> What is a Tatzlpony?
>  by Skylight77
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: Discovery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	There it was, the Everfree Forest. Rainbow Dash hovered just outside its entrance, re-checking the mail she was delivering. It was unusual that a letter’s mailing address would be located in the Everfree Forest. And although this wasn’t part of her job, she insisted to take this request, since nopony else was brave enough. After all, the odds were that it was probably for Zecora.

With that thought, Rainbow flew inside, making sure to stay below the trees. With clouds being able to move and activate on their own in this area, one could argue that the skies were more dangerous than underneath. That and she could see the forest’s path better this way.

But as Rainbow followed the directions on the letter’s mailing address, something felt off. The directions weren’t to Zecora’s place at all. If it wasn’t for her, then who would it be for? Well, it wasn’t any of her business, so she didn’t think on it. Treading away from the path, she flew deeper into the forest where the letter lead.

Rainbow Dash kept her eyes and ears open as she followed the directions. Besides the rustling leaves caused by the wind and her flapping wings, the area was rather silent. It was odd. For an area filled with dangerous creatures and unnatural weather, there seemed to be no danger in this path at all. She expected at least something.

But the letter’s destination soon came into view, or at least it seemed to come. There was a small clearing within the forest where the sun shined a little brighter. There were quite a few flowers surrounding the area, all purple with a light yellow floral disc. At the center of the clearing was a mailbox.

Rainbow Dash was puzzled, wondering why this was here. Upon reaching the mailbox, she looked around. “Hello? Anypony?” she called out. But the only response was the wind suddenly blowing stronger. She looked around more, any signs of anypony, or at least something that resembled a shelter or home. 

There was nothing, not even a cloud above. Something in her gut told her not to stay here too long. “Okay, keep it cool. Nopony else would deliver this, so I have to.” Swallowing her nerves, she put the letter in her mouth and moved her hoof to the mailbox.

As soon it opened, green smoke blew out of the mailbox, causing Rainbow to stumble back. She closed her eyes and coughed, causing her to drop the letter as the smoke surrounded her body.

“Hey! *cough, cough.* What... gives…” As she started blowing away the smoke using her wings, her mind and body got weary. There was suddenly humming coming from somewhere. She turned her head towards the direction of the hum. Despite her wings blowing against the smoke, it still surrounded her.

Through the smoke, she saw the shadow of something in front of her. “W-Who’s… there…” She heard the humming coming from it, a soothing and gentle hum. It felt like magic was surrounding her. Despite the circumstances, her mind and body felt at peace. The shadow that she saw seemed to be a unicorn levitating a flower in front of them. But she could barely focus on it as her vision started faltering.

“Embrace the lives of the lost,” the shadow started speaking. It sounded like a female voice, but she couldn't recognize whose it was. “Today is forgotten. But tomorrow will discover.” The shadow came close to her. She wearily stood as she listened, trying to maintain conscious. "A new hope for them now blossoms." The shadow’s horn glowed brighter and pointed towards the flower, then to her. “You will be its messenger. And you will be their new beginning.”

The last thing Rainbow saw before losing conscious, was a bright flash of light.


______________________________________________________________________________


A wonderful melody could be heard throughout the whole garden. The melody came from many birds, chirping along the conductions from Fluttershy. Many animals gathered to listen to the wonderful melody. It warmed Fluttershy’s heart to see them all rocking their heads to this tune.

Nothing special was going on today. It was just a little activity Fluttershy decided to do for them today after having them fed.

But this enjoyment was cut short when one of the bunny’s ears raised. The chirping stopped and soon all their ears were raised. Fluttershy grew concerned.

“What’s wrong little critters?” she asked. They turned their heads to the entrance of the Everfree Forest. Almost immediately after, fear grew on their faces. They all started scurrying to their homes, including the birds chirping the melody.

Fluttershy grew more concerned as they all scattered, later knowing why they left. She heard rustling coming from the forest. A creature must’ve left its home and was about to come out.

Looking to the forest, Fluttershy gulped and flew near the entrance. “H-Hello?” she called after landing, treading with caution. The creature lurking about could’ve been anything from a hungry cragadile to a lost jackalope, looking for shelter. Despite being a dangerous place, the creatures that emerged from this were usually quite harmless. It was why she kept her cottage at such a close distance to it. She wanted to help all those poor animals looking for a home.

“Hello? Come on out.” Fluttershy crouched her body down to meet eye level with whatever creature may appear. “I won’t harm you little one.”

The rustling stopped. Whatever creature was in there must’ve heard her voice. Fluttershy waited patiently, expecting any scenario. What she didn’t expect though, was for the creature to show its signs, without revealing itself. She saw the shadow of the creature placing what looked like a large green berry in her point of view.

It was a very odd behavior. Fluttershy had to see what it was. She slowly walked inside the forest where the berry was. When she reached it, another short rustle came. She looked to its direction, and saw a shadow again. Taking a glance at the berry, she moved behind it, lowered her head, and nudged it in its direction.

“Come on out. I won’t bite.” She laid her body next to the berry, waiting again with a smile. This time the creature came out. What she saw made her release a small gasp as she raised her head.

The creature she saw looked much like a pony who was crouched in a begging position much like a lost dog. She thought it was a pony, but it looked off. There was a strange slithering pattern marked next to its eyes. And the tail wasn’t a long collection of hairs. It was a much longer lizard-like limb with hair standing around its end side, finishing with a fish-like tail with a pointed end. This tail slithered around.

But what caught Fluttershy by most surprise was the appearance of this creature. The coat was cyan. It had strong-looking wings. The eyes were magenta. And the hair... there was no mistaking the hair. Red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple… all of the colors of the rainbow adorned that hair along with the ending of its tail in a scale-like manner. 

And if that didn't give it away, the rainbow lightning bolt Cutie Mark did. Although the Cutie Mark was slightly different than she remembered. The red slithering pattern on its eyes, which looked like lightning bolts, now decorated the cloud part of her Cutie Mark, making it look like it was sparking lightning on all sides.

The creature kept its lying position and looked up at Fluttershy with concerning eyes, much like her animals would. It looked like a lost creature. But it couldn’t have been lost, could it? She didn’t know what this creature was, but she knew who she was. At least, she thought she knew. To test this, she called out its name.

“R-Rainbow… Dash?” Fluttershy’s mention of the name caused the creature to blink. Slowly, it raised its body. “Is… that you?” Fluttershy walked slowly towards the creature. It’s eyes… they started pulsating, like it had found something in Fluttershy.

Fluttershy stopped to slowly extend a hoof out. She wondered what this creature was, and more importantly, what happened to her.

Suddenly the creature opened its mouth, quickly lashing three long, black, tentacle-like tongues out. Fluttershy yelped as the tongues wrapped around her hoof and body.

“Ah!” Fluttershy screamed as she tried to fly away. The tongues had wrapped around her hooves and her wings, preventing them from flapping. She tried to hold her ground, but the tongues were too strong, lifting her body and pulling her in. "Help!" she cried. Her eyes shrank and her mind filled with fear as her body was being pulled towards the creature’s mouth.

“No! No! Nooo!” The tongues wrapped around her neck, pulling her head in first. She saw nothing but the inside of the creature’s mouth before she squeezed her eyes shut.


______________________________________________________________________________


Fluttershy awoke to the screaming banshee of her own yelling playing in her mind. It echoed as her eyes slowly opened. She found herself lying at her garden, with the back of her head against a tree. The sun was setting, and her mind was fuzzy.

“Oh… what a nightmare…” Fluttershy placed a hoof to her head as she got up from the tree. Checking the garden, she saw that none of her animals were in sight. But she heard the snoring of some of them. They must’ve all fallen asleep. It seemed a bit early for them all to be sleeping, but she herself felt oddly tired as well. It was even more odd with her considering she just woke up from what she believed was a nap.

Nevertheless, Fluttershy spread her wings and flew to her cottage. She wondered why she had such a dream, and why the dream was about Rainbow Dash. Rainbow wasn’t a pony she feared. Sure, Rainbow may have those moments of scaring her tail extensions off. But the protective nature she felt around Rainbow outweighed that.

And then, Fluttershy saw her answer as she landed in front of her cottage door. Her eyes shrunk in total shock and fear. Waiting there, lying on top of her mat, she saw it. It was the large green berry she saw earlier.

“It wasn’t a dream…”
> Chapter 2: Learning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Fluttershy had already finished the last of her chores. They took longer today than they used to because she couldn’t stop thinking about what happened the other day. The more she thought about it, the more it hindered her tasks. It didn’t help that no matter how she thought on the matter, she could only describe it as a dream and no more.

But now, here she was, inside the Everfree Forest to seek that dream. Her heart pounded on her chest with every step she took. There were more reasons to be scared than just that dream. But she wasn’t sure which one she was more scared about.

Then, a rustle happened. Giving a light yelp, she turned her head to the direction of that rustle.

“H-Hello?” Fluttershy called. “Please, come out. A-Are you there?” She waited for a response, holding still and breathing carefully. Soon, the rustle continued and her heart rate increased. And when the shadow presented itself, she wasn’t sure whether to be relieved, or more scared than ever.

It was the same creature she met the other day, the creature that bared a large resemblance to Rainbow Dash, minus the eye markings and its tail. This creature was slightly looking away, but its eyes stared at her with an expression of longing, and concern.

“R-Rainbow Dash? Is that you?” Fluttershy asked again. The creature slowly lowered its head. There was a large green berry on the ground, the same one she saw yesterday. And this creature, lightly nudged the berry towards her direction, then backed away.

Something clicked in Fluttershy’s mind. This was a similar action it made before. “You… want me to eat it?” she asked, slowly walking towards it. The creature didn’t move as she approached. She never ate the berry she was given yesterday, but it seemed like this creature wanted her to.

Fluttershy slowly lowered her head to the berry. She looked back at the creature to reassure if this is what it wanted. Seeing those hopeful eyes, she proceeded, took the berry in her mouth, and ate it.

Her eyes grew wide and her mouth froze. When the juices of the berry poured into her mouth, she was introduced to a wave of delicious flavor she never experienced before. It was delightful. She chewed and moaned, enjoying every taste of the berry. The creature seemed to smile at her delight. And when she swallowed, the creature walked towards her.

“Oh my… That was a very lovely berry. Thank you.” The creature only responded by inching closely to her, letting its body lower slightly while its eyes looked up at her in a pulsating delight. She didn’t realize it before, but looking into those eyes with those red lightning bolts next to them, it made the creature look oddly adorable.

Before she realized it, she was raising her hoof in a smile. Next thing she knew, she was giggling and petting the creature on top of its head. The creature closed its eyes and smiled wider. It’s lizard-like tail slithered about in enjoyment to the petting. 

“Aww… you’re such a cute thing!” Fluttershy continued the petting. The feeling she had of rubbing her hoof along that rainbow mane was a delight. Feeling the hairs brush along her hoof, watching the enjoyment of this… pony creature as if it was a lost animal, it drove away all the fears that she had from it.

Except for one. Fluttershy halted the petting and the creature backed away, looking content. “But just… what are you?” she asked. “I’ve never seen a critter like you before.” The creature’s smile soon faded and looked slightly away. “Can you talk?” There was no response from it. “Can you understand what I’m saying?” It didn’t move its head, but its eyes turned back to her. It was certainly an odd behavior, but she had an idea. “If you can understand me, please, follow me.”

As Fluttershy turned away, the creature turned its full attention to her. She started walking. After a few steps, she stopped and turned her head back. The creature seemed hesitant, but ultimately decided to follow. Seeing this warmed her heart. She continued walking with the creature following.


______________________________________________________________________________


Somewhere inside the cottage, Fluttershy’s personal pet rabbit, and best assistant known as Angel Bunny, caught attention to the front door opening. He peaked out of his little shelter to see who it was. To his expectation, he saw his owner Fluttershy entering. But not to his expectation was the next pony that followed her.

In fact, he wasn’t even sure if it was a pony. It sure looked like one. And it definitely reminded him of one of Fluttershy’s closest friends known as Rainbow Dash. But it looked off. Oddly enough, it's presence made him nervous and made him want to continue to stay hidden.

As the door closed, Fluttershy turn her head to the creature. “This is my home. I raise and take care of a lot of critters like you here.” Something crossed her mind and she turned the rest of her body to the creature. “Oh I’m sorry. I never introduced myself did I?” She covered her mouth to clear her throat. “My name is Fluttershy. You can understand me, right?”

The mention of her name seemed to give a response to the creature. It’s eyes grew with curiosity as it released a small gasp. She watched carefully. It seemed like it was trying to remember something as its lips seemed to mouth something.

“F-..F-... ... Fluttershy?” the creature responded, softly, and slowly. Hearing that response made Fluttershy gasp. The creature even moved closer to her, looking her deep in the eyes.

That voice, that raspy voice… Fluttershy recognized it anywhere. There was no doubt about it in her mind anymore.

“Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy responded. “You are Rainbow Dash, aren’t you…” Repeating that name made Rainbow pull back with a frown. Despite the clearance, she seemed so lost, like she lost her memory. This made Fluttershy even more concerned. But something else mattered more. “What happened to you? ...What are you?”

Rainbow just turned her attention back to Fluttershy. The way her eyes stared seemed to show so much longing for attention or answers. It looked like she was about to answer. But suddenly, her stomach started rumbling, shocking Fluttershy in more ways than one.

“You’re… hungry?!” Fluttershy asked, raising her voice. “B-But… if you were hungry, why did you give me your berry?”

Rainbow backed her head away, both nervous and ashamed. Then she was turning away.

“Wait! You don’t have to go.” Rainbow stopped and turned back to Fluttershy upon that response. “I can get you something. Um… please, stay here.”

As Fluttershy left for the kitchen, Rainbow frowned. She wasn’t feeling too depressed, just lost and alone. Her body crouched to lie down where she stood, keeping her tail curled around her for comfort.

Seeing all this, Angel was confused and curious. That creature had to be Rainbow Dash, especially if Fluttershy believed it. But the way she behaved wasn’t much like Rainbow at all. It was more of a lost animal that just found shelter. He decided to hop out of his own hiding shelter to take a closer look.

Rainbow’s ear twitched at the sound of something hopping towards her. And it arrived right in front of her. When she turned her head to see what it was, she blinked.

Both Angel and Rainbow stared at each other, curiosity filling both their eyes. Rainbow’s head raised from her lying position, her eyes pulsating, finding something in this bunny. Angel hopped a bit closer, wondering if this creature recognized him. He believed it had to be her.

All of a sudden, Rainbow opened her mouth, lashing out three black tentacle-like tongues. Angel yelped as they wrapped around his body. He turned and tried to run away, but the tongues made him fall to the ground. He dragged his paws on the floor as the tongues pulled him in.

Angel’s body was lifted off the ground and his lower body was met with warm saliva covering him. He felt the inner walls of Rainbow’s mouth pressing him, dragging him inside. He yelped and groaned, pressing his paws against her lips to prevent him from being sucked in. But one of the tongues slithered around the top of his head, saliva drenching down as it tugged him in.

Angel’s struggles failed him. He held out a paw, yelping for help. But he couldn’t speak like the other animals. As a result, his yelp fell silent. His head and paw were slurped into Rainbow’s mouth. Her cheeks bulged, and then she made a large gulp, swallowing the bunny. The small lump briefly appeared from her neck before it slid down and disappeared within the confines of her stomach.

The struggles stopped. Rainbow looked down to her stomach and applied light pressure on it with her muzzle. She could feel the lump where Angel lay. It made her smile. But with no movement, it also made her worry.

But that worry was interrupted when Fluttershy came back from the kitchen. She was holding a jar full of strawberries. After landing in front of Rainbow, Fluttershy popped the lid off and took one out.

“Here, try this.” Fluttershy placed the lid down with the strawberry on top, nudging it forwards. “They may not be as good as the berry you gave me, but I’m sure you’ll like it.”

Rainbow stared down at the berry after Fluttershy gave space. She stared down at the berry, bringing her head closer to it.

Fluttershy watched as Rainbow sniffed at it. Then she saw Rainbow opening her mouth. Something came out that gave her chills. It was Rainbow’s tongue, and it looked very different. The shape and movement of it seemed just like any other pony’s tongue, minus Pinkie Pie’s. But it seemed bigger, longer, and black.

Nevertheless, Rainbow was using that tongue to lick the strawberry, lapping her saliva on it to taste it. After her lick, she extended her tongue further. It was definitely longer than a pony's tongue. She scooped the berry up then rolled her tongue back inside her mouth.

As Rainbow chewed the strawberry, Fluttershy held unease at her mind. That tongue reminded her of her first encounter with this new form of Rainbow Dash. She could briefly remember seeing it from that experience. But she couldn’t make sense of why or how.

The sound of Rainbow swallowing snapped Fluttershy out of her thoughts. She could hear Rainbow making an ‘Mmm’ sound with a smile, making her smile as well. 

“Aww, good Rainbow. Would you like some more?” Fluttershy poured more strawberries on the lid without waiting for an answer. Rainbow’s response was merely digging her mouth within the strawberries, chewing into them with her teeth followed by tasty moans.

Fluttershy giggled at the sight. The strawberries expelled multiple squirts of juice, making a mess on the floor and Rainbow's face. It was so cute to see Rainbow feeding on those berries like a wild animal. 

”She is a wild animal.” Fluttershy’s thoughts echoed in her mind, causing her to stop giggling. Her face felt like it flushed as her heart started beating fiercely. ”Why am I thinking this way?” She wanted to steer her mind towards something else. But the first thought that came was the ending event of her first encounter.

Fluttershy shook her head, blocking out any opinions that would enter her mind. She put on a stern face as she thought about what was present now. This was Rainbow Dash. Something happened to her to change her form. Her memory was lost. And she needed help.

Fluttershy knew what to do next.
> Chapter 3: Transformation (Revised)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Fluttershy had managed to escort Rainbow to the Crystal Castle in Ponyville. Hiding Rainbow’s form during the travel was simple. All she needed was a robe over her body. It covered her tail well enough, and anypony who saw her eyes would think it was just paint, or at least a tattoo. And since the markings formed a lightning bolt, it actually fit her quite well.

The difficult part was explaining all of this to Twilight. All three ponies were in the library section of castle. While Rainbow was lying down with her robe removed, Fluttershy was explaining everything she could about her encounter with this creature, leaving out the part she still believed was a dream.

“So, let me get this straight,” Twilight started, putting a hoof to her mouth. “You met a creature that you’ve never seen before just within the Everfree Forest. That creature, was her.” Twilight paused to point at Rainbow. “She looks just like Rainbow Dash, but you’re not sure if it’s her because she can’t remember anything. And you believe something must’ve happened to her in the Everfree Forest to cause her to transform into this creature?”

Fluttershy nodded and started brushing Rainbow’s mane with a hoof to keep her relaxed and content. “It has to be her, right? I mean… when I spoke her name, she shared me a berry, and became…” She was about to say, ‘loyal and obedient’, but stopped herself as she blushed from the thought. “Um… she recognized it, and followed me to my cottage.”

Fluttershy stopped the petting and Rainbow opened her eyes. She looked at Twilight who was looking back at her. “She does look like a pony, but I’ve never read anything about ponies of this species.” Rainbow didn’t seem to respond to Twilight’s words. But at the same time, there seemed to be no hesitations from her either.

“I figured the best thing to do was to find a way to cure her and fix her memory. You can do that, right?”

Twilight smiled and nodded at Fluttershy’s question. “If she really is Rainbow Dash, then this is just a simple case of transformation magic. Do you remember when I casted a spell on us to transform into breezies?” Fluttershy nodded and squealed in glee remembering it. 

“You see, for that spell to work, I would need a sample of the creature that I’m transforming somepony into. But when the spell works in reverse, it will transform them back into their original form, without needing a sample.” Twilight started walking forwards. This alerted Rainbow and made her look to Fluttershy, who looked back with comforting eyes. “If she really is Rainbow Dash, then this spell will return her back to normal. And if she isn’t, then it won’t do anything. No harm, right?”

Fluttershy turned to Twilight and nodded. "And will her memory return?" Twilight nodded.

After the confirmation, Fluttershy looked back to Rainbow and motioned her hoof upwards, making a signal to stand up. Just like an obedient pet, Rainbow obeyed, uncurling her tail and standing up. “Don’t worry, Rainbow. This may feel strange, but it won’t hurt. You’ll be back to normal soon.”

Fluttershy gave Rainbow one more tap of assurance before backing away, allowing Twilight to do her thing. The assurance let Rainbow look to Twilight as she approached. 

Before the spell started, Fluttershy watched. For some reason, an odd feeling started stirring in her stomach. It was like she didn’t want to see Rainbow turn back. She put a hoof to her stomach and took a deep breath, having no idea why she was feeling this way. This was Rainbow Dash after all. She was no animal. And Fluttershy knew that this was best for her.

