. “Digivolution is one part evolution, one part emotion. You may have the will to pull it off, but by giving into negative emotion… you are only at half of what you’re suppose to be.” With it, he used his paw to grab Rena’s body and crush it against the cold ground.

“Rena, no!!” She cried out, as the digimon reverted to her rookie form. The pain she was feeling was unbearable. This wasn’t anything like what she had felt before… nor faced for that matter. The pain was unbearable… and for the first time since she was displaced… she was seeing her own blood as it stained the white slate underneath her. Sweetie Belle was powerless right now and could not do anything to help Rena. All she could do was rush over, tears in her eyes and beg for Rena to please be okay.

The demon wolf, when he saw this, saw an opportunity to kill both of them, but before he was able to land a paw on either of them, something bright went off at the corner of his eye and as he turned around, felt a burning singe of pain as the wolf howled. “MY EYE!!” Sweetie Belle, at this point, looked up to see a figure with two blades of light and a strange set of gear.

“Stay away from my sister, you freak!” Rena knew that voice… and looked up to see Lyall in his champion form, Lobomon. She had seen him do it once before when the two of them first met… but like her, he had no idea how to actually fight like this.

All the Demon Wolf did was growl in anger, but he also sounded a bit shocked. “What the-!? I was never told that one of your companions was one of the ten legendary warriors!! How-?!” All Lobomon did was not say anything and grit his teeth before he watched the digimon in front of him turn into a speck of shadows. “This isn’t over, you hear me!! This ISN’T OVER!!” With that, Sangloupmon made a hasty retreat as Lyall devolved back into his rookie form… and looked back at his wounded sister in shock and horror.

“Leona! Get out here!! Rena’s hurt, bad!!”

Moments later the sound of something being thrown against a wall came from inside the cabin before Leona ran outside, a first aid kit strapped to her back. “Damn it!” The Coronamon growled as she noticed Rena’s condition and slurries over to her side. Quickly, she attended to the biggest wound that was visible before turning to Lyall. “Hey idiot, get over here and help! This wouldn't have happened if you ran away and dragged me with you ya know!” She snapped at the Strabimon, her worry for Rena obvious.

“I am helping.” He snapped, grabbing his sister. “Get the door open! We need to get her inside before she freezes to death out here!” The Coronamon was going to snap at him, but realized that they had no time to waste if they were wanting to help treat Rena. But in Sweetie Belle’s mind, despite things looking grim, she was praying that her partner was safe.

She had lost her mother… almost lost her sister… and did not want to lose her guardian.

End Chapter 6

Author's Notes:

Sangloupmon:

And with that, another chapter and a few plot and story elements. This took a LONG while because of school and being distracted by other projects, but I promise to work on this some more by the time the new year rolls around.

In the case of Digivolution, how Rena and the others are suppose to digivolve is broken down into two parts. The evolution process that you normally find in the digimon series, but the second part is emotion. If the tamer commences digivolution, their digimon's power will sync with that of the tamer and fully evolve into their next state. However, in the case of this chapter, Sweetie Belle's emotions did not synce with that of Rena and only had her become half as strong as she was suppose to be.

With that out of the way, it's twelve days to christmas and I wish you all happy holidays!
-Frost

7- Back to Basics

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The Fox and the Filly- Back to Basics

Immediately after bringing Rena inside, it was all hands on deck for everypony as Leona and Lyall were doing what they could to make sure Rena was stable. All the while their tamers were also pitching in and helping out with whatever they could in order to make sure that the Renamon was okay. Unlike outside, the cabin that Leona had established here was rather warm and toasty so they did not have to worry about anypony freezing their tails off. But the big concern here was that it may be some time before Rena could be able to fight, let alone move on her own after the damage she had sustained from their short encounter with Sangloupmon.

But there was another issue that needed to be addressed other than that of Rena. Primarily, it was on the matter with Sweetie Belle. If Sangloupmon were to come back and take them on again, they needed to make sure that she and Rena could be able to digivolve properly… and that involved her not giving into her anger and emotions. Which was rather hard given how their attacker was involved in harming her sister, but also responsible for the death of her mother. It was a lot for her to process and it was something that she couldn’t get off her mind, sitting in the corner of the room and isolating herself from everypony else. Even when Lyall and Button offered her Ice Cream to try and have her not think about it, Sweetie Belle declined.

It was only until a few hours later, when Rena was beginning to regain consciousness, that Sweetie Belle actually got up and moved. “Ugh… my head…” The filly herself soon got up to where Rena was and jumped up onto the bed as she pulled the digimon in for an emotional hug as the digimon felt tears come down her partner’s face. “S-sweetie Belle?”

Sweetie Belle didn’t say anything and just hugged tightly onto Rena, wanting for this moment to last for a bit longer… unfortunately though, that wasn’t exactly the case when Leona looked at the two of them and then hopped on the bed seconds later. Wanting the filly to move over… even though Sweetie Belle wasn’t budging.

“Please don’t tell me that they’re going to fight over who gets to be with me, I just woke up…” Rena thought inside her head. And unfortunately… what she was hoping for didn’t quite happen that way.

Especially when Leona’s first sentence that Rena had heard her say in a while was along the lines of this. “Hey, let me hug her too! Don't hog her all to yourself!”

“Make me.” The filly snapped. “She’s my partner, not yours.”

“WHAT!? She may be your partner, but that doesn't make you entitled! I'm the one dating her!” Leona whined as she tried to push sweetie belle to the side so she could hug rena.

In which, caused Rena to glare at her in response and pick up the Coronamon in a pinch grip. “I don’t think going to a cabin in the middle of the mountains is in any way an actual date… besides, do you two really need to fight while I’m just inches away from you guys?”

Leona, for her part shrunk in on herself in response as she tried to apologize. “I-im sorry! I just wanted to hug you and being alone for hundreds of years doesn't bode well for one’s courting skills… i'll try to make something better next time…”

“Relax, Leona… everyone messes up sometimes… besides, both of you don’t need to fight over who can be able to spend time with me… though, I think Sweetie Belle was not wanting to stand down for a… different reason.” The Renamon lightly spoke as she looked in the filly’s direction as Sweetie Belle stood by them.

“I-i’m sorry for losing my f-focus earlier… It was my fault that you got hurt-”

“Sweetie, it’s okay… I’m still here…” She said, rubbing the filly’s mane. “Though… I think the encounter with Sangloupmon brings up a different topic that we should address before we get back to training tomorrow.” That had Sweetie Belle’s ears drop for a bit as she recalled what happened, before looking back at her partner.

“You mean… when I got really mad earlier?”

Rena nodded in response before looking back at Leona for a moment. “Don’t worry Sweetie Belle, you’re not the only one who had this kind of problem. Your mother had it too when she was my partner long ago. You have to not let your emotions get the better of you when you’re attempting digivolution. Otherwise, I’ll only be half as strong as I could’ve been… or end up causing some trouble… Like Leona here.” The last part had Rena scratch Leona’s head to the point where she was messing with her fire like mane as the Coronamon squirmed a little in response.

“Nuu! Shtap that!” Leona cried as she squirmed from the attention, reacting just like a cat who was having the back of its ears scratched. Which caused Sweetie Belle to giggle for a moment before asking something that… didn’t really set well with Leona in her current state.

“Can I try petting her?”

“No! Please! No more!” Leona begged, unable to resist Rena’s pets. It didn’t help that Sweetie Belle was convinced to pitch in shortly afterwards and use her magic to pull Leona closer to Rena. Who was now holding the Coronamon like a kitten in her arms as both of them took turns petting her.

And just when things couldn’t get more awkward enough in her current state… Leona’s partner walked in. “Hey Leona, are you okay in there-?” Spike asked, only to see his partner being treated like a cat as he looked at them. “Aww… that’s just too cute.”

“I know right?” Sweetie Belle beamed a few seconds later before running out into the hall. “Hang on a second so I can get my camera! This would look great in my scrapbook!”

“No!” Leona shrieked, managing to snap out of the hypnosis of her cat like anatomy and escaping Rena’s grasp as she leapt at Sweetie Belle in desperation. Tackling her just as Lyall arrived at the door to where Rena was and found Leona lying on top of the filly in an awkward fashion.

“Hunh… never thought you wanted the relationship to go three ways and to second base already, Leona.” He smirked, before picking Leona up in the same pinch grip format that Rena did earlier while Sweetie Belle galloped off to go get her camera.

“...” Leona said nothing as her face became so red it could be classified as a new color, her gaze slowly drifting to look up at him.

“Lyall, cut it out. I rather not have Leona trying to burn the cabin down just because you said something stupid,” Rena groaned, which led to the Strabimon setting Leona back down on the bed as Rena breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

“Whatever the case, I’m glad to see that you’re okay. I was just as worried as Sweetie Belle was when you were still recovering, but I’m glad to see that you’re doing okay now,” He replied as Button Mash and Sweetie Belle came back. This time, with Sweetie Belle holding her camera as she got a photo of Leona and Rena before Leona was even ready for it.

“Why me…” Leona groaned, glaring at the camera as she submitted to Rena’s paws once more, deciding to let Lyall live for now. It didn’t get better though when her partner, Spike, actually suggested something.

“Hey, why don’t we get a group photo of all of us together?”

“That sounds brilliant!” Sweetie Belle cheerfully replied as she looked back at Button and Lyall, who also agreed with Spike on the idea. Leaving Leona as the only one dreading in the room about what she suggested.

“Why!? Why must I be in so many photographs!? And it better not be some reason like being cute cause i'm not!” Leona tried complaining.

“Leona, think of it. They’re still young and would want a picture to try and remember some of the… better moments of being here,” Lyall told her. “Please don’t be all Grumpy Cat and be upset throughout the whole process.”

Rena herself sighed at that. “You’re not making this any easier, you know that right? Just… let me do it.” Before Leona could say anything, the Renamon decided to look back at her and then speak up once again. “Leona, if you let us take the photo, then I can let you cuddle with Sweetie Belle and I tonight.”

“W-w-wha!?” Leona sputtered caught off guard, and now blushing even harder than when Lyall walked in and commented, if that's possible? Sadly for her, she promptly passed out from the proposition moments later as she for… reasons… ended up getting a massive nosebleed as she imagined herself in the same bed as Rena.

“I’m going to assume that’s a yes…” Rena replied.

“Yeah, but who’s going to take the photo if all of us are in a group?” Lyall then asked, to which Rena just raised a finger and placed her hands together. Asking for Sweetie Belle to slide a specific card that had a Wizardmon on it as a doppelganger of herself appeared on the other side of the room. “... Okay, how were you able to do that?”

“Just because I’m a Renamon doesn’t mean I can’t come up with things on my own. With my last partner, we had to handle a fight with an Ogremon that was too fast for the eye to track, so we needed to create a way to deceive him.” The Renamon replied. “Remember when Wizardmon tried to trick Agunimon in Digimon Frontier? Same principal.”

“You do realize that Leona would get a bigger nosebleed if she saw two of you right?” Lyall then pointed out as Spike was cleaning up any blood that might have come out of her nose.

“Meh, worth it.” The Renamon replied. “Now come on, let’s get that picture taken before Leona wakes up.”

By the time that Leona had woken back up again, she found herself in a rather awkward and yet… partially uncomfortable situation. She was lying on a comfy mattress that was Rena’s bed, which was the opposite of uncomfortable by any means, but it was when she looked up that she found herself sandwiched between Rena on one side of the bed, Sweetie Belle on the other and she was right now getting hugged like a teddy bear by both of them.

It didn’t help for the matter that Sweetie Belle was having a bit of a nightmare and was trying to grip onto Leona even tighter. “P-please don’t go, mommy…”

“urk…!” Leona gasped for breath as the filly’s legs squeezed her neck as she scrambled with her paws to try and untangle herself, but to no avail as Rena’s much larger arms kept her pinned down.

“M-mommy… Can you kiss me goodbye, please?” Sweetie Belle said now, moving her head closer to Leona’s… which made the Coronamon even more uncomfortable than she already was.

Poor Leona was unable to do anything though as she watched in horror, the word “NOPE!” repeating through her head at high speeds as the filly started to get dangerously close to her face. Then, she felt Sweetie Belle’s forehead lean against her as she felt the filly tremble… only to be startled awake seconds later with a terrified look on her face. “Ah!!”

It took her a while to calm down and realize that what she saw was just a dream… but it also took her the same amount of time to realize that Leona was awake and not a Teddy Bear until after Sweetie Belle tried to squeeze her again. “Wait… Teddy Bears don’t have flaming tails… Leona?”

Leona’s only response was to wheeze, still not able to breathe from Sweetie Belle’s death grip on her neck… her eyes slightly rolled up into her head. That was, until Sweetie Belle immediately loosened her grip… and then assumed that Leona was unconscious. “Okay, Sweetie Belle, don’t panic… you can do this… Ms. Cheerilee all taught us how to do CPR…”

As if in response to that three letter word, Leona was gone, gasping for breath on the edge of the bed behind Rena and away from Sweetie Belle. Which, in turn, made Sweetie Belle feel two things. One, good that Leona was okay… and two, bad that she made her try to run away from them. “I-i’m sorry, Ms. Leona…”

Yet, just as Leona thought that the shenanigans were over, she heard Rena rustle a bit in the bed, felt one of her paws pick her up and then drop her on her opposite side to the point that the Renamon was using her as a pillow. Of course though… that was only for a few seconds. Especially when Sweetie Belle used her magic to switch out Leona with an actual pillow and set her down right next to her. “I’m still sorry, Ms. Leona…”

“... Did you have to swap me out with a real pillow?” She pouted.

“Um… why? We don’t have a teddy bear that looks like you… and I don’t think you would sleep well with a head on your chest holding you down.” The filly did bring up a valid point. But not for the reason that Leona intended.

“But… but… ARGH, you're too young to understand!” Leona continued to pout. “And your apology for using me for a teddy bear is accepted…” She added with a grumble.

“Oh… yeah, sorry I was…” The filly looked down, before turning to Leona and sighing. “I had a nightmare and I was… scared. It brought back the memories when we found out that my parents were killed in an accident. Rarity’s the only close family I have now and since she’s in the hospital, I’m scared that I’m not strong enough to protect those I call family… Like Rena, Rarity and… well… you?”

“... huh?” Leona said, a bit thrown for a loop.

“Well, you and Rena are dating right? Wouldn’t that mean that you’re going to be part of our family later on?” Sweetie Belle asked, while also giving Leona a puppy dog eyes expression in the process.

“... uh…” Leona just stared back, her eye twitching as she became increasingly more and more confused. Which, only left Sweetie Belle to do what she believed was the best idea she had. Go up to hug her for a moment… before asking something.

“Does this cabin have ice cream?”

Sadly this didn't have the response she expected… and instead, after a burst of static, Leona’s form seemed to glitch for a moment before she began to flicker from black and white to color as she also fell down and began uncontrollably twitch and foam a strange pixelated substance from her mouth. The words “Leona.exe” and “ERROR” scrolling across a blue screen that appeared, covering her eyes.

Which, only caused Rena to wake up to Sweetie Belle trying to tap her as the Renamon looked at both of them. “S-sweetie Belle? W-what’s going on?”

“Uh… I had a nightmare, was talking with Leona… and I think she broke when I asked if there was Ice Cream here.” All that did was cause the Renamon to groan as she facepalmed herself in response to that. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No no… it’s fine. I just… didn’t think Leona would literally crash like that,” Rena sighed before shuffling out of the bed and letting the Coronamon fall back over. “Come on, let’s go get something to eat so we can give Leona some time to reboot.”

“Yay!” The filly cheered as both of them went towards the kitchen. Rena was soon able to get both of them two bowls of vanilla ice cream as she set them on the table along with a few toppings in order to decorate the frozen and tasty treat as they please. The renamon in particular couldn’t remember the last time she had ice cream with her partner. It had definitely been a long time since those days with Pearl.

Though, in the present… there was something that Sweetie Belle said that caught her by surprise. “Hey… um, about earlier… you said that my mom had the same kind of difficulties with Digivolution as well?” This surprised Rena at first because she didn’t think that her partner would want to talk about something like this so soon. But, this also showed that Sweetie Belle was being proactive on the situation and in addressing it too, which definitely builds character.

“Yeah, but it was because back then, she was a lot more focused on trying to see something thoroughly to the end and her frustrations got the better of her,” The Renamon replied. “What happened earlier was different-”

“I know, but if I am going to be able to protect everypony else, including Rarity, then I need to figure it out so we’re ready for next time that guy comes.” The filly interrupted her. “It’s my responsibility to look out for them and I want to make sure that what happened to Rarity doesn’t happen to anypony else.” That… had the Renamon stop eating for a moment and set down her spoon back in her bowl before looking at Sweetie Belle. Right now, she had a flashback to when she was talking with Pearl on the same matter. Back then, a friend of hers got hurt because of a digimon and it was then that she told Rena that she would do everything in her power as a tamer to make sure that nopony else would get hurt.

It was almost as if she was looking directly at Pearl right now. “You do understand what I mean… Right, Rena?”

Now was when Rena decided to no longer stay silent… and actually speak this time. “I do… and if you really want to make sure nopony else gets hurt, then I support you… However, in order for us to be at our best, we need to go back to the basics so you can really understand how digivolution works.”

That had Sweetie Belle a bit confused as she looked back at Rena for a moment. “What do you mean by ‘how it works’?”

“Digivolution isn’t just swiping a card and having something happen like when you use Digimodify cards,” The Renamon began to tell her as Sweetie Belle placed her digivice and her deck of cards on the table. “It’s also based on emotional bonds between partner and tamer that works both ways. You provide energy through your digivice to me and in return, I can be able to fight.”

“And that energy is… based on emotion?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Like the changelings when they need love to feed.”

Rena for a moment, seemed a bit puzzled, before looking back at her and sighing. “That’s one way of putting it. However, what Pearl and I learned when we were partners is that positive energy allows for us to be able to reach champion form without any hiccups. Like that of the elements of harmony.”

That… had Sweetie Belle pause for a minute before looking back at Rena for a minute, surprised by what she heard. “Wait… how do you know about the elements of harmony?”

“Why it was one of you mother’s favorite ponytales back when she was your age. Why do you ask?” That… left Sweetie Belle rather surprised as she looked back at her partner. Especially with what she was about to tell her right now.

“That’s not a ponytale, Rena. That actually happened,” Sweetie Belle pointed out to her as she also mentioned something else that also caught Rena off guard. “Rarity is the element of Generosity and her friends are the other elements.”

That… also left Rena rather puzzled as she looked back at her partner and then asked her something new. “Hang on… Your sister has five friends in ponyville, wouldn’t that mean there’s only five elements-”

“There’s six… remind me to explain it to you later though. I think we should get back to what you were saying on digivolution,” Sweetie Belle added as she looked back at her partner. “So if positive energy leads to a complete digivolution, then that would mean that the one that happened earlier was… well, when you use the opposite of positive energy.”

“Yeah, Pearl and I called it a reverse digivolution because it’s used with negative energy instead of positive. Like anger, rage, hatred, feelings of revenge, and the like. All it does is have the digimon digivolve into a form where they only have half of their original power and are more likely to expend any extra stamina that they happen to have at that time.” Rena fully explained to Sweetie Belle, before looking down at her dessert and thinking of a good analogy. “Think of it like this… the ice cream in your bowl is like the energy we would use for digivolution. However, if you take half of it away, what’s left is the energy reserve a digimon would have if they do a reverse digivolution.”

“Hunh… that definitely makes sense.” Sweetie Belle pointed out. “Though, how are we going to get you to digivolve normally? You already told me that I can’t do it on command.”

However, that was where Rena had to correct her partner. “I did not say it like that… You have the tools you need to perform it… But you can’t be impulsive and do it out of sheer anger. You have to feel it in yourself that you are doing it for the right reason and then do it.”

“So… you’re saying that I need to feel… calm?” Sweetie Belle then asked for clarification, which was followed by Rena nodding her head as she replied back to her with a different thought. “Okay, but how am I suppose to stay calm when you’re fighting a digimon? Part of me gets nervous that something bad might happen.”

“Don’t assume that something bad will happen when we fight one… think positively. Think that no matter what the obstacle is, we’ll be able to overcome anything thrown at us.” The Renamon told her partner as she placed a paw on her shoulder. “We’re not going to let a big bad wolf hurt anypony else… alright?” Shortly after she said that, Sweetie Belle felt a surge of confidence return to her as she looked back at Rena and nodded her head in acknowledgement as both of them got back to their tasty frozen dessert.

Only for Sweetie Belle to get an idea. “You know what would be funny? Having Leona wake up to having her face be in a bowl of ice cream.” Rena thought about it for a moment, before looking back at her partner and smiling.

“Hmm… Now that you mentioned it… I think I have a better idea,” Rena told her as she looked back at one of the shelves. “Now where did I last see that brownie mix?”

Later…

By the time that Leona’s reboot sequence had finished, the rookie level digimon woke up to finding herself in the most… strangest of predicaments. For one thing, she found herself in… a bowl. Not a small bowl, but something like that of a mixing bowl. Secondly, there was the fact that on top of her back was a couple scoops of Ice Cream, chocolate syrup, whipped cream and also a cherry on top. Making her think that this was some kind of messed up pranks.

Lastly, what made her fully realize her current predicament was the fact that she was… actually sleeping on a small bed made of brownies. That and also a note taped to the edge of the bowl. ‘Morning Leona… We thought you would like a special treat since you kind of glitched out on us when Sweetie Belle asked you about ice cream. Hope you like your hot fudge sundae ;P -Rena and Sweetie Belle’

That… caused Leona to twitch a little. Did she really have to leave her in this kind of predicament? I mean, the ice cream and everything was fine, but did she really need to be left like this-?

“Hey, Lyall… Did somepony leave out a hot fudge sundae?”

That question only had one thought run through Leona mind shortly before bursting out of there and causing ice cream and brownies to fly everywhere. Leaving a massive ungodly mess in her wake. “Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope!!!!!!”

“Hey Rena, do you hear something?”

“Nothing in particular actually…” Rena replied as the two of them soon went into what looked like a dojo or training room as the Renamon closed the door behind her. “Why do you ask?”

“I just thought I heard Leona screaming just now, but maybe it’s just me,” The filly replied before looking back at her partner. “So, how are we going to make sure that I can get you to fully be able to digivolve?”

“Well, to start…… We should go back to the basics when it comes to explaining the bonds that Tamers and Digimon share. Doing so can help us understand what else we need to cover next.”

“You mean digivolution?” The filly then asked, wanting to clarify on what her partner was saying. Which caused Rena to nod a little in response.

“That’s a part of it. Now, could you please place the cards in your deck out in front of you?” The renamon asked as both the digimon and the filly sat across from one another in the middle of the room. Though a bit confused, Sweetie Belle did what Rena asked and briefly set the cards down in between them. “How we fight doesn’t just depend on how we work as partners, but also is based on the strength of our bond that you transmit through these cards. For when you use them for Digi-modify, you can help me too.”

When Sweetie Belle looked at Rena, all she did in response was just raise an eyebrow as she lifted up one of the cards and began to inspect it. “How though? Other than the one that I used yesterday, most of these look just like cards from a game.”

“Sweetie, if you use these cards in the same method that you would use to try and digivolve me, you can modify certain attributes of mine as well as give me techniques to use in combat. This even includes when we react digivolution, but the cards only work when you’re calm and focus, just like with digivolution.” The Renamon then told her, recalling when she originally learned this with Sweetie Belle’s mother all those years ago around her age. “Here… let me provide a demonstration.”

Before Sweetie Belle could ask about what her partner meant, Rena soon set up two different tests to which you stack a wood board on top of a pair of bricks and try to break the board. “First… I will attempt to break the board on my own…” With that, The Renamon threw her clenched paw forward at the board, but it only made a rather small dent as the digimon looked back at her tamer. “Now… use the digi-modify card that’s called ‘Crystal Fire’.”

“Um… okay?” The confused Unicorn asked, doing what she was told as she slashed the card through her digivice. “Digi-modify… Crystal Fire?”

When the Renamon attempted to punch the board again, the results shocked Sweetie Belle. This time, the board was split completely in half as both pieces of it soon fell to the ground along with the splinters that broke off moments later. “Can you see the difference now?”

“W-what was that?! What did that card do?” Sweetie Belle asked in awe and confusion as her partner began to speak again.

“The Crystal Fire card is one that can increase my strength for a short duration,” Rena told her as she sat back down. “Beforehand, I was unable to break the board on my own. But after you used the card and I felt your energy from it, I was able to split the board without any trouble…” She took a short breath, before saying something else to her. “Sweetie Belle… I know this is all new to you and that you feel worried and nervous about something that might happen… but if you let go of those unknown feelings and put your trust and faith in me, anything is possible. You give me the strength to keep on fighting… and I will do everything in my power to not let you down, okay?”

Sweetie Belle though… was still unsure. “B-but… Rarity…”

“I know that we weren’t able to help Rarity when she needed it most…” The renamon told her, before placing a paw on her shoulder and smiling a little. “But we can make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again to anypony else okay?”

The filly thought it over for a moment… before taking the moment to nervously nod her head in response. “Okay… Rena… can I ask you something?”

Rena herself looked back at Sweetie Belle for a moment, trying to sound calm and collective despite the fact that she did not expect this kind of question. “Of course you can.”

“Can… you teach me how to be brave?” The question itself was a bit of a surprise to the digimon at first. But then, she began to understand the reasons for her question shortly after. “I thought that if we’re going to make this work… I needed to tackle my fears and worries. I want to be brave, just like you.” The question was followed up by Sweetie Belle looking back at Rena soon lead to the renamon replying back with three simple words.

“Yes I can.”

Back in Ponyville…

“So what was it that we needed to get while we were here?” Button Mash asked Spike as the two of them were walking around the marketplace. Given the fact that Leona needed a chance to calm down and the fact that Rena and Sweetie Belle were in the process of training, Lyall suggested to the two of them that they should go buy a few groceries and household items so that Leona’s little house could feel more like a home since they were taking the time to train there and prepare for any other attacks from other Digimon.

“Well,” Spike said, looking at the personal list he wrote up. “We got bread, peanut butter, jelly…” The dragon paused for a moment to look down the list before turning to the earth pony. “We pretty much have everything-”

“Did you look on the back side of the list?” They heard a voice from inside Button’s Digivice, before Spike turned it around and realized that he did forget something.

“Oh right… Apples from Sweet Apple Acres. It’s not far, so let’s go there and pick some up.” The dragon replied before looking back at Button Mash. “Race you!”

“H-hey!! Wait up!” The colt stammered before chasing after Spike as they ran over towards Sweet Apple Acres. However, as they got closer and closer to the orchard, Lyall himself began to feel a little uneasy. Mostly because he felt the presence of a digimon within the vicinity of the apple orchard. Yet, even though it wasn’t like the other one when Sangloupmon attacked Rena… He wasn’t going to be taking any chances.

Soon, both colt and dragon arrived at the front of the orchard and were greeted by one of Sweetie Belle’s friends, Apple Bloom. “Howdy there, Spike! How’s everything?”

“Well, you know… Busy running errands and what not,” Spike shrugged, trying to not have Apple Bloom catch on to him not being completely honest. “Can I get some apples please? I have the bits if you need it-”

“Nah, it’s alright. I’m sure you’re getting them for Twilight, so I’ll just let AJ know. You can wait by the porch if ya like.” Apple Bloom suggested as she went back into the barn to go find Applejack. But while they were waiting outside, that was when Lyall decided to speak up on what he was feeling.

“Guys… Something’s not right. I’m feeling a Digimon nearby.”

That had Spike and Button look at one another with concern as the colt took out the digivice and looked at it to talk to Lyall. “A-are you sure? Where?” It took a few moments in order for Lyall to try and figure that out. But once he did, that was when the digimon himself felt tempted in order to come out of the digivice and point it out to them.

Instead, he did his best to not attract attention and just told them both where he felt it the best he could. “I’m feeling it coming from something that’s like a small shack off the edge of this orchard.”

“Well, I know that the Apple Family keeps a tool shed for extra buckets when they have a huge harvest,” Spike replied back, before both of them looked at one another. “Should we go look?”

“What if Applebloom comes back?”

“How about Spike stays at the porch for when Apple Bloom comes back while Button and I go check it out? We don’t know if this digimon is hostile or not and Leona’s not with Spike, so if this digimon does attack, we could at least be able to defend ourselves?” Lyall suggested to them.

“That… may work,” Button then told him. “Alright, if we aren’t back in time, keep Apple Bloom busy until we get back.” The dragon nodded as the colt decided to follow that of his digivice as a small compass like screen soon lead Button in the right direction. But when they got closer… that’s when the fur on the colt’s neck began to stand up as he looked around the area and got closer to the small shed.

Only when he was at the door to hear some rustling around and then… a voice. “Applebloom-Mon? Applebloom-mon, is that you?”

“Um……” Before the colt could respond, the doors on the shed opened up as Button was tackled to the ground. Knocking off his pinwheel cap and also his digivice to the ground as he now stared at what just tackled him. It was a red like dino creature with a variety of strange like symbols on it’s body and what looked like a pair of ears that looked like bat wings. It looked for a moment at him, before tilting it’s head.

“Hunh? You’re not Applebloom-mon…” It looked at Button for a few moments… before actually sniffing him and then tilting his head even more. “But you smell like Applebloom-mon?”

“Y-you know Apple Bloom?” Button asked in confusion. “W-who are you?”

“I’m Guilmon… and Applebloom-mon’s my friend and tamer!! Are you friends with Apple Bloom?” He asked, before sniffing Button again. “Hey… Why do you smell like Digimon?”

“Uh oh…” Button thought to himself, thinking that he needed to get out of the situation immediately. At least… until he heard something else that caused him to draw a sigh of relief for a moment.

“Guilmon!! What are you doing?”

“Applebloom-mon!” The dinosaur digimon playfully cried out. “This pony smells of digimon!” That… along with Apple Bloom showing up five seconds later with a digivice of her own dangling around her neck seemed to make the situation even more awkward than it already was. Especially when she saw his digivice on the ground.

“Y-you’re a tamer!?”

“You’re a tamer?!”

And then that was followed by Spike a few seconds later. “Apple Bloom, you’re a tamer!?”

Which, in turn… made Lyall think of one thing inside his head as he began to take a deep breath. “Dear Sovereigns, give me patience.”

End Chapter 7

8- Training for Dummies

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The Fox and the Filly- Training for Dummies

Mountain Cabin (In Snowy Peaks)

It was only a few minutes after Leona had to run out of the kitchen after waking up in a bed of a hot fudge sundae and things for her… didn’t quite exactly get any better. For one thing, in order to clean herself up, it meant that she had to take a bath. And the whole concept of a bath along with water was seen in her eyes as ‘her mortal enemy’. She would rather hug Lyall, someone that she personally despised since the moment she met him and hated with a passion, than take a bath.

Still, aside from all of this though… she was not going to try and give into it just yet. If anything, she thought that Rena would be willing to clean her up. After all, this whole charade started with a prank that her and Sweetie Belle played on her. Of course, the whole thing with making the kitchen look like the epicenter of a cake warzone was her doing, but in her eyes, they started it.

Of course… when she found Rena, she was… a little puzzled by the sight of Rena holding what looked like a fake Dokugumon on the end of a string… and Sweetie Belle looking like she was trying to keep herself composed, even though the fur she had was standing up on the end. Something… that made Leona confused while also creeped out.

“Rena, what are you doing with that fake Dokugamon?” Leona asked, her curiosity getting the better of her while being fully prepared to flee if it was a trap.

That was when the Renamon looked back at her for a minute before setting it aside. “Oh hello, Leona… I was talking with Sweetie Belle earlier and she asked about me teaching her to be brave. Not to mention, having more courage…” Of course, she didn’t have the chance to answer the second half of Leona’s question until the Coronamon interrupted her.

“... um, no offence or anything, but… that method is just wrong, and morally questionable in SO many ways. Not to mention the fact that a in-training digimon is hardly scary or training worthy material.” Leona said with a slight twitch, feeling only a inkling of sympathy for the pony.

“Do you even know the reason why? It’s a bit more… specific,” Rena deadpanned. “To be brave, you need to overcome fear… and Sweetie Belle told me she has a fear of spiders.”

“Then why not just get a unconscious Kugamon? Wouldn't that be better? Or even one of those silly looking arachnemon?” Leona offered, almost sounding as if this was a reasonable let alone normal suggestion.

“It was the only thing I can come up at the time. Plus, with a lot of things, you’re supposed to start small and work your way up,” The renamon told her. “Plus, if we’re to be able to fight any future digimon, both tamer and digimon need to be ready for whatever is thrown at us.”

“Rena, when has starting small ever helped when digimon are involved? And second, if you want to be prepared the best option is to spar against a real digimon that could be a threat to the two of you. Remember, almost all digimon that are a danger to you will be larger than sweetie belle here, unless it's one of those tiny nightmares…” Leona deadpanned before explaining and ending with a shudder at the memory of her least favorite mega digimon.

“Digivolution?” Sweetie Belle asked her before adding something else in addition to that. “Plus, I was trying to learn more about how to use digi-modify cards earlier with Rena. Besides, her bodies still recovering… right?”

“Mostly… though, I think with one of those Digi-modify cards we used earlier, I’m feeling my body being restored much quicker now,” The Renamon replied back… before thinking of something. “Say… Leona, you said that you think the best way to prepare for fighting against another digimon is to spar right?”

“Yes.” Leona said with a sagely nod, her arms crossed proudly across her non existent chest. Even though she wasn’t quite sure what she meant by that.

“Well… It would help to make sure I can still react properly and make sure my muscles aren’t messed up…” Rena replied, before turning towards her, with a nod resembling Leona’s along with a smile. “And since the others aren’t here… Would you be up for a round?”

“I…” Leona starts to say before catching herself and giving it some thought… before a dangerous smile starts to spread across her face. “I don't mind giving you two some Hands on experience~” She said as a strange giggle came from her.

“Let’s lay down some ground rules before we begin…” Rena replied, while holding up one of her paws and counting off from it. “First and foremost, no digivolution. We do this in our rookie forms… Secondly, we keep this battle inside of the training room here. Third, we only do this until one of us yields… Finally, I won’t be using any digi-modify cards because doing so would be on the grounds of cheating. Do these terms suit well with you?”

“I don't mind at all~” Leona said with her creepy smile. “I'll meet you two down there then~” She then added before vanishing... somehow.

“You’re standing in the room…” Sweetie pointed out, before realizing she was gone. “How long is it going to take for her to notice?”

It was then that a metal elevator raised out of the middle of the room they were in that they might be in over their heads. Because the appearance itself made Rena think of that moment in the Shining where blood would rush out of the doors upon them opening. That and the fact that they were in a snowy cabin made her think that Leona was trying to be unintentionally creepy.

“Should we go up?” Sweetie Belle asked, which… only lead to the Digimon nodding her head before looking back at her partner.

“Well… let’s go see what’s in store for us then.” She replied, pressing the button on the elevator that opened the doors and waiting for what will happen next. “Don’t forget your digivice though…”

“Why? You said no evolution and no digi-modify cards…” The filly asked.

“Yes, but that digivice can also be used for communications… so just keep it on hand in case Spike and the others want to contact us.” Rena advised her as the doors opened and both of them stepped inside. The interior of the elevator looked like that of your standard elevator and there didn’t seem to be anything weird about it. Though… there wasn’t a panel where there would be one to show how many floors the building was.

Or for that matter… a button to close the doors. “Sweetie… I think you should hold onto something.” Of course… Sweetie’s first action in terms of holding onto something… was holding onto her. Which, of course, looked cute… but the way she was holding onto her made Rena think that she had a long way to go when it comes to overcoming fear.

Moments later, the doors seemed to slam shut as the elevator descended at a disturbingly comfortable pace, elevator music playing as it descended for what they could only guess to be half an hour before the elevator stopped with a thud, the doors then reopening before they were blinded by painfully bright light from the other side.

“What took you two so long~?” Leona teased once they got used to the light level, only to see a vast underground bunker like space before them in the shape of a colosseum. Something that… blew Rena away. Especially with the amount of work that it took into making something like this. Everything looked to be made out of digi-alloys. Metals that could only be found in the digital world and were said to be stronger than that of titanium. Of course, the most common one is known as Chrome digizoid. But there were others besides that.

“Wow… this is amazing!” Rena told Leona. “How long did it take for you to make this?”

“Secret~ but nowhere near as long as I have been in this world of yours i'll tell you that~” Leona said teasingly as she led the stunned pony and renamon into the colosseum, giving them a quick tour. “First let’s start with where we are, this is a arena strong enough… and far enough underground… for two mega level digimon at max to spar with each other without damaging this place or restructuring the face of the continent above us. Then to the left wing over there we have where I keep my garden which is where all the cabin’s food comes from, and opposite it in the right wing is the sleeping quarters for emergencies like the demon lords showing up.” She explained while pointing due to how large the space is and thus not wanting to walk several minutes just to show off each area.

