The Tentacle Demon in the Pony Suit

by Parallel Black

50% Mare, 0% Stallion, 50% Everything in the Other Direction

Penny Withers pulled the drawer of turnips out of her turnip wagon and placed it on the front of her stall. The wooden thing was made heavier by the dozen or so pieces of produce held within, but Penny, old as she was, lifted it with a practiced grace, pulling it out of the small wagon and onto the front of the stall in one smooth motion.

The earth-pony mare let out a sigh and looked back at her wagon. Seeing that she had finished removing her labor’s worth from it, she gave the odd knob on the side of the vehicle a firm knock with a hoof. In a few moments, the wagon’s shelves folded into one another, shrinking it down to the size of a large hoofstool. Withers sat herself atop it and waited for her first customer.

A young mare, blue of coat, red in the eyes, and with a big, soft mane of light brown, trotted down the streets of Ponyville with a twitch in her step. Her tongue hung out of her mouth, panting in the heat. Her coat was starting to get matted with sweat, and the skin beneath was a sea of fizzing itchiness. It was all she could do not to start scratching at herself like a dog with fleas, or pulling a muscle just to get at the spots she couldn’t reach.

The mare looked about, trying to find something to relieve herself of the annoyance. There were stands selling all kinds of fruit and vegetables, but none with anything to drink. Starting to feel like she would have to take a few gulps from the stream, the mare turned to leave the marketplace.

“Hello there, dear,” came a voice from one of the stands. “Would you like to try some turnips to sate your appetite?”

Pricking her ears up in response to the voice - a movement that caused an odd crease at their base - the mare looked back at the old farmer, and then at her produce. “It’s sweltering hot today,” she commented. “Do turnips help prevent itchiness?”

Penny looked confused at the question and glanced at her turnips for a moment. “I’m fairly certain they don’t, but it couldn’t hurt to try, I suppose.” She picked one up and passed it to the blue mare.

The earth-pony looked at the item, opened her mouth, and swallowed it whole.

Penny couldn’t help but squint at what she had just seen and readjusted her spectacles. “I must be losing my vision…” she mumbled to herself. “Are you new here, my dear?”

The mare smiled at the question and nodded - a steady, calculated movement. “I came here with my mother to find a settling ground. I live in the dilapidated shack at the edge of this town.”

The old mare frowned, confused once more. “Oh… well that’s nice. I hope you enjoy living here, Miss…?”

“Tentacle Demon in a Pony Suit. That’s what ponies call me, at least,” the mare replied with a blush. “But you can call me Cuddlhu.”

“My my, what an unusual…” Penny stopped. What had the mare just said? One side of her wrinkled face attempted to cringe itself into an unnerved smile. “What...? Oh! It’s just a joke, isn’t it?” She laughed. “Forgive me, old ponies like me take a while to understand what the youngsters talk about these days. But putting that aside, what an odd name you have. Cudd-lhu? Mine is Penny Withers. You won’t find a more bog-standard name around here, I’m afraid.”

Thinking she had managed to outwit the times once again, Penny failed to notice the look of complete and utter terror on Cuddlhu’s face. The strange pony was practically writhing under her skin over what she’d just said. Her face had gone white as a sheet and her whole body had tensed up.

“H-here is your turnip back,” Cuddlhu said suddenly. “It didn’t work b-by the way, but thank you.” While she said this, the surface of her skin slightly bulged in places, getting at her persisting itches from within. As soon as she spoke, the area around her belly shifted and something - or, many somethings - traveled through her body and up her neck. Penny watched in mild horror as the mare’s green tongue emerged out of her mouth and stretched all the way over to the rack of turnips. It held the one she had just swallowed, coiled up and covered in slime.

With a soft thud, the turnip was placed amongst the rest of them and the tongue vanished once more into her mouth. “I-I’m sorry, but I have to go!” Cuddlhu cried, turning to leave. Before Penny Withers could speak another word, her strange customer was galloping away down the road, stumbling past a basket of apples and scattering the fruit in her wake. To many of those who noticed, she looked like a thief escaping a crime scene.

Comments

[tsaukpaetra]

No, turnips aren't that great at relieving itchiness. However, it can promote healthy skin and hair.