But another odd thing came up. Twilight hadn’t started her spell yet. She and Rainbow were just staring at each other. Why were they just staring? And then, Fluttershy could’ve sworn Twilight’s last blink was rather rough. But after that blink, she started casting her spell.

Fluttershy watched as the spell was being casted. For some reason, every detail of the casting was very clear to her. Rainbow's body glowed. Her eyes grew before closing. A white ribbon-like aura surrounded and covered her body. Her entire form was disappearing within that ribbon. 

The feeling in Fluttershy's stomach grew more upsetting as she watched the details. The last thing she saw disappear was Rainbow's mane. Half of her mind was hoping this would work, while the other half didn't. She didn't know why, and she was hoping that the half of her mind that wanted the spell to not work would stop.

Suddenly, there was grunting coming from Twilight. It snapped Fluttershy out of her thoughts. Seeing the stress that was put on Twilight’s horn made her cover her mouth and lightly gasp. Magical particles were appearing and separating between both ponies. 

And then, the magical particles burst into a flash of light. Twilight yelped and flung back while Fluttershy’s eyes winced. Despite Twilight’s magic being disconnected, the aura continued to swirl. As Fluttershy looked back, more confusion dawned upon her. Something had appeared from the flash of those magical particles. But before she could make out what it was, Rainbow’s body flashed, dissipating the aura that surrounded her body.

When the lights left, both figures fell to the floor. Fluttershy released a loud gasp as she saw both figures. On the left, Rainbow was there, but her body had changed. The lightning bolts had disappeared from her eyes and her Cutie Mark. Her tail was no longer lizard-like. It had retained its collection of long hairs with all the colors of the rainbow in its proper pattern. She seemed to be asleep, but back to normal.

Fluttershy was relieved, but seeing Rainbow back wasn’t what she was so surprised about. Right next to Rainbow, laid a very familiar white bunny.

“Angel?!” Fluttershy shouted and rushed towards him. He too seemed to be asleep as well. “Angel. How did you get here?”

That was when Twilight recovered from her shock and picked herself up. She grunted and wiped her forehead. “Angel was here?” After seeing Angel laid flat on the ground next to Rainbow and Fluttershy, she walked over to them. “That must’ve been why I had such a hard time casting that spell. I wasn’t expecting him to be around.”

Fluttershy looked to Angel and nudged him with a hoof. She could feel that he was still breathing like he was just asleep. But oddly enough, his fur felt a bit damp. Looking to Rainbow, she noticed a similar sleeping motion. Seeing both of them asleep, she turned to Twilight and asked. “They’ll be okay, right?”

Twilight nodded. “It looks like the spell worked. Rainbow Dash is back to her old pony self. But because of Angel’s presence, my magic must’ve knocked them.” 

Fluttershy moved over to Rainbow’s body and asked. “What about her memory?”

“They should return as well. Whatever magic was used to turn her into that creature also affected her memory. But if it doesn’t come back, don’t worry. I know a memory spell for that.”

Fluttershy looked down at Rainbow’s sleeping body, a strange feeling going through her stomach. It made her feel a bit sad. Why was she feeling this way? This was right after all. She should be happy. And yet…

“Okay,” Fluttershy replied as she bent her head down to Rainbow’s body. “But I still want to take her home.”

Twilight cocked an eyebrow as Fluttershy picked Rainbow up. “Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy grunted as she lifted the weight of Rainbow’s body against her back. With her shaking legs, she thrusted her back upwards, allowing Rainbow’s body to jump and turn to plop, facing her direction. Breathing carefully, she turned to Twilight.

“I just want to make sure that when she wakes up, she’s okay.”

Twilight looked at Fluttershy for a few seconds before nodding in approval. She sparked her horn, which made Fluttershy feel her weight get lighter for a brief second. Rainbow’s limbs were just moved to a more comfortable position for her to carry. Then Angel was lifted from Twilight’s magic.

“Alright then, Fluttershy. I’ll look after Angel and take him home for you when he wakes up.”

“Okay,” Fluttershy nodded and turned to the door. After grunting from a few steps, she made her way out the door, with Twilight opening it for her with her magic.


______________________________________________________________________________


The sun was setting as Fluttershy carefully walked her way to the direction of Rainbow’s cloud house. Normally it would be a beautiful sunset to stare at as it lowered over the horizon. But today, clouds messily scattered the skies, blocking the rays that the sun would shimmer. It also didn’t help that the winds blowing from those clouds made it harder to admire. Without Rainbow Dash to tend to the skies, the weather wasn’t as beautiful as it used to be. It wasn’t necessarily bad weather, but it was a noticeable difference. Now that she was cured, the skies would regain its beautiful rainbow.

But as Fluttershy thought to herself, her stomach dropped. Many questions kept filling her mind, many questions she wanted to have answers to. 

Why did that strange dream about Rainbow Dash come? What sort of creature was she? How did she turn into such a creature? And the one thing that bothered Fluttershy the most, why does her heart beat so fiercely when taking care of Rainbow Dash? Even now as she carried Rainbow across Ponyville, it beat fast. But it beat faster when Rainbow was that creature.

No matter how much she thought on them, the answers never came. She looked down, causing Rainbow’s mane to brush over her forehead. More questions spawned. How was Angel with Rainbow without anypony knowing? Since Rainbow’s tail wasn’t a collection of long hairs, he couldn’t have hidden there, and her mane wasn’t long enough to hide him. And of course, why would Angel want to hide with her in the first place?

Fluttershy shook her head, leaving herself with a frown and a headache. It was clear these questions weren’t gonna be answered. Besides, her thinking time was over as she arrived at the meadow that held Rainbow’s cloud home above. She bent over and let Rainbow’s body slide off her back and to the ground, giving a good stretch with her back and wings with the weight disappearing.

But as Fluttershy looked up to the cloud house, something dawned on her that she hadn’t thought about. How exactly was she going to get Rainbow up there? Her ears dropped again thinking she had just made a mistake. Then she thought maybe the meadow was good enough? Rainbow liked to take naps outside on the clouds, and on trees. All she needed was a pillow, right?

“No,” Fluttershy said to herself. “I can take her up there. I can.” She allowed herself to say things that would brighten up her confidence. “My wings are stronger than they used to be. It’s because Rainbow Dash has been training me.” Moving to the front of Rainbow’s body, she wrapped her hooves around Rainbow’s hooves and spread her wings. “And I want to show her how much I’ve improved, even if she isn’t awake to see it.”

Releasing a heavy breath, Fluttershy engaged her wings. Rainbow’s body lifted off the ground, but her weight became noticeably heavy when her hinds legs went dangling in the air. Still, she was rising. Fluttershy continued stuttering heavy breaths as she beat her wings. She didn’t stop until her altitude rose above the cloud step to the front door. That was when her wings gave in and she fell backwards, landing both herself and Rainbow on the cloud.

Fluttershy panted, relieved that the strain was over. She opened the door before picking Rainbow back up and heading inside. It was much easier getting Rainbow to her bedroom and on top of her bed.

“Phew…” Fluttershy sighed. After tucking Rainbow’s body in with the blankets, she pat Rainbow’s mane. Watching Rainbow’s sleeping figure made her smile. 

Taking one of the extra pillows Rainbow had, Fluttershy moved to the corner of the room next to the door. Being a cloud house, literally anywhere could be used as a bed. She took one last look at Rainbow’s sleeping figure before plopping herself down to the pillow, falling asleep.
> Chapter 4: Tatzlpony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sitting in the center of a beautiful flower filled meadow, she looked to the skies smiling as her pink mane blew against the breeze. Humming in relaxation, she waited. She didn’t remember why she was waiting, she just waited without a care in the world.

As she waited, the skies revealed the beautiful rainbow that decorated its beauty. Seeing Rainbow Dash already told her that this was what she was waiting for. As Rainbow flew down to her, she stood up to meet her best friend again.

“Hey, Fluttershy!” Rainbow voice echoed. “Ready for our pet play date?!”

Her smile faltered and she looked around. “Pet play date?” She looked for signs of any animals. There were none. Then looking back forwards, Rainbow’s body was changing. Red lightning bolts appeared next to the eyes and the tail stretched out, flashed, and became a long lizard-like limb.

Her eyes shrunk as she saw Rainbow turning back into that creature. Before she knew it, Rainbow’s mouth opened and shot out three black tentacle-like tongues at her. They wrapped around her body, held some of her hooves, and entangled her tail. She screamed as her body was pulled towards Rainbow Dash.


______________________________________________________________________________


Fluttershy released a loud gasp as she shot her head up from her sleeping position. Quickly looking around, she realized that she was just in Rainbow’s bedroom. Why was she in Rainbow’s bedroom, and sleeping on the floor no less? Oh yeah, she remembered why.

Suddenly, that reason why was now nuzzling the side of her face. Her eyes shrunk and she froze on the spot. Yet it kept nuzzling her. Ever so slightly turning her head, the first thing she saw was the swirling lizard-like tail filled with multicolored scales.

And then her eyes made contact with the rest of its body, along with its eyes. Cyan coat, rainbow mane, strong pegasus wings, and magenta eyes decorated with red lightning bolts to the side.

“R-R-Rainbow Dash?!” Fluttershy’s mention of the creature Rainbow Dash’s name caused her to squeal in glee, nuzzling further as Fluttershy was pushed back down into a lying position. 

“B-But, how?” Fluttershy asked. “We just had you cured. Didn’t we? I saw you-” Before she knew it, she was already petting Rainbow Dash by the mane. The petting was not only relaxing Rainbow Dash, but also easing up her own panic. She didn’t know why, but despite that dream she just had, Rainbow’s current presence comforted her.


______________________________________________________________________________


Fluttershy popped open another lid from a jar. This one was a jar of purple grapes. She set it down on the sofa next to where she sat. After taking out a grape, she turned her attention forward. Rainbow Dash was halfway across the living room, holding her stance down with her tail up. When Fluttershy tossed the grape towards her, she jumped towards it, stuck out her tongue and caught the grape in it.

Fluttershy watched as Rainbow caught and ate her food. Seeing that black tongue made her mind both wary and fascinated. It seemed longer and much more flexible than a pony’s tongue. She took another grape out and chucked it again, this time high in the air. Rainbow Dash jumped up, flapped her wings, and let the grape score into her mouth before falling back down.

A smile spread across Fluttershy’s face. She couldn’t help but giggle as she took a look at the rest of the empty jars decorating the floors. There were three empty jars, all of which used to be filled to the brim with fruit. One of them had sliced apples, another had pineapple tidbits, and the third held many cherries of different colors. Now they were beginning their fourth, and still going. She took out another grape and tossed it to Rainbow again. 

Fluttershy wasn’t sure what she was more surprised about. The fact Rainbow had such a big appetite right now, or the fact Rainbow had this much fruit in her kitchen in the first place. But the thought of treating Rainbow like this left a guilty twist in her stomach. Her mind wandered.

”It looks like the spell worked. Rainbow Dash is back to her old pony self.” Twilight’s words echoed in Fluttershy’s mind. And then, Rainbow came up to her, holding the last grape she threw. Rainbow moved her mouth to the sofa and laid the grape next to Fluttershy. She then looked up at her with a smile.

It seemed like Rainbow was finally satisfied with all the eating. Fluttershy wanted to smile, but she couldn’t. Rainbow was still this creature, so clearly the spell didn’t work. But why? She saw it transform Rainbow back. But here she was, looking up at her with those pet-like eyes, and the adorable lightning bolts next to them…

“Oh… Rainbow… I don’t know what to do,” Fluttershy sadly spoke. “I saw Twilight transform you back into a pony. She said when you woke up, your memory would be back. But none of that happened. It’s like I didn’t take you to Twilight at all. But I know I did! That’s why I woke up here, right? So why...” Fluttershy closed her eyes and put a hoof to her head. “Oh… I’m lost… I’m just so lost…”

Rainbow’s ears fell hearing Fluttershy’s sorrow. She could see Fluttershy trying to cover her eyes with her mane. That feeling… it sprung a new memory to Rainbow, another new feeling.

“I’m lost too…”

A chilling warmth ran through Fluttershy’s body when she heard that voice. Releasing her mane from her eyes, she looked at Rainbow Dash very curiously. That voice no doubt came from Rainbow. It made her realize what she was doing wrong. She kept jumping to conclusions so quickly, it never occurred to her that talking to Rainbow was an option. Maybe all she had to do was ask her herself. 

“Rainbow…” Fluttershy started and the two locked eyes. “If you can remember anything, please tell me.” Fluttershy put her hooves on Rainbow’s shoulders, excelling a heavy breath. Rainbow looked at her curiously. “I want to help you Rainbow. But I don’t know anything about you. I mean, I know who you are, but…” She closed her eyes and sighed. After retracing her words, she continued. “What kind of pony are you?”

Fluttershy watched carefully as Rainbow listened to her words. She really hoped she could get an answer. She saw Rainbow’s eyes turn down, and then she backed away. Fluttershy’s heart dropped.

Rainbow’s mind went deep. For that moment, she could hear words echoing in her mind, words coming from a female voice. It whispered only one word. 

Tatzl, tatzl, tatzl. “T-T-... Tatzl… Tatzl...” she spoke the last two times.

Fluttershy’s heart came back up when she heard the response, filling her with warmth. But her expression was still curious. “Tatzl? A tatzl...pony?” she asked. Hearing that name, Rainbow snapped out of her trance and nodded. It didn’t tell Fluttershy much, but it was definitely progress. “What is a… tatzlpony?”

Suddenly, the front door opened. “Rainbow Dash! Hey Rainbow-” Fluttershy froze upon hearing that voice. It was Rainbow Dash’s practical little sister, Scootaloo. “Oh, hey, Fluttershy! What brings you-”

When Scootaloo’s voice stopped, Fluttershy and Rainbow turned to look at her, Fluttershy being more nervous about the sudden visit. 

“Um… Scootaloo… I can expl-” Fluttershy was interrupted when Rainbow started walking over to Scootaloo. Scootaloo was also walking to her.

“What happened to Rainbow Dash? What did she turn into?” The two stopped walking when they reached each other. Rainbow Dash’s staring into Scootaloo’s eyes made her confused. She looked to Fluttershy. “Why is she staring at me like this?”

Fluttershy stumbled over her words, not sure how to say them. “She… lost her memory… but…” Examining Rainbow’s actions made her uneasy. Ever since Rainbow transformed into this… tatzlpony, she’s never taken an interest to anypony other than Fluttershy. Now she was showing interest to Scootaloo.

This was good, right? This meant Rainbow’s memories were having an effect on her. She would never forget the little filly she took under her wing to be her sister, right? Yet Fluttershy couldn’t stop being so nervous about this interaction.

“You remember me, right Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo said as she looked back into Rainbow’s eyes. “It’s me, Scootaloo.”

Fluttershy looked at the way Rainbow was looking at Scootaloo. She could see Rainbow’s eyes pulsating, like Rainbow had found something. This felt familiar. She saw this before, when Rainbow first saw her just inside the Everfree Forest. Her eyes pulsated back then too, like she had found something. And then…

Fluttershy gasped at the same time Rainbow opened her mouth, lashing out her three tongues at Scootaloo.

“AHH! RAINBOW, LET GO!” Scootaloo screamed as the tongues wrapped around her body and picked her up. "HELP! FLUTTERSHY!" One wrapped around the back of her head, one around her back, binding her wings, and one along one of her hind hooves.

“Rainbow Dash! No!” Fluttershy yelled as she rushed over to them, but Rainbow didn’t stop. As Scootaloo struggled to get free, Rainbow pulled her tongues in, pulling Scootaloo with her. Scootaloo yelled until Rainbow closed her mouth over her head, muffling her screams.

“No! That’s a bad tatzlpony!” Scootaloo’s muffled screaming could still be heard as her back hooves flailed around. Her front hooves could be seen poking from the inside of Rainbow’s stomach as her body was pulled in. The tongues slithered and wrapped around the back of her legs and tail, preventing them from squirming.

As Fluttershy reached Rainbow Dash, she gave her a stern stare. “You spit her out right now!” Rainbow backed away in fear from those eyes, but her tongue still pulled the rest of Scootaloo’s body in her mouth. She swallowed hard, Scootaloo’s body visibly passing through her neck and going into her stomach, revealing a small lump.

Fluttershy gasped loudly. “How could you?! Rainbow!” Fluttershy attempted to grab her, but she flinched away with a feared face. “Give Scootaloo back!” Another grab attempt, and she moved further away. Being frustrated, Fluttershy lunged at her, only to miss and hit the ground as Rainbow turned tail to the other side of the living room.

“Stay still!” 

Rainbow found herself backed to a corner. Frantically, she looked left and right, putting a hoof to her pounding stomach as Fluttershy was running towards her. At the last second after Fluttershy lunged again, she cringed and jumped in the air, keeping herself airborne with her wings.

Fluttershy grunted and flew to the air after Rainbow, missing again when she dashed off.

“No! Come back!” Rainbow had flown outside of her Cloudominium. Fluttershy flew out as well, following after her as fast as she could. Her voice whined as she beat her wings, only thinking about the endangered life in her mind.

Slowly catching up, Fluttershy’s eyes squinted from the winds blowing in her eyes. As she gave chase, she saw Rainbow bracing her hooves on the lumps that kept pounding within her stomach. It didn’t matter to Fluttershy where Rainbow was going. All that mattered was catching her.

Fluttershy got within hooves reach. But just as she reached her hooves out, she heard a yelp before Rainbow's speed suddenly increased tenfold, making her hooves grab air once again and leaving her in the dust. Hopelessly panting, her eyes shrunk and her flight slowed to a halt. Rainbow had separated their distance to an impossible reach.

“N-No…” Fluttershy excelled in a desperate gasp. Even with Rainbow’s flight training, she could never hope to catch up when Rainbow flew at top speeds. She was hoping that Scootaloo’s weight would slow Rainbow down enough for her to catch up. But it didn’t seem to slow Rainbow down at all.

Even worse, Fluttershy realized where Rainbow was heading, and their flight had taken them very close to it. Rainbow had disappeared back into the Everfree Forest, back to where Fluttershy had found her. Fluttershy had descended back to the ground, panting in exhaustion and utter terror.

“Why Rainbow…” she cried. “W-W-Why?” The events of Scootaloo being swallowed alive played again in her mind. Rainbow was a tatzlpony. What was a tatzlpony? An image of Angel being around during the curing spell played. Her mind wandered deeper into that. Angel’s fur was wet when he appeared.

A painful gasp came from Fluttershy as it clicked in her mind. Rainbow had swallowed Angel back then too. That was how he was with them.

“A tatzlp-pony i-is a m-m-monster…” her voice vibrated as her terrifying conclusion came. “A hor-r-rrible, pony-eat-ting m-m-monster!” She released a cry of pure agony. 

This must’ve been what her dreams were trying to warn her about, and she didn’t listen to them. It even explained why Rainbow Dash had such a big appetite. But even after all that, Rainbow wasn’t satisfied. It was horrifying. Who would do this to Rainbow Dash?

Then, a thought of Angel came back. Her head sprang up as she remembered how he was saved.

“There’s still time! I have to find them! Rainbow Daaash!” Despite all her fears, she engaged her flight, rushing to the Everfree Forest.
> Chapter 5: Memory
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Many branches and leaves covered her vision, but she didn’t allow that to slow her down. Every time one came to her vision, she would react and slip through their openings. Panting, she would look behind her every so often, hoping nothing was behind her. She didn’t know why, but flying this fast felt so natural to her.

”Help! Let me out!” Rainbow Dash looked and pressed her hooves to her stomach, feeling more violent struggles within. It was reassuring to her feeling struggling this time. But at the same time, how much panic was in those struggles weren’t reassuring. She had to act fast.

Rainbow Dash soon found her destination. It was deep in the forest where many thorned vines covered the area and its trees. Gasping for breath, she looked behind her, then left and right to make sure she was alone. She sat down and pressed her hooves to her stomach to settle the struggling, making the lump inside give a few violent muffles. Looking up the tree in front of her, she found multiple large green berries coming from its branches, the same one she gave to Fluttershy.

Rainbow sucked her breath in and reached her tongues within her throat. Inside her stomach, Scootaloo was still struggling, pushing her hooves against the walls and trying to climb herself out. Before she got far, tentacles wrapped around her hooves and body. A sudden shift in gravity caused her to yelp. She would have fallen back down had the coils not caught her. Another shift in gravity. It felt like her predator had jumped and landed on something. Then the tentacles started pulling her up.

Rainbow had latched herself high up the tree’s trunk, avoiding contact with the thorns and using her wings to stay up. Positioning her head towards the berries, she opened her mouth and released her held breath, grunting as her neck revealed a visible lump climbing up. When it reached her mouth, Scootaloo’s head was revealed, wrapped around in her many tongues.