But it also left Rena wondering when she was going to stop touring them around… and when they were going to start fighting. But it was at one particular point, when Sweetie Belle decided to sit down on a nearby bench in the arena… that the renamon got some kind of clue as to when that would be.

“So~ just say the word and the training session for beginners will start~<3” Leona said giving Rena a wink… that disturbing smile from earlier one again on her face.

Which, left Rena smirking as well as she took up a stance and looked back at her opponent. “Alright… let’s go!”

“Hey Rena~ what does a fox say when she is caught off guard?” Leona then said randomly before seeming to vanish again in a reddish-orange blur. Of course, Rena herself tried to remain calm as she focused on trying to figure out where Leona was at that moment. Of course, when the Coronamon attempted to try and attack her from behind, she only had mere seconds to dodge before grabbing the rookie digimon by the tail.

“I don’t know… What do they say?” She smirked before tossing her and letting Leona land on her feet before swinging one of her paws towards her. Trying to hit her, but all that did was cause Leona to vanish again.

“I wouldnt know~ after all, your the only foxy woman in the room rena.” Leona teased as Rena felt something land on her back softly before it proceeded to force her into the ground hard enough to kick up a dust cloud.

The Renamon though, now knew where Leona was, flipping herself around to where her back was to the ground as she locked both of her legs around Leona’s head in a choke hold, before flipping her backwards to the ground now. “Are you trying to be serious or just be a tease. Because you’re saying it like you aren’t taking this seriously?”

Leona was left unable to respond due to the position she was in, her face slowly turning bright pink as she flailed.

“Well, that was short lived…” Rena sighed, before letting Leona go.

“First…” Leona said as she jumped back, her face still bright pink as she tried to get herself back under control. “I'm not going all out as you surmised, but that's because I don't know if you can handle it yet since we haven't sparred before…” She then took a breath before yelling “And second! That was unfair! You exploited my weakness!”

“Um… what weakness? And why is your face pink?” Sweetie Belle then asked.

“... You’re still a child, you wouldnt understand.” Leona said unable to look towards Sweetie Belle as she quickly tried to hide her face, even more embarrassed.

“As for me, I was just trying to do a submissive hold,” Rena replied back to her. “Before being displaced, I learned a series of martial arts that focused on grabbing your opponent and holding them down until they yield. Given that I wasn’t thinking that you were going to use abilities right away, I thought this was more of a combat exercise.”

“... Please at least wear pants next time you do that, or else I might have a nosebleed…” Leona muttered, before managing to get herself back under control as her blush vanished. “Ahem, and no that wasn't an ability I was using, Coronamons do not have any speed based techniques or powers. that was just pure natural speed I had gained from all my experience of running from the water demons, your brother, and your partner Rena.” Leona then explained as to what she had been doing.

“So you run so fast that you disappear into smoke?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Pinkie does it, so why not me?” Leona asked.

“… That’s a valid point.” Sweetie Belle replied back. “So if you fight with pure speed… then how does Rena fight?”

“That’s a good question to ask, Sweetie Belle,” Rena replied back. “For me, I try to be more of a balanced fighter. Sure, I rely a lot on offense and speed, but it does not mean that I ignore defense all together because it can be able to help you depending on the situation. Leona though, seems to be more of the Offensive powerhouse. Relying on speed and strength and ignoring the fact that she needs to protect herself.”

“Not necessarily true, after all us old folks have to have SOME tricks up our sleeves~” Leona chuckled. “And as for how you counter it, thats what this sparring session is to help you figure out on your own. Experience is the best of teachers after all.”

“I wasn’t saying that you didn’t…” The Renamon insisted. “I was saying that based off what I have seen so far. But yes, I agree that experience is a good teacher.”

“What you have seen is what I have chosen to show you, along with the limitations of being stuck in this rookie body.” Leona admitted with a bit of a nervous chuckle at the end. “Words of advice, if you can avoid it don't let yourself get egged… it sucks. Now shall we continue?”

“Sure… but may I ask you something first?” Rena spoke up as she began to brush some of the dirt off of her paws. “With the fact that Spike is your tamer, do you think the parameters of your rookie form could be modified with digi-modify cards?”

“... I don't want to think about it, I'm still not used to someone else being my tamer and I am certainly not happy about being stuck with a tamer either.” Leona grumbled. “I'm too used to going solo.”

“You sound just as stubborn as Lyall before we got displaced,” Rena chuckled for a moment, before explaining why. “Lyall hated having to work with others, before I told him that he had to just grin and bear it sometimes.”

“… It's not that I hate working with others, it's just that I spent over one hundred years defending my Equestria on my own before it fell to ZeedMillenniummon.” Leona explained while scratching the back of her head.

“Um… would it be best to say… New Equestria, New rules?” Sweetie Belle then spoke up, waiting for a pause in the current conversation before asking them.

“Old habits die hard, Sweetie Belle.” Leona chuckled, amused by the filly’s suggestion. “Now, let the training resume!” She then shouted before vanishing again. “One way to fight a fast opponent by the way, is as you said, teamwork. Why limit yourself to one set of eyes and ears if there is a second head?”

“You make that sound like a Hydra…” Rena grumbled as she maintained her position and tried to maintain her calm. “Pearl and I found that out personally… When one head is cut off, two more grow back.”

“Indeed, but unlike a hydra, you and your second head don't share a body Rena~” Leona laughed as she tried to make herself sound like a certain short, green and cryptic movie character before appearing in Rena’s blindspot.

Of course, Rena realized that a few seconds too late and was struck from behind before trying to hit Leona with a sweeping kick. Only for the Coronamon to jump over her leg and hit her again.

“Do you two seriously not get hints? Or am I so old that I'm too cryptic?” Leona deadpanned with a paw on her hip. She then vanished again, appearing in a different blind spot this time.

However, unlike the last attempt, this one was one that Rena was familiar with. And when Leona thought she had her, all the Coronamon got instead was a kick to the chest and a few diamond shards thrown directly towards her, “I get hints… I’m just a little bit more focused on what we’re doing. After all, in terms of who would win this fight… There can only be one.”

“True, but you still haven't gotten the hint. I would have congratulated you if you did.” Leona chuckled, getting up and dusting herself off. “Also, I thought those diamonds would be sharper?”

“They are, ‘Master Yoda’,” Rena smirked, before moving one of her paws to where two of her outstretched fingers were now coming towards her. “But let me show you some of the tricks I know.”

Before Leona could properly react, she felt the diamonds that originally went behind her move past her head and also past her fur. It took her a few moments to realize that Rena herself was controlling the direction of the diamonds that she originally threw at her. Cutting off a couple pieces of fur on her arms as Rena had the diamonds return to her. “I came up with this after watching Pearl and Rarity use their magic revolving around gems and how they were able to levitate them with ease. I call this move ‘Diamond Chaser’.”

“Interesting, very interesting~” Leona said with a smirk and a sagely nod. “Now the real challenge will begin it shall.” Suddenly she was then standing in front of Rena. In the next moment Leona created a small ball of fire on the ground that exploded with enough force to launch the two of them into the air, the coronamon using her wings to stabilize herself.

Of course, Rena was one to quickly try to turn this into a surprise attack. Flipping herself forward and attacking Leona with a somersault kick. Only for Leona to block it with one of her wings and use the other to put the Coronamon on the counterattack. Causing the Renamon to move up her arms in a defensive posture as her fellow digimon’s attack connected and sent her into the stands of the arena.

Of course, the Renamon wasn’t going down without a fight and seconds after getting knocked down, Leona saw her immediately dash towards her with a bit of purple energy around her paws and feet. She placed her wings up in defense, but Rena proceeded to attack with a roundhouse kick… and say the name of her ability once it connected. “Power paw!”

Of course… it didn’t have the same dramatic feel to it… when they all heard what sounded like a ringing noise go off. That noise belonging to Sweetie’s digivice.

“Oh come on! Right when it was getting fun!” Leona complained as she walked out of the tiny crater created when she impacted with the ground after being hit by Rena’s Power paw attack.

“Um… Rena,” The filly replied, a little unsure about what to do. “It says that Spike’s calling… What do I do?”

Rena, now coming down to the ground and brushing herself off. “Hold onto it with one hoof and have your other hoof swipe the interface on there to the left.” Sweetie herself nodded, following the instructions that Rena gave her shortly before she heard a voice on the other end of the digivice speak up.

“Hey, Sweetie Belle? Can you hear me? This is… kind of the first time I’m doing this and-”

“Spike? What’s going on?” Sweetie Belle asked, the filly seeming a little nervous at first before looking back at Rena and Leona. “I thought you two were getting groceries…”

“We were… but when we went to go by Sweet Apple Acres, we came across something big…” The dragon told them. “Applebloom’s got a digivice like yours, mine and Buttons… but the digimon she has… well…”

“Applebloom-mon, who is Spike-mon talking too?” They all heard a new and mostly unfamiliar voice. But the sounds of it alone seemed a little too familiar to that of Rena and Leona.

“Oh for pete’s sake… I’m going to ignore how defiled I feel right now and just say this. Spike, keep it entertained with food were on our way.” Leona facepalmed while groaning. “I didn't want to deal with dragons today but I guess the universe has other plans…”

“Okay… can you let us in?” Came Spike’s response to Leona, which surprised all three of them. “We’re outside, but for some reason the door is locked.”

“...” Leona’s eye twitched and she signed before vanishing, a sound resembling running reverberating out of the elevator shaft moments later.

“Um… maybe we should follow her back upstairs…” Sweetie Belle stated as she put her digivice away.

“I was thinking the same thing.” Rena replied back as both of them went towards the elevator now as it began to come back upstairs. “So, what did you think of the training that we were doing.”

“W-well… if I were to be honest…” The filly stated, looking a little bit anxious now while Rena pressed the ‘newly revealed’ buttons for the ground floor. “I was a little scared at first of how you would do… but after seeing you fight Leona, i-it doesn’t seem to be that scary anymore.”

“See? I knew you would think that-” The Renamon told her, just as they reached the top floor… only to find that not only have Lyall and the others returned, but they had two new friends with them.

And one of them was beginning to lick Leona like she was a puppy. “She taste spicy, Applebloom-mon!”

“Guilmon, don’t lick others like that! It’s not nice!!” The Earth Pony tried to tell him and hold him back to no avail.

“Get your overgrown lizard off me, or im kicking you all out of my cottage.” Leona said in warning, visibly twitching as the flames on her forehead and tail became like pillars of doom. All while Lyall was facepalming himself and looking back at the two.

“Guilmon, if you are really hungry, there’s a lemon meringue pie in the fridge alongside some other snacks if you would like that.” He said, trying to come up with an alternative solution to free Leona in her current situation.

Guilmon himself just tilted his head for a moment in confusion and dropped Leona on the floor. “I like apple pie. Lemon sounds sour… like pears…”

“Guilmon, ah brought a few apple turnovers,” Applebloom told the digimon before handing them to him. “How about you have these and leave them be?” All Guilmon could do was snatch them up and take them into the living room. Leaving Sweetie Belle, Button Mash, Applebloom and Spike with Lyall, Rena… and a pretty angry Coronamon.

“... Oh Lyall~” Leona said, her flames now pitch black as she smiled sweetly at Rena’s brother, having gotten back on her feet and wiped Guilmon’s drool off her..

“Um… Was there some sort of hidden rule I did not know about?” Lyall asked, sounding concerned for a moment before his sister facepawed herself

“No one touches my pie.” Was all Lyall heard before he felt himself being kicked through the walls out of the cottage, Leona now where his face was moment’s before before she vanished again.

“Was that really necessary?” Rena asked, looking back at the Coronamon. “We got a new member of the group and we don’t want to try to intimidate her right now, Leona.” Of course… Leona wasn’t quite exactly listening to her and instead beating up Lyall like an oversized punching bag.

Yet, the snow outside was one thing that Leona did not take into account, so her onslaught of attacks did not quite last as long as she intended.

“So… What do we have here? A new displaced?” Rena asked, looking back at Guilmon for a moment and watching as he ate. Only to hear the Digimon say one… odd question.

“What’s that? Some kind of food?”

Of course… that registered in Rena’s brain rather differently. To her, it meant that this Guilmon was not from where she was before being here… nor was it familiar with the concept of it. So it was an actual digimon from this universes’ digital world and not someone who was originally human and ended up as a digimon. And from the sounds of it, this digimon… was rather young. Almost childlike.

Now, she turned towards where Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were, before asking the earth pony a question. “How… did you meet Guilmon?”

“Well, ah was going through some of my mom’s old belongings out in the shed on our farm and found this,” The Earth Pony replied, getting what appeared to be her digivice out and showing it to them. “After fiddling with it, that was when Guilmon arrived in my shed and when he mistook me for my momma, Buttercup. So… ah have been taking care of him for the last few days at mah farm.”

“How long?”

“Um… five days?” Applebloom replied back. “Why? Is something… wrong?”

“No… I was just wanting to make sure,” She replied back before taking a seat. “I think we need to be able to bring you up to speed on some things.”

“I can start making dinner!” Spike declared, making his way to the kitchen before Leona could realize where he was. “It would not be good to listen in on an empty stomach.” Rena agreed on that, especially with the fact that the workout that she just had with Leona made her kind of hungry. And according to Sweetie Belle, Spike was a rather good cook.

“Stupid wolf… If only I wasn't weakened, I would do worse to him than leave him with a couple bruises and a hangover.” Leona muttered as she came in, the walls of the cottage repairing themselves behind her somehow as she walked, though as it happened the flames on her forehead and tail became visibly dimmer.

“Tired out now, Leona?” Rena asked her. “We were going to catch Applebloom up to speed on what has been going on while Spike is making dinner.”

Leona made an unintelligible grunt in reply before flopping over into Rena’s lap, seeming to pass out on the spot after re entering the room. “Alright… so where do we begin?”

Applebloom had only one… particular answer for that one. “From the start.”

Throughout the rest of the night, Rena took the time to explain to Applebloom everything that had transpired so far. From Leona arriving in their world, Lyall being her brother and also the Sangloupmon attack that happened most recently. The renamon did not want to miss anything and wanted to give the filly the full story, while also explaining it in a way that she would understand. Of course, Sweetie Belle and Spike also helped make sure to fill in some of the missing gaps too so that way she would be able to understand it as much as possible.

Now though, it was morning. And everyone was beginning to wake up and wrap their heads around everything that transpired the day before. Not to mention the fact that when they woke up, they saw Rena holding a towel and wait outside a door.

“Um… Rena, what are you waiting on?” Lyall asked, before his sister turned to her.

“Leona… turns out there’s only one shower in the cabin, so I’m waiting til she’s done so I can get myself cleaned up.” She told her.

“Wait, there’s only one shower…… Yet, there’s multiple rooms and even multiple floors throughout this whole cabin…” Lyall said, trying to wrap his head around that. “I would ask who was the architect that made the design flaw… but I have a feeling that she would flush the toilet when I’m in the shower and make it hot to where it burns my fur so I’ll just go get some breakfast.”

With that, the Strabimon began to walk into the kitchen while everyone was getting themselves situated. But around the point that Leona and Rena were both done with their own showers respectively… there was one thing they did not anticipate.

A knock at the door. “What the hell?” Lyall asked, looking at everyone for a moment before looking to Leona and Rena. “Did someone knock at the door? I thought we were the only ones that knew about this place.”

“We should be, unless someone left a trail of crumbs through the barrier.” Leona commented, sounding just as confused as she wore the towel she was using like a cloak.

“Let me get the door, Leona.” Rena insisted, walking on over to where the entrance to the cabin was… before opening it up. However, who she found at the door was something that was not normal.

It was Princess Twilight… and with her, one other alicorn with a flowing teal mane and white fur. “Hello Rena…”

“T-twilight?” Rena said, slightly caught off guard for a moment. “What are you doing here? And who’s…… Oh…”

“So you are the one that Twilight knows as Rena,” The alicorn spoke, before introducing herself. “My name is Princess Celestia… I just happen to overhear some strange things going on when I went to visit Twilight’s castle…”

“Um… what things?”

“I told her about you, Leona, digimon… everything up until recently… the only way we know about this was that I placed a tracking spell on Spike.” The fur on Rena’s neck began to stand up for a bit before she looked back at her. “May we come in. I was wanting to show her Spike’s partner.”

“Oh Leona…” Rena mumbled… shortly before saying something back. “Yeah, you know what…”

That was followed by the sound of what sounded like Leona jumping through a window to escape in order to avoid Twilight and Celestia at all costs. “She just left…”

That… caused Twilight to raise an eyebrow on her face. “Really?”

“Yeah…” The Renamon said, even though both of them could see Leona reaching for the cloak she dropped on the floor before racing into the back of the cabin again. “Sorry.”

“Well, perhaps we can talk to the rest of you instead… if you are okay with it, of course.” Celestia then spoke up. Leaving Rena in a rather… tricky situation. She couldn’t just turn them away… and Leona would really get mad at them if she happened to have her take them down where the colosseum was. So there was only one thing to do.

Let them come in the cabin… and the cabin level only. “Why sure, come on in. We were just beginning to have breakfast.”

End Chapter 8

9- Sibling Rivalry

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The Fox and the Filly- Sibling Rivalry

Mountainside Cabin (Snowy Peaks)

“I must say, this cabin of yours is rather cozy in here,” Celestia complimented Rena and the others as the Princess took a seat on a cushion in the living room. It had to take around ten to fifteen minutes in order to be able to explain to everyone that she wanted to talk to them… and most of them were open minded on the subject. ‘Most’ being the optimal word in this case because Leona decided to bolt for the safety of her own room instead of actually being disciplined and coming out to talk with Celestia. “Reminds me of the homes in the Crystal Empire to a degree.”

“Wait… That’s seriously a thing-?” Lyall asked, before being elbowed by Rena as the strabimon turned towards her. “Oww… What gives, sis?”

“Show her some respect…” Rena deadpanned, before they both heard the alicorn speak up a little bit.

“Excuse me for interrupting your conversation, but you two are siblings?” Celestia asked, sounding a bit surprised by what she had just heard from both of the digimon. Shortly before Rena turned to face the princess as she sat on the floor.

“Yeah, we are. Lyall here is my younger brother while I’m the oldest of the two. We only managed to reunite with one another a few weeks ago, and even that in itself was something I thought would never happen. Then again, I never thought I would have the privilege to meet Twilight’s own mentor and the ruler of Equestria.” The renamon replied back to her as Spike poured them both a glass of tea. Rena going as far as to add a bit of sugar and some milk to hers before drinking it.

“Well, I’m flattered… though, I only watch over my subjects during the day,” The alicorn replied back. To which had Rena seem a little bit surprised before the alicorn took a sip of her tea. “My sister watches over my subjects in the evening. My student and fellow princess, Twilight, watches over the ponies in Ponyville while also helping to solve friendship problems across Equestria and my niece, Cadence, watches over the subjects of the crystal empire in the north.”

“Um… are you forgetting that one guy who used my sister as a equine shield?” Sweetie Belle asked, only leading to Celestia letting out a deep sigh.

“If you’re referring to my nephew Blueblood… well, there is a reason why we had to limit the authority of his royal decrees in Canterlot,” The Princess sighed as she set down her teacup using her levitation magic before she continued to speak. “If you all happened to come there, he would think of your partners as ‘alien races’ who would not understand anglo-saxon laws, seeing that along the moral grounds for treating you as inferior and wanting for you to never come back to Canterlot again.”

All that did though, was cause a different kind of response from Lyall. “Wow… Alien races who would not understand anglo-saxon laws? I find that condescending… and my sister and I are both british,” The Strabimon stated. “Back where we are from, our ancestors basically invented condescending.”

A brick chose this moment to fly through the broken window and hit Lyall in the head. Causing him to scratch the back of it in pain, before realizing that it had a note. One that his partner, Button Mash, happen to read first. “A gift for always being so condescending… Heart symbol… from Leona,” The colt read, before looking back at his partner, while Rena was trying to resist the urge to facepaw herself. “What does she mean by that?”

“You probably don’t want to know…” Rena sighed for a moment, before looking back at Twilight and Celestia. “So, out of curiosity… How much do you two know?”

“Quite a lot…” Twilight cleared her throat. “First off, Rarity told me a small bit about you and Sweetie Belle beforehand… Though, for the rest of it, I just used a mind reading spell on Spike when he was having a snack.”

“I knew it!! I knew that Sapphire Sundae was too good to be true!” The baby dragon declared, which… really didn't settle very well with the rest of them.

“Anyways… I found a lot of the information to seem rather surprising. I mean, part of what I got from Spike was about how you are know as Digimon, they come from a universe in our own world called the Digital World and also some Digimon can form partnerships with some ponies that are known as tamers…” Though, even though she was saying all of this the best she could… there seemed to be something along the lines of confusion with every word that she said. Before the Alicorn asked a simple question. “Is… all of this true?”

“The whole subject of Digimon and the Digital World in it’s entirely is a rather complex subject… but for the parts that you said. Yes, that is true,” Rena nodded her head in response. “Yet, there can also be structures that were created within the Digital World that also exist in the real world. Such as this Cabin here, which Leona made…”

“Was that the person who wasn’t able to meet us today?” Celestia herself asked, causing the renamon to nod her head. However, what she heard the princess of the sun say next really surprised Rena personally. “I see… I was really hoping to meet her.” Of course… That was one thing that sounded like it would be a disaster in the making if it were to happen, given how Leona has a HUGE distaste for both Twilight and Celestia.

“Yeah… Leona might think otherwise,” She replied, before beginning to explain why. “From the world she once lived in, she remembered her Twilight wanting to try and experiment with her like a mad scientist and since her strength rivals that of you… well… did rival that of you, she would see you more as somepony who automatically thinks she is a threat than just someone who wants to be left alone.”

“Hunh… I see,” Celestia replied. “I’m sure it was just a misunderstanding…”

Of course… all that did was cause a brick from the wall to fall into Rena’s lap. And just like the last one, it had a note from Leona herself that stated that it was far from a simple misunderstanding. Only leading to Rena sighing for a moment as she looked back at the `princesses.

This was definitely going to be a long conversation.

Everfree

Shortly after making her escape from the cottage, Leona immediately dashed off towards the Everfree. More specifically, the temporary residence of her daughter, Lea, and the hive she had. Lea was… a rather unique case to put it specifically. For she was half digimon-half changeling and when she changed forms, she turned into the form of a TigerVespamon while her other hive members turned into Waspmon.

Though, her daughter did not entirely expect for her mother to show up randomly out of the blue.

“Lea! Hide me! Quick!” Leona gasped as she barged in on her daughter, who stared at her in shock having just been instructing three of her newly hatched half changelings.

“Mother? What's wrong?” Lea asked, the yellow queen letting the hatchlings scurry away with a swish of her tentacle like tail. “You look like you saw an alicorn.”

“I did! One minute me and Rena were cuddling and the next thing I know I hear Twilight and Celestia are knocking on my door!” Was Leona’s panicked reply.

“Wait, what? How did they find your cabin though? Also… what's this about that Renamon you were flirting with~?” Lea asked sounding concerned before becoming suspicious and looming over her mother like a shark that just smelled blood.

“Er… Hehehe, about that~” Leona said while turning pink as she finally slowed down and registered where this conversation was going. “It's not wh-”

“It sounds to me VERY much what it sounds like~” Lea purred as Leona began to sweat a fountain.

“I'm not going to be able to escape or get you to stop pestering me till I tell you what happened last night aren't I?” Leona asked, a look of sheer embarrassment and terror on her face.

“Nope~”

Much Later…

It took about a short while in order to explain the situation in it’s entirety to that of Princess Celestia. But after explaining how that they were coming here in order to be able to not just get stronger, but make sure that when Sangloupmon attacks that he does not harm any other ponies, the sun princess was… alright with that. Though, Rena did ask to make sure that besides them, nopony else was to know about this. Because the less ponies who knew about what was going on, the better.

Now though, both Celestia and Twilight left, Lyall and the others were training downstairs in Leona’s colosseum while Rena herself was just enjoying some tea in the living room. Wondering when exactly Leona was to come back.

Suddenly Rena heard the front door open as the window that broke when Leona jumped through it began to repair itself. Turning around, she thought that Leona was back, given the window was now being repaired. “Welcome back, Leona.”

“H-hey Rena…” Leona said, her face bright pink as she was held in Lea’s yellow levitation field, said half changeling right next to her.

“Hello again Rena~” Lea said with a cheeky smile. “Or would you prefer me to start calling you mother as well~?”

That… just had Rena look back at her with a confused look on her face. “What… exactly happened while you were gone, Leona? Celestia and Twilight only wanted to be informed about what was going on so they wouldn’t interfere with anything else and then you started to dive through windows like a mad-mon saying ‘You’ll never take me alive!’.”

“Because they will never take me alive!” Leona declared, before becoming meek again as she said “As for what happened… my daughter here mayyy have interrogated me for starting my explanation for being in her hive the way I did…” in response to Rena’s question.

“I beginning to think, just on that alone… that your ‘may’ means absolutely…” Rena deadpanned,earning a chuckle from Lea. “So, what exactly did you tell her?”

“Everything~” Lea purred, making Leona become almost as pink as that night in embarrassment.

“Dear Sovereigns… Well, I guess that makes it official,” Rena replied back as she looked back at Lea, scratching the back of her head before facing the half changeling directly. “Yes. Leona and I are a couple… Leona was complaining about the fact that I don’t spend enough time with her unlike Sweetie Belle, so I took some time to spend with her last night and… well, I think you know exactly what happened next.”

“Yup~” Lea giggled before commenting as she looked towards her mother, “Seems some things never change despite one’s age or power~”

“Leaaaaaa!” Leona whined in protest, causing her daughter’s grin to become almost predatory in amusement. Something that caught Rena by surprise for a moment, before smiling a bit as she looked back at them.

“So… Would the three of us be considered a family now? Or what are we exactly? Because I think Leona hates the idea of having Lyall be your uncle.” Rena told Lea, just as they both looked back at the Coronamon and expected her to say something.

Leona made a move to comment but was interrupted by a hoof appearing in her mouth as Lea said, “Oh, don't worry~ I have that covered~” her eyes becoming slits as her grin threatened to split her face in half.

“Um… Covered how?” Rena asked her, before taking a quick look to Leona and becoming a bit worried. Mostly because the words ‘murder horrifically’ were written all over Lea’s face right now based on her facial expression.

“You will see~ Mother?” Lea purred turning to Leona.

“Wait, right now!? But but but…” Leona sputtered as her eyes began to turn into swirls.

“Technically, they’re downstairs training right now,” Rena told them. “Lyall wanted to make sure that Guilmon had some kind of combat experience just in case Sangloupmon showed up at our door anytime soon. Sweetie, Spike, Button and Applebloom are down there too.”

“... This will be even more entertaining then~” Lea smirked before her form shifted, becoming that of a yellow unicorn mare as tall as Celestia with a black mane and tail. “Shall we?” She then said with a smirk as she grabbed Rena with her magic as well and made for the elevator.

“Um… I was going to say yes. You didn’t need to do that.” Rena insisted, feeling a little bit uncomfortable in the magical grip she was in.

“True, but do you really want to wait on that elevator car?” Lea asked as Leona gave Rena an apologetic glance. The renamon herself… was not sure what she was getting herself into… or for that matter, what Lea was planning to do. Either way though, the fox digimon had a feeling that this was going to make her a bit uneasy after all of this. “Ready? No? Oh well~” Lea said as the elevator opened to reveal its shaft to be empty, followed moments later by Lea dropping Leona directly out of her levitation field and directly into the empty elevator.

“When raising you… what, did, I, do, Wroooooooooooong!” Leona said as she fell down the shaft, her voice echoing up. Rena’s heart skipped a beat when Leona was dropped, thinking that she was really going to hurt herself once she reached the bottom.

“I hope you don't mind, but calling both you and mom mom will be confusing, anything else you want me to call you instead?” Lea asked sweetly as she turned to face Rena, whom she placed on her back.

“N-not that I can think of, really… Rena is fine.” The Renamon replied back, a little unsure about what was going to happen next.

“If that's what you want then, Rena.” Lea replied with a smile, before it turned into a smirk as she dived into the elevator with Rena sitting on her back and hanging on for dear life. To Rena, this almost felt like she was plunging to her untimely demise… or basically the premise of skydiving without a parachute as she continued to hold on to Lea as they fell down.

Almost as suddenly as it began, Rena went from feeling like she was free falling on back of a horse to almost as if she was levitating and then followed moments later by softly impacting Lea’s back like a sack of potatoes landing on a balance bar. “And we're here~ now wasn't that much faster?” Lea asked as the renamon, just as soon as the vertigo passed for the fox like digimon.

“ …… And just when I thought the princesses were the only things stopping by today,” The sound of Lyall sighing to himself was heard, just as Rena and Leona looked up to see him with all three of their tamers. “Where were you Leona? We were just finishing up a combat training session with Guilmon just now.”

“She was with me, uncle~ Can’t a mother go visit her daughter from time to time~?” Lea suddenly said as she stepped out of the elevator shaft and let Rena off as Leona walked behind them, averting her gaze as she brushed herself off from the landing.

Lyall himself… seemed more confused than anything at first… before looking at Leona as she was gripping onto Rena’s leg before letting out a deep sigh. “Wait… Uncle?” He said, before turning his gaze to the Coronamon. “What in the name of the Sovereigns is going on? I’m too young to be even considered that…”

“Lyall, calm down please,” Rena urged him to try and calm down a bit. “Leona and I are… well… going further into a relationship and now, you’re meeting her daughter, Lea.”

“Oh wow……” The Strabimon replied, looking rather stunned for a moment. “Are you-?”

“I'm not adopted.” Lea added in, dropping the metaphorical anvil on him and the tamers.

“I wasn’t going to ask that.” Lyall insisted, trying to not avert his gaze. “I was trying to ask if you were a digimon… Since, according to what my sister said about this place, only digimon and those who are tamers can be here.”

“Well I am Leona’s biological daughter, of course I can make it down here. Half digimon fit into that list as well kiddo.” Lea said with a cheeky grin.

“Hunh… well, I did not know that, my apologies.” The Strabimon told her sincerely. “Still though… It seems weird with you calling me ‘Uncle’. I’m only like… sixteen last I checked.”

“And last I checked im now in my sixties, so indeed you should feel weird~” Lea chuckled, a teasing grin plastered across her face. Which, caught Lyall off guard as he looked back at Leona and Rena. But did not dare to ask the question on his mind.

Instead though, Rena did that for him. “Wait… if you’re in your sixties… then how old is Leona? I mean… I’m only twenty one since my brother is five years younger than me.” She said, before looking at Leona with an uncomfortable gaze.

Leona shifts as she looks anywhere but at the other digimon in the room as she slowly turns pink. “U-um… over 100?” She said shyly.

“Hunh… I honestly thought you would be younger. You don’t look a day over eighty,” Rena chuckled, rubbing Leona’s head playfully as she went pink even more.

“Hey! What's that supposed to mean!?” Leona pouted as she stared at Rena. “Plus, im actually young compared to this world’s sovereigns, unless you want me to use my age against you two?” She then added in both complaint and warning.

“No no, it’s supposed to be a compliment,” Rena insisted. “Geez, I try to say one nice thing and now you’re taking it like a threat.”

“Then at least say thirty, I know full well you two still think in human terms unlike me so I feel like your calling me a grandma… even if I am technically am one… despite the fact that age doesn't mean much to us as digimon.” Leona rambled, pouting more that she is being misunderstood.

All Rena did was just decide to pick up Leona by her fur and hold onto her for. “If you excuse me, I think Leona needs to cool off for a moment-”

“One thing first…” Lyall told them. “Earlier, I was working with Sweetie Belle and the others to try and get them ready for the next time that they have to fight a digimon and I got some good news.” The Strabimon himself took a deep breath, before looking back at both of them. “I think Spike and Sweetie Belle can be able to digivolve you two to your champion forms now.”

“Hehehe, about that…” Leona said with a nervous expression. “Actually, nevermind. Hey Lea, why don't you teach Lyall how you really use a energy sword~?” She then said, changing topic and causing Lea to give Lyall a look like a lion sizing up a mouse.

“I dont think thats a good idea mom, after all I don't want to hurt your new brother in law.” Lea said in concern before teasing, making Leona groan and wonder once again where she went wrong with raising the half digimon.

“I would have to agree… besides, I would need Button with me in order to be able to digivolve right now and they’re upstairs.” Lyall said, scratching the back of his head now. “That and also, I’m still a bit sore after Leona had the cabin throw a brick at my head.”

“You deserved it.” Leona quipped, causing Lea to shrug and lift all three of them in her magic.

“So who wants to go upstairs the fast way~” Lea then asked.

“Um… is the ‘fast way’ a violation of safety hazards?” Lyall gulped, not wanting to know what she meant by that… and worrying that he might throw up what he just ate a little while ago if she did toss them up there.

“Lyall, do you like roller coasters?” Leona asked before turning to Lea. “Can me and Rena be left down here for a bit… for, reasons?” She then added with a blush.

“I didn't know it was spring.” Lea teased causing Leona to become bright pink in embarrassment. “Sure i'll leave you two down here.” Lyall looked back at Leona and Rena with a raised eyebrow… before the two of them were set down and he was yanked upward with Lea at extremely fast speeds. It might have been true that he liked roller coasters… but this was MUCH different.

Yet, as Rena was watching her brother getting yanked upward through the elevator shaft, she had one question for Leona. “So, what did you want to show me, Leona?”

“Um, have I shown you around my rebuilt temple?” Leona said, seeming like she was dodging the subject with how much she was blushing and averting her eyes as she talked. “I have never had someone to give me opinions on its design.”

“Well, I believe you have shown me around just the other day and I do like a lot of things…” Rena replied back, letting Leona follow her before coming up on one particular room. “Though, I think there’s one place that you really was for us to be in right now… am I right?”

As Leona looked at the bedroom door she became completely pink, realising what Rena was getting at as she started to sputter. “I-I-I... um… uh… Meep?”

“I’ll just take that as as yes then.” Rena smiled.

Upstairs

“So Lea… Can I ask you something?” Lyall asked Lea as they stood outside the cabin. It had been a few minutes since they originally came back up to the main floor of the cabin, but it was also during that time that Lea and Lyall decided to step outside and leave Sweetie Belle and the others be, while Spike was showing off and pretending to use his digimodify cards like he was actually in a battle. “How experienced are you when it comes to combat?”

“Hmm, I would say I am quite experienced.” Lea said offhandedly, unable to think of an appropriate example to compare herself to. “Why do you ask?”

“Well… the reason why Leona and the rest of us came out here was because we were trying to get stronger…” Lyall explained at first, before beginning to inform her of some more details. “There was a champion level digimon named Sangloupmon who not only attacked Sweetie Belle’s sister, Rarity… but also murdered her mother a long time ago. And the first time we tried to fight her left Rena in really bad shape. I know that it’s been some time since then… but I’m a little unsure if we’re ready to fight against a champion digimon right now.”

“I'm going to be blunt here, but how much experience do you two even have fighting other digimon?” Lea asked. “Or even fighting in general?”

“Well, my sister’s had another partner before me and I believe they’ve fought before… me though? Button’s the only partner I have right now.” He admitted to her. “Though, before ending up as digimon, both Rena and I took martial arts lessons and such. Not sure how that applies here, but… The point is, I don’t want to feel like we’re going to go into a fight unprepared, so I thought you would be able to give us some advice on the matter.”

“Hmm…” Lea Hummed as she tapped her chin with a hoof. “I think I can do something to help, after all your pretty much family now.” She then said with a smirk.

“Um… What exactly did you have in mind?” He asked, shortly before he heard the sliding door open as Rena soon stepped out.

“There you guys are. Leona just decided to pass out and fall asleep, so I came to see how you guys were doing,” Rena said, before looking at both of them. “You two getting along now?”

“Oh really now? She did, did she?” Lea asked as she slowly faced towards Rena with her smirk as if she had expected her and had her expression prepared just for the renamon. “And I was about to say, you two are going to spar as I give pointers.”

“Wait… you mean Lyall and I?” Rena asked, looking back at her brother before he decided to speak.

“I was asking Lea for some advice on combat because I wanted to see if she had any pointers for handling a champion level digimon like Sangloupmon,” He said, before cracking his knuckles and jumping over a guard railing. “Though, if I were to be honest with you… I am curious to see which one of us would win in a fight.”

Now it was Rena’s turn to borrow a line that Lea said just a few moments ago. “Oh really now? You sound quite confident in yourself.”

“Well, before we were digimon, both you and I did compete at a lot of things,” Lyall replied back. “Video games, races, impersonations of the royal family in england…”

“And on the last one, you failed at trying to say ‘Yas, queen!’ so bad that I felt ashamed of my heritage for one day…” Rena deadpanned.

“Ooh, burn.” Lea giggled.

“Right, but I did beat you at some things…”

“That’s because I let you win at those… you know, so you can enjoy the glory as well.” Rena smirked. Leaving Lyall baffled for a moment at hearing his sister tell him that.

“… Say what, now?”

Lea suddenly burst out laughing as she fell on her side, her tail thrashing about like a mad snake. “Ahahaha! Oh, you two are HILARIOUS! And Rena, I now understand what my mom saw in you, your totally her type!”

“Why thanks for the compliment,” The renamon told her in response, before looking at her brother. “So… let’s get this started… But before we do,” That was when Rena looked back at her brother and asked something. “What’s that thing on your face?”

That… had Lyall look a bit confused, raising an eyebrow before speaking. “My face? What do you mean-?”

“My FIST!” Immediately, Rena charged at Lyall and struck him directly in the face with a clenched fist. Sending Lyall tumbling backward through the snow before he got back up on his feet and charged back. Attacking with a series of feral swipes and kicks to counter Rena’s own attacks as he was doing what he could to try and get some kind of advantage.

However, Rena stayed calm and collective as she blocked and countered each one of Lyall’s attacks. Waiting for him to make a mistake and provide an opening that she could be able to capitalize on. Of course, that opportunity came when Lyall jumped in the air to perform his ‘Licht Bein’ attack in the form of a somersault kick. But Rena herself not only evaded the attacked, but grabbed Lyall a few seconds later and hit him with ‘Power Paw’ in order to send him into a nearby tree. All to the Strabimon’s shock and surprise because he did not think that his sister was this experienced in a fight.

But the current battle right now was seen as rather amusing and entertaining to Lea. But what she found to be more amusing was that Rena was even going as far as to use moves that a normal renamon would not have. Including making a crystalline staff in order to try and rush Lyall into a corner, even though one of the Strabimon’s attacks broke the staff into pieces. Yet, that gamble was all it needed for Rena to close the gap.

Though… this was when Lyall began to fight back. And came at her swinging. “Darkness HAND!”

“Wha-?” Rena said, before a claw of shadows grabbed at Rena’s face and threw her into the snow before yanking her back at Lyall. Who followed that up with a barrage of attacks that were not just normal punches and kicks, but also his other moves.

Still… in Lea’s mind, despite this comeback though, Rena clearly seemed to outclass her brother in many categories. And she had no problem telling them that out loud. “While this is amusing to watch, it's obvious that your on the losing end Lyall. Actually you were at a disadvantage from the start, but the best way to learn is from your failures so I insisted on you two sparring anyway.” She said despite how it looked like the fight might be moving in his direction.

“Gee, thanks for the advice…” Lyall sarcastically groaned. Only to watch his sister grin for a moment as he looked back at her. “Uh… Rena? What are you doing?”

“Well… Lea just gave me an idea… I haven’t used this ability in a long time, but Lea had me thinking… what better sparring partner than yourself?” With that, she placed both of her paws together as some of the snow kicked up around her, shortly before speaking one word.

“Kohenkyo.”

“Kohen-what?” Lyall asked, before some of that same snow was blasted in his face. However, when he saw his sister charging at him through the snow… he was completely surprised to find himself blocking an attack… from another Strabimon. “What the-!?”

“Oh this is going to be good~” Lea singsonged before muttering “Wish I had some popcorn.”

It was when she said that… and while Lyall was caught off guard that his opponent knocked him to the ground with an overhead kick. Immediately sending his face into the snow, before being knocked upward in a roundhouse kick. “What’s the matter, Lyall? Can’t keep up the fight?”

“H-how the hell are you-?” Lyall coughed for a moment, before finishing his sentence. “How the hell are you able to do that?”

“Oh? You really want for me to spoil it for you?” She asked him. Though, the deadpan expression from her brother caused her to let out a deep sigh. “Ugh, fine… This is one of my own attacks called Kohenkyo. It’s not exactly an attack in the form you think it would be, but it’s more of an attack in order to trick an opponent. Copying their physical appearance and going as far as to re-cover the skin and/or texture of their body. I could even mimic Leona if I were to fake her out, but that would be cruel?”

“But why do something like that now?” Lyall then asked.

“Well… the best way for you to improve on your skills is to learn from your own mistakes…” Rena replied, still in her disguise before attacking Lyall again. “And the best way to do something like that is for you to fight yourself since I would be mimicking your own fighting style.”

“Very interesting, you certainly catch on faster than your brother. Though your still a bit slow when it comes to my mother’s lessons but we can fix that with time.” Lea chuckled in comment to Rena’s statement.

“I’m really not so focused on winning right now as I am to fixing my brother’s flawed fighting technique,” Rena then stated, before looking back at Lea. “I prefer a bout where the opponents are a similar playing field.”

“Flawed!? Are you freaking kidding me?!” Lyall snapped.

“It seems your fighting style itself is flawed as well, after all what's the first rule of fighting?” Lea sighed.

“Don’t talk about fight club?” Rena asked, before snickering. “I’m joking… as you were saying.”

“It's never underestimate your opponent. Lyall if you would~” Lea said before smirking. Of course, when Lyall did charge at Rena, she was able to dodge a leaping kick… but not when that kick whirled around and knocked her to the ground after hitting her in the back of the head. Though, it was after that when Lyall did the most stupidest thing and boasted about it afterwards. Leading to Rena countering him with a flurry of kicks and a punch so strong that it sent him flying directly into the cottage.

And into the living room where Sweetie Belle and the others were. Before hearing the sound of sizzling as Rena turned to Lea. “And that… is the sound of my brother’s ego burning in the fireplace…”

“AGH!!! PUT IT OUT!!!” They heard Lyall shout before they watched him try to put out his burning fur by rolling around in the snow as it were an emergency.

“Hahaha, as I said Lyall you were fated to lose from the start.” Lea laughed at the burning digimon rolling around in the snow. “And as for you, let this be a reminder that no matter how strong or weak your opponent is that they can always pose a threat. This time it was a kick in a friendly spar against your brother, but next time you might not be so lucky and you will have more than just your own life in your paws.” She then said to Rena in a serious tone.

“I understand that… and I thank you for the advice. It’s very helpful.”

“So long as you remember it thats what counts. Don't learn everything the hard way like my mother, you have two experienced war veterans here to coach you after all.” Lea said with a kind and somewhat aged looking smile. “Now, who wants smores!” She called out loud enough for the fillies, Button and Spike hear her.

“Did somepony say smores!?” They heard Sweetie Belle and Button Mash say almost simultaneously.

“I’m hungry! Let’s do it!!” They heard Spike say now. “I’ll grab the chocolate and graham crackers!”

“I’ll get the marshmallows!!” Applebloom shouted. “Oh and Guilmon wants one too!”

Lea giggled as she walked over to the fillies and drake. “Alright then, i'll set up the fire pit and get some marshmallow roasting sticks so everyone meet back here in five minutes.” She told them with a wink as she proceeded to start melting the snow with her magic around a pit made of large rocks that was completely covered by the snow until now.

As for Lyall… well… “This… is not over, Rena.”

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll have more bouts like that in the future, Lyall,” She said with a grin as she turned back into her original appearance. “But hey… at least you’re not fighting Leona right now…”

“Yeah, but with her, we were doing it as an exercise to see if Spike and the others were prepared. You and I did it to see who was stronger… and I have to admit, our battle was quite the workout.” He replied back.

“It helped you burn some calories, didn’t it?” Rena teased.

“…… That’s not funny, sis.” The Strabimon groaned.

“To you it isn’t… to me, it’s a perfect way to mess with you.” She giggled, messing around with her brother’s head for a minute before turning towards where Lea was along with Sweetie Belle and her friends. “Of course, I do hope you were able to learn a few things from fighting me. Including how you can improve your technique for any future times we encounter hostile digimon.”

“Well, when it comes to that, I’m not sure… would you be up for some more practice on a later date?” He asked her. To which, all Rena did was give him a smile and pat him on the back.

“Sure, I believe we can do that.” The renamon told him, just as she looked back at Lea and noticed that they were beginning to roast marshmallows now.

“Glad to see my new uncle isn't a spoil sport, now get over here before the fillies take all the marshmallows! I'm not going to save any for you if you don't get them yourself!” Lea called back to them with a chuckle at their antics, ten marshmallow sticks in her magic roasting marshmallows over the now lit bonfire. Which lead to both Lyall and Rena running over to join her and the kids so they would not miss out on having smores while they had the chance.

“We’re here now,” Rena nodded her head, before taking one of the sticks lying to the side and beginning to roast a marshmallow on it. “This reminds me of the days when Lyall and I were able to actually have treats like these… Smores were always our favorite.”

“Agreed. It combined three favorite things. Graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows-” Just as Lyall got his stick though, that was when his marshmallow exploded in a ball of flame before it just fell to the ground. “ …… Okay, that’s a first. That did not happen back home.”

Lea just snickered at Lyall’s misfortune as she ate one of her perfectly golden roasted marshmallows, making the rest into smores. “Oh dear, did someone forget how to roast marshmallows? Or are they possibly cursed to burn them on contact~?”

“More likely rusty.” Rena chuckled. “We haven’t done this in a long while.” As Rena said that, Lyall was fortunate enough to get a second marshmallow roasted enough without having it be burned to a crisp as he breathed out a sigh of relief and asked for some chocolate and graham crackers to put it on.

“Oh Spi-ike~” They suddenly heard Leona call from inside the cabin.

That… had the dragon turn to Rena and the others before looking back towards where Leona was. “Um… Leona? Are you okay?”

Leona just smiled as one of her eyes twitched, the flames coming off her forehead and tail looking particularly grumpy. “Do you remember possibly playing around with my digivice as if it was a toy~?”

“Um… that was because we were all trying to see who would come up with the coolest ‘digivolution pose’... why?”

“... Do I possibly look like a toy to you?” Leona suddenly asked. “Because A digivice is not a toy.”

“N-no! W-why would I-”

“Leona, I think you’re just hungry…” Rena interjected. “Would you like to have some smores with us?”

“In a bit, I need to have a chat like I told you I would with this kid for ACCIDENTALLY DIGIVOLVING ME and causing the incident when we were having one on one time…” Leona said as Lea suddenly began backing away to the farthest side of the fire pit.

“Leona, we have kids here… let’s not talk about it out here in the open where everyone can hear you.” Rena insisted, before she motioned her head over to where her partner was. Who was sitting right next to a rather nervous dragon.

“Um… why does she look like an angry Twilight?” Sweetie Belle asked, recalling what happened all the way back during the ‘want it, need it’ incident.

“Rena, I think we should just sacrifice the dragon to the lecture demon and pray for his survival.” Lea chuckled nervously.

“It’s not necessary. Besides, if anything, this was just an accident…” She said, before looking at Spike. “Spike, in the future, can you not play with your digivice?” All the dragon did was nod furiously, scared at what would happen if he accidently invoked Leona’s wrath by saying the wrong thing. “See? Not so hard now, is it?”

Leona gave Spike a long hard stare before seeming to visibly deflate into a pout. “I'll let you off the hook this time because Rena asked me to, but there will be no second warning got it kid? I don't like having a piece of my very being used to show off.” She then said as Lea stared in shock looking back and forth between the three of them.

“See? That wasn’t so hard now, was it?” Rena giggled. “Now, would you like a smore? Lea went out of the way to set this whole thing up.”

Leona merely nodded in agreement as she sat next to Rena on one of the rocks making up the fire pit ring and proceeded to nibble on a smore that Rena had taken a bite out of with a tinge of pink appearing on her face. “I'm going to eat this one then, any objections?”

“Nope. Go on ahead.” The renamon told her.

“Rena, are you a miracle worker or something?” Lea asked. “Because no one has ever snapped my mother out of her lecture mode like that before…”

“Nah… I just believe in doing what’s right. And I don’t think you should scold someone for something they did on accident,” Rena replied back. “I’m not sure what the term is for that one.”

“So you know how to throw me into the building’s fireplace, but don’t know what to call something like that?” Lyall asked, sounding rather surprised. “That’s… just like you.”

“Oh knock it off, Lyall.”

After eating her last smore Lea suddenly looked up at the position of the sun in the sky and said “Well look at the time, I must be going but it's been nice seeing you again Rena, mother. And it's really been fun meeting you uncle, as well as the young tamers.” All while standing and using her magic to brush herself off.

That just left Lyall sighing deeply as he looked back at Rena and Leona. “I’m not going to hear the end of this whole ‘uncle’ thing, now am I?”

“Nope.” Leona said, feigning disinterest.

“Well, at least I know what I’m getting myself into now.” The Strabimon admitted as he got up and looked back at Lea. “Hope to see you again soon, Lea. It was a pleasure meeting you.”

“Thank you, but becoming part of our family is not what you think it is~. You may think you know what your getting yourself into, but you really don't.” Lea giggled as she started trotting towards the forest edge nearby. “Now if you excuse me, my hive must be having a total meltdown from how long I have been gone~” She then said before vanishing in a flash of dark golden magic.

“…… Good to know.” Rena then said, before looking at Leona. “Would you like another smore, Leona?”

“Yes pwease.” She said while still chewing the previous one and reaching out like a child for the next one from Rena, her large eyes becoming like those of a puppy. Rena just giggled as she prepared another for her, before letting Leona devour it effortlessly… and also causing a bit of a mess.

“Well, even though this is fun and all, we should probably head in soon,” Lyall told her as the winds began to pick up. “I’ll stay behind and put out the fire. The rest of you can get inside before it gets cold out here.”

“I hate weather.” Leona grunted, glaring at the clouds and completely ignoring the chocolate and marshmallow on her paws and face. “I'll go put more wood in the heater.” She then leaped off her rock and after giving Rena a quick hug around her leg she scurries around the back of the cabin.

“And… I’m going to need to clean this up, because Leona hugged me with messy paws,” Rena deadpanned before walking through the doors of the cabin once again. “Well, today’s definitely been one interesting day so far.”

Yet… as Lyall was finishing up with the fire pit outside and making sure to put everything away before closing its doors… the Strabimon did not notice the presence of another digimon out in the storm.

The one that they were preparing to face once more. Sangloupmon. “Soon… I will finish what I started.”

End Chapter 9

10- FoxFire

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The Fox and the Filly- FoxFire

As Celestia raised the sun for a new day; everyone who spent the night in the cabin, other than Rena and Leona, found themselves waking to a bucket of ice water pouring on all their faces at the exact same moment. Of course, this was all something that Leona was doing to try and get the whole ‘drill sergeant’ thing stuck in everypony’s heads… but of course, the only ones who were affected by the water were Lyall and Guilmon.

However, everyone was up by the time they heard the little Coronamon begin to shout at all of them.

“Up and at 'em, you bunch of Numemon! Day three of training begins now! You have ten minutes to get yourselves some breakfast, if you think its a smart idea, before I expect you all to be in front of the cabin standing at attention! And if you don't make it you, get to carry the water from the frozen river at the bottom of the mountain to refill the empty water tanks! So good luck figuring out how to get a shower!” Leona boomed before disappearing with a snicker.

“Ugh… God, did she have to go all Full Metal Jacket drill sergeant there?” Lyall asked as he got up. “I’m still sore from Rena kicking my ass and the water isn’t helping…”

“Lyall, it would be better for you to actually go along with it and to be thankful that she did not use the hot water that I was boiling for tea this morning,” Rena spoke up as she was seen with a mug that read ‘#1 Digimon’ on the front of it. “Besides… if anything, this is supposed to be part of the plan.”

A few of the tamers… as well as Lyall and Guilmon, looked at the Renamon in confusion. Wanting to know exactly she was referring to. Though, it was Sweetie Belle herself that actually voiced her confusion. “What do you mean, Rena?”

“To put it simply… Leona’s using you as bait… Not because she hates you, although that could’ve been a factor… but because she thinks that it could draw out Sangloupmon.” Rena explained. “Some of us have trained to the point that we can be able to go to champion level without messing up… the only thing now is to lure him out… any questions?”

“Yeah, is she freaking nuts!?” Lyall asked her. “You almost got yourself killed last time because of that beast. I don’t want any of us to be risking our lives if there’s only a slim chance at actually succeeding. Back home, that’s like forging a coupon to Bed, Bath and Beyond!”

“How does that make sense?” Button asked, looking at his digimon as they all got ready to have breakfast.

“It’s an illegal activity with high risk, but there’s very little reward in doing it,” Lyall then fully summarized as he sat at the table. “I know that Leona wants to train us to not be wimps, but if she really thinks that Sangloupmon would be stupid enough to fall for a bait and switch trap, then I highly doubt that it would work… I mean, can you even be able to change into Champion form?”

“I’ve been trying to practice it with Sweetie… we’ve mostly got the hang of it.” She said, even though hearing the word ‘mostly’ gave her brother a feeling of uncertainty.

“Okay… Sorry for interrupting, but what is Leona doing outside?” Spike then asked as he looked outside from his seat by the window. Shortly after he said that, everyone except for Rena was going to the window to see what exactly he was talking about, while the Renamon began to look at what was going on from another window on the other side of the kitchen. But what they found was… rather odd, to put it lightly.

Leona grunted as she used a rope to drag a large rectangular… something, that was covered in a overly large tarp before stopping with it ten meters from the cabin entrance before dusting off the snow from her fur and pulling out a thermos of hot cocoa and sending an evil smile towards everyone watching through the window.

“I… don’t know if that’s supposed to be a bad thing or a good thing-” Lyall said, just as he turned around to see Guilmon swipe his toast off of his plate. “Hey!!”

“Guilmon, don’t steal from others!!” Applebloom snapped, trying to chase after the reptile and get the bread back. Unfortunately, that didn’t exactly go so well as Guilmon swallowed it all down in one gulp. Leaving Guilmon full and Lyall… on an empty stomach.

All while Rena looked to Sweetie Belle as the Renamon had a quick glance at the clock. “Sweetie, can you stand by me for a moment please?” The filly herself, not sure why her partner would ask her that, just listened as she trotted over to where she was. “I didn’t want you to get caught up in what happens next.”

“What do you mean?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Well… let’s just say that they’re going to be sore after this.” Immediately, the clock on the wall hit the top of the hour as part of the roof began to open up. That… was followed by Lyall, Guilmon, Spike, Button and Applebloom all getting launched out of the kitchen by a springboard catapult that was hidden under the chairs in the kitchen. Throwing them out into the snow while Rena and Sweetie Belle just came out normally.

“W-what was that for?” Lyall coughed, a bit of snow getting caught in his mouth as he was trying to spit it out. Before his eyes soon noticed Leona holding a switch that was labeled ‘kitchen ejection seats’.

“You were running late.” Leona said simply. “Also I suspect one of you were talking about me behind my back because my nose started itching.”

The strabimon personally groaned, before getting up in order to brush the snow off of his fur as he looked back at Leona. “So Leona… what’s your plan exactly for handling Sangloupmon?” He then asked her, before pointing at the contraption that was behind the Coronamon. “Should I safely assume that it has something to do with this?”

Leona just smiled as the hidden rectangular object shifted under the tarp. “Oh no, this is just today’s training assignment.”

That had everyone blink for a moment, before Spike decided to speak up. “This… is our assignment? What is it?”

“Well. everyone, except for you Spike, I have a special assignment for each one of you~ Some… personal training you could say.” Leona smirked before grabbing hold of the tarp. “Now everyone, except Spike, are you ready for today’s training assignment~?”

Mostly everyone nodded their heads nervously as Spike decided to walk off to the side where Rena and Sweetie Belle were standing as Guilmon and Lyall were with both of their partners. Button by Lyall’s side and Applebloom… on Guilmon’s back. “I guess… Can you tell us what it is?”

“I was just about to~ whether you said you actually were ready or not.” Leona admitted with a shrug before yanking the tarp hard enough for it to fall away to reveal the giant rectangular object beneath… only for everyone to come face to face with a metal cage housing a VERY pissed off looking Monochromon. “Your assignment is to either defeat this here champion level digimon through any means available to you, or to survive until sunset unless Sangloupmon shows up~ Good luck!”

Even that… surprised Rena at first. “How exactly did she get her paws on something like that?” She said to herself, before drinking another sip of tea.

“Oh, and I can't guarantee your safety once we start, so I hope your prepared in the case you get egged.” Leona says whitch a chuckle before knocking the side of her head with her fist and sticking her tongue out.

“Oh, I got a bad feeling about this…” Lyall asked, shortly before hearing the sound of footsteps in the snow as he saw Rena and Sweetie join them too. “Okay… at least I know we’re all going to possibly die together…”

The Renamon herself just grit her teeth, before whacking her brother over the head with an outstretched paw. “We need to focus now… If we screw up here, there’s no way that we can beat Sangloupmon if he shows up.” Lyall groaned, scratching the back of his head before taking up a combat stance. Having Sweetie, Button and Applebloom stand off to the side as all three of them prepared for the fight that they were about to engage in.

Even though it didn’t really help that Leona’s version of ‘overseeing’ the exercise was by kicking back in a lawn chair and drinking a glass of lemonade (or in this case hot cocoa) as the Monochromon broke out of its cage and focused its attention on them. Immediately, Rena and Guilmon began to attack Monochromon using a series of projectiles to try to weaken it’s defenses and also distract it. Lyall himself wanted to help, but knew that he could not exactly contribute given the fact that his rooke level form only had attacks that would work at close range. And going in to attack directly would be utter suicide.

So, it seemed like the plan was to try and strike it while it was distracted with Rena’s diamonds and Guilmon’s fireballs. However, there was another obstacle when it came to facing the triceratops like digimon and that was the horn on its head. Which could be used to try and attack them when they got too close. And of course, the obvious problem with all this is that the three of them were rookies and their opponent was champion level. Meaning that even with all of their combined strength, they may not be able to even make a scratch on it.

Just as he thought this though was when a massive fireball flew past Lyall’s cheek as he looked back at the Monochromon. Flames dancing inside its mouth as it glared at all three of them. “Well… that’s just bloody brilliant… Rena, what exactly is the plan here!?”

“Isn’t it obvious!?” His sister glared at him. “Turn into your champion form! You got more abilities in that form than your current one and you can be able to counter that horn-!” Before she could continue, Monochromon charged at her, forcing the Renamon to dodge to the side and almost get hit by the triceratops digimon. All while Lyall was looking around for a moment before looking at his partner, Button.

“Button, are you ready? I’m going to need your help with this one, okay?” He looked towards the colt, who nodded his head and was getting his digivice ready. The digivolution card in his mouth as he slid it through the card reader on the digivice.

DIGIMODIFY: SPIRIT DIGIVOLUTION Engaged.

“Strabimon… digivolve to.. Lobomon!!”

Within mere moments, Lyall’s body began to changed. Morphing into it’s champion level form as he now stood firmly in the ground, before using the arm cannon on his left arm to send an energy blast at Monochromon. Having its attention be focused on him instead of Rena and Guilmon. “How about you pick a fight with someone your own size!!”

“Oh he should not have said that…” Rena internally groaned as he watched the Monochromon charge at him. Lyall had his sabers as the ready as he held them in front of him to block the direct assault from Monochromon’s horn. Before using a shot from his blaster to hit the triceratops in the eye before backing up. “Oh, he should not have DONE THAT!!!”

Lyall himself… did not entirely see his mistakes until after their opponent locked eyes with him again. Because with one shot, he just had a simple champion level digimon become a raging dino gone berserk. Berserk to the point that it was able to pick up the cage it was once in and threw it directly at them. Forcing the champion level digimon to combine both of his blades before taking up a stance. “Zwei Siger!!”

In a matter of seconds, he sliced the cage up into multiple little pieces as they all disappeared into bits of data. But it was after this attack that it left him open to a charging Monochromon that was aiming its horn directly at him. “Oh sh-!”

“What did you do?!” Rena shouted angrily at her brother as he got hit by the edge of the Monochromon’s horn. “It was calm just a minute ago, but now you made it really pissed!!”

“Rena, look!” Sweetie Belle then shouted, before pointing a hoof towards the right side of the Monochromon’s face. Where there were still some burn marks and injuries from Lyall’s shot earlier.

“Sweetie Belle… Get me some snow…”

“Rena, how is that going to work?” The filly then asked, looking at the digimon with a puzzled look on her face.

“Because of what Lyall did, that Monochromon is enraged not by what he did, but because of the pain that it’s feeling,” Rena tried to explain to her partner. “If we try to reduce the pain, it might calm down-”

Of course, that was also when Lyall was thrown into the cabin by the rampaging Monochromon and was mere inches away from hitting Leona. “... On second thought, let’s not try that.” However, Sweetie Belle was already using her magic in order to be able to make a huge snowball out of the snow they were standing on and tried to throw it at the Monochromon’s eye. Only for it to melt when the Monochromon unleashed it’s Volcanic Strike attack.

Eventually, Lyall burst out of the cabin and went back on the offensive as he kicked the Monochromon down and away from both Rena and Guilmon. “Man, I hate it when some guys do that.”

“Just what is up with you and immediately attacking a digimon’s eye?” Rena then decided to ask him. “You did the same thing to Sangloupmon when he originally attacked us a few days ago.”

The Lobomon just shrugged as he looked back at his sister and tried to answer her question in the simplest way possible so he could focus on the enemy in front of him. “You can’t exactly fight what you can’t see… plus, my blast was just an equivalent of a snowball to the eye. Sangloupmon’s injuries are worse.”

“I really don’t think there’s a difference here because of how big of a situation you just threw us into!” Rena snapped as the two of them had to avoid another attack. Still… unlike both her and Lyall, who were trying to dodge the attacks and find an opening… Guilmon was trying to do something much… much different as he approached the digimon.

He tried befriending it. Holding out an apple pie that Rena thought was still in the fridge as the Guilmon soon asked the digimon a question. “Can Guilmon be friends with you?”

“There’s no way that could possibly work… could it?” Rena thought to herself as she watched the two digimon. However, what she did not expect… and neither did Leona… was that Monochromon actually paused as it looked at Guilmon and the pie that he was holding. Before sniffing it and eating it in one gulp. Spitting out the tray as it hit Spike in the head.

But the strangest thing was… Monochromon was actually not attacking Guilmon. And even then, it motioned for Guilmon to sit with Applebloom and Leona. That was… until it glared directly at Rena and Lyall. “NOPE!! It did not work!! It did not work at all!!”

Lyall himself needed to reposition himself and separate his double bladed light sword into two smaller ones as he looked back at the Monochromon now. Preparing himself for its next attack while also concentrating to the point that his blades were beginning to glow even more with the amount of energy he was putting into them.

“I'm starting to feel bad for Rena…” Leona muttered, “it seems neither her nor the others were paying attention to what I had said in full… Hey ponies, shouldn't you be helping your partners?” then added while giving Sweetie belle, Applebloom and Button a look.

“Um… Leona?” Spike asked as the Coronamon turned towards her. “Doesn’t a champion level form have a time limit?” Around that same time was when Lyall himself charged at the Monochromon, using his strength into one more attack.

“Sadly for partnered digimon… that would be correct. It's one of the largest flaws to having a tamer in exchange for the given power boost.” Leona grumbled as she facepalmed at Lyall’s predicament. “When will these kids learn…”

“LOBO KENDO!!”

What occured next was two things. One that Leona anticipated… the other, not so much. The first thing was that Lyall himself reverted back to his rookie form. Falling on the ground and passing out. But what Leona did not expect was for the last attack to cut off the Monochromon’s horn clean off… and have it land right in the living room of the cabin.

And that did not make the triceratops happy at all. “Well, great…” Rena said to herself, before looking back at Sweetie Belle. “Sweetie Belle, get the card ready… Remember, just like we practiced before.

“We practiced this?” The filly asked, before shaking as the Monochromon roared once more. Though, before they could be able to digivolve at all, the Monochromon stopped… looking up to the sky before falling over, its body dissolving into pixels and vanishing as an all too familiar face emerged from behind it.

“So… this was how you were planning on trying to bring me out?” Sangloupmon now spoke, before noticing Lyall on the ground and kicking him to where he was thrown into Leona like a ragdoll. “Are you just foolish or eager to get yourself killed?”

“To be honest, I didn’t think you would actually come,” Rena sighed, looking to Applebloom and Guilmon… who was looking really mad right around now. “Applebloom, take Guilmon and help Leona… This is our fight.”

“B-but… He made new friend go bye-bye!” Guilmon protested.

“Guilmon… please,” Sweetie Belle now told her. “We got this… Just keep Applebloom safe okay?” And for added measure, she whispered something else. “If you do this, you can have the desserts that are labeled for Rena and Leona in the freezer.”

“Okay, Sweetie-mon!” He said, picking up Applebloom by the mane like she was a lion cub and racing inside the house. Before knocking the fridge over and attempting to raid the freezer.

“Grrrr-! Hey you!” Leoa shouted as she tossed Lyall off her like a ragdoll after snapping out of the shock of him crashing into her suddenly.

“ …… Did I come at a bad time?” Sangloupmon then decided to ask. “Because if you want, I can come back later and attempt to kill you then.”

“He~eh? What did ya just say you worthless parasite!?” Leona asked as she glared at Sangloupmon, her flames becoming a ominus dark blue as she leaped towards him while shouting. “No one, and I mean NO ONE, is allowed to lay a finger on my cute little fox other than me-!”

Of course… it didn't help the fact that when she leaped forward, she ended up falling into a deep pile of snow. Just leaving Rena to facepaw herself. “Don’t mind her. This is normal…”

“I see…” Sangloupmon stated, before looking back at them. “So… I took it that you’ve recovered since our last encounter? Because I lost the sight in one of my eyes because of that sword wielding brat.”

Rena nodded, recalling the last encounter that the two of them had… and how that Lyall was able to stop Sangloupmon from killing her by striking him in the eye. “I have… and I believe that we’ve gotten better since the first time we’ve met. And that we will be the ones who will succeed this time around.” With that statement, Rena just gave a simple nod to her partner, who was holding the blue digivolution card within her magical grip and slid it through the card reader. Not with an angered expression on her face, but with one that was calm and composed.

DIGIMODIFY- DIGIVOLUTION ENGAGED

“Renamon, digivolve to… Kyubimon!” Rena called out as she now took on her champion level form. The last time she remembered being in a form like this was when Pearl was her partner. So it brought back some of those memories as she felt a newfound power course through her. “Alright… Pearl, this one is for you…”

With that, Sangloupmon grinned deeply as he glared back at Rena. “Now this is a lot more like it!!” Both champion level digimon immediately clashed with one another, with enough force to cause the cabin to shake and for Leona to be blown out of the snow she was covered in and into the air. Only to be caught by Sweetie Belle as both the fox and wolf digimon clashed with each other. Coughing up snow and debris everywhere as some of the windows in the nearby cabin began to crack.

Sweetie Belle herself, hurried up the stairwell and inside the house, carrying Leona in her magic and then setting her down once safely inside. “Spike, keep an eye on her! I’m going to help Rena!” The unicorn told her, shortly before running back outside. Leona herself attempted to try and chase after the unicorn… but only got to the point where a sliding glass door closed in front of her and made the coronamon faceplant into it. Which had Spike pull her off, before dragging her by the tail so she wouldn’t attempt to try and escape.

Of course… it didn’t help that she heard this while getting pulled across the floor. “Oooh… Look Applebloom-mon. Pie!”

“Guilmon, that’s lemon meringue pie. You might not like that.” Applebloom told her digimon. “Besides, the side of it says ‘For Leona only’.”

“Leona-mon is in a pie?”

“Mine!” Leona blurted as she barged into the the kitchen moments later, taking back her pie before attempting to escape again to help Rena fight. Only for her to step on a rake lying in the snow and getting smacked in the face by the handle. “... ouch...”

“Sticker Blades!”

“Dragon Wheel!!” When Leona heard that, both of the attacks from the digimon that were clashing with one another caused the ground to shake. And also had pieces of the cabin’s roof falling towards where Leona was in her disorientated state.

Only to get saved by someone… unexpected. Because Lyall, who had only woken up a few moments ago, used one of his abilities to grab Leona and pull her out of the way before a massive section of the roof could collapse on her. “Phew… that was too close.” He commented, before handing Leona off to Spike as he went back to his partners side. “Come on Rena… You can do it!!”

“... Why aren't you trying to help?” Leona asked, trying to ignore the fact Lyal just kept her from possibly getting a concussion or buried for the rest of the day under rubble. “Even rookies have the ability to challenge a champion.” She then added offhandedly while looking away.

“You were the one who tired most of us out with fighting Monochromon in the first place. Rena was the only one who saved her strength,” Lyall groaned, wincing a little in pain from the amount of strain he put on his body earlier. “Note to self, if you really wanted to lure out an apex predator… maybe leave out raw meat instead.”

“I was actually hoping he wouldn't show so I could teach y’all a lesson in teamwork, after all in real life or death battles your partners and teammates can't be standing idle if you hope to win…” Leona pouted.

“Stop trying to impersonate my sister!” Applebloom looked back at Leona, glaring at her this time. “Also, aren’t you the one who’s standing idly by right now? Guilmon and Lyall are tired out and you were just drinking lemonade earlier. That’s not teachin’, that’s being lazy.”

“And all of you are children! I learned the lesson already, I was hoping to teach all of y’all in an environment that the lives of your friends, family, or world were not at stake…” Leona groaned. “And I would be helping fight now if someone would PUT ME DOWN!” She added by yelling at Lyall.

“I’m not even holding onto you.” Lyall groaned. “Spike is.”

“... Future reference!” She said diverting the topic before proceeding to flip Spike over herself and onto his back freeing herself from his grip. “Now let's go help Rena and Sweetie Belle before they are killed!”

The only thing that she did not know in that moment though... was that the two of them were doing just fine on their own.

Meanwhile, Outside

“Yes, YES! Now this is the fight I was wanting this whole time!!” Sangloupmon laughed as his attacks collided with that of Rena’s as both champion level digimon continued to trade blows with each other. “Show me just how strong you are, partner of Pearl!!”

To Rena though, she did not fall for the taunts of the wolf digimon as she fought using her newfound tails, speed and agility. Even going as far as to use Sangloupmon’s newest blindspot to headbutt him with one of her newfound abilities and send him tumbling into the ground. “Koshūgeki!!”

“Gah!” The wolf digimon cried out in pain as he was thrown into a frozen tree. The impact breaking the tree and causing it to fall over on top of the chimney of the cabin as Sangloupmon began to stagger and try to return to his feet. Yet, just before he could send out more blades at his attacker, he noticed something standing next to the Kyubimon. It looked like a spirit and was hard to tell from this far away. But as Rena came closer to him, he now began to realize what he was seeing.

It was one of his victims. One of three specific ones that he was tasked with killing one night several years ago. And now, it was floating besides her. “What… is this?”

“The will o’ wisp hit him? Good…” The Kyubimon thought to herself as she looked back at her opponent. “This will make this fight much easier…” It was after this that she looked back towards her partner, who told her a simple request. “Sweetie… Get the cards ready.”

“O-okay!” The unicorn nodded, using her magic to look through a series of cards in front of her before sliding one card through the reader in her digivice.

DIGIMODIFY- Hyperspeed

Moments after her partner slid the card through the reader, Rena felt a dramatic increase in speed course through her as she looked back at her opponent with a grin on her face. Now, it was easier for her to land more attacks on the demon wolf. Including using her dragon wheel attack more often to counter Sangloupmon’s sticker blades. Even stirring up some snow to hit the wolf with two more of her ‘Koshūgeki’ attack as it knocked her opponent back.

Forcing her opponent to use his only other technique “Black Mind!!” Instantly, the demon wolf disappeared from view, making Rena think that he was gone. Sweetie herself thought that the digimon had turned invisible… But as the winds around them began to pick up, Rena realized something.

That her shadow… looked more like a wolf than a fox. And it was in this realization that the demon wolf emerged from the ground in order to try to attack her. Only for Rena to use another one of her techniques. “Tengu!”

Immediately, a high pitch scream echoed throughout the battlefield. Causing the windows to shatter on the nearby cabin and forcing Sweetie Belle to cover her ears. Unfortunately for Sangloupmon, he was subjected to the scream and could not be able to stop Rena from sending him flying into a tree with another tail swipe.

“Rrgh… Why you-!” He growled, but not before his eyes were beginning to widen. Because it was then… that he now saw all three of the mares that he had killed long ago on that one fateful night years ago. And in his mind, he saw this as them trying to torment him. Drive him insane… a trick that Rena was doing in order to distract him.

But this was no trick… because he was not the only one that could see these spirits. Sweetie Belle saw them too. But one in particular stood out to her. “M-mom?”

Rena right now… was more focused on finishing the fight. “Face it, Sangloupmon… you are outmatched here. The victims of those you have slain before have come to condemn you for your actions and make you face judgement.”

“Like hell they are!” He defiantly snapped. “This was never supposed to happen… It was just one job, and now this?! What sort of trickery is this, partner of Pearl?! Answer me!!”

“This is no trick…” Rena replied back to him, the flames around her growing bright blue as the faces of all those that were Sangloupmon’s victims were seen right in front of him. Before they turned into glowing balls of flame as she glared at her. “This is the end for you… Fox Tail Inferno!!”