“No… Almost t-there… Nnngh!” Scootaloo’s eyes held shut as she tried to slide away from the coils. She constantly opened and bit her teeth together, hoping her mouth would catch something to hold on to. When her body moved position, her teeth grabbed something. Internally gasping, she felt hope. But that hope immediately faded when the coils pulled her back in, snapping the twig of whatever she caught and taking it with her.

Rainbow gave a huge gulp, allowing the bulge in her neck to return to her stomach before letting herself fall from the tree. Both ponies gave a loud grunt when they fell back to their grounds, panting from exhaustion. Rainbow gently put her hooves back to her stomach. It sounded, and felt like the pony inside released a defeated sigh. The struggling had stopped, and movement was minimal. She cringed at the thought of what might’ve happened again.

But then, there was a sound, a very silent sound. It sounded like a chew. Then there was a munch. Suddenly, a moan of delight, followed by more chewing. Her fear was being driven away as she understood what was going on. Scootaloo was eating the berry, and finished with a swallow.

“Oh my gosh! That was delicious!” Scootaloo shouted within her. “Hey, uh… Can I have another one of those?!” Smiling, Rainbow sucked her breath in and reached her tongues inside her again. “Uh oh…” Scootaloo murmured as the tentacles grabbed her again.

Rainbow jumped back up the tree’s trunk and pulled Scootaloo’s head out next to another berry. Opening her eyes, Scootaloo grabbed the nearest berry before being pulled back in. After both ponies landed, Scootaloo enjoyed herself to her second berry, releasing delicious moans before swallowing.

“Wow! I don’t know what these are, but they’re the best things I’ve ever tasted!” Rainbow smiled and patted her stomach while Scootaloo’s expression switched to questioning her predicament. “Wait… These weren’t given to keep me comfortable before my doom, are they?” Her ears dropped, already accepting herself being lunch to this-

“No,” Rainbow responded.

Scootaloo released a small gasp as her ears raised right back. Looking up, she called. “Hold on! You can talk?!” She waited for a response, but Rainbow didn't make one. It made her look back down, not sure how to feel about this creature. “Rainbow Dash… why did you eat me?” There wasn't much of a response other than what sounded like a sad breath being released. “You are Rainbow Dash, aren’t you?” Still no verbal response. “I mean, you looked like her. Just a little different. And it looked like you remembered me. You remember me, don’t you?”

Rainbow shifted herself forwards, lying on her stomach. Though the ground pressed the lump on her stomach, it didn’t provide a tight squeeze. She closed her eyes, gave a small smile, and responded. “Scootaloo.”

Scootaloo inhaled a breath in awe at the response. “That’s right! You do remember!” Though her excitement came, curiosity took over. She took a look around the inner walls of the belly she lay in.

It sure seemed bigger inside this belly than what it seemed on the outside. The inner walls were red, and pressing against them with her hoof felt squishy, wet, and oddly quite sticky. Though it made her coat quite damp, it didn’t feel harmful at all. There wasn’t that much room, but it looked like more ponies could fit in here. She looked up and asked. “U-Um… what exactly… are you?”

Hearing that question again made Rainbow’s mind go in a deep trance. There was that voice again, the voice of a mare. It was more clear this time, but she still couldn’t remember where, when, or how that voice came. When the words quietly spoke in her mind, she tried hard to see if she could recognize it. But it was too hard to make out the tone. The words said:

”Remember this name. ‘Tatzl’. This is what you are.”

Unable to remember more, Rainbow snapped out of her trance and responded. “I’m a… tatzlpony.”

Scootaloo’s eyes grew with curiosity. “A tatzlpony…” she responded in awe. Even though this was the first time witnessing a tatzlpony, she couldn’t help thinking about how cool it could be. Then again, anything to do with Rainbow Dash was cool to her. “What is a tatzlpony?”

Scootaloo suddenly heard a growl, snapping her out of her awes. Quickly looking around the belly, her eyes shrunk. “Tell me that wasn’t your stomach.” Suddenly the weight inside the belly shifted and she was flung out of her sitting position, falling back first against the ground. Another growl, and her fear intensified. “Please tell me that’s not your stomach!” she shouted loudly in a panic.

“I wish it were,” Rainbow responded, fear heavily filled in her voice.

Scootaloo gasped and sat up. She could hear the growling getting louder. Not just one growl was present now. Multiple growls penetrated her ears, scaring her stiff. “W-What’s going on out there?”

And then, Scootaloo’s question was answered. One of the growls raised its pitch high, making a full moon howl in the air. Her eyes shrunk pea size. She could practically see them now.

Rainbow Dash was standing deep in the forest with barely any marking paths. She looked left, she looked right. One, two, three... four… five vicious creatures stood in front of her, releasing their predatory growl as they edged closer to her. One of them howled in the sky.

The moment that howl came, and it all registered, Scootaloo cried. “TIMBERWOLVES!!!”
> Chapter 6: Danger
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	All five timberwolves roared and lunged. Rainbow yelped and immediately turned tail. The weight shift caused Scootaloo to fall again with an audible plop. She didn’t attempt to get back up this time. Lying down seemed to be the better option in here, for the stickiness of the belly was keeping her in place.

Rainbow Dash’s flight path was slowed down as she had to weave and zigzag between the trees and thorns. The timberwolves chased her down with no regards to the thorns. Their wooden bodies allowed them to feel little from them as they ripped through. Some of the timberwolves howled as they chased, calling in more wolves to their pack.

“RAAWWRR!!!” Rainbow yelped and halted her flight as a pair of jaws appeared right in front of her, nearly biting her. Scootaloo screamed from within her belly. The sound of that roar echoed within the belly and was booming to her ears.

Rainbow changed her direction, away from the timberwolf in front of her. More timberwolves appeared to her sides and lunged at her. Yelping, she weaved left, then right, and then left again as she nearly came in contact with a tree. One of the timberwolves slammed into the tree, causing its body to shatter into multiple pieces. The rest kept going.

This area of the forest was very dense with branches filled with thorns. If Rainbow wasn't careful with her flight, her speed going into those thorns would rip her feathers off. A large mountain came into view, causing her to stop. Looking up the mountain, she saw that they passed through the trees. The branches and thorns were very thick, too thick for her to pass through. She tried turning back, only to find the timberwolves right there, growling as they edged towards her.

“Why did we stop?! Rainbow Dash! What’s going on?!” Scootaloo tried calling, but there was no response. Rainbow pressed a hoof to her stomach as she shivered in place. Scootaloo could feel the shivers and felt the same amount of fear, shivering herself. It was more horrifying to her that she didn’t know what was going on. Something bad could happen at any moment and she didn’t know how or when.

Then, something clicked in Scootaloo’s mind. “Wait a minute! Rainbow Dash, you can take them!” A gasp could be heard from Rainbow. “You may not remember it, but you were the most awesome pegasus I’ve ever seen! And if you’re Rainbow Dash, you still are! I’ve seen what you can do, and timberwolves could never take you if you bring out those skills!”

Rainbow gritted her teeth, still backing away from the timberwolves and into a corner. She felt Scootaloo press her hooves against her stomach and plea desperately. “TRUST ME! Just fly towards them as fast as you can! You’ll see what I mean!”

With her eyes shrunk, Rainbow readied her wings as the timberwolves came closer. Her heart pounded in her chest, feeding a familiar adrenaline rush through her body. They rushed to her wings and her eyes became focused. She could count them. Five, six... seven. There were seven timberwolves in the area. One. Only one was in her way. When that timberwolf lunged, her wings ignited.

A rainbow streak had been left in her path. She flew like a speeding bullet directly towards the wolf that jumped. Upon making contact, the slam from both her hooves caused the timberwolf to shatter upon impact. She immediately skidded to a stop as the wood flew everywhere in her vision. Gasping, she looked around. That timberwolf was no more. There were six left.

“See?! I told-” Scootaloo was interrupted by a loud growl along with a weight shift. “Ah!”

Rainbow ducked to avoid the chomps, then leaped in the air to gain flight and turn tail. One of them nearly managed to bite her tail. Taking a look further ahead of the trees she passed through, she thought more into what Scootaloo was talking about. Her instincts allowed her to focus on one tree in the distance, increasing her speed towards it. When it came close, she outstretched a hind hoof and kicked it as hard as she could.

A large chunk of its trunk was split from the tree and came with her. As she grabbed it in her hooves, the rest of that tree toppled down behind her. It fell down on one of the timberwolves, shattering it with a loud slam. The timberwolves in front kept going while the ones in the back leapt over. Rainbow twirled herself around and threw the trunk she held behind her. Another timberwolf was hit and shattered. She saw four left chasing her as she turned back around. 

But before she could see where she was going, her right wing slammed against one of the branches.

“Ah!” Rainbow yelped in pain as her wing was clipped, causing her body to go crashing towards the ground. Her body bounced once before skidding along the dirt and coming to a stop.

“Rainbow Dash! Are you okay?!” Scootaloo called from inside. Rainbow winced as she dug her hooves to the ground. A loud roar penetrated her ears. She immediately rolled to the left, barely avoiding the timberwolf’s teeth as they pierced in the ground. Scrambling on her hooves, another one lunged from her left side. It slammed into the other timberwolf as she jumped forwards, nearly losing her balance as she kept running.

Rainbow panted heavily as she kept running, putting strain in her body. Her speed was heavily decreasing. Scootaloo’s eyes shrunk, noticing the slowing movements. “What’s going on?! Why are you slowing down?!”

Rainbow excelled a few more pants before responding. “Ti-... *pant, pant* -red…” A snap at her tail caused her to yelp and push forwards. 

Scootaloo’s ears fell further as her fear intensified. “Tired?! You can’t get tired now!”

Another snap and Rainbow avoided it by turning a corner when reaching a tree, halting the timberwolf. But another timberwolf cut her off by appearing in front of her. As she stopped, she tried another direction, only to find two more timberwolves.

“Nnngh!” Rainbow bit her lip hard looking at all her directions. To the right was a timberwolf, to the left was a timberwolf, and in front of her were two timberwolves. But behind her, was a very thick pile of thorns. Looking closer, there was a small opening. Without thinking, she jumped through, scraping her coat against the thorns. The timberwolves tried following after her, but could not fit through the opening. Nevertheless, they barked repeatedly, continuing to push themselves against the thorns.

Rainbow backed herself away and sat at the corner of her sharp security blanket. Shivering, she moved her muzzle toward her clipped wing and used one of her tongues to lick the wound, mending the pain.

“Ahh!” Scootaloo held her hooves on her head, weeping in agony as the barking echoed in her ears. “Rainbow! Do something! I don’t wanna get eaten! I mean… Nngh! You know what I mean! Ahh!”

The barking got louder and more violent. Rainbow could feel their saliva being spat at her. She winced back further into her shelter, still panting from the strain on her body. Her heart dropped deeply when the timberwolves resorted to biting on the thorns. Some of them were pulling on them. If they got through that, there would be nothing to protect them.

Rainbow darted her eyes around, quivering her lips. Her tongues practically tried to tie themselves from inside of her mouth. The thorns surrounded her entire vision, with nowhere else to run. Even if she could run, her body was too tired to outlast those wolves.

“TRUST ME! Just fly towards them as fast as you can! You’ll see what I mean!” Scootaloo’s words echoed in her mind, causing her heart to pound. She gasped her breath in a suffocation, dreading what she was thinking about.

“Scootaloo… I know what to do… but you might not like it,” Rainbow spoke to her belly in a desperate tone.

“If it can save us, do it!” Scootaloo screamed, still pressing her hooves on her head as the barking continued to sound.

Rainbow released a few pants of fear, watching as the timberwolves ripped a few thorns apart from their pulling. She looked back down to focus on Scootaloo. “Do you trust me?” she asked.

Scootaloo peaked an eye open and looked up. “Of course I do. You’re my sister.” She paused to recollect her words. “Well, not exactly my sister, but we practically are. You remember don’t you? I know you can remember. I trust you just like a sister would.”

Scootaloo’s words spawned something in Rainbow’s mind, making her eyes pulsate. “S-Sister…” she said quietly to herself. Looking down, she repeated. “Sister…” A strange, bonding feeling welled up strongly in her body. It must’ve came from Scootaloo. There was a spark in her mind, convincing her to swallow her fear.

“I’ll do it,” Rainbow said as she raised her tail. “Whatever you do, please try and stay awake.”

Both of Scootaloo’s eyes opened and she looked up. Still shivering, she slowly nodded. She wasn’t sure what Rainbow Dash meant, but it sounded serious.

Rainbow placed her hooves against the lump on her stomach and closed her eyes. “I’ll protect you,” she said quietly. “I’ll protect…” She allowed her tail to drop and plant itself within the ground, releasing a long breath. 

There was a shift within the stomach, which almost sounded like a rumble, or a rough movement from an injured pony. Scootaloo could feel the atmosphere changing within the belly. It felt like... magic... which filled the insides of this stomach. The magic felt gentle and relaxing. She could feel her muscles and nerves loosen their stiffness.

Suddenly, her eyes started drooping. She was feeling very… sleepy.

Rainbow’s body started to glow as she felt the flow from Scootaloo within her. With her eyes squeezed shut as her magic activated, her body stood to all four hooves while her tail helped her stay in place. She breathed heavily as she desperately tried to control this magic correctly.

Scootaloo could no longer hear the barking from the timberwolves. Her eyes drooped further. They really wanted to close. “N-No… Rainbow Dash s-said… stay… awake…” She started wobbling back and forth, starting to feel like she had skipped an entire night’s sleep. One of her eyes had closed. While she rubbed it, her other eye stayed open, until the process switched.

Rainbow could feel the energy flowing through her body, most notably through her tail while it seemed to release from its ending fin. The strain on her body started to vanish. She opened her eyes and spread her wings. The timberwolves had almost made it through the thorns. Their movements started to slow down for her. Familiar instincts were kicking back in.

The glow in Rainbow’s body faded along with the flow of energy. Scootaloo was no longer getting more tired, but she could barely stay awake. All four timberwolves made one last pull on the thorns. As soon as they ripped, she released her tail from the ground and ignited her wings. Leaving behind a rainbow streak, she flew in between the thorns and the attempted bites from the timberwolves.

Scootaloo felt the sudden jolt in acceleration. Thankfully, the sticky walls in the belly kept her in place, but the movement certainly woke her up from her daze.

Rainbow Dash hovered just below the thorns of the forest, panting lightly as she looked down at the timberwolves. One of them stared up at her, growling while the other three moved for the trees and branches, looking for positions that would reach her.

No more running away. A memory had sparked. Rainbow’s eyes grew wide and she flew towards the largest open field she could find nearby. She flew circles around that field. Her speed increased, faster, faster. All four timberwolves changed their direction and charged for that field.

A tornado was forming. Despite being inside, Scootaloo was feeling nauseous from all the spinning around. Enduring the pain on her wing, Rainbow continued to spin. The tornado grew powerful. Leaves and dirt were being sucked in. Trees were bending towards her.

But more importantly, the first timberwolf that made contact with the tornado, yelped as its body was completely engulfed in the tornado. The other three tried to stop upon hearing that yelp, but two more were two late and were sucked in as well. The last one changed direction and tried to run away from it. Just like the other two, it was too late. Being too close to the tornado caused it to be sucked in as well.

Unfortunately just like everything else, a few stray thorns had been sucked into the tornado as well. As Rainbow maintained the tornado’s speed, stray thorns scraped against her body. Gritting her teeth, she endured the pain and continued. Seeing that all the timberwolves had shattered due to the force inside the tornado, she proceeded to the final step. The tornado sucked it’s top part inside. All of its captives were pushed to its top.

And then, the tornado spat, shooting its contents upwards with a massive force. The force was strong enough to break through the forest layer, making them fly very far from their location.


______________________________________________________________________________


Somewhere inside the forest, Fluttershy gasped hearing the sound of a distant burst of wind. Hope dawned upon her, and then fear took hold when she looked towards its direction. Up ahead, she saw that that part of the forest had trees that were covered in vines filled with thorns.

Fluttershy gulped fiercely while shaking. The sound of that burst of wind told her something was in that direction. She had a hunch at what it was, and hoped with all her heart she was right. With all her courage, she ran towards that area.


______________________________________________________________________________


The tornado was dissolving. Rainbow released herself from the tornado after her speed decreased enough. Landing within the open area, she panted heavily as the winds calmed down.

Inside, Scootaloo’s dreary eyes circled themselves as her body wobbled. Groaning, her cheeks bulged, covering her mouth as she felt sick from all the spinning. Darting her eyes around, she thought. ”Is it okay to puke in here?”

Scootaloo’s question was answered when she felt Rainbow’s panting stop. Not just stop, but freeze. It was like she cringed. With a struggle, Scootaloo took a heavy swallow, pushing down her own vomit.

Both Rainbow and Scootaloo sighed in relief. After recovering from her potential vomiting, it now dawned on Scootaloo that the timberwolves were no longer barking. That could only mean one thing.

“Rainbow Dash… you... You did it!” she said after excelling a pant. “You took care of those timberwolves! I knew you could do it! You’re awesome!” 

But Rainbow Dash just stood where she was, continuing to pant as her eyes stared at the ground. Her body was in pain from all the scrapes from the thorns. Inside however, she was hurting more.

Scootaloo was confused by the response. “Um, Rainbow Dash? What happened?” Rainbow’s body started to lie down, her breath stuttering in a heavy force. “What are you so upset about? You did what you said you would do. You protected me and deserve to be proud for it! Go on! Pose dramatically with a cheerful, ‘Aw yeah!’ like you always do!”

Rainbow’s body only sunk more, her tail wrapping around herself while her eyes pulsated with guilt. She started licking the wound that was on her wing again, her mind wandering to why she felt so guilty.

Fluttershy. An image of Fluttershy appeared before her. And then, she heard her voice. ”Rainbow Dash!” it yelled out angrily, making her ears droop. She could see those terrifying eyes piercing into her soul again. Those eyes, when she saw them, were more terrifying than those timberwolves. Now those eyes were filling her with guilt. 

”Rainbow Dash…” the voice repeated in her head, quieter this time. Or at least, she thought it was in her head. She felt Scootaloo responding to the call.

“Fluttershy?” Upon hearing Scootaloo call her name out, Rainbow Dash propped her head back up, seeing Fluttershy rushing towards them with a very worried face.

When Fluttershy reached them, she heard a muffled voice from somewhere. ”Fluttershy, is that you?”

Relief and worry spread on Fluttershy’s face. “Scootaloo!” She drew her face closer to Rainbow’s stomach. “Scootaloo! Don’t worry! I’m gonna get you out of there!” Just before she brought her attention back to Rainbow, the voice spoke again.

”Wait! Fluttershy! It’s okay!”

Hearing that voice made Fluttershy halt. “What?” she asked. That was when Rainbow Dash opened her mouth and the voice became clear.

“Rainbow Dash kept me safe in here,” Scootaloo said, then started panting as her eyes drooped again. “We were… we were attacked by timberwolves, and Rainbow Dash chased them away.”

Fluttershy gasped, now knowing why Rainbow’s body was such a mess with scratches, leaves, and thorns covering her coat. “Oh my goodness… Are you okay?” she asked.

“Well, I’m… okay… un...” Scootaloo’s voice wavered.

“You don’t sound okay,” Fluttershy replied.

“I am though… just a bit sleepy is all.”

Fluttershy cranked her head back. “Sleepy? How can you be-”

“Look, can we just get out of here, Fluttershy?” Scootaloo’s voice raised a bit desperately. “Rainbow Dash hasn’t made a response since those timberwolves left. Is she even awake right now?”

Fluttershy froze up, slowly turning her eyes to Rainbow’s. After Rainbow closed her mouth, her head drooped down as her eyes looked up to Fluttershy’s, pulsing with fear and guilt. Her tail was wrapped around her hind legs while her wings slumped to the side. She was not only in physical pain, but emotional pain as well. Seeing all this made Fluttershy’s mind wince. 

"Fluttershy?" Scootaloo's voice alerted Fluttershy back. Scootaloo may have been trapped in the stomach of this tatzlpony, but she did have a point. They had to get out of here. And Rainbow Dash needed some treatment for her injuries.

“Okay.” Fluttershy pulled out a collar and a leash from under her wing and placed it around Rainbow’s neck. “We’re going back to my cottage where it’s safe.” She held the leash firmly in her hooves. Rainbow made no attempt to flinch away. She even started moving with Fluttershy before Fluttershy took her first step with the leash.

It was a bit surprising to Fluttershy that Rainbow’s obedience suddenly changed so drastically. Wondering what had happened, she worried for not only Scootaloo’s safety, but for Rainbow’s as well, especially after seeing the condition Rainbow was in. 

At least for now, they were both okay, and that gave Fluttershy relief as they started exiting the forest.