Almost immediately, the burning flames converged on the weakened demon wolf, exploding into a tall pillar of holy fire as explosions of blue fire began to burn Sangloupmon’s body and tear it apart. His body slowly dissolving into bits of data as he began to fade away. But not before he issued out one last threat.

“Rrgh…… With my d-death… the p-phantom comes for y-you now…” As Rena began to degenerate back to her rookie form, she was unable to find out what exactly he meant as the demon wolf became nothing more than a series of ones and zeroes. But, there was no need to worry about what was to come for them next. Because for now… the battle was over. And with it, Rena was relieved.

But it was also when she turned to her partner… and looked a bit puzzled by her shocked expression. “Sweetie? What’s the matter?”

“I… I thought I saw mom just now…” She said, before turning towards Rena. Who just patted her head for a moment as she smiled back at her.

“It’s okay, Sweetie… Besides, if Pearl were to see you right now… she would be proud of you for being able to stand your ground in the face of danger.” That… has the filly tear up a little, before she pulled herself towards Rena as she began to hug her.

“T-thank you, Rena…” Was all that she said, as Rena just simply patted her on the back.

What they did not notice at the time… was Spike burping out a letter back inside the cabin as he began to read it. “Oh, hey… Rarity’s beginning to wake up now! Should I-?”

Before he could step outside, Lyall placed a paw in front of him as he looked back to him. “Let’s let them have a somber moment first…”

“... Wait the fight is over already!?” Was leona’s only comment as she bemoaned how useless she turned out to be again.

“I thought I said to let them have a somber moment…” Lyall groaned, facepawing himself before going back to Button as both of them began to help clean up the cabin. “Besides… It was their fight anyways. That was the digimon that killed Sweetie’s mother… It wouldn’t feel right to get yourself involved in a personal confrontation unless Rena asked for our help.”

“You gotta agree though, that champion form of hers looks pretty cool.” Spike then added as he also helped pitch in with cleaning up around the place. Before saying one thing that… might’ve made Leona twitch a little. “Plus, with Sangloupmon gone and Rarity getting better, we can go back to Ponyville now!”

“Yeah… you’re able to go back now… hehehe…” Leona muttered.

“That includes you too, Leona.” Spike said, before pulling out his digivice. “If you like, I can have you be in here to avoid Twilight.” Lyall chuckled briefly for a moment and Guilmon laughed at the expression that was on the Coronamon’s face as she was trying to process everything now.

“So… with us going back home, what would be this then?” Applebloom asked as she looked to Lyall while her partner was eating what looked like a bag of prench pastries that Leona was saving.

“I don’t know. A digital world timeshare?” Lyall shrugged, before breaking the horn of the Monochromon down to size and tossing out the pieces. “You’re going to have to ask Leona about that.”

“Its my current domain of power… its not part of your digital world because i'm not from there, so I can only hold domain in this world.” Leona explained with a zombie like expression as she went and started sweeping with a spare broom that was amongst the debris.

“So you’re own timeshare then?” Lyall asked, before saying something else. “Oh hey… welcome back you two.”

When Leona turned around, that was when she looked to see Rena and Sweetie Belle in the doorway as Sweetie went to go join up with Spike, Button and Applebloom. Who looked to be busy getting things ready for the trip back. “Hey Rena, Spike just got some good news from Twilight. After you beat Sangloupmon, Rarity finally woke up at the hospital. And her recovery is going smoothly.”

“Well, that’s a good thing to hear…” The Renamon replied back, before noticing Leona. “Hey Leona… would you like some help there?”

“I’ll be fine, go help your friends pack.” She said with a distant smile as she continued to sweep up bits of the destroyed building into piles.

“Well, if you say so… I can already think of a few things that need to be done for laundry once we’re back at the boutique.” Rena replied back as she wandered off. Moments before Leona heard the sounds of the elevator shaft inside the cabin opening up as she began to go downstairs.

Which… lead to Spike asking Leona something as she was putting the debris in a trash can. “Um… why are you blushing, Leona?”

“You’re too young, go help your friends!” Leona blurted, turning bright pink before scurrying away as fast as her paws could take her. Which, left Spike looking back at Sweetie Belle and the others as they all shrugged.

End Chapter 10

11- A chance to rest

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The Fox and the Filly- A chance to rest

It had been almost a week since their battle with Sangloupmon in the mountains and in that time, things began to slowly return back to normal. After defeating the demon wolf digimon, Rarity’s condition in the hospital improved rather quickly and she was able to return to the Carousel Boutique a few days later on the condition that she would take it easy so that way her injuries don’t open back up again. Sweetie Belle though, was both excited to see her sister again… and relieved to see that she was okay.

After the element of generosity had gotten herself situated back at the carousel boutique, which was now back to normal since Twilight helped cover the damages, Sweetie Belle and Rena told her everything that had transpired over the course of the time she was recovering in the hospital from training with Leona in the mountains to defeating Sangloupmon. The only thing that they did leave out though was the fact that Sangloupmon killed Pearl Belle because Sweetie Belle did not want to put her sister through the same kind of emotional pain that she went through while at Leona’s cabin. Rena personally thought that Rarity should know what happened… but decided to follow along.

Once she was caught up to speed on everything, the seamstress felt as if she was obligated to give something to Rena and Leona as a way of thanking them for their heroic actions and for keeping Sweetie Belle safe. Knowing that Leona really did not like being with her tamer Spike because of the fear of Twilight wanting to experiment on her (even though the possibility of such a thing happening here was beyond ridiculous), Rarity took a few moments of her time to clean out the guest room that was in Carousel Boutique to turn it into a room that the two of them could call their own. Letting them personalize it the way they want as long as it wasn’t anything that was rather extreme.

Now it was day after their first night… and as Rena finally woke up and opened up the windows to let in some fresh air, she found somepony else waiting for her as the digimon stepped out of her room. Somepony… that was not Sweetie Belle. “Why good morning, darling,” She heard Rarity spoke up in a lively manner. Drinking what looked to be like tea as Rena stepped out in what looked like a robe from feudal neighpon. “You look rather lovely in that robe of yours.”

“Why thank you…” She said, before looking around for a moment as one question appeared in her mind now. “Do you… happen to know where Sweetie Belle is?”

“She went to school already with her friends a couple of hours ago,” The unicorn replied as she looked back at the digimon and her horn glowed. Her magic levitating the teacup as she took a sip from it. “Meaning it’s just you, me and your little friend… Which reminds me, how do you like the room?”

For a moment, the renamon paused as she got up to get herself a bowl and some cereal. Processing the question in her head as she looked back at the seamstress. “Yeah, Leona and I like it a lot. We spent a lot of time yesterday making ourselves feel right at home.” Despite the answer though, what Rena heard next from the unicorn was something that she honestly did not expect.

“Why that’s great to hear! I went to check on you two last night because I was worried that you might’ve done something to the room,” Rarity replied, not even noticing the blush that was forming on Rena’s face right now. Which got even bigger with what the unicorn said next. “But then I saw you and Leona together and then my concerns just evaporated. You two looked so adorable like that to the point that I just decided to let you two have sweet dreams.”

“Oh god… don’t tell me she…” Rena thought it over for a moment, before realizing some of the details that the unicorn said as she let out a sigh of relief. Before looking back at Rarity as she asked the digimon a question.

“Is there… anything I could get for you this morning?” Rarity then asked her as Rena finished making her bowl of cereal and poured some milk in. “Coffee? Tea? Juice? What would you like this morning-?”

“Coffee, please.” Rena immediately replied back the moment she heard that. Her ears… or whatever was on her head that served as ears, perked up upon hearing that as she began to eat her breakfast. After some tiring ordeals the other day and since she couldn’t exactly go to her digivice to regain her energy since it was probably in Sweetie Belle’s school bag, Coffee was the best alternative for her to use right now.

As she was finishing her bowl of cereal, that was when Rarity brought out her mug of coffee for her and set it down for her. “I put some cream and sugar in there for you so it could have a bit of taste. I do hope you enjoy it. Aside from you, Twilight’s the only other pony I know of that drinks coffee… well, when it comes to my friends at least.”

Rena set down her cup for a moment as she looked back at the unicorn with a raised eyebrow. “Twilight drinks coffee?”

“What else do you think she drinks in order to handle the workload of a princess?” Rarity chuckled. “It’s not all glamour and glitter like at royal celebrations. Each one of the princesses, including Twilight herself, have responsibilities to take on.”

“Oh I get that… I just didn’t expect for coffee to be her remedy when it comes to workday stress,” The renamon replied back. “If anything, I thought reading books would be that.”

“Reading is a hobby of hers, not a snack she can consume darling,” Rarity chuckled as she looked back at her. “There are times where she might fall asleep while reading, so she has some coffee so she could keep herself awake at times.”

“Does she have it the same way that I do?” Rena then asked, honestly not believing that they were actually having this current conversation right now as she looked at the unicorn and watched her take a sip of tea.

“Why of course. I don’t see why anypony else would have coffee any other way…” Rarity said… which only made Rena curious as she looked back at the unicorn. Thinking of something in her head before looking back at the unicorn and beginning to speak.

“Well, back home, there are a lot of individuals who have different kinds of coffee that each have different flavors. Whether it’s the beans being a different flavor or if the cream is a different kind, they like to have different things and try different ones,” Rena told the unicorn in response. “Some even going as far as to put in whip cream and do different designs while others just drink black coffee-”

At that moment, the tone of the unicorn that Rena was talking to shifted almost immediately. “B-black coffee…? Some ponies back home… drink black coffee?!”

“Uh… Some would say it’s a health benefit-”

“It’s TASTELESS!!!” Rarity snapped. “Black coffee is an abomination to all the flavors of coffee that exist!! And some would argue that drinking black sour tasteless water is a health benefit?! THOSE ANIMALS!! That’s just as bad as drinking tap water! TAP WATER!!”

That had the Renamon look towards the door to their newfound room as she tried to tell something to the unicorn. “Um… Rarity, can you keep your voice down? You might wake up Leona-.”

“My voice is FINE, thank you!” She declared abruptly, leading to Rena facepalming herself with one of her paws as she was trying to contemplate what exactly she got into. Or more likely, how did she get into this. All she said was one small comment on how some humans back home drink black coffee and Rarity proceeded to go on a rant on how such a thing, in her eyes, was downright detestable. Even going as far as to call it ‘drinkable black sewage’ as Rena tried to have some grip on her sanity during this.

“Who ish yelling sho early in ze morning? I heard it even through the soundproofing…” Leona muttered, walking in half asleep with the bed sheet wrapped around her and trailing in her wake as she rubbed her eyes.

Which caused the renamon to groan as she looked back at Rarity. Interrupting part of her rant so she could tell her something. “Rarity, you woke up Leona with your ‘black coffee is an abomination’ speech.”

Upon realizing that, she looked to see Leona with the sheets, her eyes widening before looking at both of them. “Oh my. I’m so sorry! That was unladylike of me in order to wake up somepony while expressing my viewpoint. My apologies, Leona.” The seamstress told the coronamon as she tried to make it up to her. “Would you like for me to get you something to drink? Maybe some juice or coffee?”

Leona just waved, not quite hearing what Rarity said but having a pretty good idea and rejected it anyways, she had bigger priorities right now than prefast! And that was… crawling into Rena’s lap and going back to sleep like your average cat with strange sleeping habits.

And when Rarity happened to notice that, she just smiled at Rena and looked happy for them. “Aww… How cute! I think she wants to snuggle with you again.”

Leona’s ears twitched in response to the statement, but deciding she was too comfy and tired she chose to ignore it, snuggling in closer to Rena’s waist instead as her sheet slipped down one of her shoulders. Rena just used a paw to wrap it back over her, but realized that when she was moving it over, Leona sounded like she was… purring? “Oh my… Opal’s going to have some competition now for attention.”

“Great… as if that’s the last thing that I want right now.” Rena thought to herself as she continued to pet Leona. Not wanting to make her upset if she stopped part of the way as she rubbed her ears. Little did she know, as she did this, Leona started to get more into it... practically becoming addicted as one of her legs started twitching oddly and the rest of the muscles in her body simply went slack.

“Heh… That’s just too adorable. She’s like a kitten.” Rarity chuckled while looking at Rena. “Too bad Sweetie Belle’s not here to see it.”

The renamon now looked back at Rarity, a little surprised to hear that as she asked her a question. “Sweetie Belle likes cats?”

“Yeah, when I was a filly, our parents got her Opal as a birthday present. Both of us look after her and make sure that she doesn’t get herself in trouble while we’re working. She used to use the posts that held us some of my mannequins as scratching posts until we got her out of the habit,” Rarity explained, recalling old memories as she looked back to where Leona was at. “I’m sure though that Leona won’t try to give you as much trouble as Opal did. She’s too nice of a creature in order to do that.”

“That’s a big understatement…” Rena sighed, using her spare paw to drink the last of her coffee before looking back at the unicorn. “Thanks for the coffee. I really needed that.”

“Your welcome, darling,” Rarity replied back, taking the cup with her magic and washing it out in the sink. Not even touching the handle for the sink or anything with her hooves and just using magic. “So, should I assume that the two of you slept quite well the other night?”

After hearing that question, Rena was silent… but only briefly as she looked back at Rarity. “Yeah, we definitely slept well. Leona would say the same but… you know…”

“All tuckered out?” Rarity chuckled, which only lead to Rena nodding her head briefly as the unicorn smiled.

“You can say that,” She replied back, before picking up the Coronamon and taking the sheets with her. “Thanks for the coffee, Rarity. I really appreciate it.” As the unicorn nodded her head, the Renamon took Leona and placed her back on the bed. Putting the sheets over her so she could get the chance to rest a little bit longer.

Because right now, Rena was thinking about a few changes to the room that they did not have the chance to get to the other day. Sure, there were a couple of things that they did place in the room yesterday, but one of the more prominent features that the renamon thought Leona would appreciate would be a hidden door in the closet. That way, she could escape to her daughter’s hive whenever Twilight dropped by unannounced.

After examining it, that was when Rena began to think to herself about one… missing detail. “Hmm… everything could possibly work… but unless I know where the location of Lea’s hive is, then this will just randomly send whoever walks through it to some unknown corner of the universe…” The renamon thought to herself, before looking towards the open window. Before squinting her eyes a little as she moved closer. “Okay, who’s there? I can feel you hiding back there…”

Suddenly the smiling face of a certain yellow changeling queen seemed to materialize out of thin air as she dropped her invisibility spell. “Oh dear, seems mother in law found me out~” She then giggled.

“I can feel the life force of a being, even if they try to mask it,” Rena told her in response. “It’s one of the other things I know how to use…” Shortly after hearing that, the renamon then said something else. “Ironically though, I was thinking about you just a moment ago. Can you help me with something Lea?”

“Hmm? What might that be, mother in law~?” Lea asked in a teasing tone, a smile spread across her muzzle.

“Well, on the off chance that Twilight made an unannounced arrival, Leona thought it would be a good idea to have the back of the closet here be used as kind of an escape hatch over to where your hive is so she could lay low until she’s gone,” Rena explained. “It would be helpful because Rarity has actually allowed for us to make ourselves at home here, but I don’t want Leona to think it’s some kind of prison with no escape.”

Lea’s eyes widened before a understanding look overtook her face. “I see~ well in that case, would you like to come see my home? By the way, if its too hard for you to think of, don't worry about concerning yourself with whether my drones are your grandkids now or not~” She said with a chuckle as she then turned around and knelt for Renamon to get on her back.

“I… never really thought about anything like that-” Rena admitted, before looking back at Lea and realizing what she wanted for her to do as she got on. Before saying something to kind of playfully respond back to what Lea was saying earlier. “Lead the way… daughter in law.”

“Hehehe” Lea merely chuckled before lighting her horn, a seatbelt made of her magic then forming around her barel and Rena’s waist as she took a launching position. Startling the renamon as she was trying to understand what Lea was doing. “This is Lea airlines, preparing for takeoff. Please keep all hands away from the changeling’s head and wings at all times and do your nest to hold on! Launching in 3… 2… 1… !” She then said with her voice seeming to take on a buzzing sound while her wings began to flap fast enough to make miniature whirlwinds in the room… before she shot out the window like a torpedo with Rena being held firmly to her back.

When Rena originally thought that they were heading to Lea’s hive, she had thought that the changeling was going to teleport them over there. However… she did not expect anything like this at all.

-one high speed flight over Ponyville and through the Everfree later-

“Thank you for flying with Lea airlines, hope you had a safe trip and have a nice day~” Lea said in her buzzing voice before releasing her magic that was holding Rena onto her back. By the time the Renamon got off, the fur on her tail was standing up all over the place and looked more like a duster as she looked back at her and tried to catch her breath.

“Could you… at least warn me… before doing that next time?” Rena panted, feeling like the wind got yanked out of her on the trip over.

“Well what were you expecting? Teleportation?” Lea asked incredulously. “Were insectoid half-digimon, not unicorns.”

“Yes… I was…” Rena replied back. “Yet, changelings can use magic as well, right? Or am I mistaken?”

“Do you know of any insectoid digimon capable of magic? It's a wonder we can even use basic equestrian magic given our physical makeup.” Lea explained with a raised eyebrow as she slowly began to trot towards a small cave entrance.

Rena blinked for a moment, before looking back at her as she followed Lea towards the cave. “Well, I guess I learn something new everyday now. I knew that you were part digimon and part changeling, but I didn’t know to what extent that was.”

“Well, you're not the first. After all mom didn't even know till I became old enough to mode change, and up until then she was barely able to raise me right given she knows nothing about equestrian biology or magic.” She then chuckled as she remembered something with a blissful smile. “Ahem… anyway, you wished to see my hive?” she then cleared her throat before asking and trying to hide her embarrassed blush.

“Yeah… I was thinking that I would need to figure out the location of the hive so I can input it into the escape door. Can you show me around please?” Rena asked, noticing the blush that was on the changeling’s face, but deciding not to comment on it right now.

“Right, right~ then follow me!” Lea said returning to her usual chipper self as she walked into the cave entrance… and vanished. Rena followed the changeling through the entrance, unsure as to what she would find inside as she continued to move forward. However… what was waiting for her inside was something even she did not realize was actually possible.

Because once she reached the opening of the tunnel, she did not find herself in the real world anymore… but in the digital world instead. Everything around her was part of the digital world’s replication of the Everfree Forest, but the workers were using the tree’s and their surroundings in order to build out homes and important facilities they needed. Miniature farms that grew food were also present too as Rena was trying to take in everything. Even going as far as to almost get distracted when Lea was still wandering around the entire hive.

“T-this is incredible, Lea,” Rena told her, sounding awestruck. “I… never thought such a place like this was actually possible until now…”

“Pft~ you look like you just saw a mountain made of pure gold digizoid or something hahaha!” Lea replied in amusement when she looked back at Rena when she was spoken to. “And this is indeed possible, just took a few years to set up, and were nowhere near finished either…” she then added on while signing towards the end.

“Aside from a couple of trips to the Digital world, the only things that I have seen were barren landscapes and urban deserts,” The renamon replied. “And for you to do something in that much time? Leona must be really proud of you for that. Heck, I’m proud that you were able to do this!”

“Really? It seemed pretty simple to us. Just chase off a couple monochromons and rework the biome of the local area till it was hospitable, before preparing agricultural foundations and rudimentary homes. That was all we really did so far. We haven't even begun work on the main hive since we need to find a source of digizoid to properly reinforce the structure from attackers.” Lea said, sounding like this was just an average walk in the park to her.

“Again, I’ve only been to the Digital world a couple of times so this is all new to me,” She explained to her, before thinking of something. “Now… if Leona were to escape here, what do you think would be the most ideal place to have her land? I rather not have her accidentally set anything on fire like she did once with the Ponyville flea market.”

“Heh, I heard it was hilarious.” Lea seemed to chuckle before leading Rena into a hollowed out tree. “First floor please.” She then said to a changeling next to a control panel before they then began to descend into the ground.

“Hilarious to you… not so much to the pony who was trying to sell cabbages that day.” Rena told her.

“When you see how often that happens in ponyville's across the multiverse, you eventually grow amused with the irony of it all. It's as if the universe has a grudge against cabbages.” Lea explained with a joke her point of view before the elevator stopped revealing a sprawling underground city that was currently made of stone. “Feel free to look around, I need to handle a few things real quick. If you need me just ask any drone to take you to my office.” she then said before flying away.

Taking a moment to look around, Rena thought that Lea’s office would be the best place to have Leona pop up everytime she came here. But before she could say anything, Lea was already gone. Leaving her to have to think out the details herself as she got to work.

Later that day

When Leona eventually rose up from her bed, she found herself looking in a completely empty room with no one else there. Not even Rena was home as she tried to have some sort of understanding as to what exactly happened… and more importantly, what time was it?

Turning to the nightstand, she had a look at the alarm clock that took on the form of a Clockmon as she realized what time it was. Twelve-thirty. When she woke up earlier, it was only a few minutes after eight o’clock. What exactly happened between then and now that would have Rena not be here?

Of course, her train of thought immediately ran off the tracks once she heard Rarity from outside her room. “Oh, why hello Twilight. I really wasn’t expecting any guests over today,” Immediately, the train of thought that she had earlier was replaced with a burning set of rail cars in her mind that was labeled ‘NOPE!’ as she jumped out of the bed. “What brings you to my humble abode this afternoon?”

Leona’s immediate answer to that was to try and bolt through the nearest window. But in trying to do that, all that caused was for her to faceplant into the window as what looked like a purple text box emerged with the words ‘IMMORTAL OBJECT’ emblazoned across the center of it in a bold typeface.

“What the void?” Leona grumbled, rubbing her face and looking at the sign… and then reading the text with a stupefied expression as she also noticed some fine print.

If you can read this, you either have good vision, came across this on accident or threw your face into it. This here sign is a reminder that this window has been enhanced to where it would not break so easily. Meaning it can either keep anypony out or anything in. WARNING, failure to read the fine print will result in head injury… and making you feel like an idiot for not looking at this sooner.

Also, P.S… Your little cuddle foxy is with your daughter right now. I just put this warning on here to mess with you.

Sincerely,

Your friendly neighborhood spirit of chaos.

“...” Leona then gave the sign and its message a stare so blank that she turned into a grey scale bald person in a hero suit for a split second. “Looks like I’m having roast draconequus for dinner again.” She then commented before going with Plan B and opening the window as she launched herself outside. Going on a one mon mission to hunt down the spirit of chaos.

Yet, finding the draconequus was not exactly easy. In fact, her hunt for Discord became more of a hide and seek game. One where she would hear Discord’s voice tell her if she was either getting warmer when she was close to something or colder when she was farther from him. And just that alone made her really annoyed.

“You know what Discord, I think it's time I told you a little secret~” Leona said, her voice sounding erily high pitched as she twitched in a way that would make one think she was having a mental breakdown.

“Hmm… I don’t know… Secrets have put a lot of ponies in trouble nowadays… secret deeds, secret payments, secret meeting with a lawyer from Stalliongrad, you get the gist… Though, I just thought I would try to say hello and help out. Colt Scout’s motto is ‘Do a good turn daily’ so why did you think I helped with the sign?” She heard back, his words leaving her a small bit puzzled. “Also, you don’t seem to be kind of the one for games, so why don’t you come by for a visit? I’m having tea with a dear friend of mine and I think she would be more than open for letting you join us… as long as you don’t make her think you need to be in asylum.”

“So you’re at Fluttershy’s place, and here I thought I would have to break into your house again~” Leona said with a dark chuckle as she then vanished from where she was.

“Discord, what was that all about?” Fluttershy said as she sat down her tea cup with one of her wings while looking back at the Spirit of Chaos. Who had just finished what he called a ‘phonecall’ as he took his paw away from his ear and stretched out his fingers. Straightening up what looked like a tan trench coat and a matching fedora as he looked at Fluttershy.

“Oh this? That was just me getting in touch with a possible new friend. I found out about her after Twilight asked me to help fix up the damage and I thought I would do my good deed for the week by cleaning up a spare room for her,” He replied back. “Though, you might want to help calm her down… It sounds like she has a bit of a fiery attitude.”

As if to accentuate his point, the nearest window to him proceeded to explode into a fiery portal to some netherworld as a dark shadow with glowing eyes and a flame coming from its forehead, wrists and tail tip seemed to materialize amongst the flames. “Oh DiScOrD~!”

“Yeah, let’s not go overboard with the special effects budget. The writers are already having trouble as it is,” Discord told her, snapping his paw as the fiery flames, portal and everything else disappeared, leaving Leona looking back at both her and Fluttershy as her standard rookie form. “Pleasure to meet you too, Leona. I’m Discord and this is-”

Before Discord could finish his sentence, Fluttershy immediately wrapped her forelegs around Leona in a tight hug as the Coronamon tried to squirm out of there like a startled cat. “Oh my gosh, she looks so adorable!!”

“Nya!? Put me down! I am a goddess! You do not cuddle goddesses!” Leona blurted randomly in panic. “Only my fiance can…” she then whispered as if it was a afterthought.

“Try telling that to Cae Cae and Lulu,” Discord replied as he got up and stepped outside the door. “Speaking of which, I needed to go see them. Thank you for the tea, Fluttershy-”

“YoU aRe GoInG nOwHeRe~!” Leona growled, having managed to grab hold of Discord’s tail… in a way that somehow prevented him from pulling free of her iron grip.

And yet, after her yanking it hard enough… Discord’s tail actually came off. Causing the draconequus to sigh as he facepawed himself. “Great… now I have to wait a few weeks for that to grow back… Aw crap…”

It had been only a few moments after Rena got back, finishing what she was working on at Lea’s hive as she came back to the guest room that was their room. However, she found that Leona wasn’t here… and a few moments later, she began to realize what exactly happened.

“Darling… Why is Leona chasing Discord throughout Ponyville?”

Rena, at first, could not believe what she heard… but then after watching the self proclaimed Spirit of Chaos getting chased by a burning Leona, wielding what could only have been at one point in time discord’s tail which was now a flaming club as she left a trail of fire in her wake. And all that did was make her groan. “Dammit Leona… You had one job… and you still couldn’t do that right.”

“Why did I leave my helicopter hat at home!?!” The spirit of chaos spoke up, just as Rena decided it was time to intervene as she threw two crystals to knock the tail out of Leona’s hand.

“Leona, that’s enough!” Rena snapped, causing the coronamon to stop in her tracks as she saw Rena standing in the doorway to Carousel Boutique. Not looking rather happy.

At that moment the flames seemed to sputter out as a dazed expression seemed to come over leona as she glanced between her no longer flaming club, Rena, and Discord. Many conflicting emotions seeming to fly across it as she tried to process the sudden change in situation.

All before Rena looked back at Leona and sighed. “And just when I thought that you had more self control… Yet, I find you wasting your time chasing a draconequus that helped fix Rarity’s house in the first place.”

“Wait, you knew about me?” Discord asked, puzzled. “How-?”

“Aside from the fact that I took some time to read in the archives of Lea’s hive about you, Rarity told me…” Rena replied back, before looking back at Leona with stern eyes and motioning her paw in a manner that meant that Leona needed to get over to her right now.

Much to everyone’s shock, Leona did, and in a manner that made her seem like she had turned into Fluttershy to boot! “Y-yes Rena~?” Leona asked as she nervously glanced up at Rena with an embarrassed blush as if she was a child who had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

“Come with me… I think we’ve had enough trouble for one day,” Rena sighed, having Leona follow her inside before the door to the boutique closed. Around then, Discord then just snapped his talons, putting on what looked like a firefighter outfit with a hose as he looked back at the burning embers that were left over.

“Well, guess it’s time to do another public service!”

“Um… Sweetie Belle?” Spike spoke up as he was walking to Twilight’s castle with Sweetie Belle and her friends. “Why does my digivice say that Leona has an ‘angry fire demon’ mode and that her stamina’s almost out?”

“I don’t know… maybe she was training with Rena?”

Spike thought it over for a moment… before shrugging his shoulders and answering with a simple reply. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

End Chapter 11

12- Jokes on You

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The Fox and the Filly- Jokes on You

“Can somepony please remind me as to why we’re out here in the Everfree again?” Scootaloo asked as she followed Sweetie Belle, Applebloom and Spike along the dirt road that lead out of Ponyville and into the Everfree forest. All three fillies had their saddlebags on hoof and Spike was holding onto what appeared to be a list as they walked through the entrance into the Everfree. “I mean, I get that we are helping out Spike and all that, but why exactly does he need to go into the Everfree of all places?”

“Well, ones of the items on the list of things that Twilight asked for me to get is tea leaves,” the young dragon replied back to the pegasus. “And anytime that I was with Twilight before when she had to run errands, she always gets them from Zecora.”

“Come on now Scootaloo. It won’t take that long,” Sweetie Belle insisted. “Why are you trying to rush? You got somewhere else to be?”

“N-no! It’s nothing like that,” Scootaloo blushed a little. “I was just… Well, today’s supposed to be Rainbow’s day off from training with the Wonderbolts, so I was hoping that today she could give me a lesson or two on flying. Any other time I’ve asked, it’s always been because she’s either too busy or that Spitfire tired her out from practice. So I was hoping that today can be different.”

“Well, if that’s the case, don’t let us hold you back,” Spike insisted, taking hold of the plastic bags that Scootaloo was holding onto in her saddlebag. “We can carry these for you.”

“Spike’s right. If ya want to go find Rainbow, now's your chance.” Applebloom chimed in now. “Besides, we’re almost done here anyways.”

“T-thanks girls! … And Spike. See you later.” Scootaloo corrected herself, before waving her hoof goodbye as she ran into Ponyville to go find her idol. For Sweetie Belle and the others though, this was also seen as a bit of a sigh of relief. Mostly because of the fact that before Scootaloo ran off, someone else wanted to get the chance to come out and stretch their legs for a little while.

So, once they went into the Everfree, Applebloom and Spike both got their digivices out and pressed one of the buttons on it. Letting both Leona and Guilmon come out now as they looked back at their tamers. “Thanks, Applebloom-mon! That place was really uncomfortable.”

“Sorry Guilmon, but unlike Sweetie Belle and Spike, Scootaloo doesn’t know about Digimon at all,” The earth pony replied back. “So if we had you come out when she was around, she would be scared out of her mind.”

“That and we know that if we did let you two out in the middle of Ponyville, who knows what will happen,” Spike added, before turning to look back at Leona as the coronamon was coming to her senses now. Trying to make sense of where she was as the young dragon then asked her a question. “How are you feeling, Leona?”

“Tired… where are we and why have you summoned me? I'm not granting any wishes today.” Leona grumbled as she wiped the sleep from her eyes, having just woken up as she was released from her digivice. “... hey wait, where is Rena? Wasn't I in bed with her?” she then added as she managed to quickly shake the last of the sleep from her mind.

Sweetie Belle, at first, raised an eyebrow for a moment at the Coronamon’s random question. “No… Rena is helping Rarity at the boutique and last time, Spike had you in his digivice,” She explained, before Spike picked up on the second part of the answer. “Since the coast is clear, he and Applebloom let both you and Guilmon out so you don’t stay cramped inside your digivice. Besides, we’re almost done with Twilight’s list of errands to run, so you don’t have to deal with her today-”

“TWILIGHT!? WHERE? I AM NOT GOING NEAR THAT MADMARE!” Leona shouted as she shot off into the forest on reflex, obviously having not been awake long enough for rational thought.

“Shh!!!” Spike said, before beginning to chase after her. “Dang it… I was going to explain that she actually was not here.”

“Well, we better find out where she went before she causes any more trouble-” It was around now that Sweetie Belle stopped moving. Using her hooves to hold Spike and Applebloom back and her magic to hold Guilmon back as well as she realized where Leona just landed. “Oh dear… that’s not good.”

“It burns!!! Get it off me! Get it off!” They heard Leona shout before a whole swath of the bright blue flowers caught fire with a small shriek, the light of the flames blocking out wherever it was that Leona had landed.

“Leona, stop doing that! It’s poison joke!!” Spike yelled, trying to get her attention. “If you squirm around in that, it’s only going to make things-”

Then, the whole entire poison joke patch was lit ablaze as the dragon, unicorn, earth pony and digimon watched Leona burn the collection of flowers until there was nothing but ash. “-worse.”

“M-maybe digimon aren’t affected by poison joke?” Sweetie Belle then suggested, before Applebloom herself decided to charm in.

“Or maybe they’re affected by it more… Because when ah saw AJ and the others fall in the patch, they weren’t screaming their heads off or anything.” She pointed out, recalling what happened the last time she had a poison joke based encounter.

“So wait… are you suggesting that they actually feel the effects that it has on their body and they feel the pain when changes happen?” Spike then asked, looking back to Leona now and feeling rather concerned for her. “Then how in the world are we supposed to help her?! They’re not just going to let us walk into the ponyville spa and let Leona soak in one of those herbal baths.”

“Especially when trying to give her a bath was already hard enough.” Sweetie Belle added.

“Not helping me here,” The dragon groaned, rushing over to Leona as she stumbled out of where the patch was and lying on the ground. “Leona, are you okay? Please, say something!!”

“Did I… burn it all…?” She muttered before passing out, her voice sounding hoarse and very very distorted.

“Yeah you did-” Sweetie Belle then spoke, before looking down at Leona’s body as she saw something begin to change. “Wait, what is happening?”

At first it was hard to notice, but slowly Leona’s fur began to change color… becoming purple with white patches on her muzzle, belly, the tip of her tail, forearms and lower legs. But if that wasn't shocking enough, the flames that would always be seen burning from her forehead and the tip of her tail just strait out vanished like a candle being blown out. Leaving only a large red gemstone on her forehead. While this seemed to happen over the span of five minutes for the two fillies and two dragons… for the unconscious Leona, it felt like an eternity. And sadly after that, the changes still had not stopped. If anything, they just slowed down as what looked like Leona’s bones, if digimon even had bones, began to shift and change size as well as shape. Her body morphing into a form that was almost similar to Guilmon.

As this was happening, Spike’s digivice soon beeped as he heard something from it. “New rookie form recognized; Dorumon.”

“Hunh… that’s new.” Spike added, before hearing some more specific details as to Leona’s transformation. But one thing really happened to catch their attention as the digivice was continuing to speak.

“… Level: Rookie, Type: Beast, Age: Unknown, Gender: Male…”

“Whoa there,” Applebloom soon spoke up as she looked back at Spike. “Ah thought that Leona was supposed to be a girl. Why did your digivice say she was a boy?”

“I don’t know? Maybe it’s the effects of the poison joke…” Spike said, pressing a button on the digivice to have Leona be called back into it as he looked back at the girls. “Let’s go get those leaves from Zecora and hurry back to the boutique. Maybe Rena can help us find a way to reverse the effects.”

Meanwhile…

“So Sweetie Belle and her friends are helping out Spike this afternoon?” Rena asked as she brought over the main sewing kit that Rarity needed so she can finish the new dress she was piecing together. The Renamon had offered to help her in Sweetie Belle’s place so she could be able to be with her friends, though she had no clue as to what exactly they were doing today. It was Sunday, so they didn’t need to go to school and Rena had already helped her partner finish all of her homework last night.

“Indeed,” The unicorn replied back, using her levitation magic to grab hold of one of the spindles in the kit as she began to have a cyan colored string go through a needle she was holding with her magic. “While Twilight is meeting a couple of delegates from neighboring cities, Spike was asked to do a few things for her. So, in order to lend him a helping hoof, Sweetie and her friends decided to help him with the list that Twilight left for her.”

That almost had Rena drop what she was holding as she looked back at the unicorn. “She seriously made an entire list? That just makes me think she’s more of a ‘Princess of Procrastination’ rather than Princess of Friendship if you ask me.”

“Now now… Twilight is normally on top of things,” The unicorn responded, motioning with a hoof to set the sewing kit down on the table as she began to have the thread go through the fabric that she was beginning to piece together. “But since she’s been busy with helping me piece the boutique back together, a lot of essential tasks that she would normally be able to do Twilight hasn’t got the chance to complete those yet. Like getting groceries, apples from Applejack, ingredients from Zecora.”

Rena had almost forgotten that both Twilight and Discord had played a rather big part in getting the Carousel Boutique back together after Sangloupmon had attacked Rarity in her own home. But there was one part that she wasn’t… really familiar with as the renamon looked back at the unicorn. “Who’s Zecora? I haven’t heard of that name before.”

“She’s a Zebra who lives in the Everfree forest who’s an alchemist,” Rarity told her, continuing to stitch the fabrics together with her magic as she was speaking. “She helped us out a long while back when the six of us accidentally stumbled into Poison Joke a few years back. Now we come to her whenever we need any potions or advice in regards to what goes on in the Everfree.”

However, it was shortly after the digimon was done processing what she just heard that Rena giggled a little at that, before looking back at Rarity. “You… seriously stumbled upon Poison joke?” That… had Rarity stop her stitching as she set the fabric down on the couch, before looking back at Rena. Her expression from before was drastically different now as she glared directly at the fox digimon.

“Yeah, what’s so funny about it? The ordeal that I went through was downright humiliating!”