______________________________________________________________________________


Unknown to Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Scootaloo, a silhouette had watched them leave. They were back at the site of the attack, where a thick bush of thorns had once grown. Thanks to the timberwolves, the thorns now scattered the area in a heap of mess. The silhouette stared at the center of its field, looking closely at the marking the tatzlpony left behind.

All that was heard, was a frustrated sigh.
	
> Chapter 7: Sleeping?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The sun had set by the time they arrived at the cottage. Fluttershy opened its doors, leading Rainbow inside and following after. The animals in her care whether outside or inside the cottage scurried back into their shelters when they arrived. It seemed they still hadn't gotten used to the presence of a tatzlpony around, and understandably why after today. Their animal instincts made them more aware of what could be potentially dangerous.

As Fluttershy led Rainbow Dash, she tied the leash to a handle hooked in one corner of the room before flying over to her first aid kit. She brought it to Rainbow Dash and started treating her injuries. Clippers were used to remove the thorns, bandages with ointment to cover the scratches, and wipes to clean off the dirt covering her coat.

Rainbow’s eyes appeared to be drooping with her head struggling to stay up while she was being cleaned. She must’ve been exhausted after what just happened in the Everfree Forest. Fortunately, none of her injuries were that severe. 

In fact, most of these injuries were nothing new. Rainbow suffered injuries that were far worse than this from her many, many times of flight training One of them even had her in the hospital for a few days. Fluttershy was glad that injuries like that hadn't happen in such a long time. And although these injuries were coming close to that, it still wasn't much to worry about. After being patched up, all she’d need was a good night’s sleep and those injuries would be no more.

But it was too soon to be thinking about sleeping at a time like this.

“So is Rainbow Dash okay?” Scootaloo’s voice muffled from inside of Rainbow Dash. Rainbow opened her mouth to let the voice through. “I still haven’t heard anything from her.”

Fluttershy finished up the scrubs before responding. “She’ll be fine Scootaloo. She just needs to rest for the night.”

Scootaloo sighed a relief. “Good… Sleep sounds awesome right now.” Fluttershy flinched from how comfortable she sounded. “You don’t mind if I sleep over tonight, do you?”

Shocked, Fluttershy responded. “Scootaloo! We have to think about getting you out of there!”

Scootaloo yawned. “Rainbow Dash can do that when she wakes up. Besides, it’s comfortable here. Mmm…”

“But is it safe?!” The only response Fluttershy got was the sound of moaning, followed by snoring. She moved her head closer to the stomach. “Scootaloo?” No response. Only snoring. “Rainbow Dash?” Rainbow already had her eyes closed, followed by her head laying itself down to the floor while her tail curled around her body.

Fluttershy’s breath got heavy seeing both Rainbow and Scootaloo falling asleep like that. Nervous and worried, she brought her ear to Rainbow’s stomach. She listened for the sounds that the stomach made. But all she could hear was their heart beats and their snoring.

Fluttershy’s ears drooped as she retracted her head back, having no idea what this meant. “Is it possible that a tatzlpony’s stomach is really just a sleeping pouch?” Placing a hoof to her chin, she moved toward her couch, pondering Rainbow’s strange behavior. “But… why would Rainbow want to swallow Scootaloo?” She continued to ponder as she climbed on and lied on the couch, looking to Rainbow’s direction. Her eyes turned toward the leash. “Ever since Rainbow Dash became a tatzlpony, she's been very obedient. But this... when she saw Scootaloo..." An odd thought crossed her mind. "When she saw me... She did... Did she really... Is it just a sign of-”

Fluttershy shook her head, realizing she was jumping to conclusions again. At least this time she was jumping to a conclusion that was comforting. She let her head lay down and allowed her eyes to close on that subject. Wanting to believe a tatzlpony wasn’t a monster, her mind continued to think like that. The swallowing of a pony wasn't an act of preying. That’s what it was. It was something else. Something... comforting?

“Mm-mm-m-mm!” But her mind could not maintain ease as it trailed along the lines of the calm before the storm. Her head sprang and she opened her eyes. Putting a hoof to her lips as her voice stuttered, she dropped off her couch and quickly went to Rainbow. She bent down to listen to her stomach. The sloshing sounds made her nervous, but it was just Scootaloo’s movement done by Rainbow’s breathing.

“Rainbow…” Fluttershy tried whispering her name, trying to get her to wake up. But there was no response. She put a hoof to Rainbow’s forehead and tried nudging. Still no response. Just snoring. It made her stutter a gasp. “Scootaloo?” Calling to the stomach also provided no response. When she nudged the bulge with a hoof, a squishing slosh sounded, followed by nothing. Just snoring.

Fluttershy slowly backed away, surprise filled on her face. “They’re both out like a light. They were… that sleepy?” Her breath got heavy, holding two different worries on her mind. “What happened to make them get so tired?”

She moved to the other side of Rainbow’s body, examining her breathing. Seeing everything normal, she moved back to the front to check the stomach. No signs of any danger. The only thing out of the ordinary was her own desperate breathing as her nerves continued to bother her.

Moaning, Fluttershy laid her body next to Rainbow’s with her head close to her stomach. Her eyes tried to close, but her worries kept them open. Extending her wings, she brought the tips to her eyelids to force them closed. After closing her wings, her head laid down. She tried to fall asleep.

Suddenly, a growl happened. Fluttershy’s snapped her eyes opened and loudly gasped, quickly checking Rainbow’s stomach. Nothing was out of the ordinary. There was only sloshing from the movement of Rainbow’s breathing. She knew she heard a growl. Was it from Rainbow?

The growl happened again and Fluttershy yelped, only to realize it was her own stomach. Sweat began forming on her forehead as her own hunger made her nervous. She didn’t even realize after all her worries, she hadn’t been eating. And yet, she continued to worry. Every time her stomach growled, she squeaked and took a closer look at Rainbow’s stomach, getting more nervous every time.

The logical thing to do right now would be to get something to eat so that her growling would stop. But her mind continued to press that thought out. Worrying about Scootaloo's fate not only made her not want to move where she was, but it also made her not want to think about eating in general. Scootaloo wasn't food. No matter how hard she tried, her mind couldn't focus like that. It only came to the conclusion that Scootaloo could potentially be food.

Fluttershy tried pressing her stomach closer to the ground to suppress the growling. Every growl made the thought of Scootaloo’s potential fate drill further into her mind. Her moaning turned into whimpers of fear. The snoring, the sloshing, her growls, it all tormented her. She squeezed her eyes tightly, wanting to let out an awful scream. It would be a scream that would wake them up. Her mouth opened wide, ready to explode.

Then… something was shoved in her mouth, making her scream halt before it started while her eyes snapped open. Angel was standing there with a carrot he was sticking in her mouth. He had a very annoyed and grumpy expression as he forced the rest of the carrot in her mouth, thrusting her head back. He then pulled his ears down and walked away.

Fluttershy sat there with the carrot bulged in her mouth, watching Angel go. It didn’t occur to her that her whining and whimpering was disturbing the animals in her care, much less Angel. Somehow it woke them up, but not Rainbow or Scootaloo. 

After Angel was out of view, she started munching the carrot. She didn't dare turn her head as she munched. All she did was look in Angel's last known direction. But when she swallowed, her mind overtook her again. Feeling the carrot slide down her throat instantly brought her the horrifying image of when Rainbow swallowed Scootaloo. Her head turned back to them, teeth gritting out of her own paranoia. Watching the bulge in Rainbow’s stomach move and slosh did not help her mind think about what just happened to that carrot. She wanted to tell herself that the same thing wasn’t happening to Scootaloo, but her mind wouldn’t stop thinking it. 

But in the middle of her panic, she started feeling sleepy. Her body's shivering was getting slower, and tired. As her eyes drooped, she thought of one thing. 

“Did… Did Angel put those… sleeping pills again?” Her head started wobbling as her mind cleared from her tired form. Now only one thing came to her mind. That was sleep. Her body dropped to the floor while her head gently lied against Rainbow’s stomach where the bulge was. With the sound and motion of Rainbow’s breathing in her mind, her eyes closed. She fell into a deep sleep as instantly as Rainbow and Scootaloo.
> Chapter 8: Bad?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Fluttershy felt something push against her mane. That push made her moan, but she was too tired to get up. It pushed again, feeling like a light nuzzle. Begrudgingly, she opened her eyes, blinking away the blare. There was blue covering her blaring vision. It was white at the center with a hint of magenta. Her eyes started focusing, allowing her to see the eyes of her waker.

“Rainbow?” Fluttershy questioned. But when she noticed the cute red lightning bolts next to Rainbow’s eyes, she remembered. Her eyes went wide and she gasped, quickly picking herself off the floor. “Scootaloo! Is Scootaloo okay?!”

Rainbow kept her smile, closed her eyes, and took a few steps back. Fluttershy was taking a look at her stomach as she did so. She sucked in a deep breath and reached inside her with her three tentacle tongues. The bulge outside her stomach could be seen stretching out briefly. But when it started to shrink, Fluttershy’s eyes went pea-size.

Then that bulge appeared climbing up Rainbow’s neck. Her mouth opened wide, pulling out her coils with something wrapped in them. When Fluttershy saw the purple mane, she noticed that it was Scootaloo, covered with saliva. She was still sleeping as she was released. Fluttershy was still breathing heavily as Rainbow used her tongues to gently set Scootaloo down to the floor. After the tongues unwrapped around Scootaloo, they started licking around her body, causing her to stir and giggle.

“Gahahey! Ahah! Cut it out!” Scootaloo’s hooves flailed trying to catch her tickle monster... or monsters. But they avoided her every time. The tongues were licking across her stomach, her legs, her wings, even the back of her ears. “Stop it! Haha! I’m up! I’m up!” They wouldn’t stop despite her protests.

Fluttershy thought this was Rainbow showing her affection, which was a bit excessive. She was gonna stop it, until she realized on closer inspection what was really happening. The more those tongues licked, the dryer Scootaloo’s body looked. Rainbow was actually lapping up the excess saliva that was covering Scootaloo’s body.

Scootaloo’s forehoof managed to make contact with one of the tongues and pushed it away. But that tongue just slid down, wrapped itself around the bottom base of her hoof, and slid itself up, bringing the last of the saliva with it. All three tongues retracted back to Rainbow’s mouth, leaving Scootaloo gasping for breath with her other hoof to her stomach.

“Jeez, ah... Can’t you take a hint?” Scootaloo took a few pants before she noticed Fluttershy, still looking uneasy from the whole ordeal. “Morning Fluttershy.”

Hearing Scootaloo’s response, Fluttershy realized she had nothing to worry about anymore. Scootaloo was released and unharmed. Even Rainbow was looking okay. She could finally calm down and breath normally again.

“Good morning, Scootaloo,” Fluttershy responded with a smile.


______________________________________________________________________________


Now that Scootaloo was outside of Rainbow Dash and well, Fluttershy offered her to stay and join them for breakfast as she removed the leash from Rainbow's collar. How could Scootaloo refuse? It made her wings flutter in excitement as she accepted.

Fluttershy cooked honey flavored pancakes stuffed with tiny blue berries inside, as well as a few bunny shaped cookies to the side. She tossed a two layer pancake stack with her spatula onto Scootaloo’s plate while Scootaloo helped herself to filling another plate with cookies and chocolate oat-swirled milk. She licked her lips as she readied her butter and syrup, unable to wait and devour such a complete breakfast.

And then she gasped as Fluttershy heaved and carried what looked like a thirty or fourty layer pancake already with butter and syrup spread between every fifth layer. It caused everything to jump, including Scootaloo, as it pounded on the table for Rainbow’s plate. On top of that pancake tower was a circle of strawberries stuck into the pancakes.

Before Scootaloo could ask how Rainbow was gonna eat that all, Rainbow had already jumped in the air to its top chomping down on it. Both Scootaloo and Fluttershy yelped and covered themselves as the syrup, butter, and juices of strawberry flung from each chomp that Rainbow made on that pancake. Her food was scattering everywhere, hitting the sides of her face, splashing on Fluttershy and Scootaloo's coats and manes, and splatting against the ground and walls. The chomping continued all the way until she hit the bottom.

When the onslaught ceased, Rainbow Dash was revealed chewing with huge bulging cheeks heavily covered in the stains of butter and syrup. Fluttershy and Scootaloo looked at each other, finding themselves covered in those same stains decorating their bodies. They couldn’t help but laugh.


______________________________________________________________________________


Everypony ate their fill and got themselves cleaned up from the mess. Fluttershy had to remove Rainbow’s bandages and collar during this process. She would’ve put new bandages after cleaning up, but seeing as the scratches from yesterday had already healed, there was no need, just like she thought they would. The collar however was placed back on. Oddly enough, Rainbow didn't seem to mind.

Now that breakfast was over, Scootaloo started walking to the front door.  “Well, I gotta get going.” When she reached the door, she opened it and looked back to Fluttershy. ”Thanks for the breakfast, Fluttershy. Good bye.” She then turned to Rainbow. “And cya later Rainbow Dash, hopefully not for lunch. Bye!”

Fluttershy waved her goodbye as the door closed. She couldn’t help but smile so proudly. Having Scootaloo around today felt better than any other day she was around. Maybe because this little experience help her learn more about Rainbow Dash as a tatzlpony.

But when looking at Rainbow, she didn’t seem as joyful as Fluttershy was. In fact, her eyes were turned down, looking rather sad. Seeing her sad made Fluttershy’s smile disappear and be replaced with concern.

“What’s wrong, Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked, but Rainbow didn’t respond. Moving her body to face in front of her, Fluttershy tried approaching with what she thought was wrong. “Don’t worry. Scootaloo will come back, and you’ll be able to see her again.” Again, there was no response. Instead, Rainbow just turned her body away from Fluttershy, looking down to the ground while her tail wrapped around her hind legs. 

Fluttershy lightly gasped when she saw the look in Rainbow’s eye. Those weren’t the eyes of somepony missing something. They were filled with guilt. Wondering why, the last thing that Scootaloo said came to mind.

“Is it what Scootaloo said about being lunch?” When Fluttershy asked that, Rainbow turned to her. Maybe this was what happened. Scootaloo meant that as a joke, but it seemed Rainbow was taking it seriously.

“Rainbow, Scootaloo didn’t mean that. She had a wonderful time.” Fluttershy bent down to reach eye level with Rainbow. “You said you would keep her safe, and Scootaloo trusted you. You kept your word and now she’s happy.”

Rainbow looked away and let her body lay down. A deep breath was released through her nose. “I didn’t protect her…” she said depressingly.

Concerned, Fluttershy peaked towards her face and asked. “What do you mean?”

There was silence for a few seconds. Rainbow didn’t look to Fluttershy, but she started slowly. “A bad… tatzlpony.” Fluttershy listened carefully. It sounded like Rainbow was referring to what she was called. “I was scared… and flew away. Scootaloo was with me.” She turned to Fluttershy. “Timberwolves… Scootaloo was in danger because of me. Bad… Bad…”

Now Fluttershy understood what was going on. The guilt Rainbow showed back in the Everfree Forest came back. Even though she protected Scootaloo, she blamed herself for putting Scootaloo in danger in the first place. To her, it wasn’t protecting if she started the danger in the first place. And now the words ‘bad tatzlpony’ must’ve been echoing in her mind.

But it wasn’t entirely Rainbow’s fault. Fluttershy had to make her understand that. “Rainbow. You’re not a bad tatzlpony. You were just scared.” There wasn’t a response, but Rainbow’s ears were up and listening. “You say you put Scootaloo in danger. But that was just a mistake. Everypony makes mistakes. Just like I did with you.” 

Rainbow’s head bopped up after hearing that. Her head turned to Fluttershy. “If I didn’t use my Stare on you, you wouldn’t have gotten scared and put Scootaloo in danger. I know you didn’t mean to put her in danger.” She put a hoof to Rainbow’s mane. “You told her you would protect her. And that’s exactly what you did. I know you Rainbow Dash. And I know you are a good pony.” That was when she looked Rainbow in the eye with a Stare of comfort. "You fight to protect, to protect those who are in danger... to defend those who are bullied, to never let your friends down. Somepony like that, is not bad. And that is who you are."

Rainbow and Fluttershy stared into each other’s eyes for a few seconds. The feeling was all too familiar to Rainbow and she felt like something like this happened before, a very long time ago. This feeling she felt with Fluttershy went as far back to when she was young. 

“I’m a… good pony?” Her question was answered with a simple smiling nod. It was reassuring. But it also made her afraid, afraid of what would happen because of her. She picked herself up, Fluttershy following suit, and took a step back. “I’m a good pony… b-but…”

“Hmm?” Fluttershy curiously replied, ready to close her distance with Rainbow again.

“Are tatzlponies good?”

Fluttershy froze upon that question. It wasn’t a question about herself. The question was about what Rainbow was and whether it was good. She wanted to answer, but she wasn’t sure of the answer herself. Rainbow wasn’t originally a tatzlpony. Somepony, someone, turned Rainbow into this. 

Fluttershy’s lips tried mouthing a few words, but they came out as mumbles. She may have known Rainbow Dash, but she knew next to nothing about what a tatzlpony was. From the looks of Rainbow’s pulsating eyes, she didn’t know either and really wanted to know.

That was when Rainbow opened her mouth, releasing her three tentacle-like tongues. They came out slowly, moving to Fluttershy. Fluttershy gasped nervously as those tongues came to her. They stretched long, slithering along her coat, feeling her. One made several wraps along her right forehoof. She lifted it and it stuck with her, making her nervously grit her teeth. When she tried to back away, another one slithered and wrapped behind her hind legs and under her tail. It continued and went under her stomach, making one wrap around her back to bind her wings.

Both coils were wrapped firmly along her body. The last one slithered along the front of her neck, sliding up to her cheek. Her heart raced and her breath was heavy, seeing and feeling just how flexive these tongues were. The strength that they had, the length that they could stretch, it made her feel trapped. When that last one slithered along the back of her neck, she squeezed her eyes and...

"Mmrph!" Fluttershy squeaked.

That was when the coils froze. Fluttershy could feel the firm grip on them loosen. They were now hesitant, no longer holding. Then, they unwrapped themselves and retreated. She opened her eyes as they went back to Rainbow Dash. And when Rainbow closed her mouth after they returned, all Fluttershy could see was Rainbow’s eyes turned down with the fearful and depressed expression written on her face. That expression said it all. Rainbow's fear held true.

“I… I’m sorry…” Fluttershy said as her heart sank to a black hole. This was why Rainbow asked that question, why she was so afraid of herself. Rainbow was still Rainbow, but she would still act upon her tatzlpony side.

What was a tatzlpony? Why did they do what they did? Who would want to turn Rainbow Dash into a tatzlpony? And why would they need to take Rainbow’s memory away?

The only thing Fluttershy could go by was that tatzlponies could capture and trap their prey into their stomach pouch with ease. What would they do afterwards? She didn’t know. And after her feared reactions to the coils, she and Rainbow feared only bad things.

Rainbow started walking away, walking to the direction of the door. “W-Wait!” Fluttershy pleaded, reaching a hoof out as her heart ached to the core. “Please, don’t go.” But Rainbow showed no signs of stopping. Seeing her tail limply drag along the ground, Fluttershy wanted to say something, something that would allow her to see reason. “I know you Rainbow Dash. You’re not a bad pony. You’re not…” But she knew that wasn’t what Rainbow wanted to hear. 

Rainbow wasn’t leaving because she thought of herself as a bad pony. She was afraid that her tatzlpony side was bad and would harm Fluttershy. That was why she was leaving. Fluttershy knew she had to say something that would tell her a tatzlpony wasn’t bad. But she knew next to nothing about what a tatzlpony was. And everything she saw of the tatzlpony side so far…

Rainbow Dash stopped when she reached the door. She looked back to Fluttershy. And she was... smiling.

“Come with me,” Rainbow said.

It took a few seconds for the words to register to Fluttershy. “H-Huh?” she asked softly.

“I want to show you something.” Rainbow’s response lifted a weight in Fluttershy’s heart. She was curious as to what Rainbow wanted to show her if it made Rainbow smile like that. Maybe Rainbow remembered something that brought her hope? Perhaps her memory was the key to solving how she became a tatzlpony.

Fluttershy nodded and started walking to Rainbow. Seeing Fluttershy coming, Rainbow looked to the door and opened it.

Rainbow’s eyes grew. Somepony was there, a filly, causing her to yelp and zip quickly away from the door. Fluttershy and the filly flinched from the response, but Fluttershy was more confused about the filly at her door.

“Scootaloo?” she asked as she rushed to the door, causing Scootaloo’s eyes to shrink. “Were you listening in on us?”

Scootaloo started sweating and spoke frantically. “N-No! I mean, yes! I-I mean, I didn’t mean to! B-But… u-um… here.” She picked something that was on her back with her mouth and showed it to Fluttershy. Fluttershy blinked and craned her head.

“A letter?”
> Chapter 9: Encounter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy was walking through the town in the directions the letter lead. Rainbow was following closely behind her, once again dressed in a robe to hide her form. Fluttershy wanted Rainbow to stay back at the cottage while she took care of this, but Rainbow insisted to stay with her. Rainbow even avoided her when Fluttershy tried to place a leash back on her collar that would keep her put.

With a defeated sigh, Fluttershy had allowed her to come. Fluttershy looked over the contents of the letter again, wondering what this was about.

”I don’t know who the pony was that gave it to me. They just told me it was something important about your job.”

Scootaloo’s voice repeated in her head. It was usual for her to receive letters about her animal caretaking duties, but in this way, not so much. The letter mentioned about them wanting to talk personally, and the location of where. 

But as she was walking, she noticed the different nature of the weather today once again. The winds were bothering her more than usual. Rays from the sun kept getting blocked off by clouds. Without Rainbow Dash to tend to the clouds, she couldn’t quite admire Ponyville’s weather like she used to. She made a mental note to remember when she had the chance to see if Rainbow remembered how to handle the weather. Fluttershy hoped so, because she knew next to nothing about weather duties or cloud manipulation.

Some sort of ruckus disturbed Fluttershy’s thoughts. She looked to the direction where she was hearing it. It was getting louder, then softer. Then there was a pause. The sounds came from the building she was looking for. Oddly enough, the door was already open.

*BANG!*

Fluttershy flinched and stumbled back from the booming pound of what sounded like a hammer clanging on metal, making the ground shake. She nearly fell over, but Rainbow rushed to her side, catching Fluttershy’s balance when she nearly fell over to the side. They looked at the building as Fluttershy regained her balance. It was still causing a violent ruckus.

Fluttershy looked over her letter one more time to make sure she got the directions correct. To her dismay, it was correct. While trying to cover her ears, she went inside with Rainbow following suit. Inside was a single pony working from one place to another and doing things along the lines of setting up crates, hammering a sign, and tying ropes. She pondered if she should even be here right now. But then the door behind her and Rainbow closed on its own, alerting the pony to their presence.

“Oh forgive me. I did not know you were here,” the pony said after halting work. It was a light green muscular earth pony stallion with short and darker green mane and tail. His Cutie Mark looked to be a chain. “Give me a moment.” He kicked his tool kit behind him, causing it to get launched to a closet room. A loud shattered shook the room and bursted Fluttershy’s ear drums while the door to the closet forced itself closed. “Now, what can I help you with?”

When her ears were no longer hurting, Fluttershy opened her eyes and responded. “Um… I think I came to help you?” She held out the letter towards him, but he didn’t seem to be looking at her. He seemed to be looking at Rainbow Dash before his expression suddenly changed to realization.

“Oh, so you’re the mare I was told about. Just in time. We can get down to business.”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow while Rainbow moved to her side. “Told about?” Before she could ask more, the stallion raised his forehooves high in the air and slammed them down with a mighty force. The ground shook, causing the lights and blinds to come crashing down. It made Fluttershy yelped and press herself against Rainbow’s robe. She shivered violently as the room became pitch black in darkness.

She slowly opened her eyes, unable to see practically anything. To her right, she could see Rainbow’s eyes looking concernedly at her, ears twitching and staying alert.

“What’s going on?” she asked. A light suddenly flashed on like a stage light. It was barely bright enough to illuminate themselves. The green stallion they saw early appeared in the darkness, slowly walking towards them with a stern expression.

“Hello,” the stallion started. “My name is Almond Clang. Just call me Clang. And you must be Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy hesitantly stepped forward, but not too far from Rainbow Dash. In this darkness, she could barely see what she was stepping on. “W-Who told you about me? And what is this about?”

Clang seemed to look towards Rainbow Dash, who looked away and hid her form further behind her robe. Fluttershy looked to Clang and Rainbow, noticing this exchange. That was when Clang turned away and started walking.

“I was told that your connection with animals is beyond impressive. You not only understand their problems, but find those in distress, or lost” He stopped walking and looked to Fluttershy. “Therefore, I need to file a missing animal report with you.”

Fluttershy tilted her head down and back. “You need me to help you find a lost pet?”

Clang shook his head. “That will not be necessary.” He eyed Fluttershy directly. “As it turns out, that creature is with you.” He took a step forward, causing Fluttershy to swallow.

“W-What are you talking about?” she asked as her ears fell. She had a feeling she already knew, but Clang seemed to turn his head away, trailing off.

“A few weeks ago, a special type of flower was discovered in the Everfree Forest. What was this type of flower?" His expression turned mean. "I don’t know, and I don’t care...” He darted his expression to Fluttershy and raised his voice. “What I DO care is what this flower attracted. A very dangerous creature appeared soon after this flower was discovered,-” Fluttershy nervously turned her eyes toward Rainbow Dash, with Rainbow looking cautiously back. “-a creature that could swallow a pony whole.”

Fluttershy turned to Clang, her heart beating fast as she shook her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Rainbow’s wings grew restless. A great desire filled her heart, seeing the increasing fear from Fluttershy. 

Clang stomped his hoof. “I think you know exactly what I’m talking about!” He pointed a hoof towards Rainbow Dash, who glared at Clang seriously. “After all, you’ve been taking care of that creature ever since it came to you.”

Fluttershy moved in front of Rainbow Dash. “She is no animal. She is just my best friend, Rainbow Dash.”

Clang chuckled. “If she’s your best friend, why do you keep her covered in a robe like a helpless animal? And don't think I didn't notice that collar.” A gasp full of fear escaped Fluttershy’s mouth. 

Something clicked in Rainbow’s mind upon that exchange. After bending down, she thrusted her body upwards and flared her wings. The robe was sent flying away, flicking her long tail as her form was revealed. She turned a serious glare towards Clang and moved to Fluttershy’s side. Fluttershy’s breath only got more heavy.

“There. The tatzlpony has revealed herself to feast on her prey.” Clang announced.

“What do you want with her?” Fluttershy asked, painfully raising her voice.

“I told you. I’m here to file a missing animal report with you The creature I’m looking for is a very dangerous specimen that must be returned!”

Fluttershy searched her surroundings desperately. She wanted to leave now, but couldn’t see anything in this pitch darkness. Turning back to Clang, she responded. “You have the wrong animal. She’s not a dangerous creature. She’s a good tatzlpony. She’s not dangerous!”

“A tatzlpony that would swallow another pony whole is not dangerous?” Clang suddenly shined a very wide smirk, bending into a stance. “Last time I checked, a good animal would never devour their owners.” Rainbow’s expression faltered and her eyes grew. Fluttershy noticed Rainbow’s muscles easing up, growing concerned. 

And then, a terrible realization came to Fluttershy’s mind. “You-... You can't be… Rainbow’s a tatzlpony because…” As she whispered to herself, Clang flung his hooves up.

“And any predator like that needs to be caged up!”

Clang slammed his hooves on the ground, setting something off. A loud snap sounded. Rainbow’s wings ignited upon instinct, moving away from her spot. Before Fluttershy knew what happened, something flung towards her as soon as Rainbow Dash vanished from sight. A collection of ropes came, causing her to yelp as they came in contact with her body. Her yelp was short lived as the ropes wrapped around her, binding her limbs, wings, and sealing her mouth into a silence. With no way to move, her body fell to the floor.

Rainbow gasped when she saw Fluttershy getting ensnared. If she hadn't moved from where she was, she would've gotten ensnared instead of Fluttershy. She flew back down to Fluttershy’s side to check if she was okay. Fluttershy opened her eyes, looking fearfully in Rainbow’s eyes and barely able to move. She didn't seem harmed, just trapped. Nevertheless, Rainbow turned to Clang, rage filling her eyes.

“Huh… You’re more slippery than I thought. Guess we’ll have to do this the hard way.” Clang shook his hindquarters, readying himself to charge. Rainbow Dash moved herself closer to Fluttershy, covering her as much as she could. “If I were you, I would move away from that mare so she doesn’t get hurt. After all. I’m not here for her.” Clang closed his eyes for a few seconds, then opened them up. 

“I’m here for you!”
> Chapter 10: Fight!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Both ponies charged for each other at the same time. Rainbow Dash managed the first strike, but Clang blocked with his fetlock. When he struck back, Rainbow used her wings to back away and avoid it. She then flapped her wing from behind to zip right back. Her punch managed to strike his face, causing a bit of saliva to escape his mouth. At that moment, he struck with his hind hooves, slamming against Rainbow’s chest. A loud grunt came from her as she was shoved away, eyes wide open from the impact. 

The battle reflected in Fluttershy’s eyes, making her wince every time Rainbow took a blow. It was difficult to see due to the lighting, but she could see every detail of what happened with Rainbow Dash. After Rainbow took that hit, she immediately dove straight for Clang. Clang blocked the blow with his hooves, but the force of Rainbow’s speed caused him to slide along the floor. Rainbow didn’t stop pushing until he was shoved against what sounded like crates.

That was when Clang sprung his trap. Near that crate was a chain which he pulled. Something shot out from above. Rainbow gasped as she heard the trap, immediately separating her distance from Clang. A large iron ball came crashing down just in front of Clang. If she hadn’t moved, it would’ve slammed down on her.

But Clang wanted her to move. When it reached him, he punched it with both forehooves, making it hurl towards Rainbow. She thought it was an iron ball, but it was just a capsule. It opened up and launched out a net at her. With a panic, she made a quick flap with her wings that increased her altitude. The net managed to make contact with her tail, but barely failed to ensnare her.

Clang grunted and pounded his hooves on the floor, causing what sounded like another trap to activate. But instead, intense winds started to blow. The winds threatened to blow off Rainbow’s flight, but she turned to the direction of the wind and fought against it.

Clang continued pounding his hooves on the ground, activating more contraptions. These must've been what he was setting up earlier. Fluttershy couldn’t see where they came from, but it seemed Rainbow could hear them. Some actual iron balls held by chains swung from the ceiling. Rainbow ducked herself to avoid it. Another came, making her descend further. The further she descended, the less violent the winds became. Realizing she was being led back to the ground, she turned her attention to Clang, flying towards him with glaring eyes. If that was what he wanted, that's what he was going to get. With her increasing speed riding the winds blowing on her, she nearly closed the distance.

”You fight to protect, to protect those who are in danger...-” Rainbow gasped and froze her flight when Fluttershy’s words played in her head. That was when Clang truck with his hoof, hitting air. That would’ve hit her if she hadn’t stopped. She glanced towards Fluttershy. “-to defend those who are bullied, to never let your friends down.” Following those words, she rushed back to Fluttershy’s side. With her wings flared, she covered Fluttershy’s body with her own and glared at Clang.

Clang chuckled. “I told you. I’m after you, not her.” He slammed his hooves once more, causing the fans to stop blowing. He then started running. “Protect yourself before you protect somepony else!”

Fluttershy's words played in Rainbow's head again. She fought to protect others. Right now, Fluttershy was defenseless. But Fluttershy wasn't the one in danger. Or was she? Was defending yourself the same as fighting for others? Rainbow wasn't sure. What she was sure about was that Fluttershy was defenseless, and she couldn't defend Fluttershy if she couldn't defend herself.

Rainbow Dash stayed where she was. Clang continued to charge closer. If Fluttershy wasn't in any danger, would he hesitate to strike in this position? She could hear Fluttershy whimpering from behind her w while Clang closed the distance. There was no hesitation or sympathy coming from him. That was all she needed to know.

Rainbow jumped, or at least, it looked like she did. That was when Clang responded and jumped after her. But thanks to her wings, she came back down just as soon as her hooves left the ground. She then pushed her hooves back off the ground, ignited her wings, and slammed both her hooves against Clang’s chest, sending them away from Fluttershy.

With a loud grunt, Clang tried to retaliate by smacking Rainbow away with his hoof. She did it herself by letting her wings take her back to the ground, halting her momentum. It caused Clang to hit air while his momentum kept him going. He landed on all fours and skidded along the ground. After he stopped, he charged back to Rainbow.

Once again, Rainbow waited until he closed the distance. After he swung, she dodged. He swung again, and she dodged again. With the help of her wings, her balance along the ground was more agile than Clang’s. Even though Clang felt stronger, she was faster. Every so often, she would sneak a hit in. Every so often, he would block and strike back. And every so often, Fluttershy would flinch every time his hoof got close to Rainbow.

In the middle of the fighting, Fluttershy heard banging coming from behind her. It was like a knocking bang. Her eyes grew wide as her hope sparked. Somepony was just outside the building. Was it one of their friends? She tried to move her head and call out to them, but with her mouth and body tied up, she could only manage silent muffles.

Fluttershy could hear somepony yelling after those bangs. Due to the fighting from Rainbow and Clang, and everything in this building being covered up, she couldn’t make out who it was or what they were saying. Even worse, the banging had stopped as well as the yelling. There was no longer any sign of them around. She hoped they were coming back with help.

“HOLD STILL, DARN IT!!!”

Fluttershy’s attention was brought back just as Clang suddenly raised his hoof and stomped it down. As Rainbow Dash moved away, his hoof moved with her. When it struck the ground, Rainbow’s eyes went wide. Her movement had stopped. Fluttershy squeaked seeing what happened. Rainbow’s long tail was caught stuck under the hoof of Clang.

“No… not the tail!” Fluttershy thought. ”It’s always the tail!”

With her tail caught, Rainbow’s body fell back to the ground. Clang struck his other hoof down. Rainbow had to roll to dodge it. But that left her vulnerable when Clang released her tail with his other hoof and used it to grab around her neck. Before she could react, her tail was caught again with Clang’s hind hoof.

Grunting and struggling to breathe, Rainbow Dash placed her hooves on Clang’s, trying to pry them apart. But he was too strong. And with her tail trapped, she couldn’t squirm free.

“No… Rainbow!” Fluttershy thought. She could see a smile widening on Clang’s face.

“Now I got you ya little-” All of a sudden, Rainbow opened her mouth and lashed two of her tentacle tongues straight for Clang’s eyes. “AHH!!!” Clang’s speech was silenced when those coils poked his eyes. Rainbow then kicked his stomach with her hind hoof, causing Clang to stumble back, releasing the grip he had on her neck and tail.

Seeing Clang holding one hoof over his eyes and the other on his stomach, Rainbow retaliated. She darted towards his face and gave him a good uppercut with her hoof. With Clang stumbling back even further, she rotated her body around a ninety degree angle. Planting both forehooves on the ground, she kicked both hind hooves as hard as she could, pounding at Clang’s exposed stomach.

Clang’s eyes shot open as that impact caused saliva to sputter out of his mouth. His mouth was ‘O’ shaped, his eyes were pea-sized, and his limbs were stretched in front of him while the rest of his body was dragged with him, plummeting a good distance between him and Rainbow across the room. When his body landed, his limbs and head went limp and his eyes shut tight.

Rainbow gasped for breath as she rubbed her neck. After easing the pain, she took a look to Fluttershy’s direction. She started walking over there. Fluttershy was still helplessly binded by those ropes, lying forwards. Fear seemed to fill her eyes, but at least she wasn’t hurt. When Rainbow got close, she opened her mouth, ready to untie those ropes.

Suddenly, Fluttershy’s eyes opened wider as they filled with more fear. Rainbow nearly froze seeing the sudden struggles and hearing those moans. Fluttershy must’ve still been terrified of her tongues. She had tried not to reveal them for Fluttershy’s sake. And after the display she just showed with them, Fluttershy's fear of them seemed to increase further.

Rainbow retracted her tongues back and closed her mouth, moving her hooves to the ropes to get Fluttershy free. For some reason, Fluttershy kept struggling. It made it difficult to untie the ropes. But she continued to untie it, and Fluttershy struggled harder. After getting the knot loose, Fluttershy’s moaning got louder. Her body was thrusting. Worried, Rainbow pulled the rope from Fluttershy’s mouth.

“LOOK OUT!!!” Fluttershy shouted after a gasp of breath. But it was too late. The last thing Rainbow heard was a loud smack. The back of her head rang a deafening screeching clang. Her lights went out.

Fluttershy yelped loudly at the sight of Rainbow Dash getting bucked in the back of the head like that. Her head turned as Rainbow’s body went flying over her. Each second felt like dozens. Every heartbeat pounded ten times harder. She could even hear the air being sliced from Rainbow’s momentum. Rainbow’s body bounced once after hitting the floor, sliding to a halt. There was no movement after that.

A hard breath could be heard escaping Clang’s mouth. “That was a cheap shot you just pulled...” He released another pant and rubbed his eyes. “So I gave it back…”

Flutershy looked at Rainbow’s still body slumped on the ground. There was no movement coming from Rainbow. No muscle movement in her eyes. And her wings laid apart, away from her sides. She appeared to be out cold.

Worry filled Fluttershy’s heart, then sadness. Tears welled in her eyes, feeling the pain that was inflicted on Rainbow. She wanted to cry. 

But then she blinked her eyes and those tears steamed. “How could you...” a whisper escaped her mouth as it shook. Anger filled her heart. Her teeth gritted. With the ropes loose, they slid off her body as she stood herself up. Then she turned to Clang, fire igniting her eyes. “HOW COULD YOU?!”

Clang’s eyes widened, seeing the sudden change in Fluttershy’s nature. Fluttershy slowly walked over to him as she scolded, stomping with each step.

“Is this your example of protecting us from a dangerous pony?! All she’s been trying to do is defend herself, AND me!” Clang cranked his head back, gritting his teeth as Fluttershy drew closer. “The only dangerous pony in here is YOU! Everything was fine until you sent us that letter.” Clang’s eyes squeezed closed while he plugged his ears hard with his hooves, grinding his teeth now. “You asked us to come, we accepted your request. And THIS is how you repay us?!”  Fluttershy’s face was up against his. “You are nothing but a big bully! A monster! And you should be-”

“SHUT UP YOU OLD HAA-” Fluttershy gasped loudly when she saw a hoof being thrown her way. With her hooves up, she shut her eyes and flinched away, waiting for the inevitable pain to strike her face.

For that moment, everything was silent.
> Chapter 11: Hired
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy was whimpering with her hooves in front of her face. Clang had just lashed out his hoof at her. She was sitting there shivering with her hooves covering her face. It took a few seconds, but she realized her inevitable pain wasn’t coming. Instead she heard violent breathing, the breathing of somepony seething with rage. Slowly, she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the green hoof mere inches away from her face. Seeing how close it was made her whimper.

Clang suddenly retracted his hoof, still breathing his seething rage. He stared at his hoof. His eyes… they were surprised and filled with disbelief. But they held no regret. No fear. Just shock.

“That was all it took…” he said softly. A chuckle escaped his mouth. “All it takes. All bark and no bite.” His mouth grinned widely when his eyes turned to Fluttershy. “Mares and Stallion… They can nag all day long about their issues, complaints, and disbeliefs. And nothing you say will ever get them to stop talking. But once that hoof comes darting towards their face...”

Clang made a zip noise as his hoof went across his mouth. It made Fluttershy back away with her ears pressed against her head. Was Clang really that cruel?

“W-W-Why a-are you doing this?” Fluttershy hesitantly asked. She also wanted to ask why Clang seemed to cut himself when he was calling her old. There was no way she was older than Clang, but she was too scared to ask.

Clang’s sadistic expression went away and his fury seemed to calm down. “Let me give you a hint. You see that pony right there?” He pointed to the lying form of Rainbow’s body. “I’m not just after her because she’s dangerous. I’m after her because…” There was a pause in his voice. 

“I was hired to capture her.”

Fluttershy gasped long and loudly as her eyes shrunk. Her legs started shaking as she realized what she was dealing with. “Y-Y-You me-e-ean…”

“Allow me to repeat myself. A few weeks ago, a special type of flower was discovered in the Everfree Forest. What is this flower? I don’t care. But my client certainly does. A dangerous creature appeared soon after this flower was discovered. That creature is the part that I care about. The part that involves my job.” Clang took a long blink with his eyes. “A creature that was described as a pony capable of swallowing another pony whole.”

Fluttershy’s breath got heavy as Clang continued.

“Why should I care for what a dangerous creature is capable of? Well… take a look." He pointed in Rainbow's direction, to which Fluttershy didn't want to look. "Defend yourself before you defend others. When you come across a predator that could devour you at any moment, what do you do? Because if you let that predator have its way, you’ll regret your decision for the rest of your life… if you know what I mean.” A grin came. "You can forget about protecting anypony after that."

Fluttershy took a large swallow of her breath. “B-But, that means the same for them, you know. T-They’re trying to survive just as much as you. If you leave them alone…” She went silent when Clang’s face turned serious.

“My client told me about you, Fluttershy. A pony who is soft and timid. A pegasus with a strong connection of animals that is stronger than even most earth ponies. A connection that even allows you to find those that are lost.”