Yet, the kind of response that she heard… was honestly not one that Rarity anticipated at all. “Oh I figured… because the same thing happened to your mother a few months after we were partners,” At that moment, the Unicorn’s expression changed. When she was alive, her mother was not one to talk much about incidents that would be seen as rather… embarrassing or tell Sweetie and her secrets. In fact, the biggest secret that she kept from them was Rena until the day Sweetie Belle found her digivice. “There was a wild digimon in the Everfree that we needed to defeat, but just before we could defeat it, Pearl got knocked back into a patch of poison joke. Needless to say, she… did not like what happened next.”

Curiosity began to set in for the unicorn as she looked back at Rena. “My word… what did happen?”

““Her fur stood up on end. Like if you startled Opal… however, it would never come back down,” To explain it a little bit better, Rena asked if Rarity could cast an electromagnetic spell on a crystal that she conjured with her right paw. Despite the odd request, the unicorn casted the spell and watched as the fur that was on Rena’s body began to stick up when she moved the crystal over it. “Think this… only that it was all over. Head, mane, tail, legs, everything… and it was thicker than a wool rug. Thankfully, we were able to wash it out with the right bath so she could be back to normal.”

Rarity was a bit astonished by that, even after dismissing the spell. But before she could ask anymore questions, they both heard a knock on the door as the two of them looked at each other in confusion. “Now I wonder who that could be…”

“Would you like me to get the door, Rarity?”

“That’s kind of you Rena, but I think I got it.” The unicorn insisted as she opened the door with her levitation magic again. However, when she opened the door, both of them did not expect for Spike and Sweetie Belle to be outside. They knew that they were going to be spending the day with Applebloom and Scootaloo, but if they were honest with themselves, they did not expect them to come home so soon.

That… and also both of them looked as if they were beyond relieved to be seeing them. “Thank Celestia you opened up…” Spike panted as he looked back to Rena. “We got a problem… can we come in?”

“What kind of problem?” Rena then asked, before noticing something. “More importantly though, where are Scootaloo and Applebloom? I thought they were with you two.”

“Scootaloo went to go find Rainbow Dash to see if she could get some flying lessons and Applebloom went back to Sweet Apple Acres with Guilmon,” Spike answered Rena’s second question as the two of them came inside. “However, the problem that we have is not something regarding them, but regarding this…”

That was when Spike got out his digivice and pressed the button that would allow for Leona to come on out into the real world. However, instead of seeing Leona, Rena watched as a completely different digimon landed in the middle of the room. Fast asleep as the renamon looked back at Spike. “Spike, where’s Leona? Don’t tell me you tried changing partners-”

“No, no! It’s nothing like that at all,” He insisted, before taking in a deep breath. “After Scootaloo left to go find Rainbow, Applebloom and I both let out partners out of our digivices in order to let them get some fresh air. However, when Leona asked what we were doing and heard about the errands we were running, she took off and crashed in the middle of a poison joke patch before setting it all on fire.”

That… had Rena’s eyes widen a little. Not just because of the fact that Leona got herself caught up in poison joke, but because it actually had an effect on digimon. She did not know if poison joke could actually affect Digimon or not, but personally steered clear of it on the off chance it did. “And she… turned into a Dorumon?”

“She did more than turn into one. She also’s a guy now,” Sweetie Belle abruptly said, before looking to Spike as he was facepalming himself with an open claw. “What? You know it’s true.”

“Well, this isn’t any problem that a trip to the spa can’t fix! We can just have Aloe and Lotus do the same herbal bath they did for us-”

“I’m sorry Rarity, but we already thought of that,” Spike countered Rarity before she could finish her sentence. “When we got to the spa, they were already closed for the day and I think one of the rules of the spa is that we can’t bring pets. I know that Leona isn’t exactly that… but they might mistake her for one considering the circumstances.”

“And after trying to give her a bath on her first night here, it would be next to impossible to try and give her one now. Even if this one was one that would remove the poison joke.” Rena added on.

“Maybe there can be an exception. I’ll go see if I can find Aloe and Lotus…” Before Rena could say anything, Rarity had already stepped out the door and left the three of them with the sleeping Dorumon.

Leaving them with only one… question that needed to be answered. “So… how exactly are we going to wake her up?”

That… had Spike look back at Sweetie Belle and Rena as he scratched his chin. “I… think I have one possible idea… but we’re going to have to hold her down.”

At first, Sweetie Belle and Rena were not… exactly sure what Spike had in mind, but did so anyways. The unicorn used her magic to carefully grab hold of the Dorumon’s front legs and back while Rena held her paws on the back legs and tail. Spike himself had to hold onto Leona’s neck firmly with one arm, using the spare claw he had to do a countdown from three to one.

At one, he moved to Leona’s ear and said the one thing that would always wake up Leona. “Twilight, I’m home!”

Leonas eyes suddenly shot wide open, completely bloodshot as he awoke with a visible jerk… followed by something launching out of his throat and striking Spike in the gut, sending him flying across the room as the Dorumon began to buck around like a rabid boar that's had its legs tied together. “01000110 01101100 01100101 01100101! 01000110 01101100 01100101 01100101!!!”

“Leona, calm down!!” Rena then said, using her knee to hold down her legs and her left paw to hold her head so that way she… no, he would look at her. “Leona, it’s us… No harms going to come to you. Please, just calm down.”

However, her words were no good as the Dorumon kept squirming around. So instead, Rena decided to act. Bending her head down to Leona’s and kissing her as if she was performing CPR, hoping that this would somehow calm her down.

Surprisingly it worked… albeit a little too effectively seeing as Leona immediately froze from the contact before slowly melting into the kiss as he then tried to return it. When he did, Rena took it for a moment, before placing a finger on his lips. “You okay now? You’re not going to go all ones and zeroes on me now, are you?”

“Ones and zeroes…?” Leona asked as he slowly came to his senses. “Wait, where am I? Weren't we just burning a patch of poison joke? … WHAT HAPPENED TO MY VOICE!?”

“To simplify things… One, you’re back at carousel boutique. Two, you were affected by poison joke as you were burning it. Three… well… you changed into another digimon and your a guy now.” Spike said, showing his digivice and Leona’s stats to him so he would see for himself. “You’ve also been out cold for the last ten minutes.”

“... I need a drink…” Leona groaned, putting a paw to her forehead as she tried to process this.

“I’ll go get some orange juice.” Sweetie Belle replied as she trotted over to the kitchen to get a glass for Leona.

“Leona, this will only be temporary… Rarity’s trying to make arrangements so that way we can get you fixed up tomorrow, but… the only way to fix it involves one thing that you probably will not like… but you’re going to have to grin and bear it if you want to be back to normal.” Rena told Leona as the filly came back in with a glass of orange juice for the Dorumon… as well as adding a plastic straw for him since he was having difficulty picking it up with his small forearms.

“...” Leona simply remained silent, sipping at the orange juice in a daze as he was unable to process his predicament.

“Leona, we’re trying to get you a herbal bath tomorrow at the Ponyville Spa because that’s the only known cure for poison joke,” Rena explained to her simply. “I know that you aren’t exactly… well… open to baths, but you need to do this once if you’re going to be in your Coronamon state again… to be yourself again.”

However, all Leona did was just keep drinking the glass of orange juice until it was finished. Making Rena scratch her chin and looking at both Spike and Sweetie Belle for a moment as she tried to think of why Leona was being so quiet right now. “Spike, Sweetie Belle… Let me keep an eye on… him until tomorrow so that way we can have this situation be resolved.”

Both the dragon and the filly looked at one another, before simultaneously nodding their heads as Sweetie Belle soon spoke up. “Alright. We’ll let Rarity know that you’re keeping an eye on her- I mean him.” She said, before the two of them left both of the digimon alone and went to go find the seamstress.

Elsewhere

In the skies close to Cloudsdale, a pair of pegasi were seen in the clouds. One was much younger than the other as the older one looked to be trying to teach them the basics of flying. Yet, what was unknown to them at the time was that someone else… was watching them.

“You see that one over there? The little one?” A feminine sounding voice asked from behind a nearby cloud. “That filly knows the tamers who defeated Sangloupmon… Well, this is just perfect.”

“Uh… M-ma’am? Are you sure you’re not just-” A second voice was heard, shortly before it sounded like they were hit with a rolled up newspaper. “Ow! Hey, what gives?!”

“That’s ‘miss’ to you now, you little twerp,” The first voice snapped. “Get it right or else I will use you as my personal footstool. You got that?”

“B-but ma- I mean miss… How do you plan on using that filly to try and beat those tamers? I mean, you’re not going to try and corrupt her now, are you?”

“Are you stupid? That’s something that Phantomon would do,” The feminine voice shot back. “Besides, if anything, I would want to see what she knows first… and then, use her as a bargaining chip. Unlike Sangloupmon who revels in battle and Phantomon, who torments his victims and makes them betray their friends, I do things my own way… and the first part of that is to gather information.”

“You sure…? Because they’re not there anymore, Lady Witchmon.” When the first voice peaked out, she soon realized that the two pegasi that she was watching were nowhere to be seen. Something that made her look at the rookie digimon that was her servant and glare at them venomously.

“… You know, if I didn’t have a purpose for you, I would be turning you into pillowcase right now Tsukaimon. So consider yourself lucky.”

“So, how did you enjoy your first lesson, Scoots?” Rainbow asked as they approached the door to her home in Cloudsdale.

“That… was… awesome!” Scootaloo replied back, before jumping up to hug the pegasus that she saw as her idol as they trotted through the doors to Rainbow’s home. “Thank you so much, Rainbow!”

“No problem, squirt,” The cyan pegasus giggled, before looking back at the orange filly and mentioning something else to her. “Though, not to sound like a complete buzzkill or anything, but you gotta make sure and clean up your room. It was a complete mess earlier in the day when I came to check on you this morning.”

“Ugh, okay…” Scootaloo rolled her eyes as the filly trotted into her room, closing the door behind her with a hoof as she began to sort through all the things that were scattered on the floor. She also needed to make sure to make her bed, take out any dirty clothes that were in her room and other household chores as well.

But it was as she was sorting through some of the things in her closet that something… caught her attention. It first happened when she was trying to close the door to her closet, only to realize that the corner of a cardboard box was preventing it from closing properly. “What the hay…?” She murmured, setting the clothes off to the side as she began to look through what was inside. There were several things in here that were from a few years ago, including old comic books, art supplies, and other strange items. But one thing that caught her attention was a small device that was the shape of her hoof as she pulled it out for closer inspection.

“Hunh… is this one of those old school handheld games?” She asked herself. “Come to think of it, I did see that one colt with the pinwheel hat in our class hold something like this too. Maybe if I just…”

The moment that Scootaloo pressed the button in the center of the device, it began to glow as a beam of light shot out a few seconds later. But that wasn’t the only thing that happened. Scootaloo also found herself staring directly at what appeared to be a purple dragon like creature that had bat like wings attached to its arms. There were parts of the creature that were colored yellow along with two stripes of red that went down it’s shoulders as it looked back towards Scootaloo. But even then… that was not what shocked her the most.

That moment… was when the creature spoke… and said the name of her mother. “S-sky drifter? I-is that you?”

End Chapter 12

13- The gang's all here

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The Fox and the Filly- The gang’s all here

The moment that she heard the creature that had just emerged in her bedroom speak, Scootaloo was caught off guard. But the moment that she heard it say her mothers name, that was when she felt a massive chill go down her spine. She had not heard her name in so long, but whenever it was brought up, it just only leads her to remember what exactly happened to her. Many said that she died because of an accident at the weather factory. That something had gone wrong the last time the weather team was trying to get Cloudsdale a rainy season… and there was no real answer to explain what happened.

But this creature… looked at her and said her name not just like any other pony would. This being… saw her as her mother. “S-sky?”

“I-i’m sorry, but I’m not S-sky,” The filly finally got the courage to speak as she looked back at the creature, providing an answer in order to try and calm the fear in its voice. “I-i’m her daughter… Scootaloo.”

“Scoot… aloo?” It asked, tilting its head for a moment. “I… never knew Sky had a daughter… Oh, I-i’m sorry. I forgot to introduce myself.” It then stook out one of it’s claws, which made the filly think it was going to grab her. Only for it to be held up like that as it looked back at her. “I’m Monodramon. Nice to meet you.”

“Mono… dramon?” Scootaloo asked for clarification, getting an affirmative nod from the digimon as she lifted up her front right hoof. Without warning, she felt Monodramon’s claw grab hold of her, before being brought into an abruptive hoof shake before Monodramon let go of her hoof and set it back down on the ground.

“So… Scootaloo, can I ask you something?” Monodramon then spoke up, taking a look around to see all the things that were in Scootaloo’s room. However, there were two… main questions that were on her mind right around now. But first things first… “Where am I…? This place feels like Sky’s home, but it smells very different… and I can’t smell Sky anywhere.”

The mentioning of her mothers name cause the small smile that was once on Scootaloo’s face to drop down. “She’s… gone,” That was the only sentence that she said before looking back at the confused digimon. “My mom’s gone… Along with my old home. Now I live here with Rainbow Dash.”

For a moment, it looked like Monodramon was not responding. But then… out of nowhere, she began to hear the creature talk to himself. “B-but… if that’s true, the how exactly did you bring me out of my digivice? Matter of fact, how did you find my digivice? Was it locked away in some kind of storage container or thrown together with a box of junk from a yard sale. Matter of fact, if that was true, how long was I still inside there for? Has it been days, weeks, years? Did the same thing happen to the tamers of the other partners…”

For almost a good twenty seconds, the creature… who just a few moments ago was too nervous to speak, was now mumbling to himself off the top of his head. Almost like he wasn’t even paying attention to what was going on around him as Scootaloo just stared at him. “Um… I think you’re really taking the whole thing with my mom a little too seriously…” However, even that comment just didn’t do enough to stop Momodramon’s mumbling.

Leading Scootaloo to do one thing. Speak up. “STOP BEING AN EGGHEAD!!”

The dragon like creature flinched, snapping out of his thought process as it blinked for a brief moment. “W-wha-?”

At first, Scootaloo felt a small bit relieved that she was able to get this… Monodramon out of his little trance of his. However, there was one small thing that she forgot to take into account. And that was whoever was outside of her room could hear her. “Scootaloo, are you alright in there? I thought I heard you shouting just now.”

“U-uh yeah. All fine in here! Just kind of had my train of thought stuck while I was working on my math homework!” She spoke up, while also hoping that would be enough in order to get Rainbow Dash off her back for a little while.

“Well… If you say so. I’m going to run out and head to the store. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” She heard the pegasus on the other side of her door respond, shortly before seeing Rainbow Dash take off through the window that was in her room.

Only then did Scootaloo hear something that brought her attention back to Monodramon. “Um… Scootaloo?”

“Yes, Monodramon?”

“You only answered one of the questions I asked you,” He pointed out to her. “Could you please tell me your answer to the other one?”

“Only if you can answer a few of the questions I have.” The Pegasus mumbled back, saying her thoughts out loud and hoping that this newfound figure in her bedroom did not hear her.

Unfortunately though… the opposite happened. “Well, I believe that’s fair,” At first, the filly blinked. She was speaking to herself in a low whisper like tone, so how in the world was he able to hear her? “Scootaloo… Can you please tell me where I am?”

“Well…” She said, looking down for a moment, before raising her head to look at Monodramon. “To know the answer to that, you should know what happened to my mother. Or at least, what I know. What is known is that she died… however, nopony knows what exactly happened to her. Some say that it was an accident at the weather factory gone wrong, but many other ponies think that it happened some other way. But that’s not entirely the point… I’m here because my mother asked for one of her closest family friends to take care of me and raise me if something ever happened to her.”

Monodramon blinked for a moment, before tilting his head as he looked around. “So… this is… the house of one of Sky’s closest friends?”

“Yes. Her name’s Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo replied back. “And if you were going to ask about how I found you… well, let's say that the little thingamajig-”

“Digivice.” Monodramon corrected.

“Thingamajig… was in the bottom of a box of belongings that I had accumulated over the years. Some of the things being from my old home while others were things my mother had me keep,” The filly finished her sentence, just as Monodramon got up on top of the bed and sat down not far from where Scootaloo was at. “Alright… now that I answered your questions, you better be able to answer mine.” Monodramon just simply nodded, waiting for her to ask away.

However, even the question that Scootaloo had was simple… explaining it to her was going to be much harder. “What are you, exactly? Some kind of strange… lizard thing?”

“No, I’m a digimon,” He said, before looking back at her.

“Okay… and what exactly is that? Some kind of collectible toy series that can come to life?” Scootaloo then asked again.

“No, I’m an actual living being… The only reason why I was inside my digivice was that digimon like myself can be stored in them and be in there whenever you are going someplace. Besides, if somepony saw someone like me in public, it would make a scene and-”

“Getting a little creepy here,” The filly cut him off before he could go on another one of his mumbling rampages again. “Monodramon, I know that everything here is all new to you and this whole ‘digimon’ thing is new to me, so can you try to… oh I don’t know, simplify it somehow?”

“Um… I… don’t really know if such a thing is possible… but I can try,” Monodramon replied back, before looking back at the filly. “Are you familiar with other worlds? Hidden ones inside that of the real one?”

“You mean like in those power ponies comics where Masked Matterhorn had to track down a villain through some kind of… pocket realm?” The filly asked, recalling some of the plot elements from the old power pony comic books her mom once bought for her when she was younger. Looking back at the digimon before a new question emerged off the top of her head. “How does this relate to what you are talking about though?”

Monodramon let out a bit of a sigh on that, before looking back at the digivice. Holding it and hitting a certain button that was hidden on the backside of the device. Explaining all of this was going to take a while for him to do, especially since he could only explain it to her in brief segments. Unfortunately, there was one question that Scootaloo could not answer for him.

And that… was what exactly happened while he was asleep?

For Sweetie Belle, today had been a rather strange day for her and her friends. First, there was the fact that Rena had been staying behind in order to help out her sister more and more. Second, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were trying to be nice for a change. Then there was the whole poison joke incident with Leona, which was thankfully resolved. But there was also the fact that just a few moments ago, while she was hanging out with Spike, something strange appeared on her digivice.

Arc detection engaged.

“What the-?” She spoke, looking to Spike as she held out her digivice in her magic. “Spike, are you getting this message that popped up on here just now?”

The dragon stopped for a moment, wiping some of the ketchup off of his face from the hayburger and fries that he was eating as he took a moment to look at his digivice as well. Looking back at hers before asking a question. “Yeah, I got that too… what exactly is that supposed to mean anyways?”

“I honestly have no idea,” The filly replied back. “Though, part of me makes me think that this may be important. Maybe Rena or Leona knows something about it that we don’t?”

“I could ask,” Spike said, pressing a button as he spoke into his digivice. “Hey Leona, can I-?”

“WHY IS EVERYTHING SPINNING IN HERE!?! I FEEL LIKE I CAN SMELL THE COSMOS!!!” They both heard the Coronamon yell, which got a couple of the customers that were in the restaurant staring at the two of them as Spike let out a sigh and pressed the button again. Cutting off communication with Leona temporarily.

“Maybe it would be better if we go somewhere else to talk about this.” Spike said, before turning to one of the ponies that was working at the facility and asking them a question. “Can we have the check, please?”

“You had something pick up on your digivice?” Rena asked once both Spike and Sweetie Belle were back. Though, both of the sleeves that she originally had on were off as the Renamon put down what looked like some thread and a needle.

“Yeah, and whatever it was, it made Leona scream as if it was too much for her to handle,” Spike replied back, pressing a button and letting the coronamon out of the digivice and back on the ground. “It was some ‘arc detection’ thing, and Sweetie Belle thought that you might know what that is exactly.”

“SO much SPINNING!” Leona cried out as she stumbled upon appearing back in the real world before collapsing into a heap. “I refuse to go back in…”

“I had a bad feeling about this,” Rena groaned, looking back at them as she watched Leona try to get herself straightened up. “Not to mention that this isn’t anything new… In fact, this was a feature that the digivice had when Pearl was my partner.”

With two button clicks, a holographic sized sphere with a few symbols began to grow in size, as the fox digimon looked back at her. “This is the Arc Detection System… or the digital worlds version of what some of us would call a GPS back home. It would allow for us to pick up the location of not just another tamers digivice, but also friendly digimon that we’ve encountered by tracing their digital signal.”

“But why is it so small though?” Sweetie then asked.

“Well, it can grow bigger to the point that it would look like it would be all around us… but that’s exactly what its like in the digivice and I rather not have Leona freak out again,” She explained, using her paw to expand one portion of the map as she looked back at what looked to be a series of symbols. One crystal, one fire lion, a loaf of bread, two sabers and a piece of honeycomb. “You can use the symbols here to determine where they are. For example, the crystal and lion here represent both Leona and I, the bread represents Guilmon, the sabers represent Lyall and the piece of honeycomb is where Lea is right now-”

At that moment though, that was when a new symbol emerged on the map. One that looked like an action bubble in a comic book as Sweetie Belle pointed to it. “Um… what’s that one?”

When Rena looked at it, her eyes widened. Shortly before she facepalmed herself. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me…”

“Isn't that your friend Scootaloo’s house that its showing at?” Leona commented as she finished recovering from her little trip inside the spinning map of her digivice.

“Are you sure. I can’t really tell-”

“It is…” The abrupt comment from Rena left Sweetie Belle and Leona a little surprised. “And not only that, but I know him.”

“Know who?” Sweetie Belle asked, tilting her head.

“Back in the day, your mother and I were with two other tamers… Buttercup and Sky Drifter. Both of their partners were originally displaced like me and one of them was the same partner that Apple Bloom has now. However, he doesn’t seem to recognize me or know who I am,” The Renamon told them, letting one a deep sigh. “The other one is… different. And one that might concern me the most give how the later stages of his digivolution is hard to control. That and he’s a bit… socially awkward.”

“What, pray tell, does he evolve into?” Leona asked with nervous sweat starting to form. “Please tell me he isnt… THAT digimon…”

“Well, it depends on your definition of it… But let me ask you this then,” The fox digimon told her as she dismissed the ADS and gave the digivice back to Sweetie Belle. “What’s the one thing that Ryo had trouble controlling over back in Tamers?”

“SHIIIIT!” Leona cried out suddenly. “Why did it have to be Cyberdramon!? Please tell me he hasn't had any encounters with a Zeedmiliniummon like Ryo’s digimon! PLEASE!”

“No, no, no!!” She said, waving her paws as she tried to calm her down. “NOTHING like that… He’s just harder to control when in that form. Though, his personality is quirky… and it can also explain his icon.”

“You mean the comic book symbol?” Spike now asked. “Why?”

“When he was displaced, Monodramon thought that he could use the abilities in his newfound form to be a hero to those around him. He even tried naming ‘techniques’ that consisted of the name of a town or city, followed by the word ‘smash’ at the end of it.”

“...” at this moment Leona’s worry vanished, but instead in its place grew a different kind of look… “Please tell me you're making that up…”

“If I did, I would tell you so,” She replied back, before letting out a sigh. “But no, I’m not making it up. When sparring, he sometimes went off script and instead of saying the names of his attack, came up with other names for it. For example, he called his ‘Beat Knuckle’ attack the ‘Cloudsdale smash!’ and so on. Though, he always got serious when any actual fighting happened.”

“What about that one other thing you mentioned… the ‘socially awkward’ part?” Sweetie Belle now chimed in.

That had Rena scratch her head for a moment before she looked back at them. “Ever had those moments where you are just really trying to focus on something intently? Like if you are solving a really hard math problem and you’re walking yourself through the steps internally?” That had both the unicorn and the dragon look back at one another before nodding their heads simultaneously. “Well, for him, it’s like that… but it can occur whether he thinks of strategies, trying to think of how something makes sense or what exactly he needs to do. He basically mumbles all of it out loud and the more that he does it, the more that he does not realize that there are other individuals that are around who can hear him… It’s something that would drive Leona crazy if she’s forced to listen to that extensively.”

“WAIT, are you telling me, he is like the purple menace?” Leona asked with a twitch.

“What purple menace?” Rena asked. “If anything, he said that he does this based off someone that’s called… Deku, I think it was?” After saying that, the renamon just shook her head as she looked back at Leona. “Who exactly were you thinking about?”

“Oh, by my father’s name… HE IS JUST LIKE TWILIGHT!” Leona shouted with a traumatized look on her face. “Is that ALL he does!? Please tell me he isnt a mad scientist like her, the monologuing is bad enough by itself!” she then seemed to plead as she clung to Rena’s leg, almost as if she was a startled cat that was trying to climb up a tree.

“No… I can vouch that he’s not like her…” Rena said in response. “If anything, he’s more of someone whose one part fanboy and another part nerd instead of mad scientist. Besides, he’s got a kind heart. When he fights, he throws himself in harm's way so other people can be saved… of course, it's been a really long time since I’ve last seen him.”

“... I have been saved!” Leona proclaimed, visibly relieved as she lets herself slide down Rena’s leg and onto the floor. The renamon herself was personally relieved that Leona did not dig her claws into the sides of her leg, or else her whole leg would look as if she got in a fight with Opalesque.

“Okay… but that doesn’t explain one thing,” Spike pointed out to her. “This Monodramon… if it’s someone you knew back then… who could his partner be now?”

“Well… there’s one possibility,” Rena then told her. “The ADS told her that he was at Scootaloo’s house… and now that I think of it…” She took a moment to think about it to herself, before looking back at the others. “I do remember that the last time I saw him, Monodramon said that Sky was raising a daughter. One whose wings had not fully grown yet.”

That… had Spike’s eyes widen instantly. “No bucking way-”

Of course, when that happened, that was when the door to the boutique swung open as Rarity stepped through with what could be considered a ‘mega sized’ hall of shopping goods. “Why now… Who has the audacity to use such profane language in my establishment!?”

“Umm… S-sorry Rarity,” Spike scratched the back of his head as he slowly turned towards Rarity. Who was setting down all of her shopping and taking off the hat that she was wearing today. “We were just talking about something and I was caught off guard by something Rena mentioned so… yeah.”

Even though he was able to apologize to the unicorn, all that did was make Rarity a little more curious. “Oh…? And just what exactly were you all talking about just now?”

“W-well…”

“We were talking about something important regarding Leona and I…” Rena then spoke up, before looking towards where Rarity was. “Something that I was familiar with on the Digivice came up and I was explaining to them how it worked. While also… discussing something else that we haven’t exactly brought up with you yet.”

“Really?”

“Yes… I didn’t bring it up because I was concerned about their family members becoming potential targets by some evil digimon, but I think it would be better to tell you now rather than wait on it,” The fox digimon stretched out her paws and looked back at Rarity, who used her magic to transport all of her shopping into her sewing room before Rena could explain it. “There are other Tamers… I know that you are familiar with Spike and Button being two of them, but there are now two more. And they’re a lot… closer to Sweetie Belle than you might think.”

For a moment, Rarity looked a bit puzzled… but after some time, something began to click inside of her head as a look of realization dawned on her. “Oh… Oh! Oh my, you wouldn’t happen to mean who I think you mean… do you?”

“Based on everything we can tell, I think that’s a most definite yes.” Rena nodded her head. “Not to mention the fact that the two digimon that they’re paired up with are the same two digimon that I fought alongside when Pearl was once my partner. The first one being Guilmon, who’s with Apple Bloom… and judging from what we know, it’s possible that the other one’s with Scootaloo.”

“But are you sure that it’s exactly them?” Rarity then asked.

“Rena said that the digimon that we were talking about, Monodramon, had a pegasus as a partner and that the last time she saw him, she was raising a filly who hadn’t had her wings fully grown yet.” Sweetie Belle told her sister… who was now suddenly beginning to piece everything together as her facial expression made her look like she saw the most horrendous fashion emergency in the world. “Um… Rarity?”

“Give her a moment. I think she’s… processing everything,” Spike said.

“Well, she is certainly taking it better than some people I know.” Leona said, followed by someone in some other dimension sneezing. “Speaking of I wonder if we will ever encounter their token… Nah, its highly unlikely.”

“Token? Like those little coins you use at the arcades?” The dragon then asked again in response.

“I think she means that crystal thingy she helped Rena make sometime back.” Sweetie Belle interjected. Pointing to her partner as the same crystal that Leona helped the Renamon make was now floating in one of her paws.

“Correct little one.” Leona nodded sagely, trying to recover her dignity from earlier. “Anyway we don't need to worry about that stuff for now. What we should worry about is your friend and her partner. If we were alerted to their presence, who knows who else is now aware of them.”

That was a rather fair point. It was possible that an enemy that was much stronger than Sangloupmon was much stronger than them could be able to attack them if they found out about Scootaloo and Monodramon. But… there had to be some kind of way in order to try and get ahold of them. For a moment, it almost seemed like such a possibility was out of reach… but then the fox digimon remembered something as she looked back at her tamer.

“Sweetie Belle, can I see the digivice? I think there’s a way to get ahold of them… but I want to see if it still works.”

The first couple of hours after finding out about Monodramon have been… strange for Scootaloo. Not just with everything that she learned from him, but also learning about how her mother once was his companion. His tamer. It was a whole other side of Sky that she honestly did not know about her.

Right now… she was currently taking the time that she needed in order to get a small nap in. Feeling a bit tired from her lesson earlier with Rainbow Dash as she felt the need to just close her eyes for a little while.

Unfortunately for her… since her digivice was not that far from her… that did not last very long.

“A PHONE CALL IS HERE!! A PHONE CALL IS HERE!!!”

“GAH!!” Scootaloo immediately woke up from her slumber, realizing that her digivice was now beginning to buzz as she looked for the digimon that was once in her room. “Monodramon!! Get in here, the thingamajig is buzzing!!”

“W-wha-!? I thought I said that it’s not a-” When he walked in, a look of horror immediately flashed on Scootaloo’s face. Monodramon must’ve found his way in Rainbow Dash’s closet… because his front claws had torn through the sleeves of the shadowbolt costume she wore for Nightmare Night once. “A-answer it!!”

“Answer what?! And what are you doing wearing Rainbows clothes!?” Scootaloo said, just as more of the costume tore apart and now lied in shreds on the floor. “You know what, nevermind… How am I supposed to-?”

“Press the green button in the center!” Monodramon replied back, which caused for Scootaloo in order to do what she said. What she did not expect next… was for the device to portray a series of holographic images in her room. There were around four figures in total. Two she couldn’t see who they were… but two of them stood out really well to her.

For a moment, everything seemed odd… But then… she heard them speak. “

“This… is new. Rena are you sure this is working correctly? I can't see anything!” Said the orange blur.

“GAH!! W-who said that!?” Scootaloo then asked.

“Yeah… it’s working.” She heard what looked like a two legged fox speak up. But upon hearing the voice, that was Monodramon spoke… almost as if he was shocked by what he was seeing.

“R-rena? Is that you?”

“Long time no see, Mondy,” The fox replied back to his comments. “Listen… we don’t have a lot of time, but we need for you and Scootaloo to come see us-”

“W-what!? Hey wait a minute, how the hay do you know who I am, weird fox lady!?!” Scootaloo asked. Only to see what looked like one of the members of the cutie mark crusaders appear right next to them.

“Let’s just say I know about you from a little belle.”

“Scootaloo, it’s okay… You can trust Rena,” She heard Sweetie Belle’s voice reply speak now. “We know things may seem weird right now… but trust me, you’re not alone.”

“Hold on… you… also have a digimon thingy as well?” Scootaloo asked, before looking to see Spike for a moment with the creature that sat next to him. “Hunh… for a moment, I thought Spike got a burning lion cub pet… I’m really still trying to make sense of all of this though.”

“WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!?” The orange blur shouted.

That had both Monodramon and Scootaloo look completely stunned as she saw Spike trying his best to restrain whatever was shouting at them as Sweetie Belle let out a sigh. All before Monodramon asked something. “R-rena… Where’s Guilmon? Is he with you?”

“He’s with Apple Bloom, but… I think he’s lost his memory. She told me that he only remembers Buttercup, but nothing else…” Rena replied back, before letting out a sigh. “Let’s worry about that later… I think we should all meet up someplace in order for us to help you understand what’s going on. You have any suggestions, Sweetie Belle?”

“How about the clubhouse? You can be able to meet all four of us there-”

“Wait, four… Rena, are you saying that there are two more like us?” The fox digimon replied only with a nod as Monodramon began to process this. “But… that would mean that there are others like us who would end up in the circumstances that we’re in. How are we supposed to differentiate how strong are these new digimon from us? How are we supposed to regain the power that we had back from ten years ago with these new partners? I mean, I feel as if I’m back to square one and really don’t want to accidentally hurt anyone-”

What felt like five consecutive minutes of mumbling was then followed by Scootaloo batting the top of his head with one of her hooves as they heard the fox one speak. “What did I tell you Leona? One part fanboy, another part nervous nerd.”

“Ugh, you were right… Well, when you kids are ready, I will be waiting at the clubhouse. Spike, we are going.” The orange blur groaned as it grabbed spike and dragged him out the door. “I’m getting too old for this.”

“Old? That voice sounds almost like our age though?” Scootaloo added on, only to see Sweetie Belle’s silhouette facehoof herself. “What? I thought it was a compliment.”

BOOM!

“... What in the name of the sovereigns was that?” Monodramon asked.

“You… probably don’t want to know. Look, just come by the clubhouse and we can fill you in on the rest.” Sweetie Belle said, before the fox like silhouette disappeared as Sweetie Belle said one last thing. “Gotta go. Rarity’s bringing some customers to the fitting room. I’ll see you later.”

With that, the call ended and the holographic images were now gone… leaving a startled Scootaloo and Monodramon staring at each other for a moment. The two of them had a lot of questions that they wanted to ask. But unfortunately, they would have to wait on that until they came down to where Ponyville was.

And that… was just about to get more difficult. “Hey Scootaloo, I’m back-” The sound of an all too familiar voice was heard echo around the room, before hearing that same pony ask something. “What the hay happened to my nightmare night costume!?!!!”

“Oh boy…” Monodramon said, disappearing into Scootaloo’s digivice as she grabbed it and attached it to our saddlebag. “If that wasn’t the cue for us to leave, then I don’t know what is! All I wanted was something to keep me warm, not this!!”

“Great… and just when I thought you were going to stand up for me…” Scootaloo mumbled, before peeking her head out of her room and seeing the clothing catastrophe that was playing out right now. Turns out, Monodramon had dragged out Rainbow’s entire wardrobe all across the house as several pieces now had holes in them because of Monodramon’s claws. “Now… how am I supposed to explain this?”

“These tears happened… because Scootaloo accidentally left a window open?” Rarity asked as she assessed the amount of damage that was on Rainbow’s clothes. Scootaloo herself was making her way to the exit to get out of there before they could try to question her on everything.

“Yeah, she said that she was looking for something in my closet, felt a strong breeze and fell forward on my clothes. She tried getting up, but that lead to them tearing apart at the seems-”

The filly was quick to shut the door behind her before making a quick dash for her scooter. Taking off and rushing back towards the direction of the clubhouse while trying to avoid everypony that might’ve crossed her path. Including somepony that looked like her nose was the horn of a rhino than anything else.

When she got there, Scootaloo was quick to ditch her scooter and helmet before climbing up the rope ladder that was let down for her. Once she was up, that was when she found herself with Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Spike and… some colt that she had seen before in her class, but never got his name.

“We’re glad you can make it, Scootaloo,” She heard Sweetie Belle let out a sigh of relief as she looked back at her friend. “I know everything seems crazy right now, but we’re going to try and do what we can to help you understand everything… Though, there’s one thing we need to do first.”

All that had Scootaloo do in turn was raise an eyebrow. Asking one question that was on her mind. “And what’s that?”

“Digital field activate!” A voice shouted from inside Spike’s digivice, just before a sphere energy expanded out from the source and seemed to consume the entire treehouse and a portion of its surroundings as it transported them into a strange mirror of the world they knew. For Scootaloo, this was all a shock to her. But to her friends, this wasn’t exactly new. Leona had done the same thing before when they were training in the cabin all the way up in the mountains, so this was rather familiar to them.

For Scootaloo, as she looked outside the clubhouse, she found that the area around them had become a vast grid-like plane as she turned to Sweetie Belle. “W-where are we!? What is all of this?”

“My partner Leona creating a field in the digital world so we can talk and have our partners introduce ourselves without somepony else finding us,” Spike said as he walked over to the stairs and walked out of the clubhouse. Button and Apple Bloom followed the dragon and once they were outside, each one of them let our their digimon partners. “Thanks again, Leona.”

As Scootaloo stepped down from the clubhouse now, Sweetie Belle was right alongside her. The unicorn took her time as she let her partner out of the digivice, which was the fox like creature that Scootaloo had seen earlier. But now, it was her turn. It was time to let Monodramon see both his old friends… and new ones too. “Come on out, Monodramon.”

The dragon digimon soon emerged forth from her digivice. Looking a little bit nervous at first until he saw both Rena and Guilmon, before finally thinking of something to say. “Uh… h-hi everyone.”

End Chapter 13

14- Catching Up

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The Fox and the Filly- Catching Up

It had only been a few minutes since Leona had activated the Digital Field and to Scootaloo, she already was trying to contemplate everything going on so far. It was one thing for her to find out that some of her friends and classmates had the same kind of device as her, but she didn’t quite think that they would also have these digimon partners too. Or for that matter, have a partner that actually knew hers too. But that was not the point of this meeting. The point of the meeting was for her answers to try and answer her questions to the best of her ability.

“So,” Sweetie Belle’s partner, Rena, was the first one to break the silence as she looked towards Scootaloo and her partner, Monodramon. Keeping her arms to the side and lifting up a paw like she was offering something to them. “I’m sure that the two of you might have some questions for us.” Both the pegasus and the digimon that was her companion looked to each other first, before nodding their heads in unison in response to the renamon’s question. Yet, it was Scootaloo who was the first one who spoke up.

“How… long has this been going on for?” The question was simple, but it took a bit for an answer to be said. Mostly because it was unknown if this was a question that was directed at Sweetie Belle and the Tamers or if it was directed at their partners instead.

Yet, the first one to respond to that was actually Button as Lyall took a seat on the ground and folded his legs. “I think we’ve been doing this for… two months? Does that seem right?”

Sweetie Belle nodded at that, before adding on to it. “Kind of. But remember, Spike and Apple Bloom came along after we found our digivices. So their time as tamers was shorter.”

“As for both Leona and I, we’ve only been here roughly the same amount of time,” Lyall then added on, choosing his words carefully so he did not incite the wrath of the Coronamon that was only a few feet away from him. “That is taking into consideration the fact that Rena, Guilmon and Monodramon were here well before us and who their original partners were.”

“Why don’t we just set the complex details aside for the moment and try to focus on providing the main points?” Rena then suggested to the Strabimon that was her brother, “It would be much simpler than trying to give too much information to process at one given time.”

“Fair enough.”

“Okay, so… let me get see if I can get this straight,” Scootaloo then interjected. “If this has been going on for the last two months, then how are you able to keep all of this a secret? How exactly do you hide something like this from that of Rarity or Twilight for that matter?”

“Oh they know about this,” Sweetie Belle immediately answered that question. “However, aside from them, we try our best to keep the amount of ponies who do know about this to a bare minimum. Not all Digimon are necessarily good, and we don’t want anypony close to us getting hurt again-”

Upon hearing this, that was when Scootaloo’s partner soon spoke up. His tone changing a bit from earlier when he first spoke. “Wait… again? Did something happen?”

Everypony looked at one another for a moment, not sure as to what to say before Rena began to speak once more. “Two weeks ago, Rarity was attacked by a evil digimon called Sangloupmon and ended up in the hospital. She’s fine now, but given the circumstances, we wouldn’t want anypony else getting hurt like that again.”

Scootaloo herself was a bit caught off guard like this. Especially when she personally thought about how Rainbow Dash could be in harm's way. Sure, she didn’t seem to be the kind of pony that would go down without a fight, but the thought of her getting severely injured just startled her.

There was a bit of a pause, but not until one other pony spoke up. That being Applebloom, who was sitting by her partner as Guilmon looked to have been eating what looked like a freshly baked loaf of bread. “Um… perhaps we should have them ask a new question? Something less scary?”

“How about I ask something instead?” Spike then offered as Leona was sitting in between him and Rena. “This one’s for Monodramon. Rena mentioned that you, her and Guilmon used to fight together right? What was that like?”

“Um…” Monodramon first scratched his head, before looking back at the dragon. “W-well, we would do whatever we could back then to protect our tamers and their families. Rena was kind of the leader and role model for the group while we were doing what we could to help her out. Though, a lot of the stuff from then is still a bit foggy and doesn’t add up, like how Guilmon lost his memory or-”

“Mondy, I think that’s a bit much.” Rena insisted, using her paw and lowering it as a visual cue for the Monodramon to take a breath as he looked back at her.

“To be honest, it’s been a bit long since I can remember that… I mean…” The dragon digimon paused, before looking back at everyone else as he tried to come up with a proper way to describe what he was trying to say without putting in too much details. “When I first came here, I was alone. I had no parents and I was scared. Then Rena found me and… well, she was like the ‘big sister’ kind of character that would push others to chase dreams no matter how impossible they might seem.”

“Big sister eh~?” Leona smirked, a ominus chuckle coming from her as she glanced at Rena.

“If I may explain,” The renamon spoke up, noticing that Lyall was looking a bit uncomfortable when Monodramon first said that. “At the time I first came here, I felt as if I was separated from Lyall and in turn, I felt like I failed him since I wasn’t there and that I let him down. After first meeting Monodramon, I felt that if I were able to help him, part of me could forgive myself for letting him down.”

“And just when I thought that you said not to go too much into details.” Lyall replied back. “Besides, what reminded him of me?”

“Both of you were into comics and video games, you were both the same age and had no parents.” Rena summarized.

“Isn't Rena just adorable?” Leona snickered, winking at Rena’s explanation and then turning to Lyall with a disturbingly friendly smile.

“Oh yeah? Look who’s talking-”

“AnyWAYS!!” The dragon that was Leona’s partner interjected, grabbing hold of the Coronamon before she could attempt to charge at the Strabimon. “Scootaloo, I think that there’s a couple of things that I should ask. To start, where did you find Monodramon’s digivice?”

“In a cardboard box that was in my closet,” The pegasus replied back. “Honestly, I thought it was one of those handheld gaming devices like the one Button would play with after school… Though, come to think of it.”

“What is it?” Spike asked.

“Well, now that I’m thinking about it a bit more, some of the things that were in that box once belonged to my mom, Sky Drifter,” There was a bit of silence in the room as she looked back towards Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, before asking a question to both of her friends. “Is that… some kind of coincidence or what?”

For a moment, things stayed silent. But not before Rena spoke once more. “Scootaloo… My partner was Pearl Belle. Her two closest friends were our allies. And one of them was your mother,” The Renamon’s words were a bit of a shock to the pegasus as she looked back at her, before she turned to Apple Bloom. “The same can be said for Apple Bloom’s mother too.”

“Guilmon misses Buttercup…” They now heard Apple Bloom’s partner say, sounding rather sad after hearing that.

“You three are the children of the first tamers of Equestria. And to me, they were the bravest ponies that I knew,” Rena told Scootaloo in response. “Especially your mother. She was the bravest of them all.”

Shortly after Scootaloo said that, there were a lot of things that were going through her head. A lot of it involved trying to picture her mother and Monodramon like they were some kind of comic book duo, like Batmare and Robin. But another thought soon dawned on her. It was now on her to carry the weight of the responsibility that her mother left behind. Yet, even though this sounded rather daunting, she was more than willing to do it.

She did want to be just like her mother after all. “Can you teach me how to be like her? I want to help all of you, and now that I found out that I have a partner like you guys, I feel like I’m part of something amazing.”

Rena looked back at every one of the digimon in the room, before looking back to Leona again as she was still trying to go after her brother for what he said earlier. “Well, I’m glad that you think that way. Yet… being a digimon tamer is not easy. Are you sure you’re up for it?”

“Um, Rena… if Scootaloo embodies anything from Rainbow Dash, its her confidence,” Spike now spoke up. “She just basically told you that she’s up for anything.”

“Okay, but it’s not just me that we need to ask,” She replied, looking back at a particular Coronamon as she spoke up. “Leona’s the one who made the digital field. I think it would be best to ask her whether or not she’s okay with us doing anything in here so that way we don’t make a mess of anything.”

“Hmm? Oh, go ahead. It's not my house the field is in, so feel free… And Spike, the sooner you let go, the less your going to hurt in five minutes.” Leona said as she stopped struggling.

“Only if you don’t try to go after Lyall and give Scootaloo the wrong impression of you,” The dragon retorted. “We’re trying to give a positive impression and I don’t think what you were going to do counts.”

“Heh, she reminds me of Endeavor.” Monodramon chuckled. Something that went unnoticed by Leona as she was primarily focused on Spike in that moment.

“Spike, need I remind you I used to be a being that could take control of the sun from my Celestia at a whim? You are only my partner because this universe decided to hijack control of my Digivice and give it, and thus my soul, to your tiny claws...” Leona said with a warning smile, the flames on her body seeming to absorb heat rather than create it.

“Just please take a breath and sit down-” The moment that those words were said, Leona immediately dropped to the floor. Face planting into the ground as he looked back at her. “Not what I meant, but… Wait, how did that just happen?”

All Rena did was give off a shrug as she looked back to Scootaloo and her partner now. Shortly before Sweetie Belle joined them as she carried her digivice around her neck. “Anyways… How about we get started? Monodramon, I know that Scootaloo has her digivice, but does she have the Digimodify cards that Sky used to have?”

At first, hearing Rena say that just puzzled the pegasus filly as she looked back at her. “Wait, cards? Since when was part of this some kind of children’s card game?”

“That’s the first thing I asked!” Sweetie Belle spoke up.

“I do have them,” Monodramon spoke up, before what looked like a deck holster materialized as he handed them to Scootaloo. “And don’t shrug this off. These are actually important.”

“Yeah, these cards, if you use them with your digivice at the right time, can modify and strengthen your partner,” Sweetie Belle then replied back, before finding a card and giving a demonstration, sliding a digimodify card along the side of her device. Activating the ‘Twin Sickles’ card before Rena was seen holding a pair of scythes that resembled the sickles of a Snimon. “Some can even have your partner digivolve into much stronger forms with enough practice. Heck, Spike’s even done it before-”

The moment that they turned to look at Spike, that was when Leona groaned as she pulled her face out of the floor. “Spike, I am going to give you five seconds to escape or apologize…”

“Um… I’m sorry?” Spike said, confused as to why he needed to apologize while also trying to pay attention to Monodramon and Rena.

“Leona, don’t try to chew him out. He’s just as confused as the rest of us are,” Rena told her in response. “Besides, we’re trying to help Scootaloo here. Not scold Spike.”

“But my face hurts!” Leona mewled, visibly upset. “And I am tired of being his pet…”

“You’re my partner. I don’t see you as a pet,” Spike replied back, before rubbing the top of her head. “Your someone who doesn’t let anypony hold you back. Though, it doesn’t give you the right to immediately get angry with them just because they said something you didn’t like.”

Around this time, Rena decided to turn her attention back to Scootaloo. “In any case, we should start by letting you test your standard abilities and skills in your rookie form before trying anything else.”

“Alright! I like the sound of that!” Monodramon replied back, before looking back at Rena as he scratched his head. “So… Am I doing a practice match with you or someone else? Because its been a while since we’ve last done something like this, you have more combat experience, I haven’t had the chance to practice in such a long time…” All of these things began to come off as a constant state of mumbling as everyone just watched him speak out loud. This happened to go on for a few moments, with no interruptions whatsoever as they all just watched him mumble like crazy.

That was, before someone else interject. “I’ll do it.” That had everyone else turn to Lyall, who was stretching out his arms and legs before walking over. “Rena’s been doing a lot recently, so I’ll go ahead and give it a try.”

“Okay, but how-?”

“Let’s make this simple,” He said, before looking back at his partner as Button now stood in front of where Sweetie Belle was. “You against me, no cards or digivolutions, just everything you know in your rookie form. Sound okay to you?”

Of course, hearing that had Monodramon’s look of uncertainty quickly change to one of eagerness and determination. “Alright. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Straight out the gate, Monodramon charged at Lyall to the point that he barely enough time in order to protect himself from the incoming attack. Knocking the Strabimon back a few feet as he looked up towards his opponent and attempted to counter his next attack as the two of them began to trade blows with one another. Lyall with his paws and feet while Monodramon attacked with his claws, wings, head and fire breath.

As the fight was going on though, Leona sat nearby where Rena was and also was quite curious about something that the Renamon happened to say in that moment. “Oh Lyall. You have no idea what you have gotten yourself into.”

“I’m confused, what is Mono talking about? Aside from the obvious speed advantage due to being a wind dragon.” Leona asked Rena curiously.

The fox digimon looked back at the coronamon for a small moment, before looking back at Monodramon as he looked back at him. “It’s not just being a wind dragon. When he trained with Sky, he primarily focused his abilities on speed and strength. Not to mention that he’s not like most Monodramon,” Rena explained. “He has a certain gimmick. He can still pull off skills like the rest of us can, but for him, if he’s able to hit his opponent a few times first, his next skill would deal more damage than normal. That and he sometimes limits how much power he has overall. Just guess how much percent he’s using right now. You’ll be surprised.”

“Do I look like a scouter to you? How am I supposed to guess that?” Leona asked with a deadpan. “Just tell me.”

All Rena did was lift her paw and held it open. Stretching out her fingers to see if Leona could get what she was trying to say. “Five percent.”

That had Sweetie Belle, who was not far from the two of them, turn around as she looked back at Rena. “Wait… he’s only using five percent of his overall strength? Why?”

“Monodramon has learned that if he goes all out immediately, he would just end up hurting himself and draw backlash. So, he starts small and then gradually increases his power over the course of a fight. And this is only in his rookie form,” Rena told the two of them. “If Lyall is barely holding his ground now… then he’s not going to last another few minutes when Monodramon decides to use more of his power. But he can’t go over ten percent without using a digimodify card-”

“Licht Bein!” Both of them turned their attention back to the fight at hand as Lyall attempted to attack his opponent with a crescent kick. One that had pure light channeled into it as he went directly for Monodramon’s head. Much to his surprise though, he was caught off guard when the Monodramon sidestepped to the right and avoided his opponent altogether. Which was followed by the dragon digimon’s claws curling into a fist as he punched Lyall with an uppercut with enough power to send him into the air.

But Monodramon was not done. Not yet. Using his wings, he quickly took flight. Reaching to the same altitude as his opponent before going into a forward somersault. “Canterlot…” As the back of his body circled around, Rena and the others watched as he channeled his energy from his attacks into his tail as it slammed over Lyall’s head. “SMASH!!”

The attack connected against the Strabimon and with it, sent him plummeting into the ground. Causing a crater to form where it landed and the shockwave from it to almost blow Leona off of the floor alongside some of the other Tamers. All of them were shocked by the brief amount of power that he displayed, but Rena kind of expected this. She remembered him doing the same move to her in a sparring match that they had when Pearl Belle and Sky Drifter were still their partners. So to her, she was quite impressed. It may had been several years since they last met, but his skill did not falter. If anything, Rena thought it actually improved.

“What just happened?” Leona asked, using one of her fingers to scrub the inside of her ears to try and get the ringing to stop.

“Remember when I said that after hitting his opponent more than once, his next attack or skill becomes stronger?” Rena then asked, to which Spike and Sweetie Belle nodded even though Leona was confused. “Well, that was a demonstration. Monodramon calls these attacks ‘Smashes’ and… it's a quirk of his to have different smash attacks named after different cities. He told me he got the idea from a manga where a couple of the main characters did the same thing.”

“So you can say that he… smashed his face in?” Spike asked, only for the others to look at him with a few deadpan expressions as the dragon facepalmed himself. “Oh come on you guys, that wasn’t supposed to be funny.”

Of course, the one person who would not consider that as funny… was the one on the receiving end of Monodramon’s attack as Lyall just lied there in the crater. Pain beginning to surge through him now. “Ow, MY EVERYTHING!!!”

Leona slowly burst into maniacal laughter, enjoying the pun that her partner made. That as well as Lyall’s combined suffering. “Ha! Enjoying your daily dose of karma, kiddo~?” She then called out to him. Which was only met by another painful groan as Monodramon began to scratch the back of his head. Looking at Leona and the others, along with Scootaloo, like he did something wrong.

“I… might have overdone it just a little.” He admitted, before looking towards Leona and Rena now. “Sorry about the crater… and him.”

“Don’t mind my brother. He’s a lot like you, but always kinds of gets himself in bad situations based on his actions,” Rena insisted, before pointing to the ground. “And I think the crater should repair itself rather quickly. Unlike my brother’s self esteem, that might take a bit more time.”

“Oh come on, Rena! Seriously?!”

“Think of it this way,” Rena looked to her side to see that the Coronamon was speaking up now. “You take the smack talk or I remind you how I, a girl who is half your size, in my weakened state, has repeatedly beaten you to a pulp~” Leona smirked before walking over and patting Monodramon on the head. “And you’re fine kiddo, mind your manners and I will gladly treat you better than I treat him.”

Monodramon just nodded his head briefly, before going as far as to hug Leona as a way to say ‘thank you’ before returning back to Scootaloo’s side. As for Lyall, Rena had Button activate one of the digimodify cards called ‘Heaven’s Charm’. It was based on a move that the ultimate digimon called AngeWomon would have where it would wrap its allies in holy light and not only restore stamina, but also heal abnormal conditions. In the context of the card, it would heal part of Lyall’s injuries while also restoring some of the stamina that got knocked out of him earlier.

Of course, it didn’t mean that Lyall’s injuries were fully healed. Just enough for him to stand up before asking Button to let him back in the digivice so he could recover some more. Which left only four digimon now as Leona was now with Guilmon, Monodramon and Rena as well. Of course, to Leona, the one thing that was still stuck in her head was how Monodramon showed his thanks just a few moments ago. Yet, that was only minor in comparison.

“I… uh… wha…” Leona sputtered standing where Monodramon had hugged her, visibly confused and unable to process what just happened.

“S-sorry. I just… was told that actions speak louder than words and…” At that moment, Monodramon was fidgeting a bit with his claws as he looked back at her. “I just wanted to show how much I appreciated what you said.”

“Not how I would’ve done it, but I think we can pass on that,” Rena replied back, touching Leona’s shoulder to get her to snap back to reality before looking back to Scootaloo. “So, now that that’s done, what should we move onto next?”

“Well, perhaps you can tell me more about what’s going on? Monodramon already covered some things like what the digital world is and you showed me how fighting between digimon happens and what not. That and I know that we can’t exactly cover everything right now,” Scootaloo took a pause for a moment, before looking back at Rena and Sweetie Belle now. “But why did you guys decide to talk about it in here instead of in some place like the clubhouse?”

That question even had Sweetie Belle look up at her partner as well. She was curious as to what was the reason for going as far as to have them meet in here in the first place, all things considered. As for Rena, it felt like the right time in order to be able to explain everything. “Remember when I mentioned that there was a Digimon that attacked Rarity and sent her to the hospital? Well, even though we beat him, before he disappeared, he said a few words that have been stuck in my head ever since then.”

“Sangloupmon said something?” Sweetie now asked, looking back at her partner with a raised eyebrow.

“He said ‘the phantom comes for you now’ just as he became nothing more than data. But I’m now beginning to think that it's more than just a vague threat,” The Renamon explained to everypony and every digimon that was in the room with her right now. “I’m beginning to think that he’s referring to someone that he was working for. And with Sangloupmon gone, they might be focusing more of their efforts to attacking us in retaliation.”

“So you… used the field…” Apple Bloom now spoke up, trying to see if she could figure out why she had Leona put up the digital field in the first place.

“Because it would be the safest way for us in order to be able to help Scootaloo and talk about this without having to worry about any digimon trying to spy on us and tell them where we are.” The Renamon replied back.

“Well, it's certainly one of the most probable methods. Aim for when your enemy has their guard down and they feel safe before attacking them. I had used that method myself back in my golden days. War is never pretty but you get used to it after time…” Leona rambled as she tapped her chin.

All of that lead to Rena letting out a sigh as she looked back at her. “Yeah, but there’s one problem with that. We’re up against someone or some digimon that we don’t even know much about, but they only know about us. So we’re at a bit of a disadvantage here.”

“Good thing we have my Daughter then.” Leona chuckled as she rubbed her paws together. “They think they can hide in the shadows unnoticed~? Well not for long, because we're going to smoke them out~”

“You’re being way too optimistic about this,” Rena replied back as she looked back at Leona. “You do realize that we can only digivolve to our champion levels right? What would happen if we try to ‘smoke them out’ and we realize that they are an ultimate level digimon? Or Mega for that matter.” Around now, Leona noticed that Monodramon was shaking a bit. Almost as if he was scared of something.

“Hey Mono, you ok? Your shaking quite a bit over there.” Leona commented, avoiding Rena’s question for now.

“Oh uh…” Monodramon looked back at her, before looking away nervously. “W-when Rena said ultimate, I just… uh…”

Before he could answer more, Rena just tapped Leona on the shoulder and looked back at her. “Hey, it might be possible that he’s not exactly comfortable with the last time he was in his Ultimate stage. Let’s not try to push him on the subject. It’s kind of… personal.” She whispered.

“If that is the case then its fine. I won’t pry, though given how things look from where I am standing, I have an idea of what he might be afraid of.” Leona stated, matter of factly. “So, do you have any other questions… what was your name again?” She then said while turning to the pegasus that was next to Monodramon.

“Scootaloo.” She replied back. “Though, I have two questions. One… If our lives are possibly in danger, and we know that they could go after family because this other guy did so with Rarity, shouldn’t we do something to keep the others safe. And Two, though this might be a bit of a personal question… why do you somehow remind me of Diamond Tiara?”

“I think I forgot, but was that the pink filly with the hat that matches her name?” Leona asked. “If so, then I have no clue why. I'm just a former ruler of an alternate world reduced to a child like state and taking refuge in this world after my own had been destroyed.” she stated with a oddly disinterested shrug.

“Well, she does kind of have a bad habit for stating things like she’s a know-it-all-”

“And let’s just stop right there,” Spike interjected. “Perhaps we should answer that other question instead? You know, about how we’re going to make sure that nopony else gets hurt and ends up in the hospital like with Rarity?” His question was followed by silence and Leona just staring blankly into space as they waited for her to say something. But after a few moments, the dragon that was her partner just let out a deep sigh. “You don’t have a plan, do you?”

“W-what are you talking about?! Of course I have… well… part of a plan…” Leona said, trying to shrink away from everyone’s gazes. Of course, despite her best efforts to do so, her response to Spike’s question soon had another question surface. This time it was from Rena as she and Sweetie Belle approached her.”

“How much is ‘part’ of a plan?” Rena then asked her. Curious to see how the Coronamon could act under pressure.

“Uh… about twelve percent I think?”

All her answer did was cause everypony to stare at her for a moment… all before two of them broke out in laughter. Those two being both Guilmon and Apple Bloom. “T-that’s not a plan at all!!”

“It’s barely even a concept.” Scootaloo added on, while Monodramon just looked a bit puzzled as the Coronamon was beginning to look kind of nervous.

“H-hey! Age and wisdom aren't the same thing you know!” Leona whined, her body becoming multiple shades redder as she gave a pouty face. “And on that aspect, you all should show respect to your elders!”

“Who said that they were trying to disrespect you?” Button said, before looking back at his digivice as it chirped for a small moment, before looking at it. “And Lyall says that its at least better than eleven percent.”

“Well, at least we have something to go off of,” Rena replied back, before looking at Leona. “Right now, it's all we got. It’s a rough draft, but I’m sure that if we put some more thought into it, we’ll have all of a plan ready for the next time we encounter another digimon.” Though, around the time that she finished that sentence, Rena began to notice that Leona was just standing in place. Almost like she was frozen there.

“Um… is this normal for her, Spike?” Scootaloo now asked, sounding a bit concerned as the dragon looked back at his partner. Waving a claw to try and see if she would react, but nothing happened.

“Is she buffering or something?” Monodramon now asked, thinking that she was acting slow like a computer that had a rather bad internet connection.

“I think she’s having trouble comprehending the fact that my brother actually supported what she was saying,” Rena now sighed, shortly before walking towards the Coronamon and getting down to her level. “With how much she despises Lyall, she probably sees him actually agreeing with something she said as a foreign concept.”

“But it’s not from outside Equestria though…” Sweetie Belle then said, which, had Rena briefly turn around for a moment as she looked back at her.

“Sweetie Belle… Have you and your friends been taught in class about words that have more than one meaning?” All that did was have the filly nod her head, before she looked back at both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. After a short while, all three of them collectively began to realize what Rena meant by that. “Foreign may mean from another country, but it also means anything that’s strange and unfamiliar.”

“So… she’s unfamiliar with praise from Lyall?” Button then asked, before looking back at Spike and the others. “Okay, but if she’s frozen like that, how are we supposed to get out of here? Mom wants me to be back home by dinner.”

Rena sighed, putting a paw close to Leona’s head and snapping her fingers. Hoping that the sound of it would snap the Coronamon back to reality.

“Huh, wha? Where am I?” Leona asked as she looked around blinking, visibly confused.

“Still in the digital field with us,” The renamon told her, letting out a small sigh of relief. “We were going to ask if you could lower the field so we could return to Ponyville, but you spaced out on us.”

“Oh, uh, sorry…” Leona muttered embarrassed as she collapsed the digital field around them. “Anything else I can do for you?”

“Well, for the most part, I think we got everything that we needed to do out of the way,” Rena replied back as Monodramon and Guilmon returned back to their digivices, just before Sweetie Belle and her friends began to go back into town. “What about you? You did change a few shades while we were in the field.”

“I…” Leona started to talk before taking on a thinking pose. “I am not sure what is going on, just been feeling funny lately i guess.” she then replied with a shrug.

“Define ‘funny’. Because that could mean a few things and I want to make sure you’re doing okay,” Rena then said out of concern. Leona merely shrugged, not sure how to explain. All Rena took that for was just that she was unsure what it was, so instead, she had Leona jump onto her shoulder as she looked back at her. “You know what? Let’s not worry about it right now. If you feel anything else though, let me know and we’ll do what we can to help, okay?”

“Alright.” Leona replied as she hugged Rena. The renamon, in turn, hugged back as she kept Leona on her shoulder and began to walk back over to Carousel Boutique.

Meanwhile…

For the digimon named Witchmon, she felt that she was in a rather tight spot. Originally, she and her servant, Tsukaimon, were doing reconnaissance on a filly who just happened to know the tamers who were able to take down Sangloupmon. But just before they could make their move, they were called back by their boss to return to the base in the digital world. Something that Witchmon was not entirely too thrilled about.

Their bosses hideout was in an abandoned castle, one that was an exact replica of the ruined castle of the twin sisters in the Everfree Forest. Originally, their whole group was set up in a underground city. But as of a few months ago, when a massive hive of what looked to be changeling-digimon hybrids lead by one that looked to be part cannonbeemon just showed up and took over the place, they were forced to relocate and take everything that they could with them. Destroying any evidence of their presence there before disappearing.

Of course, this also meant that Witchmon’s boss had become rather irritated over the last few months. And as both her and Tsukaimon entered their bosses quarters, they could see him floating over by an opening in the wall as he looked out into the forest. He had already acknowledged their presence, but instead of addressing her, he just spoke as a few rays of light reflected of the blade of his scythe.

“You know, Witchmon… I’m beginning to believe that those who serve me don’t understand what I pay them for.”

Tsukaimon, upon hearing this, just tilted its head. “But, you don’t pay-”

“Allow them to live for,” He corrected, turning around as he began to lower himself down to the ground. “First, we were forced to abandon our old base of operations when it was taken over by those… what were they called again?”

“You mean the hybrids?”

“Yes, those,” Their boss nodded. “Then we find out that from these new tamers, two of them are the children of the ponies who were the original tamers several years ago. And not to mention the fact that Sangloupmon’s dead,” As he approached Witchmon, the light in the room now revealed the digimon that was speaking to her was Phantomon. The same one who she had talked about with Tsukaimon earlier in the day. “I’m sorry if I sound blunt and vulgar, but if this shit keeps on going any further south, we’re going to end up hitting digi-mexicolt.”

That was definitely not what Witchmon expected. Phantomon was not normally known for losing his composure or referring to vulgarity in tense situations. But with all the developments that have been happening in the last few weeks, it was no wonder that he was angry right now. “Well, what would you like us to do then?”

“Well, what I would like for you to do is to straighten up your hat, tighten the grip on your broom and stop flying around the place like a timid coward not doing anything,” He ordered, glaring back at the Witchmon that served him. “Every moment that you are just floating around and doing nothing is another wasted opportunity. I want for you and that fluffy slipper that you call a companion to actually take action. We are long overdue on retaliating against those tamers for what they have done to our operations. Now, it's time we give them a dose of payback. Do I make myself clear?”

All Witchmon and Tsukaimon did was just stare blankly for a moment. Before both of them soon nodded their heads. “Yes, sir.”

“Excellent,” The reaper digimon replied back.“Now, out of everything that we know so far, our scouts have only reported on finding four tamers so far. Two of them being the children of the original tamers that defeated my master a long time ago. If they are strong enough to the point that they were able to take down Sangloupmon so easily, then that’s a problem for us. I want you to deal with them however you see fit.”

All that did was have Witchmon grin menacingly as she nodded her head. “With pleasure~”

End Chapter 14

15- Which Witch?

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The Fox and the Filly- Which Witch?

Out of all the likely things that Rainbow Dash had wanted to do today after coming back home, the last thing she expected herself doing was having to go over to Rarity’s. Not just for a simple talk amongst friends or something like that, but for having to fix something that the unicorn had worked tirelessly on when she was first working on it. Of course, she had only worn the dress that the seamstress made for the Grand Galloping Gala a couple of times. But under strange circumstances, pieces of the dress were now shredded. Almost as if a monster ripped through it with their claws.

Then there was Scootaloo. The filly’s overall reaction to her coming home to find the dress and her reason as to why it was like that did not add up. She was no Applejack, but part of her felt that Scootaloo was trying to hide something from her. And it was something that her friend seemed to notice. “Dear, is something bothering you?”

“Hunh?” Rainbow asked, looking back at Rarity as she tried to regain her focus after the unicorn snapped her out of her train of thought. “I’m sorry, what was that Rarity? I didn’t quite catch that.”

“Darling, something clearly appears to be on your mind,” The unicorn replied back, guiding a new thread through the back of her sewing needle as she prepared to start sewing up some of the minor cuts. “Would you like to talk about it?”

All the pegasus could do was let out a deep breath, before looking back to her friend. “I’m not sure why, but something doesn’t seem right with Scootaloo. I mean, I can’t shake the feeling that she’s either trying to hide something from me or that she’s not entirely being truthful. I’m no Applejack, but something about the whole ‘window’ story just doesn’t seem right.”

“Well, she did seem really sorry about what happened, darling. That isn’t something that you can just fake.”

“I know but…” Rainbow let out another breath, looking back at her. “When I look at the dress again, the damage looks less like something that her hoof would’ve done and something that looks like the claws of a manticore or some other monster ripped through it,” As she said this, the pegasus began to imitate a claw swipe from that kind of beast. Just to give her friend an idea of what she was thinking. “I mean, it made me think about the kind of claws you would find on that one creature that lives here with you.”

“Rena would not even consider trying to damage something that she knows belongs to one of my friends, Rainbow. That’s just absurd.” The Unicorn quickly retorted, pausing for a moment to say that before she refocused her attention back to sewing.

“I get that… though, there’s no way in Tartarus that she’s the only one of them here right?” That lone question from the pegasus had Rarity pause. It was around that time that she began to realize something. Her friend had no idea that Rena was not the only digimon that was here. But how could she be able to explain such a complicated subject to her? Rena was one thing, but everything that came afterwards? How could she explain all of that to her, including the horrific experience she had with that foul beast-?

“Uh… hello? Equestria to Rarity? Are you there?”

The question from Rainbow snapped Rarity out of her personal train of thought as she looked back at the pegasus. “Oh sorry, my apologies. What was it that you were asking?”

“I… you know what, never mind,” Rainbow shook her head. “I might just need to clear my head a little. When would you have this fixed by?”

“If all goes well and if I don’t have any sudden last minute orders, then perhaps I’ll be done by tomorrow,” The seamstress now told her friend.

“Alright. Thanks for the help, Rarity. I owe you one.” Rainbow replied back, just as she was beginning to make her way towards the door. But as she was about to open it, she heard her friend say something to her.

“Hey Rainbow? If there’s something that you wanted to talk about… like anything at all, feel free to come by.” The unicorn told her, looking towards her friend now instead of the dress that she needed to repair.

In Rainbow’s mind, hearing those words from the unicorn felt weird to her. Especially since Rarity was… well, not acting like how Rarity would normally talk to other ponies. But to the pegasus, the only thing that she did was just nod her head, before stepping out and looking to find Scootaloo so they could go back to Cloudsdale and return home. It took her a little bit, but she happened to find Scootaloo just as she was waving goodbye to her friends.

However, what Rainbow did not notice in that moment was that something was hiding out in the nearby trees and was waiting for her to leave the Carousel Boutique. “Lady Witchmon, both the orange filly and the rainbow maned pegasus are heading back towards you right now. They should be arriving soon.”

“Excellent! And just as I was finishing the final preparations too. My my, this plan is going better than I thought~” The digimon in the trees heard the voice of his master speaking to him telepathically, while also rolling their eyes at the tone of voice she used. “Return to me at once! We don’t want to spoil the surprise for our guests,” That was followed by what sounded like a seductive giggle as the Witchmon began to speak to herself. Much to her minions dismay. “Oh, I'm going to have so much fun forcing that little runt to turn against her friends and do my bidding~”

All Tsukaimon could do in that moment was just let out a deep sigh, rolling his eyes before speaking again. “Right away, my lady.”

“So how was your trip to Rarity’s?” Scootaloo asked Rainbow once they landed safely in cloudsdale and began to make their way back to Rainbow’s home. “Is your dress going to be okay?”

It took a moment for Rainbow to process the question. Mostly because it seemed like Scootaloo had asked her out of the blue. But after a couple of seconds, she finally had an answer. “Yeah, the damage wasn’t really that major. She should have it fixed by tomorrow if we’re lucky,” That response lead to Scootaloo letting out a sigh of relief as Rainbow looked back to the filly and asked her a question that she had. “How were your friends?”

“They were alright,” Scootaloo shrugged. “Just wanted to say hi real quick while I was waiting on you-” The filly stopped speaking as she looked towards the front of Rainbow’s home. Noticing that something there did not seem right as she looked back to the pegasus. “Rainbow, did you forget to lock the front door?”

“What do you mean-” Rainbow never got the chance to finish the question. Because when she turned to see the front entrance of her home, a chill went down her spine. The front door was left hanging open. Not like if she had forgotten to lock the door, but more like if somepony had forced their way inside and broke into their home. “Scootaloo, I need you to stay close to me okay? Whoever did this could still be here.”

The filly could only nod as the two of them approached the door. But as they made their way inside, something did not feel right. Nothing looked to have been damaged or taken. In fact, everything looked exactly the same way that they left it earlier. But Scootaloo could not shake off the feeling that something… or more likely, someone was here. Waiting for them to come through that door.

“Hunh… maybe Derpy was here to drop off something and left the door open on accident,” Rainbow sighed as Scootaloo went to her room to drop off her saddlebag. The filly though, could not let go of the feeling of something still being in the room. So, she kept her digivice with her under her crusader cape just in case. “Would you like something to eat-?”

SLAM!!

The moment that Rainbow had let her guard down, a strong gust of wind blew through the room. Slamming the door shut and locking it in place. “Welcome home, my dear ponies~” An ominous voice echoed throughout Rainbow’s home. It made the fur on the back of Scootaloo’s neck stand up, prompting the filly to look around to try and find out where it was coming from. “Such a lovely home you happen to have here. So I thought I would let myself in~”

“Alright, where the hay are you, you creep!? Show yourself-!!” Before Rainbow could even finish her sentence, water began to overflow from the kitchen sink. Surrounding the pegasus as she found herself trapped in a sphere of liquid before being floated over to the center of the room.

“My my, aren’t you a rude one. Is that how you treat all your house guests~?” The voice echoed again as a new figure emerged from the guest bedroom. A bipedal figure that wore a red dress and pointed hat, a black cape and had two black belts along its body. It’s mane was short and blond, eyes were blue and had two large hands that were covered in red gloves along with what appeared to be a cat tattoo on its right arm. “However, I’m not here for you,” It’s gaze now turned to focus solely on the filly in the room. “Ah yes… You are the reason for my visit~”

Scootaloo felt as if the blood in her body began to freeze, backing up from where she was before looking at her. This was a digimon. It had to be. Nothing else could explain it. “W-who are you? W-what do you want with me?”

“Oh ho ho… wanting names now, are we? Well, if you really want to know, you may call me Witchmon,” the digimon properly introduced herself, smirking as she looked back at the filly with a bit of a small glare in her eyes. “Now, as for your other question, it’s more than you that I want. My boss and I are more interested in your friends than anything else. But you? Oh, you are going to lead me right to them. If you do what I ask, then I will gladly let this pony go.”

Scootaloo twitched a little bit at hearing that last statement. Honestly, she did not know if she heard that correctly… and part of her was unsure if she should actually listen. But this digimon was holding Rainbow hostage. What should she do? Should she really listen to her?

No. That’s not what Rainbow would think. Scootaloo knew that. But this digimon… this villain thought of her as to be some kind of weak runt. Something that can be used against her friends. But she knew better than that.

“So little one,” She heard the digimon speak now, standing behind her and placing one of her claws on Scootaloo’s shoulder. “What will it be?”