Fluttershy took a deep breath. “Y-Yes. I take care of a lot of animals. Even some that everypony finds dangerous. But they’re not dangerous. They’re just misunderstood. Trying to defend their territory. If you don’t invade, they aren’t dangerous. And Rainbow Dash…” She paused for a second. “A tatzlpony, they’re not like those animals either. They’ve never harmed me. A tatzlpony is not dangerous!”

Clang just chuckled. “You’re wasting your breath trying to convince me. But tell me this.” His tone grew very low, and his expression went into a serious glare. “How much do your friends mean to you?” Fluttershy nearly backed away at what sounded like a threat. “How would you feel if your closest friends were suddenly taken away from you, forever?”

Slowly, Fluttershy’s head was turning left and right. “N-No… You wouldn’t-”

A smile crept on Clang’s face. “You wouldn’t like that at all now would you?” He then pointed a hoof to Rainbow Dash. “Because that’s exactly what a tatzlpony caused for my client. The life of somepony very close to my client was taken away." Fluttershy's heart split in two right then and there. "And it will happen again as long as she is still loose. That’s why my client was so desperate to hire me. That’s why this tatzlpony must be captured. So that this could never happen again!”

Fluttershy shook her head left and right even harder. “N-No… T-That can’t be right…” Her breath started suffocating. Nothing about this sounded right. Rainbow Dash would never do something like. Not her Rainbow Dash.

But… Rainbow Dash was a tatzlpony. Would a tatzlpony do something like that? She didn’t know. What did a tatzlpony do? Whenever she thought that, she was afraid. That was why Rainbow was afraid, why Rainbow wanted to know if a tatzlpony was bad. 

Clang started walking forwards again, going towards Rainbow Dash to take her away. No. Fluttershy didn’t want that. She didn’t want her best friend to be taken away like that. Rainbow may be a tatzlpony, but she was still Rainbow. There was still reason to protect her. Something had to be wrong. So Fluttershy moved in front of Clang to stop him from walking.

“Move.” Clang said in a dark voice. Fluttershy was scared, but she would not move. It didn’t feel right, didn’t sound right. She wanted to say something. But what could she say? Would Clang even listen? Was it even right to listen to what Clang said in the first place? “I wasn’t hired to harm you. I was hired to do what it takes to capture that tatzlpony. But if you keep resisting, you’ll force my hoof. Now move!”

Fluttershy knew what to say. There didn't have to be a reason to say it. She spread her hooves apart. “No. I-I... I won't...” Her body shook. “I won’t let you take her!” Her breath was heavy as she stared Clang down. It didn’t matter if she was scared. Only Rainbow Dash mattered. The one who would take her away, was Clang. Clang took a stance, but she still refused to move. 

Suddenly, his body moved. A red streak crossed her mind at that very moment. Time moved slow. She heard her own breath. Her hoof swung. It was stopped. Clang was right behind her. 

Then... there was a loud smack. For that moment, time froze for a few seconds. Everything way gray. The sound of that smack echoed across her entire world.

And then, she felt it. The massive iron of a hoof banging against the back of her skull resumed time in the world. Her body fell straight to the floor, barely causing a bounce as a sharp pain filled her head.

Fluttershy gritted her teeth hard as the pain came. Her breath struggled to feed her lungs. It stuttered as she tried to endure the pain of an iron bar that clanged her head. Even her thick pink mane couldn’t begin to cushion that blow. With her teeth still gritted, her mouth forced itself closed from the pain. Tears formed in her eyes as her breath murmured. She tried so hard.

But, she failed. Fluttershy started crying from the pain. It was the crying of a little filly who had been harmed by a bully. She was a crying little filly again with her hooves over her head. That was all her mind could lead to from how much pain she was in. 

“Do yourself a favor and don’t get up,” Clang said. “It would be a lot less painful for you if you stay-” An audible snapped sounded right then. Clang bopped his head back and gasped. Before he knew it, three black coils lashed out at him. “AHH!”

The coils wrapped around him, entangling his hooves and wrapping around his waist. It was Rainbow Dash. She was awake with a fury of fire in her eyes. The sight of Fluttershy on the ground, crying in pain, fueled her rage.

“GET OFF OF ME! LET GO!” Clang’s limbs struggled in the grips of Rainbow’s tongues. They kept sliding out of the grip of the coils. But with their flexibility and strength, Rainbow could keep them grabbing on and preventing him from going anywhere. 

Fluttershy managed to lift her head off the ground. She could hear all the screaming and lashing going on. Barely being able to turn her head, she saw Clang completely wrapped in black coils. They were coming from Rainbow.

“GAH!” Clang struck at one of the coils with his hoof, causing Rainbow to wince. In that moment, he tried to get away, but Rainbow endured the pain and got her other two coils to restrain him by the hind legs. They dragged his body across the floor while he tried to stop himself with his forehooves.

Fluttershy’s eyes shrunk. She heard Clang yelling as his body was getting pulled in by Rainbow’s tongues. Clang turned his body and tried to strike one of the coils again, but the third one came back and wrapped around his hoof, halting it. He was about to be…

“N-No…” 

Clang’s body was flung upwards before his lower body disappeared in Rainbow’s mouth. Rainbow’s eyes shook in their rage. They no longer held concern for Fluttershy’s fear of her tongues. This had to be done. One of her coils wrapped around Clang’s mouth, ceasing his yelling and turning them into muffles. As Rainbow was swallowing, there were visible pokes from the inside of her cheeks while Clang’s front hooves pushed against her mouth. 

“R-Rain-bow…” Fluttershy hesitantly got to her hooves due to the pain on her head. With painful moans, a hoof to the back of her head, and the occasional stumbling of her hooves, she walked towards Rainbow. “Rainbow… no…” She tried calling out. But due to her pain, she could barely speak her voice. Seeing a pony getting swallowed before her very eyes became unnerving to her, no matter who it was.

Yet, Rainbow’s coils continued their slithering as she was swallowing Clang. It was a tighter fit for a muscular pony like this. She kept one tongue inside to try and restrain the struggles inside her. One was silencing him from the mouth and pulling him that way. And the last one violently slithered saliva around the edges of her mouth to provide an easier time to force Clang to slide through.

Clang’s head tried to shake through, but Rainbow’s tongue pressed harder. His hooves lost grip against Rainbow’s mouth and they slid through with an audible slosh, causing a bit of saliva to escape. He tried to stop himself from sliding through with his hind legs, but the walls inside Rainbow were too slippery. Squeezing her eyes tightly, Rainbow repeatedly swallowed hard, enduring whatever struggles he continued to do.

Clang’s eyes were wide. Fluttershy could see the fear in his eyes. That was the last she saw before his head disappeared to. Rainbow’s last swallow gave a very audible slosh. Her throat held a huge lump that slid down to her stomach, creating a large bulge  that threatened to touch against the ground. The vision and sounds of that slide pierced at Fluttershy’s mind with intense unnerving. Her eyes shrunk, and the pain in the back of her head became more intense. She couldn’t take it.

“Noo-ho-hooo… Rainb-ohow!” Fluttershy bawled out and threw herself at Rainbow Dash. “You didn’t have to eat him Rainb-how! You didn’t… He didn’t deserve that!”

Rainbow held her ground, both at Fluttershy’s sobbing and the intense struggles that were pounding inside her stomach. The muffles were still there, but they were drowned out by Fluttershy’s crying.

“He didn’t have to… Ow… H-… He didn’t deserve…”

“Cage…” Rainbow Dash tried to say, but Fluttershy couldn’t hear because of her own crying from pain and panic.

“I know you were trying to defend me. But nopony… nopony deserved to have that happen to them. He didn’t deserve-”

Rainbow grabbed Fluttershy in her hooves in a firm grip and held her away. “Caaage!” she yelled.

Fluttershy heard her this time and went silent. With a few sniffs, she opened her eyes, seeing Rainbow staring at her with a firm expression.

“Find a cage and I’ll let him out!”

Rainbow’s words momentarily snapped Fluttershy out of her panic. She could hear muffling. It was coming from Rainbow’s stomach, which was showing visible resistance. In her panic, Fluttershy had momentarily forgotten everything she knew about a tatzlpony. What she heard from Clang, she momentarily thought it was true. When Rainbow swallowed Clang, she immediately thought the worst. Now that she realized Clang was still alive, her fear cleared from her mind. Then Rainbow’s words registered to her and she gasped.

“Oh! A cage! Right!” Fluttershy winced in pain again. She removed herself away from Rainbow to look for a way out. Except, Rainbow didn’t let her go. Confused, she tried to separate again. That was when Rainbow suddenly moved her body under Fluttershy, causing her to yelp. Rainbow thrusted her upwards, causing her to be carried by Rainbow on the back. With the massive pain on her head, she understood and allowed what Rainbow wanted.

“H-How… How do we... get out of-” Before Fluttershy could finish asking, a large and loud explosion came from the front door. Both Rainbow and Fluttershy flinched fiercely from it as smoke and light filled the area. With her wound, the mere sound of the bang hurt Fluttershy’s head as it rang in her ears.

“I told you, for the last time…” They could hear a deep and angry voice coming from the front door. It almost sounded like the voice of a mare, but old. They could see a silhouette in the middle of that smoke. Before they could wonder who it was, the silhouette emerged and shouted. “KEEP IT DOWN IN HERE! OR I WILL CALL THE AUTHORITIES TO TEAR THIS BUILDING TO THE GROUND!”

The voice rang in their heads like an obnoxious alarm clock ringing directly in their ears while dreaming. Rainbow suddenly felt a rumble in her stomach. But it wasn’t from movement. It was purely from yelling, which she could hear despite the muffling.

”Oh my gosh… SHUT UP OLD HAG! YOU WORK AT A BOMB SHOP FOR CELESTIA’S SAKE!” Rainbow had to put a hoof to her stomach to settle the rumbling. It felt like the force of that voice attempted to push itself out of her mouth.

The silhouette that revealed itself earlier was revealed to be, in a nicer way from Clang’s description, a light purple old mare with short and fluffy white hair. Her eyes were shut tightly with her face in wrinkles. And her Cutie Mark appeared to be a short string with a spark, signifying a fuse. For some reason, Short Fuse was the first name that came to their minds.

But before they could even ask, the old mare was already leaving the scene, paying no mind of whatever was inside. The smoke soon cleared up, allowing the light outside to shine brightly on them. Rainbow grunted when she started feeling her stomach kicking again. Now that she saw her exit out, she didn’t realize the struggling had paused.

“Let’s get, ah… to my cottage,” Fluttershy said. After Rainbow put some pressure on her stomach, she started running out.


______________________________________________________________________________


The silhouette of a pony was formed in a high window. It turned its head as it watched Rainbow and Fluttershy leave the building, following where they were going.
> Chapter 12: Caged
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Dash had reached the cottage with Fluttershy in tow. Clang’s struggling inside Rainbow had ceased after a time. A large bear was pulling something out of the closet as Fluttershy instructed. Meanwhile Angel had dragged in a first aid kit in concern for the wound on the back of Fluttershy’s head. Rainbow inspected the cage curiously after the bear stopped dragging it.

“This cage is used to keep wild animals inside so that they can’t hurt anypony outside,” Fluttershy started as Angel hopped to her shoulder with some ointment and bandages. Pushing apart the mane, he caught sight of Fluttershy’s injury as she spoke. The bump on Fluttershy’s head was not a pleasant one, and Angel feared touching it in fear that it would harm Fluttershy. Nevertheless, he approached, carefully.

“Applejack gave me this cage a long time ago when I first moved to Ponyville. It was something to help me with the-” she flinched when the sting of the ointment came. “-a-animals around here. B-But I never used it. I wouldn’t like to see my animal friends locked up. But knowing her, it should work.”

Rainbow went to the front of the cage where the door was. With a stomp of her front hooves, she spun around and swung at the cage with her back hooves. A loud clang sounded and echoed across the cottage. With the clinging of hooves against metal, all the animals in the cottage, including the bear, were frightened and fled the cottage. The sound caused Fluttershy to flinch with widened eyes, causing Angel to be thrown off her head. Ointment dropped and splattered all over his body as he fell. Fluttershy squeezed her eyes and roughly pressed her hooves to her ears. She wished her poor ears would have a few hours to stop ringing. Her head couldn’t take anymore loud noises.

Rainbow inspected the cage once again after she tested it with her kick. Her assault didn’t even make a dent. It was perfect.

Annoyed, Angel went back to the first aid kit for the bandages. He wanted to put more ointment, but that wasn’t happening now. So instead, he got the bandage and hopped back to Fluttershy’s shoulder, who was still cringing from the clang.

After her ears stopped ringing, Fluttershy saw Rainbow give her the okay for the cage. While Angel was placing the bandage on, Fluttershy took out her key to unlock the cage. Meanwhile, Rainbow reached her tongues inside her stomach. The moment she touched Clang, the struggles continued. She was able to seize the struggling with her grip. After her stomach poked out a few times, the bulge quickly compressed, going up her neck, then towards her mouth.

Fluttershy opened the cage. Rainbow pulled Clang quickly out of her mouth and threw him inside the cage. There was an irritated grunt from Clang, and what sounded like a disgusting groan from Rainbow Dash. She shut the cage, spitting out her saliva in the opposite direction just as Clang recovered and got up. But before he could turn around and escape, Fluttershy locked the door, making his bang on the cage only cause a rattle.

“You can’t keep me in here forever! You’ll regr-” Clang was silenced when Rainbow slapped duct tape over his mouth, using one of her tongues to reach inside the cage. An irritated mumble could be heard from Clang. Using his hooves, he reached for the tape and ripped it off his mouth quickly. “AH!” Doing so caused a sharp pain to spread across his mouth. After he rubbed it, he continued. “Don’t you dare si-” He was silenced again by another strip of duct tape being slapped over his mouth. Narrowing his eyes, he ripped it off again. But before he could recover from the sharp pain, another one was placed.

Fluttershy ripped another strip of duct tape from her roll and Rainbow took it using her tongue. She and Fluttershy watched for Clang to try and rip off the tape again. Seeing Fluttershy’s hooves readying to rip off another strip while Rainbow held her strip in the air, Clang realized they could do this all day, and all he’d get out of it was more pain every time he ripped it off. With a defeated and irritated groan, he sat down and slumped like the caged animal he was.

After winning his obedience, Fluttershy put away her tape roll while Rainbow stuck her strip to the table. She grunted as a sharp pain came from inside her mouth. After retracting her tongue, she rubbed her cheek a little to ease the pain inside.

Meanwhile Angel had finished applying the bandage over the bump on the back of Fluttershy’s head. A large and soft cloth was applied under the bandage so it would cushion whatever touched it and ease Fluttershy’s pain while the tape of the bandage kept it in place. Angel smiled and gave it a few rubs to test it. Seeing that Fluttershy didn’t wince or flinch from the touch, he hopped off.

“Rainbow, I need to ask you something,” Fluttershy started. Rainbow looked to her as she asked. “What Clang said about you… Is it true?” Rainbow didn’t exactly respond. A look of confusion was written on her face as she looked to Clang, then back to Fluttershy. “O-Oh... “ Fluttershy stuttered as she remembered. “You must’ve still been unconscious when he told me… um…” Afraid to bring that subject up, she tried a different approach.

“Rainbow, when you ea-... um… swallow ponies… a-and keep them in your stomach, how well can you… um…” She was having a hard time describing it, but Rainbow stayed quiet and listened. “How well can you… keep them in there… without being food?” Rainbow’s eyes opened up a bit. Her eyes turned down to her stomach and then to Clang again.

“I-I mean… you know when you swallowed Scootaloo yesterday, a-and she slept inside of you. Is it really safe that way? H-How easy is it to keep her from being…” Fear kept making Fluttershy’s words be thrown apart. But when Rainbow looked back to her, it looked like she was understanding where Fluttershy was getting at.

Rainbow responded. “As easy as it is to breathe in my sleep.”

Fluttershy gave a questioning cringe. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Meanwhile Clang was just slumping down in his cage with an irritated sigh. He could not believe how weak Fluttershy’s heart was acting right now. It didn’t help his pride knowing that these were the kind of ponies that managed to capture him.

And unknowingly to everypony, Angel had snatched the roll of duct tape. He was making his way behind Clang with it. A big grin was on his face.

“Do you… have any trouble breathing in your sleep?” Rainbow craned her head after Fluttershy asked. It was an odd question, and Fluttershy felt she was overthinking things. In fact, now she was sure she was after thinking back to how easily Rainbow and Scootaloo fell asleep that one day. There was no trouble with Rainbow’s breathing at all.

“Nevermind…” Fluttershy said as she shook her head.

Angel tiptoed inside the cage and behind Clang with a strip of duct tape. He stayed as quiet as possible, making sure to not attract anypony’s attention.

“So there’s no way you could cause that to... the ponies you swallow… there’s no way that could happen by accident?” Fluttershy’s question was vague, but Rainbow understood what she meant. Rainbow shook her head, giving Fluttershy some relief. “Okay. But do you remember doing that to anypony? Before I found you, do you remember something like that?”

Rainbow Dash was silent for a few seconds. It gave Fluttershy some fear, but Rainbow’s face didn’t look guilty. She seemed to just be in a deep thought. A murmur escaped her mouth. But after some time, her eyes went wide. Those eyes showed guilt, making Fluttershy worry.

"Sc-Scootaloo..." Rainbow responded with a terrified voice.

"Scootaloo?" Fluttershy asked. "B-But... she was fine, wasn't she?"

Rainbow Dash just looked down as her mind went back to that forest. She remembered what she did to Scootaloo back there. But she didn't know everything that that could do.

"Rainbow?" Fluttershy tried calling with a worried expression. She was wondering why was Rainbow Dash being so tense right now. 

Suddenly, Fluttershy gasped loudly as it hit her like that iron hoof that smacked the back of her head. Her previous worries about why Rainbow would swallow Scootaloo so suddenly came rushing back. There was a reason why Rainbow's memories were taken away. Was this why?

*RIP!* Clang started releasing a painful moan just as soon as Fluttershy gasped. The pain that Clang felt was on his left flank. He turned to see a white bunny with a strip of tape, holding a few hairs from his coat where his Cutie Mark laid. Angry, he dove straight for that bunny. But the bunny fled the cage as soon as it ripped that tape off, causing his head to plink on the metal bars that held him captive. All it did was bring him more pain.

Fluttershy winced when she heard the loud plink. When she and Rainbow looked to Clang, they saw his face planted between the bars with outstretched hooves reaching out. He was attempting to grab Angel, who was pointing and laughing, lying on his back. His other paw still held the strip of duct tape, which Fluttershy recognized had a bit of hair from Clang’s coat.

“Angel!” Fluttershy shouted. “That is no way to treat our p-” she halted herself when she realized what she was saying. Angel only laughed more. “I mean… That’s no way to treat our… our…”

Fluttershy’s cheeks reddened in embarrassment from not knowing how to call Clang to Angel. Shutting her eyes tightly, her mouth moaned trying to find a polite way of describing Clang after what they put him in.

“Mmrrr! Just leave Clang alo-” When Fluttershy opened her eyes, Angel was already gone. She had no idea where he went. But she saw Clang staring at her with disbelief in his eyes. Then they closed, and he shook his head with a disappointing groan.

Fluttershy’s body heated up in utter embarrassment. Her body slumped to the floor while her eyes hid behind her mane. She had no idea how to handle this situation, and she was already screwing it up before it even started.

Most ponies would laugh at a display like this. But Rainbow Dash was not one of those ponies. Only bullies would laugh at the misery of somepony’s embarrassment or failure. She moved her head to Fluttershy’s face and nuzzled her mane.

When Fluttershy felt the nuzzle, she looked to Rainbow Dash. They both exchanged eye contact, and Fluttershy’s heart raced. The look of comfort in Rainbow’s eyes, it was much like how her animals would comfort her whenever she was down. But this one felt stronger for some reason. It felt like the combination of her animals comforting her, and a close friend in the Rainbow Dash that defended her from bullies. She was right there, and she still was.

Fluttershy’s expression turned serious as all her worries faded. Rainbow Dash was a tatzlpony, but she was still Rainbow Dash. Therefore she should have the same faith that she would put on Rainbow Dash, even if Rainbow wasn’t sure herself. This was why Rainbow needed her right now. They had the opportunity to figure this out now. To see if a tatzlpony really was dangerous. And to put an end to Rainbow's fear of her form.

“Okay Clang,” Fluttershy started as she turned to him. Rainbow Dash did the same. “I need to ask you a few questions, and I need you to answer.” Clang just narrowed his eyes, even with Rainbow Dash stepping closer. “Rainbow Dash needs your help, and I need your help. If you can help us, we can let you go.”