Slowly, Scootaloo looked up. The filly feeling a bit nervous before finally finding the courage to speak. “I-if I lead you to my friends… then would you really let her go?”

“Why yes I will~” Witchmon said, her voice dripping with excitement. “It’ll be a simple give-and-take. Give up your friends and you can take back this one,” As she spoke, Scootaloo watched as bubbles of air began to leave from Rainbow. Who was trying her best to hold onto her breath right now. “So… what’s it going to be?”

Scootaloo had an answer already thought out at this point. But what she said was not what Witchmon was expecting her to say at all.

“I refuse.”

Witchmon herself was taken aback by the statement. Out of all the things that she anticipated for her to say, as well as everything going on in this moment, that was something that she did not anticipate. “What?! What makes you think can-?”

“If I have learned anything from Rainbow Dash, it’s to never betray my friends,” The filly now spoke, turning her head to face Witchmon. “And even now, we are not planning on that.”

“Wait… We-?”

Before Witchmon could even contemplate what was happening, a bright light went off around Scootaloo as it disrupted her vision. When the light began to go down, the next thing she saw was a scaly purple fist that was inches away from her face. “Detrot… SMASH!!” The attack was enough to send Witchmon flying out a window as well as break the bubble that she had on Rainbow as the soaked mare landed on the floor.

The moment that the pegasus was free, Scootaloo and her partner rushed on over. “Rainbow! Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah I guess-” As Rainbow’s eyes soon met the eyes of Monodramon, the mares first instinct was to immediately push herself backwards. “W-what the!? Who are you-?!”

“Rainbow, calm down. Monodramon is a friend,” Scootaloo told her as Monodramon looked back to his tamer. “He knew mom.”

Upon hearing those three words, Rainbow blinked for a moment in disbelief. “You… knew Sky?”

Monodramon nodded his head briefly as he looked back at the pegasus. “Yeah, she was once my partner-” Before he could say anything else though, something made him flinch as he looked back at both his partner and the pony that Scootaloo saw as her sister. “Girls, we need to get outside… I got a bad feeling about this.”

“W-wait a minute,” Scootaloo asked, now realizing something as she looked back at her partner. “Can you even walk on clouds? If we go out, you’ll just fall right through!”

“Sky had my data slightly adjusted a long time ago so I can walk on clouds and not worry about having to fall through them,” Monodramon told her, before looking towards the front door. “But still, we have to get outside right now before-”

“BALALUNA GALE!!”

“Too late, GET DOWN!!” Immediately, the three of them jumped for covert as another gust of wind tore through Rainbow’s home. Slicing off the top half of Rainbow’s home as the roof began to shatter and break apart into pieces and scatter across the living room floor. Scootaloo herself had a hard time trying to not be affected by the attack as bits and pieces of the home flew past her. But one of the things that soon became concerning was their opponent. Unlike earlier, the act that Witchmon put on earlier was gone now. And instead, something new began to emerge.

“You know what? Forget everything I said before. If I’m going to have you take me to your friends by force, then SO BE IT!!” The digimon roared, sending another blast of air that began to shatter all the windows throughout the entire house. Monodramon tried to push through it, but the winds were too strong for him and it only resulted in him getting knocked back.

“Geez, how strong is she even!?” Rainbow asked, hiding behind a couch that she was using for cover. “Can’t you just get up close and clobber them?”

“It’s not as s-simple as that!” Monodramon tried to explain. “I-I'm only a rookie level digimon. S-she’s a champion level. Her powers much stronger than mine-!”

“Who cares if she’s stronger or not!? She’s going to wreck my house if this keeps up!!” Rainbow retorted. Scootaloo also remembered in her conversation with the girls the word ‘digivolution’ was mentioned a couple of times. However, she did not know what that was or how exactly to do it.

“Monodramon, what do we do-!?”

Her question was met by silence as the three of them looked back to where Witchmon was. Sitting on a floating broom that was floating in the sky. However, what she was doing soon sent a wave of fear down his spine as he saw her holding something in one of her claws. A syringe that held what looked to be a purple mixture inside. “N-no… it can’t be.”

“What do you mean-!?”

“I have HAD IT UP TO HERE with your futile attempts!! Forget forcing you to do my bidding, you don’t even deserve to live!!” Witchmon declared as she injected the syringe into herself. Within seconds, the air and clouds began to distort around her as her eyes changed color from an azure blue shade to a blood red. Pieces of her became distorted as a purple colored smoke began to rise around the digimon. “I WILL END YOU MYSELF!!!”

“Scootaloo, find the blue card! Quickly!!” Monodramon told her. However, the filly soon began to realize a problem with that as she frantically began to look for them.

“They’re not on me! I left them in my room!!” Scootaloo spoke up, which soon caught Rainbow’s attention because of how she was panicking in that moment.

“What the hay are these cards you’re talking about?”

“They’re suppose to make Monodramon stronger-” She said, before another blast of wind came through the room. Blowing down the back wall as the filly was thrown backwards. Colliding with the door. “AGH!”

“Scoot!” Rainbow cried out, rushing to the filly. But to her surprise, Scootaloo was already trying to stand. Looking back at the mare as she told her something.

“Saddlebag… blue box… yellow bolt… Go.” She spoke, gasping in between breaths as Rainbow soon began to realize what she was telling her. Only nodding her head briefly as the pegasus took off towards her room.

“Why won’t you just DIE ALREADY!?!” Witchmon now roared, wind forming around her claws along with a green colored energy as she swung forward. “POISON STORM!!”

Within seconds, a green colored mist immediately drifted over the entire home alongside the winds that were raging. Monodramon was not sure what it was at first, but soon immediately found himself coughing up blood as he tried to cover his mouth. He noticed his partner trying to say something, but a glare from her told her to not say anything. That and the warning that was coming off her digivice.

“Warning! Warning! Toxic chemicals in the atmosphere. Do not breathe.”

That was enough to make Scootaloo hold her breath as she and Monodramon were trying to hold their ground. However, it was shortly afterwards that they realized that there was somepony else who didn’t know what was happening. “W-what the hay is this?!”

In a panic, Scootaloo ran with her partner following her shortly afterwards. Holding her breath as much as she could as she tried to make her way over to Rainbow. When she did, she found her mentor barely standing and coughing as she was falling to her knees. Causing her to panic as she tried to figure out how to clear the air. Until she saw something that was hidden under Rainbow’s hoof.

The blue digi-modify card. The one thing that could get them out of this. Bracing the burning feeling of the poison in the air, she let a massive breath, before picking the card up with one of her wings. Her digivice in her hoof as she slid the card along the edge.

DIGIMODIFY- DIGIVOLUTION ENGAGED

Outside, Witchmon thought that she had done everything right. She used every tool at her disposal as she now waited to hear the sound of coughing and screaming from agonizing pain. Wanting to hear the final cries from her victims before the poison were to seep in and reap them of their last breaths.

What she heard instead though was much different. “Monodramon… digivolve to…”

“No NO NO NO!!!” She screamed, conjuring another Balaluna Gale in her claws as she sent the attack directly towards the home., “I will not let you-!!”

“STRIKEDRAMON!!”

A shockwave soon erupted from the house, blowing out all the toxic air that was seeping inside as Witchmon found herself looking at an entirely different digimon. The rookie that stood by her tamers side was now a full fledged champion digimon. One that had red hair stretch along its back and had metal plates across different parts of its body, including its claws, shoulders, head, feet and tail. The only other thing that it wore aside from the plates was a set of green pants from the waist down.

“Do you think that a new form like yours would be enough to intimidate me!?” She hollered as she raised up one of her arms to prepare for an attack. “Balaluna-!!”

Before Witchmon could be able to finish her attack, Strikedramon closed the cap. Rushing her with newfound speed and striking her with one of his claws. Throwing her onto the clouds and slicing the digimon’s broomstick to pieces. “Don’t think for a second that I’m going to go easy on you!”

Witchmon’s next attack was a different one. Channeling and absorbing the water vapor from the clouds under her, she unleashed an attack that was known as ‘Aquary Pressure’. Where water was blasted at such a high velocity that it could penetrate through steel. Her opponent though, was quick enough to sidestep out of the way of the attack as it collided with a cloud in the distance. “Is that all you got, villain?”

“Don’t test me-!!” As Witchmon tried to conjure more water for another attack, she immediately began to realize something. The moisture in the air was beginning to dry up. The only bits of liquid that she could be able to absorb were mere droplets. And when she tried to find a reasoning as to why this was happening, all she saw was the plates on Strikedramon’s body beginning to overheat. His body becoming hot red flames and his hair turning blue-ish white.

“I’m finishing this right now!! Strike Fang!!” He declared, seconds before charging forth and ramming himself into Witchmon. His opponent taking the full force of his attack. In a matter of seconds, Witchmon was no more as she became nothing more than disintegrated bits of data. But as the victor began to revert back to his rookie form, he had a much different thought on his mind as he raced back towards the house. Not even noticing another digimon that was hiding in the clouds nearby that began to make a break for it.

Meanwhile…

“Leona, I know that you like to be with Sweetie Belle and I,” Rena looked down to the Coronamon as she began to ask her something. “But is it really necessary to grab hold of my arm like this just because Opal startled you upon coming back here?”

“This is a matter of territory! Do not underestimate the complexities of us felines……” Leona sputtered with a bright pink face as she withered under Rena’s gaze.

“She just meowed and whacked your tail because she thought it was a toy,” Sweetie Belle soon spoke up. Countering the point that she was trying to make as Rarity was bringing out a tray of tea. “I don’t think it’s really that complex.”

“... A-anyway… does anyone else smell wild digimon? Because my nose has been itching for a while now…” Leona quickly sputtered, trying to change the topic.

“You sure that it’s not allergies, darling?” Rarity now asked, sounding a bit concerned for the Coronamon’s health.

“Can digimon get allergies in this world?” Leona asked as she looked at Rena while her embarrassment from earlier faded, honestly curious. All Rena could do was provide a shrug, shortly before they all heard a ringing sound coming from Sweetie Belle’s digivice.

“Oh, I wonder who that could be.” Rarity then asked as Sweetie Belle checked the digivice. Honestly surprised by who was calling given that they had just met only a little while ago.

“It’s Scootaloo,” The filly said, before answering. “Hello?”

“Oh thank Celestia you picked up,” She heard her friend on the other end of the digivice let out a sigh of relief. “Listen, I know this is sudden but I need your help. A digimon just tore through Rainbow’s home and I think she’s sick. She breathed in poison from one of their attacks.”

“Oh boy,” Rena now spoke up. “That’s not good.”

“Not just that, but Monodromon’s freaking out now-” Before the filly could finish, that was when they now also heard her partner voice now. However, instead of the calm and collected voice from before, Monodromon was now freaking out. “Rena?! Rena, are you there?!! We got a major problem!!!”

“Monodromon, calm down. What’s-”

“It’s back,” Those two words immediately changed Rena’s expression and tone. Noticeable not just to Sweetie Belle and Rarity, but to Leona too. “I don’t know how, but it’s back. It infected the digimon that I was fighting and-”

“Oh no,” Rena spoke to herself, fear beginning to set in now as her pupils began to shrink. Realizing what Monodromon was talking about. “No no no no… I-It can't be. How-?”

“I don’t know, but we need to regroup now. Rainbow needs help and we don’t want this to happen to Guilmon again-!”

“What's going on?” Leona asked with concern at Rena’s expression. “I may not be able to help with the poison but this ‘it’ you two are talking about makes me feel concerned with how you two are acting.”

“What even is ‘it’ anyways?” Sweetie Belle now asked as she trotted over to where Leona was standing. Her partners response… sent a chill down all three of their spines mere moments later.

“Something that should’ve stayed buried for the last thirty years.”

End Chapter 15

16- Echoes of the Past

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The Fox and the Filly- Echoes of the Past

Back in the day, there was only just the three of us that had tamers. Guilmon was partnered with Buttercup, a farm mare who wanted to overcome the tensions that simmered in her family. Monodramon was partnered up with Sky Chaser, a flyer who was close friends with many pegasi and had a dream of joining the Wonderbolts. As for me, I was lucky to have Pearl be my partner. When I met her, she wanted to be a designer in fashion, but was scared of how others would see her designs and her work because she lived in a town full of commoners.

Not a few weeks after they realized that all three of them were tamers, we had to fight opponents that only we could face. Digimon of different sizes, forms and variations. However, it was as these battles were getting more frequent that we began to wonder what the reason for it was. We got our answer from a rookie digimon that crossed over to Equestria, but they were not looking for a fight. They were looking for refuge instead.

The rookie’s name was Terriermon, and he fled here because in the digital world, it was being conquered and taken over. We brought him back to Pearl’s home and learned that many other digimon had tried to come over too, but were defeated shortly afterwards. Those ones were the ones that we ourselves had mistaken for invaders, but we did not know at the time. As for the ones who were causing all the problems in the digital world, that was the handiwork of a specific group. One that was able to have an army of digimon at their disposal. Terriermon told us that the digimon he knew called them the Sinister Seven.

To us, they were the Seven Great Demon Lords. A group of seven demonic digimon that were based on the seven deadly sins that we know of back home. Lucemon, the paradise of loss and the sin of pride. Leviamon, the abyss of despair and the sin of envy. Daemon, the hellfire of chaos and the embodiment of wrath. Belphemon, the roar of awakening and the sin of sloth. Barbamon, the schemer of gold and the embodiment of greed. Laylamon, the goddess of darkness… or at least, that’s what she claimed, and sin of lust. With the final one being Beelzemon, the duelist of finality and gluttony’s personification.

When we all agreed to go to the digital world to put a stop to them, that was when we met the sovereigns. More specifically, Baihumon, the digimon sovereign that guards the west. He explained to us that the invasion of the demon lords was because of a declaration from Lucemon, saying that with the numerous changes that were happening out in the real world that the digital world itself required change in order to match it. It required balance to keep everything in order, and to do that, he intended to eliminate all groups of opposition and have everything be controlled by him and his closest allies.

However, even though we were able to defeat most of them… there was one out of all the demon lords that made the biggest impact. Even bigger than Lucemon himself. That was Barbamon. He might have been a schemer, but he had a plan in order to see Lucemon’s vision through to the end. In his madness and experimentation, he created a lethal weapon. One that could either be injected into a digimon’s code or be used as a chemical weapon that digimon would inhale. If a digimon was infected with it, there was little time to get rid of it and the digimon would go into a crazed state. Gaining power and strength, but at the cost of their sanity and becoming nothing more than mindless pawns.

The Barba Virus.

There was little that could be done in order to stop it from spreading and soon, the whole digital world was in a state of panic. This wasn’t just a virus that could simply just go away like the common cold, it was one that would cause a pandemic. We lost many friends in the digital world because of the damn thing and Terriermon lost his sister, Lopmon, because of it too. Even we had no idea what to do because of this.

However, in an unexpected turn of events… Beezlemon, who we once saw as our enemy, actually led us to Barbamon’s labstation and to where the virus was being produced. He turned his back on Barbamon and Lucemon because he believed that their ways were dishonorable. He may have been one that was gluttonous for power, but Beezlemon thought that the power should be earned through battle, not given to you through a vial.

Even though we were able to destroy the lab, Barbamon and his plan had a lasting impact. Not just us, but on the entire digital world. Even if it was years after the war was over. The reason being that, in pursuit of power and for results, he did something unthinkable.

He infected one of our own with the virus… and in doing so, created a monster.

In the present, Rena was with each one of the tamers and their partners as they all were sitting around the cutie map in Twilight’s castle. Leona and Spike were next to Rena and Sweetie Belle, while Twilight and Rainbow were on the opposite side of the table. The pegasus herself was still under the weather after having to drink an elixir to fight off and remove any poison that she might’ve inhaled earlier as Scootaloo and Monodramon were next to them. Lyall and Button were in the middle of the table facing the kitchen while Apple Bloom and Guilmon were on the opposite side.

Rena had spent the last hour explaining everything, but it was only around now that when she stopped talking, Guilmon was beginning to shiver and flinch. Putting his claws on his head as if he had just witnessed something horrifying. “N-n-no… S-s-stop…”

“Guilmon?” Apple Bloom spoke, trying to get closer to her partner. “Guilmon, what’s wrong-?”

On Leona’s end of the table, all she could do was stare at the fox digimon. Silent for a moment, but soon taking a chance to speak. “Was he the one who was infected?” Leona asked, a look of concern and pity on her face.

All Rena could do was softly nod, but before she could say anything else, they heard Guilmon stress out even more. “S-s-stop… Guilmon don’t want t-to turn into t-that thing,” he whimpered, tears running down his face as he held Apple Bloom closer to her. “G-guilmon don’t want to be a-angry and h-hurt anymon again!”

“Hurt anyone? Why would-” As Lyall tried to process everything, he realized what Guilmon was saying. His eyes widening as he looked towards Rena. “No… You don’t mean-?”

“Did he become Megidramon?” Leona decided to say for those who had not been present or alive yet at the time of the event. Unfortunately… doing so only just made things worse.

“NO!!! S-STOP!! G-GUILMON DON’T WANNA HURT ANYPONY AGAIN!! G-GUILMON SCARED!! S-SKY GOT HURT BECAUSE OF M-ME!!!” He screamed, terrified out of his mind as he continued to shake and holding onto Apple Bloom. The filly was doing her best in order to try and calm him down, but the rookie level digimon’s noise was doing little to help.

But it was as he was trying to calm down that Scootaloo soon asked something. “D-did he say Sky? What does my mom have anything to do with it?”

That was the one thing that Rena heard that she was scared to answer. But the fox digimon would feel worse if she didn’t tell her. “When Guilmon… lost control, one of the victims that was injured by his attacks was your mother. She might’ve recovered… but the damage that was done lasted much longer than that. On the surface, she was fine… but internally, it still hurt her.”

Now it was Twilight who was shocked by this as she realized what it meant. “N-no… you don’t mean…”

All Rena could do was nod as she looked at Scootaloo. “This is mostly a theory, but I think the damage Sky sustained on that day might have affected Scootaloo’s growth. Mainly… her wings.”

Leona clenched her paws, a mixture of anger and fear on her face. “Damn that Barbamon… Rena, do you mind if I explain something to them?”

“What is there to explain?” Monodramon then spoke up, “Barbamon is dead.”

“The nature of Guilmon’s existence of course, and the burden that his kind carry.” Leona pointed out.

“Do you really want Guilmon to be screaming off your head?” Sweetie Belle then asked the Coronamon, “My eardrums are sore and I’m in close proximity.”

“It's a much better alternative than all of you not knowing the powers lying within each of us don't you think? After all I would rather have all of you know beforehand to evacuate if a circumstance happens to me. Similar to what Guilmon suffered, for example.” Leona managed to say while suppressing her shuddering body as the thought of getting infected or worse to herself crossed her mind.

“Leona, this is much more difficult than that,” The Renamon explained to the Coronamon sitting next to her, “I was paying attention to Guilmon when we all met Scootaloo and Mono for the first time. Guilmon was refusing to look at Scootaloo. He can’t forgive himself for what he did.”

“I can tell, but if I can, I want to try and assuage his guilt even if its by an unnoticeable degree and I don't want the kid to blame Guilmon for the curse our forms bear. After all, imagine if you were turned into Kuzuhamon, I wouldn't want you or anyone else to suffer…” Leona tried to explain.

“Are you trying to ignore when we got our flanks kicked by Sangloupmon now?” Sweetie Belle then asked her, looking back to the Coronamon, “I know that you might have more knowledge than… well, pretty much everypony in this room. Even Twilight…”

“Hey!”

“She’s kind of right, you know,” Rainbow coughed.

“But I don’t think what you’ve said has really… well, helped,” Sweetie Belle spoke up, looking towards the nervous wreck of a digimon that was shivering by their spot. “If anything, it’s made him even more afraid.” This caused Leona to shrink in on herself a little. The filly’s words felt like a kick to the gut for her morale and self esteem as she looked at the filly.

“Do you have any real solutions to this then?” Button himself then asked, feeling the need to weigh in. “Because I can’t think of any.”

What happened next though was something that nobody in the room didn’t expect at all. Not even Rena or Leona anticipated this. The only real sign that something was going on was that Scootaloo was not in the spot that was right next to Monodramon. Instead, she trotted under the cutie map, reappearing next to Guilmon and throwing the digimon off guard when tapped him on the shoulder and hugged his claw.

“Hey big guy… I don’t think you would’ve ever thought that you would hear this from me but,” She then pulled her head in closer as she looked at him. “I-it’s not your fault. I… don’t care what you think, but I do know that this isn’t your fault. I forgive you.”

The floodgates inside Guilmon began to open almost instantly as the digimon immediately hugged the pegasus filly. Tears pouring out all over like two streams of water coming out of a hose. One of those streams hitting Leona on accident as Spike stepped away in order to get her a towel. Even Monodromon himself was honestly not expecting this outcome. If anything, he would’ve thought that she would not have forgiven him so easily. “Well, that escalated quickly.”

“Y-yeah,” Rainbow herself now stuttered. Most of this conversation had the pegasus learn that Rena was not quite the only digimon of Equestria, Scootaloo had a partner of her own and learning that there was a world within the freaking world they lived in. But even after all of that and what she just learned about Scootaloo, this was what caught her off guard the most as she watched both the pegasus filly and her friend lead Guilmon off to the kitchen to comfort him and away from the cutie map, “I-i mean… a lot of this has been eye opening, but I did not see that coming.”

“Well, all I feel right now is soaked and out-dated… or in pony terms, ‘old’...” Leona sulked. “Life experience doesn't seem to mean anything anymore the second you travel to another dimension-” Her partner Spike came back a few moments later and placed a towel on her shoulders as he looked back at her.

“Not exactly Leona,” Twilight soon spoke up, “Maybe you can still use it.”

“What do you mean?” Leona asked, doing her best to not set the towel that was being used to dry her off on fire. Of course, it was after she was dried off and when Spike was beginning to clean the mess on the floor that the alicorn spoke up again.

“Well, Rena might have shared what has happened in the past, but with the fact that Scootaloo’s encounter earlier, what you know can help us develop a plan now to prepare in case something like this happens again. Besides, aside from Spike and the rest of the tamers here, there is little that we know about digimon and little that we can do in the instance that another attack happens.”

For a moment, Leona just stared. Puzzled by the massive explanation that the alicorn gave her. But not until Rena added something to it. “She means that you can still tell us about it to prepare for whatever might come next.”

“Heh, never thought of you as a Twilight translator, sis,” Lyall snickered.

That sly comment did not really sit well with Rena. If anything, it gave her all the more reason to have Leona listen to her. “You can also kick Lyall wherever you like.”

“Wait, wha-?”

“No going back on that promise!” Leona stated, the urge to take every opportunity to torment Lyall engraved into her after all their banter since she had arrived in this world. Just because she was older doesn't mean she had to be mature after all. “So what does everyone want to know? Aside from the fact all ponies should run from any unknown digimon for self preservation reasons, carbon based life forms are very… fragile lets say.”

“Well, maybe explaining what you were trying to mention earlier?” Twilight suggested.

“Which part? I mentioned quite a few things, some of which I probably should ask permission before revealing now that I think of it.” Leona replied sheepishly as she glanced at the other digimon in the room, except for Lyall. She didnt care if he gave consent to his secrets being revealed or not.

“Well, you mentioned that some digimon had… I think you called it a burden?”

“Ah yes… well first let me ask has anyone explained what digimon are made of to you? It’s best to start this explanation there.” Leona said, sitting up straight and getting unusually serious as she put her paw on the crystalline table.

“Well, that’s what confuses me… part of me thinks that it’s just data and information, but I also think it’s different because when you’re injured, the wounds look rather real,” The alicorn admitted, all while Button himself now decided to join Scootaloo and Apple Bloom in the kitchen with Guilmon. “Sweetie Belle told me of Rena’s condition when she got hurt, so that’s how I know the second part.”

“Well, let me ask you this in return. If a page in your book gets ripped, does it affect what's written in it?” Leona asked. The question had the princess of friendship ponder it for a minute, but before she could reply, the Coronamon beat her to it. “Yes we are made up of data, but the forms we are taking here in front of you are little more than solid illusions that we use to be able to interact. And like with a book, the data composing our existence and our physical forms are connected, but not defined by the state of the other. Though, destroying our physical forms would still kill us in a way similar to burning a book erases what's written within it.”

Twilight’s eyes widened, almost looking like she was in shell shock the moment that she heard the words ‘burning a book’. Of course, that did not last long as Spike walked over and snapped his claws. Waking her up from the trance as the dragon looked back at his partner. “Good one with the book analogies. Though, stay clear of anything involving burning… she was scared to have me burn scrolls to Celestia before she learned that it doesn’t actually destroy anything.”

“Noted, but that won't stop me from getting my point across. She wanted the knowledge, and i'm going to give it to her straight. After all, we don't have time for me to figure out alternative explanations.” Leona said with a shrug.

“Never said that you had too. Keep going.” Spike smirked, before looking back at Twilight as she seemed to get herself refocused.

“So now that you know the base of a digimon’s existence, you should also know this. Unless certain circumstances take place, we can never die permanently,” Leona said as she continued, although she winced and shuddered a bit at this part. “But whether we retain our sense of self or memories in the process is a pure game of chance, where the odds are never in your favor.”

Hearing that made Twilight gulp for a moment, the possibility of dying or coming back without having any memories made her shiver. But her curiosity led to her wanting to know more. “W-what is something like that called?”

“This is a bit comedic, morbidly so, but many of us refer to this as ‘getting egged’, though some may think of it as reincarnation.” Leona said with a lopsided smile. “I will say this from experience, it's not fun.”

“It’s probably called that because when a digimon dies and comes back, it reverts to an egg state-” Monodromon paused at that, before looking back at Leona with a look of shock on his face. “Wait… you died before?!”

“I think I'll just go join up with the girls.” Sweetie Belle now said, leaving Rena’s side and joining up with her friends and Guilmon in the kitchen and dining area.

“Yep, just ask Rena,” she said, pointing behind at Rena as she continued to explain. “After being defeated back in my old world, which was followed by said world’s death, the next thing I know, I am waking up in this one face to face with the cute girl and wondering where I am after snapping out of the shock of the experience. I honestly thought I was hallucinating since the pain of being ripped from existence by Millenniummon had vanished in the process.”

“Part of me thinks the cute part was added on purpose-” Lyall first said, but a glare from Rena shut him up before he could continue. “Shutting up now.”

“Thank you,” Rena sighed. “Now, as you were saying Leona.”

“I actually am wondering if I should let Twilight calm down first… if she is anything like mine was before that world ended, then she might try dissecting me to figure out how I am still me.” Leona said, feeling a bit wary.

For a moment, Twilight was silent. It looked like she was either drifting off into space or she was still trying to process the massive info dump that Leona hit her with. After what felt like two minutes, she blinked and shook her head. Regaining her focus as she looked back at Leona. “I would ask how… but honestly, I think I’m starting to get the hang of it. No dissecting necessary.”

“That… is a bigger relief than you think,” Leona said, no longer on edge as she let out a sigh of relief. “Now where was I?”

“You were on the part that you first arrived here I think,” Monodromon answered her question. “You know, before Rena gave Lyall a death stare.”

“I think it’s her version of Fluttershy’s stare, but to each their own.” Rainbow Dash added, now feeling a bit better and no longer having to worry about poison slowly draining her life away.

“Ah, right. So now that we got the traumatizing part of being a digimon out of the way, let's start explaining the fun subject that is the burden of our existence,” Leona said while recomposing herself and then looking at the table. “Do you mind if I borrow you power? It's better if I show them this next part.”

“You mean you need me to cast a spell?” Twilight asked, tilting her head in confusion.

“I’m talking to your table, Twilight. Remember, information based lifeform?” Leona said with a smirk.

That just had Twilight, Spike and Rainbow look at each other with a rather puzzled look, before looking back at Leona. “Leona, I think the table only works because of the Tree of Harmony. We don’t-”

Administrative access required. Please put in access key.

The message was seen floating above the table, followed by what looked like a set of holographic keys. Something that started both the ponies and the dragon, but made Leona smirk as she looked at what was in front of her and cracked her knuckles.

“Well then, either I find this Admin or I manage to crack the password.. Challenge accepted!” Leona said, as she approached the table.

One hour later

Leona’s eye twitched as she tried another password, having failed to get any information as to who the admin was, only to get another incorrect password notification. “That's it! I give up, this table is starting to be a-” She grumbled in frustration moments later, cutting herself off at the last second since there were still children in the room. Although, in her personal opinion, everyone but Rena was a child.

Speaking of Rena, the Renamon soon decided to take a turn as she looked back at the terminal. “Hmm… Are you who I think you might be?” She pondered, before typing in a string of numbers.

382594

“What are you talking about, Rena? And is there any meaning to those numbers you put in?” Leona asked, burnt out and sprawled over her chair. Of course, what she did not expect was for those numbers to shift and form a name.

NEO

“There was one being that we met in the digital world that wasn’t a digimon, but was seen as an important link by Baihumon and the Sovereigns because they were a record keeper of all events that happened in both the past and present. The numbers I put were another way of inputting their name,” she replied. “They also liked to mess with us when it came to figuring out passwords on doors.”

“I… see.” Leona said with a visible twitch. “Things sure are different between alternate worlds it seems.” she then muttered to herself, wondering if she could get away with finding out more about this guy from the sovereigns, before beating them up of course. Messing with people was her gig, and she felt like they were stepping onto her turf with Rena’s comment.

After a few more clicks, an orb of blue light was seen on the table as Rena slid the holographic keyboard away. “Alright, it’s all yours now Leona. Use what I brought up and mold it to your heart's content.”

“Alright.” Leona said before hopping up onto the table. “So, I personally don't like the cumbersomeness of controls, thus I am going to edit it directly. May the other digimon in the room shield the organic’s eyes please?”

“Can’t you just check to see if it’s set on inverted controls?” Monodromon asked.

“To lazy.” Leona admitted honestly, before shouting. “Digitize!” The single line had Rena, Lyall and Monodromon look away as Twilight and Spike closed her eyes. Yet, the only one who this did not apply too was Rainbow, who fainted shortly afterwards.

“I warned her…” Text that felt like it was sighing lit up over the table as the light in the room seemed to dim a bit. “Anyway, everyone should probably gather around, I am not explaining this twice. It's very stuffy in here.”

“I think we’re all here at the moment,” Twilight then spoke up. “Well, except for Rainbow. Spike’s getting her a pillow for her head.”

“I think that the CMC should be here for this also, I rather have as many people know for their safety as possible.” another set of text scrawled out.

“Hold that thought.” They heard Spike say as she set the pillow under Rainbow’s head before going over and calling them over. Even Guilmon joined them too, but he seemed more focused on something else.

“Hunh… where did Leonamon go?”

“In the table, big guy.” the lights in the room dimmed further as the table started to glow like a projector. “Now that everyone is here, get comfortable because this may take a while-”

“Ah! Apple Bloom-mon, quick! Leonamon is trapped in the table!! Guilmon must free her!!”

All Lyall could do was facepaw himself, followed by Rena doing the same thing shortly afterwards as the filly tried to restrain Guilmon from doing anything crazy.

“I would say that I saw this coming, but then that would make me a jerk for assuming that this Guilmon has the same IQ as the rest.” Text followed by the image of Leona facepalming lit up the table again as multiple loading bars began to pop up. “Rena, let me know when everyone is situated.” Following that final message, even MORE loading bars flooded the space over the table.

“Everypony’s good right now.” She said, giving the table a thumbs up, “Though, we might want to do this quick. I’m not sure how long the girls could keep Guilmon restrained.”

“This should help with that then, for now,” A final message popped up as the entire room seemed to dim like a movie theater as the loading bars were replaced with a fake movie production logo now that Leona finished her setup.

As soon as the logo faded a model of primary village, the birthplace of many digimon, formed over the table. Giving everyone a full view of what Leona was showing them. “Not counting the first generation, every digimon is born from an egg. This here is a location in the digital world called primary village, which is where digimon are usually born.” the view then zoomed in onto a cluster of eggs, one of which proceeded to hatch into a small red blob with large black eyes and bat-wing like ears. “I am going to be using Guilmon’s family line for this presentation since its the easiest for all of you to relate to.”

“But Guilmon have no family before Buttercup…” Guilmon muttered to himself.

“On that note, someone gets him a nickname, it's too easy to get us digimon confused with each other as it is, having the same name as someone else of the same species with the same appearance is just going to get annoying.”

“You know… we could always call him Steve until he chooses a name-” The sentence from Lyall was cut shot by the paw smack he received across the face from Rena as he looked back to her. “W-what the hell, Rena?”

“I rather not have you give Guilmon the same name that we gave our last puppy.”

“Aaanyway… So this little red blob that came out of the digiegg is known as Jyarimon. It's the infant or fresh stage of the Guilmon family.” the screen then shifts to a fast forwarded process of time passing and the baby digimon moving around with the sub text ‘events in this display may leave out details for the sake of time.’ till it returned to normal. “Now, before anyone starts to Coo or anything do know that even newborn digimon can melt off the face of any organic should they feel threatened.”

“How though? It looks just as adorable as the cake twins?” Spike then asked

There was a moment of silence, before a piece of text now hovered over by where Rena was sitting, along with two buttons. “Parental consent required for the following imagery: Y/N?”

“Request denied.” Rena said plainly, pressing the second option.

“Understood. Eventually, through luck or care a fresh digimon will reach the point where it has gathered enough energy to solidify its existence and Digivolve into a toddler or In-Training stage. Here, this Jyarimon will now digivolve into Gigimon.” It then showed the baby digimon be consumed in a bright light as its skin dissolves to reveal a hollow 3D grid that morphs and regrows the layer of skin and finally stopping once it's in the form of a slightly darker red ball with four legs, a tail and larger ears similar to the last ones but with black tips as its eyes became yellow and more defined rather than just a pair of dots. Moments later the Gigimon opened its mouth cutely and smiled at the audience as it wagged its tail.

“Still looks too cute and harmless.” Spike said, which was followed by a chorus of ‘D’aww’ from most of the Equestrians in the room.

“For the sake of self preservation, this excerpt of trivia has been prepared.” An image of a small pink creature similar in shape to a christmas tree angel with a heart on its chest and large blue eyes appeared on the screen. “This is a Digimon known as MarineAngemon. To the non digimon viewers of this program, please try and guess the details of this monster, you are permitted to ask the digimon in the audience for help.”

“When did this become ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’?” Monodramon asked himself.

“Um… Its wings?” Scootaloo asked.

“The collar on its neck?” Sweetie Belle then added on.

“Maybe the heart on its chest?” Apple Bloom took her turn to speak.

“All of the above?” That had everyone look towards Button, who just shrugged as he was drinking out of apple juice box with a straw, “What? It’s an option right?”

“Any other attempts? Remember, asking the digimon in the audience for help is allo- very much recommended.”

That was followed by Spike looking over to where Rena was, before she whispered a few things to him. That was followed by the dragon giving what almost would be considered as the textbook definition of the digimon on screen. “It’s a Mega level digimon that looks like a pixie. It stays away from violence, but has a move called Kahuna Waves that can make other digimon lose their fighting spirit,” That just had everyone in the room stare at Spike, including Twilight as the dragon sat on the table. “What? Did I forget something?”

“No, I just… I think we’re just surprised that you just did a Twilight right now.” Scootaloo blinked.

“Sounds like a better answer than what we could come up with honestly.” Button shrugged.

“The answer given is correct.” Suddenly the screen shifted to show a life sized replica of Twilight with the MarineAngemon floating next to her head to show how small it was along with the Gigimon from earlier next to her hoof, both representations of digimon were the size of the alicorn’s head. “A small tidbit that is not often mentioned though is that MarineAngemon can create tidal waves if it so wished despite its small size, so this should be a reminder that a digimon’s physical size has no relation to how much power it has.”

“That sounds like it can flood some parts of a city.” Lyall mentioned, scratching his chin with a paw as he pondered what Leona was saying..

“Yeah, about that…” Monodromon was going to continue, but a look from Rena had him let it go in an instant. “Nevermind. Go ahead and keep going.”

“Once a digimon reaches the In-Training stage it becomes capable of combat with other digimon, and will then slowly work to get stronger till it is able to digivolve once more into the child form for digimon known as Rookie.” the Gigimon next to the replica of Twilight then digivolved into an exact replica of Guilmon as the MarineAngemon model faded away. At this moment images of Rena, Monodramon and various other rookie level digimon appeared on the screen as well. “Here, the Gigimon has become a Guilmon and I have displayed various images of other rookie digimon alongside the size comparison models.”

“Who’s idea was it to give a dog boxing gloves?” Button asked, “That’s like giving a cat a pair of paw pads.”

“These guys look pretty cool,” Sweetie Belle added on, “Though, I wonder what the rabbit one next to Leona is.”

A piece of text that spelled out ‘Lunamon’ appeared under the bunny and under the one mistaken for leona the text ‘Coronamon’ appeared.

“Wait, so they were named after Princess Luna? How does that work?” Scootaloo herself now asked.

“Ah don’t think that’s intentional, Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom told her, “Ah think that’s just an accident. The digital world probably have not heard of Princess Luna.”

“Random fun fact, Digimon species are named based on their appearance. Lunamon is named after the legend of the rabbit on the moon. The fact that ponies aren't mistaken for digimon as well could also be seen as an oddity though because of digimon like Unimon.” As this text appeared on the screen a replica of Unimon appeared next to the replica of Twilight. It was about the same size as Celestia and could almost be mistaken for an alicorn. Well, aside from the fact that, as the fillies said, looked a lot uglier in appearance.

“Leona, I think you’re rambling,” Rena interjected. “Can we go back to our regularly scheduled programming?”

The projections seemed to pause for a second before all the images of the various rookie Digimon faded away along with the model of Unimon. “Returning to topic, once we get to rookie this is when things start to get complicated. To start, there are 3 categories of digimon: Data, Virus and Vaccine. Details on these types can be asked about another time,” Moments later, the images of Renamon and Monodramon returned and over the two of them the text ‘Vaccine’ and ‘Data’ appeared accordingly. “All three digimon displayed are of a different category. Which means that, as you can guess, would mean Guilmon falls under the Virus category. It’s not easy to tell what category most digimon are, but for the Guilmon family it’s easy to tell due to the hazard symbol on their chest.”

“How come?” Twilight herself asked.

“The hazard sign on his chest is normally associated with objects or places that contain harmful toxic chemicals or materials back where we are from,” Rena decided to answer this one for Leona now, steering clear of any subject involving nuclear energy. The last thing that they need right now is having to explain that to her and have Twilight ask about what Chernobyl was. “Of course, that doesn’t exactly mean that Guilmon himself is toxic. If anything, it’s just a mark on his chest that kind of represents who he is. Like how ponykind has cutie marks.”

There was a pause from Leona, before she continued the presentation. Having an idea of what Rena was thinking about. “After rookie, there is the champion stage, which is essentially adulthood in digimon. But this is where the burden starts, for a combination of your personality, past actions and strength will affect a digimon’s evolution from this point forward.” Following this statement, a drawing of a line with each of guilmon’s previous forms connected to each other in procession by lines appeared before three new lines went from guilmon’s image to the image of what the model began to turn into and two alternate colored variants. And suddenly Twilight’s up until now life size replica began to shrink until she was to scale of the new digimon that was in guilmon’s place, which looked like a much larger and more aggressive version of guilmon but with horns and a white mane. “This is Growlmon, one of the Champion forms of Guilmon.”

“Oh my goodness.” Spike said, with most of the Equestrians saying similar sayings of shock and surprise. Of course… everyone except one.

“That looks so cool!!” The stray comment from Apple Bloom now attracted their attention now as the filly looked at her friends while sitting on Guilmon’s back. “What? Ah can’t be excited for my partner now?”

“Growlmon is capable of taking out entire buildings with its signature move Exhaust Flame.” Leona decided to add to the description.

“Ah… uh… guess that’s cool as long as we keep it under control-” Apple Bloom said, before turning to the table. “Uh girls… Is Twilight okay?”

Spike looked back, before letting out a groan. “Leona, I know that this is different, but anything involving burning would have Twilight act like that. She’s probably thinking of Ponyville being on fire right now.” He told her, with another snap of his claw to wake Twilight up and out of her daze.

“Fire is common in the digital world. I apologize beforehand, but it's going to come up a lot still.” The warning was the only one that Leona gave out before she continued. “After Champion we have the Ultimate stage… please do not misinterpret this as the strongest, it's a translation error that has stuck around ever since the beginning,” The image of Growlmon then changed to a more upright position as the tail became mechanical and various bits of armor appeared over the upper body making it look like a cyborg T-rex with arm blades. “This one is known as WarGrowlmon. And by war it means war war, the average WarGrowlmon are known for being fierce combatants and don't know much outside of battle. They are literal living weapons in a sense.”

“Holy-!” Spike gasped at that, “That looks like he can be as tall as Tirek!”

“It hasn't grown any since the champion form which was 9 meters tall...” Leona mentioned, followed by text that was followed by text that read ‘deadpan sighs’ floating up off of the table as she continued. Though, at the start of the next topic, the subject in question made Guilmon shiver. “Back on topic, this is the part where Guilmon’s greatest burden lies, Mega. There are two evolutions that he can obtain after his Ultimate form due to his immense power, one of which is capable of causing the digital world to literally collapse. It will not be shown due to the individual present having trauma with it. Instead its other Mega form will be displayed.” Moments later the models on the table vanished in a bright light that began to coalesce from the bottom up into the form of a white and red knight wielding a lance and shield, its long red cape flowing in a non existent wind behind it.

Something that made Leona’s own partner, along with the rest of the children, stare in awe. “So cool…”

“Requesting consent to show the Mega forms of Rena and Mono: Y/N?” A new pop up appears, you could almost taste the dissatisfaction from Leona seeing the kids all fawn over the displayed mega level digimon.

This time, the question got a different answer from Rena as she pressed the first button instead. “Go for it. Just… don’t do anything too crazy.”

As the text box faded, light coalesced once more to reveal the forms of two small humanoids that were to scale with the one already displayed. One of a blue being with grey armor and a cybernetic arm and the other of what looked like a black latex wearing shrine priestess in yellow fox armor and holding a staff as the names of the three mega’s appeared over the displayed digimon. ‘Gallantmon’, ‘Justimon’ and ‘Sakuyamon’

“Is that mine in the middle?” Scootaloo’s eyes widened, which was followed by seeing Monodromon nod his head. “Buck yeah!!! Mine looks awesome!!”

“Scootaloo!!”

“What!? Just look at him! He looks like a comic book character that came out of the pages to kick some flank!” The pegasus filly grinned, not even noticing the reason why Twilight called her out at all.

“Mine looks a bit neighponese… ish,” Sweetie Belle commented as she tilted her head. “Just how strong is Saku… ramemon?”

“Sakuyamon,” Rena had to correct for her. “And I am rather strong if I do say so myself. It’s just been a long time since I’ve changed into that form. Like thirty years long.”

“Be warned, young ones. Not just our personal status can affect our evolutions, but also your emotions can affect us…” Leona stated before having a shadow descend over the forms of the three mega evolutions. “It's your responsibility to control your emotions and help keep us from turning into true monsters.” after this the lights in the room returned to normal and the visual display from moments ago was nowhere to be seen.

That had the whole room go silent for about five minutes straight. The silence being broken by Lyall as he looked at everyone else. “Well, that got dark rather quickly.”

“That is ironic, coming from you, Mr. Digimon of light.” Leona said as she soon appeared in a flash of light from the table. “Man, it's stuffy in there. It's almost as if it was deliberately made smaller so that I could barely fit.”

Twilight herself, took a moment to process everything before blinking her eyes and shaking her head. “Well, that was rather eye opening. At least, we know about that now.”

Of course, just as the alicorn said that, they all could hear Rainbow Dash yawning for a moment as the pegasus slowly realized that she was lying on a pillow and looked up. “W-what happened? D-did I miss anything? Why am I on the floor?”

That just had Rena let out a sigh before looking back at her. “Sorry, Rainbow, but Leona made it very clear for you not to look at it… and she already said that she wasn’t going to do the whole thing twice.”

At first, Rainbow was going to say something, but then just let out a sigh as she groaned for a moment. “Well, I guess that since all you are done doing… whatever it was you’re doing, how about some ice cream? That’ll help get your mind off things right?”

“Sure thing!” Scootaloo proclaimed, with the girls nodding their heads shortly afterwards.

“Count me in!” Spike spoke up as well.

“I hope I don’t get a brain freeze this time…” Button mumbled. Lyall and Monodromon also had the chance to catch back up with their partners, but not before Leona was able to deliver a round of well deserved justice just below Lyall’s belt buckle. Which had him topple over in pain before Button called him back into his digivice.

As they all left, it only left Twilight with both Rena and Leona as she let out a deep breath. Even though she did not expect for Rainbow to do something like this, it did happen to give her an opportunity to ask a couple of questions without having to worry about the possibility of Apple Bloom’s partner freaking out. “Rena, mind if I ask you a couple of specific questions? They’re related to what you told everypony in the beginning when you were telling us about.”

“What kind of questions?”

“Well, Monodromon got me thinking on it after he mentioned how Barbamon is technically dead,” The alicorn explained, before asking something new, “What happened to the other demon lords?”

“Almost all of them were defeated in battle and had their code broken down into nothing more than bits of data,” The renamon recalled as she looked to the coronamon next to her, “However, there was one exception.”

“An exception?” She asked. “Who?”

“Beezlemon,” Rena answered for her. “The Sovereigns recognized his betrayal as honorable considering that he resisted his gluttonous temptations to do something that would utterly tear him apart. So, when the war was over, the Sovereigns allowed for him to face against Pearl and I in a duel and when we beat him, his data was reverted back into an egg and placed in the care of a village that Baihumon himself watched over. He only recalls a few memories and is right now in his rookie stage, Impmon.”

“Wait, do you mean that we have an Impmon running around and I never knew!?” Leona asked incredulously. “Thats a potential prank partner just waiting to be met!”

“The subject never really came up,” Rena reminded her. “But out of curiosity Twilight, why are you asking about the Demon Lords?”

“Well, if Barbamon’s gone, but the virus that he made is still causing problems, then who exactly is behind this?”

“Good question,” Leona said, visibly worried despite having been joking around moments before. “Hopefully we can find out before it's too late.”

All the fox digimon could do is let out a deep sigh as she looked back at the coronamon. “I hope so too.”

Meanwhile…

Right around now, Tsukaimon was losing his mind. Not only did he have to bear witness to the digimon that he served infect herself with the virus that Phantomon gave her, but now that she was defeated, he was the one that had to be the bearer of bad news to their boss. Who was not one to tolerate failure of any sorts. The last time that someone had to report a failure, Phantomon brought in a Devidramon that he referred to as ‘minion forty-three’ and blew him up in front of those to serve him just to show them what would happen if they failed him again.

As the rookie digimon returned to the reaper’s chambers, he was scared out of his mind. Thinking of what Phantomon would do to him the moment that he told his boss of their failure. But before he could calm himself down, the reaper digimon floated from his spot near the ceiling. Scythe on his shoulder as he looked at the rookie with his cold blue eyes. “So… you have returned,” The reaper turned its head and looked behind him, seeing no one else coming in before looking back at the rookie. “By yourself no less. Explain yourself then.”

Tsukaimon gulped, taking in a nervous breath before exhaling as he told him everything. The original plan that Witchmon had, the ambush, the moment that they realized that the one they were trying to kidnap was a tamer, the battle that ensued, Witchmon injecting the virus into herself and then her defeat shortly afterwards. The rookie was scared that telling him all of this was like forfeiting his life away. That he was to feel Phantomon’s scythe come down on him at any moment.

But nothing like that happened. It was weird… but after he was done telling everything, all his boss did was close his eyes and let out a sigh. “So she was not a waste of my time after all… Very well, you may go.”

That comment not only stunned Tsukaimon, but confused him too. Left him with a question that only Phantomon could possibly solve. “M-my lord…? I-is there something I’m not getting here? I-i just told you about how we failed-”

“No, you told me about how Witchmon failed. Even with the virus, it was only a mere sample of what I am working on. With enough time, I’ll be able to re-create what was taken from me.”

The rookie just looked back at the ultimate level digimon, puzzled out of his mind. “A-apologies, Lord Phantomon, but I don’t believe I follow…”

Phantomon just stopped, before asking a question, “Tsukaimon, right? Would you have happened to be told of the Equinox War? The one from thirty years ago?”

“Only the stories.” The rookie replied honestly.

“Did any of those stories include a demon lord named Barbamon?” The tone in Phantomon’s voice began to change, sounding more intense and rigid as he slowly turned around.

“Y-yeah. The stories said that he had a virus that made many digimon lose control and attack their own friends and family-”

“Of course they would say that,” Phantomon retorted. “But they’re wrong. I was the one that came up with the virus, but Barbamon stole my research, my notes, everything. He got the credit for something that was MY achievement!!” His scythe was soon slammed onto the ground, startling Tsukaimon as the reaper digimon continued. “Because of that bastard, all of my old notes and everything that he stole was burned to the ground by those damned tamers!! I had to start over from scratch… it has taken thirty years, but with what happened to Witchmon, I can see that my work has not been in vain.”

“M-my lord…” Tsukaimon swallowed the nervousness that build up in his throat as he tried to ask one last question. “W-what is your plan?”

Phantomon only had one answer. “In the years since the war, every digimon in the world has gone soft, including the ones that have tamers,” he explained. “They have forgotten the feeling of fear, anguish, and despair. They have forgotten the feeling of death. But once my research is complete… I’ll be able to requaint them with it personally.”

End Chapter 16

17- A Friendly Visit (Part 1)

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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...

17- A Friendly Visit (Part 2)

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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

18- Outbreak

View Online

The Fox and the Filly- Outbreak

If there was anything that Phantomon hated the most out of everything he had been forced to experience in his lifetime, it was interruptions. You put in hours of research and hard work in order to make new discoveries or overcome an obstacle in front of you, only for your thought process to be derailed by an unanticipated interruption. Not only that, but it would take a long while to pick up where you left off and if you did not properly make records of the research being conducted, then everything that you would’ve been working for would just go down the drain.

The reaper digimon hated having to start over on any of his projects, for it just meant that more time would end up being wasted to redo everything that you had already completed rather than proceed to the next step or phase of a plan. It was the equivalent of stagnating in place and not accomplishing anything… and that was the bane of his existence. The only way to get anything done not just personally, but as a species, was through change. It was the fundamentals that he was taught while under Barbamon’s tutelage… and even though the demon lord stole his research and stabbed him in the back, he still followed his fundamentals. It was ironic really, but he didn’t care too much for it.

Though, it was as he was going over some notes that he heard a knock on the door to his chambers, “Excuse me, Mr. Phantomon sir? May I come in?”

The voice was one that the reaper digimon recognized, and with a begrudging sigh, he set down his work and turned to the door. “You may.”

As the door opened, what could only be described as a walking body made up of cardboard boxes entered the room. Unlike other digimon in the digital world, who had various different forms of digivolution, there are some rare cases where a particular digimon doesn’t have any forms at all. This one in particular, known as Bakomon, was one such case. Their DNA was classified as ‘Mutant’ and digimon like them usually had a particular series of tasks or jobs that they followed to the letter. In the case of Bakomon, he worked as a courier.

“Hello there,” the cardboard box digimon spoke, before gently taking a couple of cardboard packages out of the box that served as its head and setting it down gently, “Just passing through and making deliveries. Some of the packages for you had finally come in from other sectors of the digital world.”

“Oh?” Phantomon asked, “Which sector?”

“Vermillion,” came the reply as Bakomon placed the last of the packages, “From what my boss tells me, it’s been difficult for anything or anyone to go in and out of there as of late. Word is that the sovereign in charge placed a blockade on their borders for security concerns and that the Deva’s under him are working in full force to follow through on his decree.”

To Phantomon, that was a problem. Unlike the world of the living, where it’s kingdoms were split up by different rulers all across the world, how the digital world was structured changed significantly after the events of the Equinox War thirty years ago when the Demon Lords fell. The digital world was split into four sectors; Ebony, Vermillion, Azure and Ashen. Each one was watched and ruled over by one the four Sovereigns that called it home, yet they only stepped in if they saw that something was an immediate threat or a matter of great importance. Otherwise, the sector would be governed by the Sovereigns' subordinates, otherwise known as the Deva’s.

The problem that Phantomon faced in particular though was that his old research facility was in the Vermillion Sector. While most of its secrets have been relocated and the building itself was abandoned, it would be foolish to think that you could hide from a Sovereign. Especially if it was the burning wrath of Zhuqiaomon. He would need to contact the right digimon to make sure to double check the place later, just to be safe. It would not bode well to have his plans uprooted by carelessness.

“I see,” he replied back, before setting his scythe aside as he moved the packages closer to him, “Thank you for informing me on these developments. I will have to adjust accordingly.”

“No worries,” Bakomon replied, before blinking for a moment as he looked at his arm. Much to Phantomon’s surprise, it was at that moment where an envelope slipped through and onto the floor, “Oh sorry. Last minute delivery it seems. Looks like someone was wanting to talk to you and sent this through express mail. Well, have a good day now!”

With that, the cardboard box digimon took its leave, leaving Phantomon with the envelope as he looked at who it was from. Though, when he learned of the sender, he wasn’t entirely thrilled.

Tsukaimon

“Oh brilliant,” the reaper digimon groaned as he picked up his scythe and used the edge of it like a letter opener to tear open the envelope so he could look at what was inside. Tsukaimon had a bad track record of trying to contact him if he was in trouble or wasn't able to defend himself. There were even days where Phantomon honestly thought that he digivolved from his in-training form without a spine. His species was supposed to like fighting, yet Tsukaimon would flee like a coward at the first sign of trouble, “Let’s see if he actually has something good to tell me for once.”

As the envelope was torn open though, Phantomon found what looked to be a small circular device along with the message that Tsukaimon had inside. While it wouldn’t exactly look like much to any other digimon that saw it, Phantomon recognized it right away. It was a dead-eye chip, a miniature storage device that the reaper digimon gave to his followers to use for reconnaissance purposes. It would be used to take brief pictures over a period of time, before storing them onto this. Not only that, but the message that came with it was… rather promising.

Sorry for the sudden interruption, but I found something that I think you want to see. Couldn’t risk open communication, so I had to use my dead-eye. I’ll be waiting for further instructions soon.
-Tsukaimon

“Really now? Something that I would want to see?” Phantomon thought to himself as he raised an eyebrow. His annoyance from a few moments ago was now replaced with curiosity, even if he still had his fair share of doubts. Yet, after what he had told him in the wake of Witchmon’s defeat, he hoped that Tsukaimon took his words to heart and actually did something useful for a change instead of just fearfully quivering in a bush somewhere.

Though, once he was able to access the contents on the chip, Phantomon’s earlier impressions on Tsukaimon began to dissipate. For what it contained was something he thought would’ve been near impossible to find. Pictures of the hybrids that were half FanBeemon and half changeling as well as the hive that they called their home. Tsukaimon’s letter even contained coordinates to the hive’s location, something in which was well hidden considering he had sent scouts to search for the same hive and not find anything.

It was as he was looking over these new details and re-evaluating everything that an idea formed in his mind. Previous tests with the Barba Virus have always been with a single individual that had served the reaper digimon. Though, what Tsukaimon provided for him presented a new opportunity. A control test to see how the virus reacts in populated areas and to see how quickly it can spread.

With that in mind, Phantomon looked at the first package that had arrived and proceeded to open it. A grin formed under his hood as he looked through its contents. “Yes, this will do rather nicely. Now, it’s time to prepare for a field test.”

The Following Morning

By the time that the sun began to peak over the digital horizon, Lyall was the only one that was awake this early in the morning. Many of the other digimon that he came to the Daybreak lodge with, along with their tamers, were still fast asleep at this time. This included his sister Rena, who was usually an early riser like he was. Though, he had the feeling that she was enjoying some much needed rest after how things had been over the last few days. So, it wouldn’t be a good idea to disturb her right now.

As Lyall watched the sunrise from the balcony that was nearby the lobby, the Strabimon heard the doors open behind him and turned around. Much to his surprise, he found Elecmon standing by the doors as the rookie walked over. “Well, hello there. Didn’t expect to see anybody up this early in the morning.”

“Well, I woke up early and didn’t want to disturb my friends,” he replied back, “So, I decided to come here and watch the morning sky. Sorry if I-”

“No no, it’s fine,” Elecmon waved it off with a smile as he hopped up onto the wooden railing of the balcony, “It’s just surprising, that’s all. Never really had anyone walking around before the crack of dawn. Then again, Madame Lea did mention to us beforehand that all of you were quite unique and not like our usual clientele.”

“Really now?” Lyall said, “If I may be so bold to ask, what is your ‘usual clientele’?”

“During a usual week? We normally get groups that are here for things like family vacations, couples retreats, weddings and even honeymoons on occasion,” the rookie told him, “Just digimon who want to take a break from day to day life in the sectors, even if it is for a short while.”

At that part, the Strabimon was puzzled, “Sectors? Forgive me, but we aren't exactly locals, so some things aren’t really familiar to us.”

At that, the Elecmon just tilted his head in confusion for a moment, before he went to answer his question, “Well after the Equinox War, the last major crisis around the digital world, the digital world was split into four sectors with each one ruled by one of the Sovereigns. Even so, the different sectors have different rules and customs that the digimon living there need to follow. Our lodge is seen more or less as ‘off the grid’, so we don’t have our guests force any rules or restrictions on anyone. If anything, it allows our guests to be themselves.”

“I see, that must be a relief for those who come here. Especially considering the diverse clientele you were talking about a few moments ago,” Lyall responded, before a different thought crossed her mind, “Out of curiosity, how did you end up meeting Lea?”

“How did I meet Madame Lea?” Elecmon asked, “By chance, really. She had heard about some of the services that we offered outside of lodging and after some time, the Madame asked if Palmon and I wanted to take part in a partnership. We were skeptical at first, though after learning more about her and the kind of resources that she was able to provide for us, both of us were quick to accept. Since then, she’s not only helped us with finding clients, but some of the digimon that are a part of her hive also work here and help us whenever we have an influx of guests.”

That was something that the Strabimon honestly didn’t expect. When he first came to this place, he honestly thought that Lea had either won him over or just straight up owned the lodge. Then again, despite all the times that he had heard his sister and companions about Leona’s daughter, Lyall could not recall ever meeting her in person.

Of course, that was soon going to change. For shortly after they first started their discussion, the two of them heard a sound around the lobby floor as they turned to see Palmon holding a letter of sorts. “M-message for Rena, Leona and Company… and if t-the courier has anything to say about it, it seems to be urgent.”

“A message?” Lyall said, “From who?”

“Why M-madame Lea, of course. Though, I can’t seem to know why-”

At that, the Strabimon grimaced. “Yeah, that’s going to be a problem. Aside from me, mostly everyone is asleep. I could try to wake up Sweetie Belle, but I’m not sure if she’ll like it,” Shortly after he said that, a new question dawned in Lyall’s mind, “Why exactly is she needing us this early again?”

“I-it’s seems to be some kind of emergency, but t-there really isn’t much to go by,” Palmon admitted as they handed the letter for Lyall to read. Though, it only took him a few short moments to realize the severity of the message as the strabimon let out a sigh and looked back at the rookie digimon.

“Well, this looks really bad,” he cursed to himself, “Excuse me for a moment. I got a tamer to wake up. The sooner we address this, the better. I would rather not have this interrupt my sister's much needed rest.”

By the time that she arrived at their destination, Sweetie Belle was still trying to get her senses in order. Normally at this time, she would sleep for like another hour before waking up. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, she had to wake up much earlier than normal. All that she was told by Button’s partner, Lyall, was that they needed to head to Lea’s hive as soon as possible. However, they weren’t exactly informed as to why.

Yet, as they entered the hive, Sweetie was in shock at what she was seeing. Structures that stood tall during her original visit with Leona had fallen over, some of the changeling hybrids were trying to heal those that were gravely injured and a group of guards were trying to assess the entire situation. She also noticed a group of four other digimon along a honeycomb-like wall that contained what looked to be a digimon that was acting rather erratically. It tried to bash itself at the walls of the cell they were in and brute force the door that held their cell together, but to no avail.

“W-what… the hay happened here?”

“That’s a question that I think both of us want to have answered,” Lyall replied, before the two of them were led to a doorway that was guarded by two JewelBeemon that had spears crossed in front of the door.

“Halt!” the first one spoke, “Only authorized individuals beyond this point. State your name and purpose at once.”

Both the digimon and unicorn looked at one another in confusion, before looking back at the guards that stood at the door. “Uh… I’m sorry? We were asked to come to the hive as soon as possible to speak with-”

“Name and Purpose, or else entry will be denied,” the second JewelBeemon on the opposite side of the door stated. Yet, before Lyall or Sweetie Belle had the chance to defuse the situation, a third voice interjected.

“At ease, you two. The lady did send a messenger to that of her mother and her compatriots. It would seem though that these two are the only ones that could answer her summons right now.”

As the doors opened behind the two guards, Lyall and Sweetie found themselves looking at what could best be described as a bipedal butterfly digimon with yellow colored armor and arms that were striped like a tiger. However, its outstretched opal wings with cerulean markings were the most noticeable feature as both of the guards turned towards him and gave them a salute.

“M-major Butterflymon, sir!”

“Major… Butterflymon? That’s a first,” the strabimon thought to himself, “What’s next, a soldier in Equestria called Captain Flowers?”

“Stand down, you two,” the armor digimon told the two guards, before looking towards Sweetie Belle as a small smile could be seen underneath the mask that they were wearing on their face, “I remember seeing this filly just a couple days prior with her mother while you two were still going through training subroutines. However, I’m not so familiar with the other one.”

That was when Sweetie decided to speak up and say something, “He’s the brother of my partner, Rena. Though, she and Leona are… well still asleep right now. We didn’t want to keep Ms. Lea waiting for too long and if we woke up Leona, it would just make her cranky.”

“So, the two of you came in their place then?” Butterflymon asked, before folding his arms and nodding to the guards as they held their spears upright and allowed for them to pass. Once both of them were inside, the armor digimon let out a sigh of relief. “Pray, forgive the behavior of everyone in the hive. Every-mon’s been tense here over the course of the last few hours. The queen is in her chambers right now.”

“Her chambers?” Lyall asked nervously, “Apologies if I sound rude, but wouldn’t she have like a throne room to be in?”

“She does. However, we relocated her to a safer place for the moment while we are assessing the severity of the situation.”

At that, Sweetie Belle had to ask the first thing that came to her mind, “Just… What exactly happened here?”

“I… believe that would best be answered within the presence of the queen,” the armor digimon informed her, before approaching the door at the end of the hall and giving the door a gentle knock, “My queen, the ones who answered your summons are here. Shall I send them in?”

“Yes, please…” Came the reply from within, before the doors were opened to reveal a large and regal bed chamber with a bed large enough to fit six ponies the size of Celestia. And sitting there, taking up almost half the bed, was a large yellow being that resembled a mixture between a humanoid in yellow bee armor and a changeling with a long segmented tail ending in a wasp stinger. “I must apologize for the sudden summons, and my appearance. The situation is not the best right now.” The being said in Lea’s voice. Though, Lea’s usual peppy tone was instead replaced with the harsh buzz of an agitated bee.

“Are you alright, miss Lea?” Sweetie Belle asked, sounding concerned.

“I’ll be fine, but I am not so sure about my hive,” Lea buzzed, before standing up. She was now much taller in this form, Lyall only coming up to her knee as she approached the two. “Are you two the only ones who came, Sweetie… and you’re Lyall, right? Not how I planned to introduce myself to my future uncle, but what can a queen do.” she then shrugged while trying to sound alright, though it was obvious she wasn't.

Lyall blinked for a moment, looking towards Sweetie Belle to see if she made sense of anything that Lea just said. Though, after seeing a confused shrug from the filly, the Strabimon replied back, “Yeah, we were the only ones who could make it. My sister and the rest of our friends are asleep right now, so we came in their place.”

“What exactly happened though?” the unicorn filly asked, “The hive wasn’t like this the last time I was here.”

“Butterflymon, do you think you could… explain for me? My current state is a bit dangerous to keep under control.” Lea said to the digimon standing next to Lyall and Sweetie Belle, while indicating to them her vibrating wings and twitching tail with one of her hands. “It's been a long time since I have been in my fighter mode after all.” A drop of sweat seemed to roll down her currently humanoid face before evaporating.

“Certainly, my queen,” the armor digimon spoke up, before looking back to both the tamer and the Strabimon, “A couple of hours ago, one of the guards that we had out on patrol, FanBeemon, came back from patrol and claimed that they weren’t feeling well. At the time, we weren’t sure if they were just exhausted or something else. However, it was a short time afterwards that we started noticing some changes in their behavior. They were growing increasingly agitated and hostile, even though we were trying to help them.”

“Okay, I’m… with you so far,” Lyall said, “But how did we get from that to-?”

“Then, something within him ‘snapped’ per se. They started attacking their fellow guards and worse, when they were stung by his stinger, their victims started acting this way. With the sudden changes happening all too fast, they almost broke into our queen’s chambers and tried to attack her. We were lucky to subdue them and put them in isolation, however… the ones that FanBeemon stung weren’t so lucky. They either dissipated right then and there or the rest of us had to delete them ourselves. They were comrades, friends even… and yet, we couldn’t save them.”

At that, Lyall’s eyes widened. Personally, he wasn’t expecting a story like this to be told when inquiring about what happened. Yet, the whole thing seemed sickening enough. Even Sweetie Belle seemed uncomfortable with the whole thing, even though she tried her best to keep her composure.

“Do you… have any idea w-what happened to F-FanBeemon? H-he wasn’t always like that, was he?”

“Absolutely not,” Butterflymon confirmed, “The FanBeemon we know would not turn on any digimon that he would call his friend and was very loyal to Queen Lea. He wouldn’t even think about trying to attack her, let alone infect his allies.”

At that point when Butterflymon finished speaking, something clicked in Lyall’s head. Memories from just a few days ago when his sister told all of them about what happened when Rena first came to Equestria, but also the conflict that she and the tamers had taken part in. Yet, there was one point in particular that was coming back to him… and the more he thought about it, the more that he realized that what he was thinking about wasn’t good. “Oh no.”

“What is it Lyall?” Lea asked, concern etching itself into her face. “Do you perhaps know what is happening with my hive?”

“Not the hive, but… what might’ve happened to FanBeemon,” the rookie replied back before looking to the tamer that came with him, “Sweetie Belle, do you remember when Monodramon had to fight that one Digimon that attacked him and then the conversation that followed afterwards.”

“Kind of. B-but why are you-” At that point, Sweetie’s eyes widened as she realized what exactly Lyall was talking about, “W-wait, you don’t mean…”

The strabimon nodded his head, before looking back towards Lea as he began to explain to the queen, “Not long ago, Rena told all of us about a conflict where she and her previous partner were fighting alongside their friends against the Demon Lords a long time ago. One such demon lord had a virus as a weapon to where when it infects a digimon, it would increase their strength in battle tremendously. Yet, the virus would pretty much take over them.”

“A weapon during the Equinox War?” Butterflymon asked, “But the Demon Lords are no more though.”

“That may be true, but recently, that same weapon has seen a resurgence as of late. A couple of digimon that attacked us in the real world used the ‘Barba Virus’ to try and gain an edge in battle. Not only that, but the symptoms you told us that FanBeemon was having are the same ones that we were told that a digimon experienced when they were infected by said virus,” Lyall replied, even though he wasn’t really happy with what he had to tell them. Especially since so much damage had been caused already.

“I-Is there a cure?” Lea suddenly stuttered out, her wings now vibrating enough to create a loud buzzing sound, indicating how agitated the situation was making her.

“I’m… sorry, but I’m not sure,” Lyall admitted, “I think there might be one because one of our friends, Guilmon, had been infected by it before. Yet, I don’t really know. The only people who would possibly know would be either my sister, Guilmon or Mondramon maybe. Yet, Rena is beyond worried about the possibility of it infecting people she cares for now that the virus is making a comeback and Guilmon would have nightmares of what he did when infected.”

Lea quickly grabbed her tail as it suddenly jerked in an oddly dangerous direction before she pulled it against her chest. “I-I see, I’m sorry but… do you think you can come back later? I-I must… handle some things.” she then said, her voice cracking as she then turned around. “Butterflymon, escort them… please.”

“Certainly, my lady,” he replied, before looking at Lyall and Sweetie Belle as he motioned for them to follow him outside. As the door closed, the two of them couldn’t help but hear the armor digimon let out a deep sigh as he looked back at both of them. “I’m sorry if that was short. Our queen has been having to handle a lot of… emotions over the last few hours. The fact that not only her hive was attacked, but also the attacker was one of her own subjects has left… a bit of an impact on her.”

“I’m s-sorry to hear that,” Sweetie Belle replied, “I-I just w-wish that there was something we could do to… well, help-”

“Actually, you’ve helped out a lot more than you might think,” Butterflymon replied, “Because of both of you, we now know the cause of what happened and even though the chances are slim, it’s possible that FanBeemon can be saved. If your friend is still alive despite being infected by this virus, then it means that someone must have found a way to expunge the virus from his body. Not only that, but one of your friends can help us find out who.”

“Uh, I told you that Rena and Guilmon wouldn’t-”

“No no, not them. The third friend you mentioned. Maybe they happen to know about how you saved your friend,” the armor digimon replied, “While it might sound a bit far off, it’s better to have some hope rather than none-”

Just as he said that, a sword came flying through the door to Lea’s chambers as it landed deep into a nearby wall that was next to the three of them. Lyall was barely able to react in time as he moved Sweetie Belle out of the way. All the while, Butterflymon just stepped off to the side. “Oh dear. That’s… unexpected.”

As this happened, Sweetie Belle looked back through the hole into the broken door. It was clear that Lea wasn’t happy. Yet, it was only as she looked in that the filly could hear the full extent of the queen’s anger and frustrations.

“WhY DoEs ThIs KeEp HaPpEnInG In EvErY WoRlD!?” Lea’s distorted shout, sounding more insect like than something actually legible to pony ears, rang through the hive as something crashed within her chambers. Then, in a much weaker tone just barely audible to Sweetie Belle, she muttered in a distraught tone “I just wanted a place where me and mother could finally rest…” as the crashing sounds seemed to subside.

While Lyall and Butterflymon were talking among themselves though, the unicorn felt that she couldn’t just stand here while Lea was in distress. So, carefully, she stepped through the opening in the door and trotted over to where the queen was. Even though it seemed risky, she wanted to help Lea. Show to her that she and the other tamers that were her friends are there for her. Because coping after something so horrible like this is not something that should’ve been done alone.

Before the queen even realized that she was in the room, Sweetie Belle had gotten up onto her bed, trotted over to where Lea was and wrapped her forelegs around her for a hug.

“W-wha…” Lea stuttered as her body went rigid, the unexpected hug making her pause from eviscerating a section of her bed’s headboard to look down to the pony attached to her leg. “I-I thought… ThAt I had sent you…” She then muttered in confusion, seemingly unsure of what to do with her limbs as she looked at the small and very squishy being holding onto her.

“You did, but… it wouldn’t be right to leave you alone,” Sweetie told her, the queen feeling a source of positivity and comfort from her as she looked up, “When I had to face hardship before, I always had friends that could help me through it. Now, I want to do the same for you. I want to help you and the hive any way I can, and make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.”

Lea twitched for a moment before slowly crouching down as she tried to crack a thankful smile at Sweetie Bell, patting the foal on the head with one hand. “You are kind, young one… you truly are worthy of being Rena’s tamer.” She then said as a tear leaked from one of her eyes, having managed to gain some form of calm from the action. “Heh, you know, this brings me back. You remind me of myself in my younger years… doing my best to help my mother as she had to deal with the world around her being unwelcoming to us.” Her wings and tail were still twitching, and her face still was strained as if she wanted to scream and trash her room some more, but she visibly held it in as best she could as she took in the comforting act of kindness that unexpectedly came from this much more fragile being before her.

“Thank you. I’m glad I can help,” Sweetie replied back with a smile, before using her magic to take off the bandana of the Cutie Mark Crusaders she had around her neck and wipe away the tears from Lea’s eyes. For a couple more moments, she stood there to try and comfort Lea. Though, after a bit, a small ring from her Digivice went off and as she went to look at who was wanting to speak with her.

Much to her surprise, it was the one digimon that Butterflymon was referring to before. “Uh, Sweetie? Am I… interrupting something? I just found a letter from Lyall about where you and him are and-”

“No, you’re fine,” Sweetie told Monodramon as she lifted her digivice using a levitation spell, “In fact, there was something I wanted to ask you.”

Briefly, Sweetie Belle filled the other rookie digimon in on what was going on, from the attack to what played out afterwards. Though, she also told him that Rena and Leona should not be informed about what happened. The trip that they were on was supposed to help ease their worries, not give them more. So keeping everything a secret was essential.

“I see,” Monodramon replied, “This is… quite a lot to take in. Though, given what you said, there is someone that can help.”

“W-who!? Who is it that can help me prevent losing any more children!?” Lea suddenly burst, shoving her face next to Sweetie Belle as she gripped her bed hard enough to tear holes in it.

“E-easy there, calm down please,” Monodramon asked politely. “We all know someone… Yet, they are not a digimon. Though, given the circumstances, he’s the best one for this kind of situation.”

At that, Sweetie looked back at Lea, before looking back at Monodramon, “Who?”

“An old friend of ours. I believe Rena mentioned them when she told you all about when we fought the demon lords,” Monodramon replied, “They call themselves… NEO.”

End Chapter 18