Rainbow stuck out one of her tongues and held it in the air. Clang just stared at the ponies with lazy dumbfound eyes. His eyes went to Rainbow, they went to Fluttershy, then back to Rainbow. There was a large sigh released from his nose as his muscles released tension.

Rainbow glanced at Fluttershy, and she gave the okay with a nod. Rainbow reached her tongue inside the cage. Clang didn’t move as the tongue reached the tape on his mouth.


______________________________________________________________________________


Unknown to everypony, there was a silhouette watching them from the front windows. They did nothing and said nothing. All they did was watch the exchange. There was a rip, followed by a yell. 

The silhouette flinched.
> Chapter 13: "Interrogation"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Who is your client?” That was the first question Fluttershy asked after Rainbow removed the tape. Clang grunted and rubbed his mouth a few times before answering.

“You’re kidding, right?” he said. “You think that just because you captured me, I would just tell you?” Nopony responded. They just stared at each other with their stern faces. “My client doesn’t want me revealing who they are. And as long as I am in their payroll, you’re not getting it from me.”

Fluttershy responded. “But you were hired to capture Rainbow Dash and now look what’s happened. Doesn’t that mean your job… failed?”

Clang raised an eyebrow. “Yeah? So?”

Fluttershy didn’t know how to follow that up, so she tried a different approach. “Why does your client want to capture Rainbow Dash so badly?”

Clang gave an irritated sigh. “I told you. My client wanted her capture because she was a very dangerous creature to us pony kind.”

“But Clang, look at what’s happened. Look at yourself.” Fluttershy pointed to his body. “Rainbow Dash grabbed you and swallowed you whole. Then she took you with us and here you are now, unharmed. If a tatzlpony is as dangerous as you say, wouldn’t you be…” Fluttershy gulped. “Well… … Right now?”

Clang just raised an eyebrow. “Do you really think it’s that simple? Or are you just trying to avoid the obvious?” Fluttershy opened her mouth and tried to respond. But her mouth just froze open. “How did you feel when you saw what that tatzlpony did to me?” Her eyes shrunk. She couldn’t deny that she was terrified of Clang’s fate, despite what he had done.

Clang picked himself up, and for some reason repeated something. “A few days ago, a special type of flower was discovered in the Everfree Forest. What is this flower? I don’t care. But my client certainly does.” He picked his hoof up and stared at it. “This flower attracted this very creature, and soon took the life of somepony very important to my client.” His eyes turned to Fluttershy, giving her a dark glare. “They told me just how dangerous a tatzlpony can be, as a warning to what my mission would risk. My own life could've been given that same fate. Can you look me in the eyes and claim to believe that any of this is true?”

Fluttershy didn’t answer. She didn’t know how to, but the question still made her nervous.

“Of course you can’t. Because if it doesn’t matter to you, there’s no reason to feel fear.” Clang turned his head and smiled. “Their is a spark of truth hidden behind chains within everypony's heart. Fear releases those chains withholding the truth, whether they know it or not. Would you like to know what I saw in yours?” Fluttershy’s breath stuttered. “Uncertainty of your claims. You claim that a tatzlpony isn’t dangerous just because it didn't harm me when it had the chance. What do you know about a tatzlpony? You’re still afraid of that harmful act even now, aren’t you?”

Fluttershy’s breathing got really heavy. “B-But Rainbow Dash, is not a tatzlpony. She may be one now, but she wasn’t… She was a pony just like me and you. She was…” The moment she took a glance at Rainbow Dash, she could see the fear in her heart, the fear of being…

“A dangerous creature who took the life of somepony very close to my client.” Clang finished for her. “The look of desperation, the fear that my client held, whether you believe me or not, those words held true.” A chuckle escaped his mouth while Fluttershy’s eyes shrunk. Rainbow’s ears fell flat as her fears of her form grew larger. “Whether on purpose or not, that’s what it caused. You wouldn’t want that to happen again, now would you? Hmhmhm. Heh-AAAHHH!!!”

Fluttershy flinched when a loud rip sounded, causing Clang to yell really loudly in the middle of his chuckle. Looking down to Clang’s side, she saw Angel with a strip of duct tape in his paw. It seemed to contain more hairs from Clang’s coat.

“Angel! Stop that!” Fluttershy scolded. While Clang looked to Angel with a grumble, Angel looked to Fluttershy, annoyed. “We are trying to talk here and you are making things difficult. Now apologize to Clang right now!”

But Angel refused. He rapidly shook his head then pointed a paw to Clang. With his paws, he made a motion of grabbing something, squeezing it tightly and shaking it in his grip with a mean face. Then he took one of his paws, and slammed it hard on where he was holding. Placing both paws on his head, he cried out, dropping down to the ground while rubbing the back of his head. After a few rubs, he got up, clenched his paws together. A sorrowful look in his eyes was made when he shook those paws towards Fluttershy, and then went back to mean. His paw pointed to Clang, and he finished by shaking his head one more time. 

When Angel finished his charade, Fluttershy released a small gasp. Rainbow Dash was looking at him with eyes of awe. Somehow, she understood him just as well as Fluttershy did. It was a very familiar feeling, and it made her heart warm up from her worries.

“What in Equestria was that?” Clang asked, not even sure if he wanted to know. Fluttershy slowly turned her head to him.

“Angel… wants you to apologize to me… for hitting my head.”

Clang’s expression didn’t change. He only blinked, then responded. “You’ve got to be kidding me…”

Fluttershy shook her head. “Tell me you’re sorry, and then Angel will apologize to you.”

Clang snorted. “What is this?! A day care centEEERRR?!” Another rip sounded, making Clang yell really loudly in pain once again. He immediately lashed out towards Angel, but Angel slipped out of the cage well before he responded. As a result, he slammed into the bars again, reaching his hooves out for that bunny while yelling.

“Please Clang. Don’t let this be-”

“THAT’S IT! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS TOWN!” Clang exploded in his rage. “This whole town is nothing but crazy! Ever since I came here, I have been bombarded with ponies that are ridiculous, brain dead, massively chaotic, or all of the above!” Clang threw his back hooves against the bars to let out his frustration, causing a loud clang to sound and pierce Fluttershy’s ears. “I thought my client was bad enough, until I met that old hag. I mean her solution to silence the loud noises going on in her neighborhood is to blow it up! AAAHHH!!!”

Another rip came from Clang’s flank, causing him to yell. “And this stupid bunny-” as he was yelling, he tried stomping Angel, but Angel left the cage. “-is where I draw the line! What kind of bunny with a name like that is more assertive than its own master?!”

Fluttershy gasped. “Hey! It’s not nice to make fun of-” she stopped speaking when she noticed Angel was trying to get her attention. He was jumping up and down and repeatedly pointing at Clang. “What is it Angel? I’m trying to talk to him.”

Angel’s ears went down and he frowned. Using a different approach, he hopped over to the couch and pulled something behind it. It was a Bit, which he set aside, pointed at Clang again, then held the Bit in both paws, pointing to Clang’s direction.

Confused, Fluttershy jumped to her first conclusion. “Paying Clang?” she asked. Angel followed it up by pulling out a piece of paper. The paper had nothing on it, but Angel placed the Bit on it, pointing to Clang, then motion the paper and Bit forwards. “You want to… hire Clang? For what?” Angel shook his head. “No?” He motioned the paper forward again, set it down, then moved to the opposite side of that paper. He closed his eyes, bowed his head, then took the paper. Then he pointed at Clang again.

“Well… yes, he was hired but…” Angel interrupted by shaking his head again. He pointed to Clang, motioned the paper forwards, then dropped and raised his paws in a shrugging gesture. “Why was he hired? He was hired to capture Rainbow Dash, because she’s-” Another interruption by Angel shrugging his head. “Still no?” Angel repeated his motions once again. But as he gestured the paper forwards, he made a strange twitch and a silly face as he dropped the paper. As he went to the other side of the paper, he made a disturbed face, then bowed his head and took the paper. Turning to Fluttershy, he shrugged his paws again.

Fluttershy’s eyes widened as she realized what Angel was getting at. This wasn’t a question he was asking to her, but to Clang. She turned to Clang. “Clang… Angel is asking why did you take this job.”

Clang’s eyebrow was practically stuck being raised. He had watched that whole performance and it weirded him out the whole way. “What is going on here?” He asked, ignoring the earlier question. “I thought they said you could communicate with animals, not play charades with them. Or is that what they really meant?”

“Please answer the question Clang,” Fluttershy responded. She took a glance at Angel again to make sure she was on the right track. Angel made the silly twitched face again for just a second. “You mentioned that your client was crazy.” Angel suddenly made a tantrum by stomping up and down and making angry noises. “But you couldn’t stand all the crazy things happening to you since coming to Ponyville. Why did you-” interrupting herself to glance at Angel, she saw Angel nodding his head, signaling her to keep going. “-accept the job?”

While this was going on, Rainbow Dash’s ears raised, feeling like they heard something. And it sounded like it was behind them. When she took a look, her immediate attention was brought to the window. It almost looked like something was there and hid as soon as she looked. Curious, she walked over there to take a look.

“Oh, I get it…” Clang said in a slow voice. “Yes, I think my client is just as crazy as everypony else in this town, yet I still accepted their request. And you want to know why.” His eyes turned down and his expression changed. It looked like he was slightly clenching his teeth.

Fluttershy blinked her eyes in confusion. Clang’s demeanor suddenly took a drastic change. But when she looked at his eyes, she gasped inside. His eyes were changing expressions in deep thought. This didn’t make any sense. Was he distracted by something? Why did it look he was having an inner conflict with himself?

Clang’s expressions suddenly stopped when he noticed Fluttershy staring. He snorted and turned his body away. Fluttershy’s expression turned to concern. Angel’s mean expression softened. Rainbow Dash turned away from the window, noticing the awkward silence.

“You want to know more about my client?” Clang suddenly stated. Nopony else said anything or moved. “That flower that was discovered… My client has an absurd obsession with it.” He turned his head back to them. “They treat this flower like it’s the most important flower in Equestria. And if anything had happened to me, return to this flower they said.” 

Clang suddenly turned his body towards them with a fierce stomp. “Well HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT?!” he yelled, making Fluttershy and Angel flinch while Rainbow rushed to their sides. “The thing that happened to me was being locked in this cage! What was a tatzlpony gonna do to me that would remotely warrant me having to return to that flower!?” He paused to release a few heavy breaths from his mouth as his eyes shook. “...Everything they said was complete nonsense. But their tone held serious with every detail. About the tatzlpony’s swallowing capabilities, about their ability to survive even timberwolves…” He eyes Fluttershy directly. “About you…”

The silhouette in the window returned to listen in on the conversation. The curiosity got the better of them and two more heads popped up to watch.

“They didn’t just tell me to capture this tatzlpony. They told me specifically, to keep it away from you.”

Fluttershy gasped at that mention. Rainbow blinked her eyes and bopped her head. Angel twisted his head in confusion. And all three silhouettes ears twitched.

“My client lost somepony very important to them. They were convinced that if this thing stayed in your hooves, this whole disaster would repeat. The way they described you made that sound like complete nonsense. But after experiencing you myself, I now understand…”

Rainbow felt a sudden surge course through her body from Clang’s words. That surge, she didn’t like that feeling. It was making her mad.

“The way you raise your animals… the vengeful personality this rabbit has… that desire this tatzlpony has to defend you by any means necessary…” He pointed to Angel and Rainbow Dash as he mentioned them. Fluttershy’s ears fell because Rainbow Dash was snorting and stepping closer. “There’s a hidden demon inside of you that you can’t control… the demon that would raise animals to do your defending because you can’t do it yourself.”

Rainbow Dash was starting to growl while Fluttershy was getting scared. “N-No… I would never…”

“You wouldn’t, but your animals would,” Clang cut in, smiling. “They would do whatever has to be done so that you won’t have to do it yourself! You think you can escape the guilt of hurting somepony for hurting you, by letting your animals do it for you?!”

Fluttershy breathed heavily at Clang’s words. She could see Rainbow’s wings getting restless at their sides. “T-That’s not r-right… R-R-Rainbow Dash-”

“Don’t try to hide it. I saw that demon inside you when you looked at me with those eyes. Your fear reveals more truth than your words. And they say-”

Rainbow Dash’s temper snapped at that moment. Her wings ignited and launched her straight towards the cage. Fluttershy and Clang gasped while Angel yelped and quickly hopped out of the way. All eyes snapped closed when Rainbow’s hind hooves slammed against the cage, causing a violent bell to ring across the entire cottage and its garden, followed by a loud crash. The sound scared off all the animals playing in the garden. Every single one went into sheds or nearby dens to hide, whether it was their living quarters or not.

Three ponies outside the cottage winced while their bodies were hidden beneath the window’s view. When the ringing had stopped, they all brought their heads up to the window, wishing they hadn’t missed what happened.
> Chapter 14: Manipulation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow’s seething breath could be heard throughout the cottage. Thanks to the dust, only her silhouette was visible for a few moments. Her shoulders could be seen moving up and down harshly from each breath. She eyed the area where the cage was with a vengeance. Clang had gone too far with that accusation. It was bad enough that she worried about herself being potentially dangerous to Fluttershy, but even if she couldn’t remember too well, she could tell Fluttershy being bad was absolutely NOT true. Those accusations made her really want to reach inside that cage with her tongues and strangle Clang with them. 

Fluttershy’s harsh coughs could be heard as the dust was settling. She was covering her mouth with her hoof from each cough. When the dust went away from her, she held her head and released a painful moan. The loud bang and the coughing caused her to have a serious headache from her already throbbing head. Her wound was bad enough, but all this banging loud noises was only making it worse.

The dust eventually settled and Fluttershy was able to open her eyes again. The cage was surprisingly still intact, but it had been launched against the wall on the other side of the cottage’s living room, breaking through a huge chunk of it. If the cage wasn’t in the way, a large bear could fit through that hole that had been created. But that hole wasn’t her worry right now. It was Rainbow and her restless figure staring at Clang.

Clang’s body was hanging high with his back against the bars. His eyes were wide and stunned in utter shock with his teeth gritted. It took until the dust finished settling before his body could slide back down to the ground. He was shaking.

“You-... You’re insane…” he hesitantly said. “Not just crazy… insane…”

Rainbow was still growling deeply while staring into Clang’s soul. With a grunt, Fluttershy walked up to Rainbow with a leash in hoof, attaching it back on her collar. “Rainbow, please, control yourself,” Fluttershy said pleadingly while she tried to nudge the leash back. Rainbow seemed to cooperate as she let her body gently get turned.

“Now do you see what I mean?” When Clang said that, Fluttershy felt her nudge get stopped. Clang’s words were making Rainbow resist again. “That sort of untamed ferocity cannot be allowed to walk freely.” The resistance was getting stronger. A fearful whimper escaped Fluttershy as she tried to pull harder. “Your methods will only accelerate her temper. Surrender her now, or-”

Fluttershy yelped as Rainbow suddenly lashed out her tongues towards Clang. Before he could react, they wrapped around and squeezed his neck. He suddenly found himself unable to breathe, attempting to pry them off with his hooves. Then those coils immediately pulled him away from his sitting position at the back of the cage and towards the front, causing his head to bang against the bars of the cage. Rainbow retracted her tongues back as Clang’s body fell back to the ground.

The ears and heads of the three ponies raised as they witnessed this exchange from the window. One of them saw Fluttershy's expression and looked away in concern. They had turned their head towards the front door, the other two following suit. Feeling that they had to do something, they started moving towards the door.

Clang was moaning in pain with squeezing eyes and his hooves pressed fiercely against his forehead. That sight was bringing satisfaction to Rainbow as she rubbed her cheek to relieve pain. It was a familiar feeling, and that feeling was making her no longer care for Clang’s words. As long as he kept demonizing Fluttershy like this, he had to suffer.

But Fluttershy was a different mind that was getting terrified of this exchange. She braced her head both from internal and external pain. Not only was all this loud noise developing a painful headache from her already wounded head, but she was now doubting her abilities of keeping Rainbow under control. All this aggressiveness was just supporting Clang’s saying. It made her voice whine inside as her grip on the leash released.

Rainbow slightly gasped and turned her eyes toward Fluttershy. But her attention to Fluttershy was short lived when Clang grunted and picked himself back up. Rainbow’s responses were only making Fluttershy worry more. She wished Rainbow would stop, but as far as she was concerned, there was nothing she could do.

“Do you really want this to happen?” Clang’s words were hitting Fluttershy like rocks now. Ever since Rainbow came to her like this, she always believed that Rainbow was now her responsibility, like a pet. But now as far as she was concerned, Rainbow was never her pet. It was foalish to think so. She couldn't control Rainbow's actions. And Rainbow's actions were indeed... dangerous.

“Don’t listen to him, Fluttershy!” All ears in the cottage suddenly raised. The cottage door opened just as suddenly as that voice came. Everypony’s attention was brought to the door. Three fillies stood there, and Fluttershy was especially confused.

“Scootaloo?” Fluttershy questioned. “Apple Bloom? Sweetie Belle?”

Clang’s eyes went narrow looking at these fillies. “What the,” was all he could say.

“Don’t you see what’s going on?” Sweetie Belle said as all three of them rushed to the cage.

“He’s tryin’ ta get in yer head and make y’all feel guilty for everything you’ve done.” As Apple Bloom said that, Clang’s face and eyes struck high in surprise.

Fluttershy tried to respond, but Scootaloo faced her and responded first. “It’s a little torture trick that Rainbow Dash taught me once. That’s why she’s flying her feathers off at him. He’s saying things that’ll get under your coat and make you look bad and regret what you’re doing. But you're doing nothing wrong!”

Apple Bloom cut in to continue. “An’ if ya listen to his lies, y’all be doin’ what he wants ya to do.”

All eyes were focused on the three fillies. Clang’s were the most wide, completely stunned by this situation. “You can’t seriously believe these kids! What do they know?! Listening to them is comple-” He was silenced by a long black tongue reaching inside the cage and slapping duct tape over his mouth. Eyes going even wider, he noticed that same bunny waving at him with the duct tape, on top of the tatzlpony’s mane. With his mouth shut, steam blew out of his ears while his face reddened and shook.

Rainbow Dash’s temper had dropped significantly thanks to Angel’s help. Seeing his ways of torturing Clang was both amusing, and satisfying. With Clang silenced, her eyes turned back to the three fillies. She was happy to see Scootaloo again, but seeing the other two sparked up more memories. It felt like she remembered them too.

“What are you girls doing here?” Fluttershy asked. “Weren’t you all supposed to be in school today?”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom responded as her eyes slanted. “An’ we had to ditch class to come here.” It left Fluttershy surprised with how bluntly she said that.

“We didn’t ditch!” Sweetie Belle responded. She closed her eyes and placed a hoof to her chest. “We excused ourselves to take care of important family problems.”

Turning her eyes to Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom responded. “Which is ditching class.”

Sweetie Belle threw her hooves in the air. “IT’S NOT DITCHING!”

Clang press his hooves roughly against his ears as this argument went on. All this craziness was gonna make him lose his mind, if it wasn’t already. If it wasn’t for that stupid bunny and the tatzlpony watching him, he would remove this duct tape over his mouth and yell.

“After I gave you that letter, Rainbow Dash was so eager to stay with you.”  Scootaloo explained. “So I followed you to see why. And I saw everything that happened. How this jerk attacked you guys, how he explained he was hired to take Rainbow Dash away.” She narrowed her eyes. “How he gave you that nasty bruise! I couldn’t leave you guys after seeing that!”

Apple Bloom stepped in to continue. “Scootaloo told us all ‘bout it when y’all were comin’ back here. We saw him gettin’ under yer coat. But a real interrogator has ta git under theirs.”

As Scootaloo walked towards the cage to join them, Sweetie Belle finished. “And we know the perfect pony for the job! Cutie Mark Crusaders-”

All three fillies joined together and shouted at the top of their lungs. “INTERROGATION DELIVERERS!!!”

Fluttershy’s ears were bursted once again while her mane was blown back from the force of their voice. Before she could recover, scurrying and banging occurred across the cottage. Tools were being flung around, a smoke of dust was spreading from the cage, and Fluttershy constantly yelped, flinched, and ducked. All three fillies went from one place to another, opening drawers, going under couches, and grabbing whatever they could to, for some reason operate on the cage.

“Wait a minute. Ah! Girls! Wah!” Despite her attempts, Fluttershy couldn’t get any words to reach them.

“Can I see that Angel? Thanks!” Rainbow Dash couldn’t even follow them as Scootaloo suddenly appeared in front of her, grabbing the duct tape from Angel and taking, well, both Angel and the tape with her. It was chaotic, yet it felt familiar to her.

When the carnage stopped, the smoke cleared quickly. Clang was pressing himself against the back of the cage, eyes wider than ever. If it wasn’t for that tape, his teeth would be visible. Meanwhile the three fillies had strapped themselves with the cage and looked like they were ready to pull it. How they were gonna pull it, Fluttershy wondered. Then she noticed that somehow, the cage was now built with wheels.

“Let’s go crusaders!” After Sweetie Belle shouted that, they all started towards the door, dragging the cage with them.

“Wait!” Fluttershy tried calling.

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy!” Scootaloo called. “By the time we get back, we’ll have all your answers. In the meantime, you can get all the other answers from Rainbow Dash, starting by doing that thing she wanted to show you. Later!”

They left through the door with Clang. Fluttershy had stopped her chase when she reached the door, unsure if she should even follow them. But watching them go, she noticed something odd at the back of the cage. It was holding onto the bars and waving at her with the duct tape.

“Angel?” she asked herself. It indeed was him. Some things never changed, but it didn’t make them any less confusing or shocking. She wasn’t sure how she felt about the girls being around Clang, even if he was caged up. But seeing Angel following them, at least he would be watching over them. 

“Ooh…” Fluttershy braced her head with her hooves. This whole experience left her with a massive headache, which wasn’t helping the bruise on the back of her head. She wanted to just lie down and get some rest. But something clicked in her mind as she watched them go. Before they left, Scootaloo said something. 

“Something Rainbow Dash wanted to show me?” Fluttershy wondered what she was talking about. And then her mind clicked again. “Oh, that’s right.” She wondered again how Scootaloo knew about that, but then remembered that Scootaloo accidentally overheard their conversation. With that thought, she turned to Rainbow. “Rainbow, before all this stuff with Clang happened, after you asked me if a tatzlpony was bad, you wanted to show me something. What was that?”

It took a moment for Rainbow to respond, and she responded with a smile. She walked over to the door, next to Fluttershy and looked off in the distance. Fluttershy looked in the direction Rainbow was looking. Curious, she asked. “Is it in the Everfree Forest?” Rainbow looked to her and nodded. After a moment of contemplating Fluttershy responded again. “Okay, but before we go, let me get a few things ready.”


______________________________________________________________________________


Several minutes had passed as Fluttershy packed her saddle bags. Unlike the other times, this time treading the Everfree wasn’t just done because of an emergency. So being prepared for a travel was now possible, in case there was any danger that they ran into. 

But more specifically, Fluttershy wanted to bring some of these things for a different reason. As she was gathering some of the items, it didn’t take long for Rainbow Dash to come up to her, wanting to help. How could she say no? All she had to do was say what item and where it was, and Rainbow Dash was there in a snap. The last item however, Fluttershy handled herself, very carefully.

“Eeeasy now…” Fluttershy said to herself. In her teeth was a red and white striped box with a pink bow tie on it. With sweat dripping along her face, she carefully placed the box at the very top of the items in her bag. After it was placed, she zipped it fast and flinched away.

A few seconds of shivering and Fluttershy opened her eyes, looking towards the bag. “Phew…” she sighed in relief as she put the bag on, giving it a few shakes for testing. “I hope that doesn’t explode on the way.”

After Fluttershy finished strapping her saddle bags, Rainbow Dash walked up to her with her leash in her mouth. She tossed it in Fluttershy’s direction with a smile, to which Fluttershy was hesitant about.

“Um… you want to keep that on?” she asked. Rainbow just smiled and moved it forwards. That smile wasn't exactly making Fluttershy comfortable. After she just got done convincing herself that Rainbow Dash wasn’t her pet and shouldn't be treated like one, Rainbow was just edging that on again. She didn’t want to encourage that behavior,. But at the same time, she felt that not encouraging it would show she was believing Clang’s words and going against what Scootaloo said. It still didn’t make sense why Rainbow wanted this this much.

Putting more trust in Scootaloo’s words, Fluttershy accepted the leash and wrapped it around her hoof. Rainbow smiled and turned around.

“Okay. Are you ready to GOOOHOHO?!” Before she could finish asking, Rainbow Dash suddenly ignited her wings and dashed towards the door, dragging Fluttershy with her. The door bashed opened then forced itself closed behind them. “RAINBOW DASH! WAIT!” As soon as Fluttershy yelled, Rainbow stopped in her tracks, thrusting her back towards Fluttershy, causing Fluttershy’s momentum to be caught on her back. She then dropped back on all four hooves.

Recovering from that sudden acceleration, Fluttershy picked herself up, With the leash still in her hoof and her current position, she realized she was now riding on Rainbow Dash. “U-Umm…” Her cheeks flushed red in embarrassment as Rainbow looked towards her. That was when her splitting headache came back. When she went to go rub her head, she winced, forgetting about the bandage. But that sudden jolt in pain made her realize what Rainbow was doing. Rainbow must’ve still been concerned about her injuries and wanted to continue carrying her as they traveled. Since they were going to the Everfree Forest, she smiled on that thought.

But was that the only reason? Or was that just the reason she wanted conclude to? Whether it was or not, she was forced to conclude on that as a rough gust of wind started blowing her mane in her face. She attempted to block the wind with her other hoof, but it wasn’t helping much as she looked to the skies. Many clouds decorated the skies in a messy manner. It was causing them to blow these rough winds and blowing her mane in her face.

If they had the chance, Fluttershy wanted to try and see if Rainbow could remember how to handle the weather, or if she still could in her tatzlpony form. But right now, figuring out what happened to Rainbow was more important. They had already been distracted from this once. Still… she was starting to miss the wonderful weather Ponyville had. More importantly, she wanted that beautiful rainbow that catered the skies to return.

Her eyes went wide and blinked hard on that thought. “Okay Rainbow. L-Let’s go.” She instinctively waved her leash around without realizing it. In response, Rainbow started moving and trotted to the Everfree Forest.

A strange vibe coursed through Fluttershy's body. For some reason, she felt like she was forgetting something.


______________________________________________________________________________


Somewhere in Ponyville, a mare was standing in front of a building, hoping desperately for a good sign. But she already knew that was not the case. The building doors had been blown off, not just from sheer force either. It looked like an actual bomb caused this. Hesitantly, she looked inside. Despite the darkness, she could see the carnage inside, increasing her fears.

She looked up and her breath got heavy. Chain balls decorated the ceilings as they were dangling down. A gasp escaped her as she looked left. There was a capsule with its net sprawled on the floor. Two desperate gasps were released from her before and after she looked to the right. The sight made her release a long and terrified breath.

The mare approached the ropes that were sprawled along the floor. Those ropes looked like they had ensnared something. And whatever they ensnared had escaped. “Oh n-n-no…” she said as her body shook violently. Her eyes turned back to the rest of the carnage that decorated the room, summarizing the events that happened here. “W-W-What do I do now-w?”

Just after she finished asking herself that, somepony appeared at the front entrance. She flinched and immediately turned to that pony’s presence. The very sight made her heart drop down to her stomach.

She felt doomed
> Chapter 15: Pain
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“ACHOO!” Fluttershy sneezed harshly, turning her head to the side to avoid hitting Rainbow Dash with it. It was a rather rough sneeze and she ended up sniffing hard afterwards. Her headache only got worse after that. Traveling the Everfree Forest like this was certainly not the best of ideas.

But that was why Rainbow Dash insisted Fluttershy ride her as they traveled. That injury would only get worse if Fluttershy didn’t take it easy on herself. Sure, Rainbow may have taken a similar blow to the head, but it certainly wasn’t the first time. After all, she was a lot more hard headed for that.

Something caught Fluttershy’s eye. “Wait, Rainbow Dash,” she called. Rainbow stopped walking for her and looked in the direction she was looking. They were starting to enter an area with a lot of thorns. Fluttershy saw these thorns before, but not this thickly covered. The path Rainbow was traversing seemed only a little clear, like it had been traversed by only one pony. That pony was probably Rainbow Dash if she wanted to come here.

But the spot Fluttershy was looking at was just outside the path and inside the mess of thorns covering the trees, bushes, and branches. As Fluttershy wanted, Rainbow moved closer towards the bush. When they got there, Fluttershy gently slid herself off Rainbow as Rainbow moved the thorned vines away for her. Getting them moved required a bit of precision and force. Rainbow was careful enough with it so that she could force it apart without getting cut or scraped.

Fluttershy gasped upon seeing what was there. “Oh no…” she said as she knelt down. There was a jackalope buried underneath those thorns. Its horns seemed to have gotten caught in them and it got stuck. Judging on the rough treads on the grass, it was running from a predator.

Fluttershy brought her hoof to it to get a better look. The worst of her fears happened. One of the thorns had pierced into the creature, probably from its struggles. It wasn’t moving.

“This little guy didn’t make it…” Fluttershy said as she removed the jackalope from the thorns. The life of a prey was cruel in this forest. And sadly, it was nothing new she witnessed. She placed the jackalope in her bag and went back to Rainbow Dash. There was nothing she could do for the little guy.


______________________________________________________________________________


Rainbow Dash continued to carefully traverse through the thick thorns after Fluttershy climbed back aboard. Fluttershy took this time to observe the scenery. With the branches leaning this close to the ground, flying was next to impossible. It would be very easy to get her feathers caught in these thorns, or possibly get them clipped if she tried spreading them. Evident by the jackalope she found earlier, most of the creatures and its predators probably avoided this place.

Riding Rainbow Dash like this felt oddly relaxing to Fluttershy. It gave her time to reflect on why they were going here, even with her headache making it difficult to think. She thought on them and questioned them. 

Rainbow Dash was a tatzlpony. What is a tatzlpony? That was the question she needed answered, because whatever it is, Rainbow really wanted to know if they were good or not, to know if she was good. Are they good? Fluttershy traced back to what she knew about them so far.

A tatzlpony looked much like normal ponies, mainly distinguished by the marking in their eyes and their limb-like tails. Rainbow Dash seemed to behave much like an animal. But was that due to her tatzlpony instinct or her memory loss? What Fluttershy did know was that they seemed to feel the need to swallow other ponies whole. Why would they do that? They certainly seemed to have quite an appetite. But the ponies they swallowed were stored in a pouch, not eaten. Was that to keep them protected like Scootaloo, or capture them like Clang? Could they actually eat ponies if they wanted to? And what about what Clang said about her. Did she really-

“Mmm…” Fluttershy had to stop her thoughts right there as her headache returned quite painfully. There just wasn’t enough to go by yet. She hoped that once they arrived at their destination, they would have time to relax so that she could pick at Rainbow’s brain. Rainbow had to remember something about her past, right? After all, she knew Rainbow Dash. Tatzlpony or not, Rainbow would never do something like that.

Fluttershy shortly noticed that some of the branches started to change as they went deeper. The thorns were getting less thick. And in their place, there were berries, large green berries. A silent gasp escaped her mouth. She’s seen them before, hasn’t she?

Rainbow pushed through the last bush filled with thorns in her way, carefully passing through. Fluttershy had to duck and squeeze her eyes going through it. On the other side, she saw something even more ominous.

“Oh my…” she said as she slid herself off Rainbow Dash, still holding onto the leash. It was a wide clearing decorated by a few large rocks, some of them flat. A few edible plants and flowers decorated the grass. At its center was a large spring lake. That lake looked pure enough to drink from. Her eyes turned back to the branches from the trees. Despite how thick they were in blocking out the skies, light shined in. Most of their branches were covered in thorns. But some of them... there were many berries growing, large green ones that Fluttershy knew she saw before.

“So this is where they came from?” she asked. Rainbow nodded at her with a smile, then started walking towards one of them. Fluttershy followed with a sigh of awe seeing how calm and safe this area felt. She watched as Rainbow reached her tongue out towards one of the berries. Seeing that tongue made her a bit nervous again. But watching it stretch so far made her wonder just how long those things really were. It slowly wrapped around the twig of the berry and gently snapped it off.

Suddenly, Rainbow cringed very harshly, releasing a painful moan as she dropped the berry. Fluttershy gasped. “Rainbow! What’s wrong?” Rainbow quickly retracted her tongue and braced her cheek with a hoof, squeezing her eyes tightly. “Rainbow-” When Fluttershy tried to step forward, Rainbow opened her eyes and flinched back. She tried again, and Rainbow just stepped back further.

Fluttershy noticed the increase in pressure from her grip on the leash. If Rainbow stepped any further, she could lose her grip on it. Looking along the ground, she found a twig from one of the trees sticking out. She placed the leash around that twig then looked at Rainbow Dash firmly, who was still trying to back away. Slowly, Fluttershy took another step.

“Rainbow, please. Show me what’s wrong.” Each step Fluttershy took, Rainbow tried backing away more. The collar made it more difficult, but Fluttershy knew it wouldn’t hold if she didn’t treat this delicately. She slowly reached her hoof up to Rainbow’s cheek. Rainbow winced hard and looked away, causing the collar to be tugged quite harshly. It threatened to rip right out of the twig. Then, the hoof touched her shivering cheek.

“Please open up and show me,” Fluttershy said as she gently rubbed with her hoof. Rainbow’s struggles eased from that touch. “I won’t get scared. I just want to help.” Rainbow opened her eyes and looked at Fluttershy upon those words. That voice alone comforted her, but it also made her not want to extract this upon Fluttershy. Every time she opened her mouth and showed what was inside, Fluttershy would fear it. She wanted to avoid getting Fluttershy scared if she could, but the concern Fluttershy had was probably worse.

Rainbow opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue. Upon seeing that long black tongue, Fluttershy gasped. “Oh my!” Immediately, Rainbow retracted her tongue back and closed her mouth, regretting having shown. “I-I’m sorry. I-It wasn’t that, it’s just…” Fluttershy stumbled over her words and retraced them. “That looked painful. Please show me again.”

Rainbow believed that may have been too hasty of a decision. It really did hurt a lot and she’s been trying to endure it for a while. Maybe Fluttershy could do something about it. Looking around, she saw a nearby rock that was big and flat enough for Fluttershy to do her thing. Fluttershy noticed the direction that she looked to and looked as well, seeing the same one. After nodding back to her, Fluttershy detached the leash from the collar and they walked over to that rock together.

When they got there, Rainbow stuck out her tongue again and let it lay against the rock. Fluttershy saw the damage again and shivered. There was a dent, a huge dent that you would see from a metal bar if an iron hoof clanged against it hard enough. Even for a tongue as flexive as this, there was no way this sort of bending was natural. The dent spread far enough to match the size of a hoof.

“How did this happen?” Fluttershy asked as she hesitantly moved her hoof towards the tongue. It started shaking in response and she couldn’t blame it. The thought of Rainbow’s battle with Clang came to mind. Somewhere during that fight, Clang must’ve struck Rainbow’s tongue. Rainbow has taken some serious abuse in the past, but she’s never had to endure a blow to the tongue before. The thought of how that felt made Fluttershy uncomfortable.

“Just relax Rainbow. This may sting a little, but I can fix this.” Sweat began to run down Rainbow’s head as she stood there, keeping her mouth open. The closer Fluttershy got to her tongue, the harder she had to breathe through her nose. Her hooves shook and her wings wanted to take her away, but she forced herself to stay put. When Fluttershy’s hoof made contact, she winced and moaned harshly, but managed to keep herself put.

In a gentle motion, Fluttershy pressed the dented portion against the rock, pushing the muscles back into place. Each press made Rainbow wince, but she kept herself as still as she could. A few one to one taps were applied to different section. When Rainbow's moans got louder, she went slower. Hard pressures had to be applied to get the muscles back in place, but not too hard as the pain would be too much.

Rainbow’s muscles got more tense the more times Fluttershy had to apply harder pressure. It didn’t help that the more Fluttershy worked, the more her hooves got covered in saliva. She put one hoof underneath the tongue with the other on top and pressed hard, bending the tongue’s muscles back in place. Rainbow flinched and groaned harshly from that.

“S-Sorry,” Fluttershy said. Bringing both hooves back on top, she pressed down on it again to flatten the pressure on the muscles. Rainbow’s breathing got heavy at that point while Fluttershy started sweating from the stress. The muscles on the tongue seemed to be back in place, but there was still a visible mark left behind. Simply touching it made Rainbow wince.

Fluttershy moved her hoof to bend the tongue in its intended direction. She overlapped it so that it would form a loop around the mark, then moved the tip of the tongue underneath. Using her muzzle to keep the loop in place, she pushed the tip of the tongue to go through the loop. When the tip was through, she placed her mouth on the side of the tongue to pull it through. That pull made Rainbow stretch her tail outward. The loop formed a knot around the marking.

When Fluttershy let the tongue go, she had to let out a breath and gasp for air. Rainbow also released a sigh of relief when all that rough pressure had ceased. Fluttershy could feel Rainbow’s breath from nose and mouth during that whole ordeal, finding herself out of breath as well. It made her headache get worse. Opening her eyes, she asked while panting.

“Feeling better?” Rainbow retracted her tongue closer to her and used a hoof to press the knot. Excitement rushed through her body. Most of the pain had gone away, no longer being uncomfortable. It felt too good to be true, but it was. Fluttershy’s magical hooves had done the trick.

When she retracted her tongue back to her mouth, she let out a big smile. That smile was something Fluttershy could smile back to, despite being out of breath. She rushed to Fluttershy and started licking her cheek with one of her other tongues. Fluttershy had to look away while she giggled from the affection.

“Aww! You’re so sweet!” As she was being licked, she started scratching the back of Rainbow’s mane with her hoof. The licking halted and was replaced by what sounded like pleasant moans. Seeing the reaction made Fluttershy giggle more. She continued the scratching and moved lower along Rainbow’s sides. It made Rainbow bend over sideways allowing Fluttershy an easier time to get to her stomach. Rainbow started laughing after falling down on her back. Her tail swished along the grass as Fluttershy’s hoof rubbed against Rainbow’s belly.

“Who’s a good tatzlpony?” Fluttershy teased as her smile got so bright. “You are Dashie! Yes you are!” Her rubbing had caused one of Rainbow’s tongues to stick out as she was laughing from the rubs. Seeing this sort of obedience made it hard to believe a tatzlpony could be dangerous at all. It brought her so much joy tickling Rainbow’s belly and using cute words to compliment her wonderful behavior.

Suddenly, Rainbow’s tongue outstretched further and quickly wrapped around the back of Fluttershy’s head. The giggling stopped and Fluttershy’s eyes went wide. She felt her head being tugged down, making her fear grow exceptionally.

And then, what happened after was the last thing she expected. Rainbow brought her head up as she let her tongue slide off, leaving a good rub along Fluttershy’s cheek before it slid back to her mouth. Fluttershy felt Rainbow's lips press together against her cheek. A smooch sounded.

Fluttershy was stunned with pea-sized pupils. A huge wave of pleasure rushed through her body as she stared at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow was lying down on the grass with her eyes closed, a huge smile plastered on her face. Her breathing was settling calmly while Fluttershy felt like she was out of breath, yet couldn’t breathe. She brought a hoof to her cheek, feeling the spot that was smooched. Why did that happen? And why did it feel so wonderful?

When she saw Rainbow’s eyes open, her heart beat faster. This love that she felt for animals, she thought that was why she felt this way about Rainbow Dash. But no. This feeling... it was much stronger with Rainbow Dash right now. Why was that? Was she falling for…

“Ahh…” Fluttershy felt her strength give away right there. Seeing this, Rainbow's expression changed to concern. She caught Fluttershy from falling as Fluttersyy was placing a hoof on her head. All this thinking was not helping her headache. She could see that Rainbow was getting worried about her. “It’s alright,” she said. “It’s just a little headache.”

Rainbow picked herself up so that she could help Fluttershy’s balance on her hooves. Carefully letting go, she saw Fluttershy taking a deep breath after being able to stand properly again. Fluttershy looked to her with a smile.

“Thank you,” she said. “Maybe that’s telling us it’s time to eat.” Hearing that, Rainbow’s concern turned to excitement that caused her tail to wag. Instinctively, she extended two of her tongues out towards Fluttershy. Seeing those tongues coming towards her, Fluttershy gasped and flinched away.

“Not like that!” she said quickly. Immediately, Rainbow retracted her tongues. Shame and regret was written on her face seeing Fluttershy shiver like that. “Phew…” Fluttershy sighed before going to her bag. After digging through it a bit, she pulled out a box.

“I meant with this.” The box she pulled was red and white with a pink bow tied to it. Carrying it in her hoof, she walked towards the most center spot she could manage between the lake and the trees.

Rainbow watched as Fluttershy carefully placed that box down. That box… it stirred a strong memory in her. But the memory felt so different. It wasn’t a pleasant memory like her other ones. She watched as Fluttershy carefully pulled on the strap from the bow tie. A shiver ran through Rainbow’s features. For some reason, she knew what would happen. When the bow tie nearly got unstrapped, her eyes pulsated, and she gasped.

Rainbow lashed two of her tongues towards Fluttershy. Fluttershy’s eyes shrunk when they wrapped around her waist. And at the same time, the strap came undone.

Many animals both predator and prey, ran, flew, and dug away when the entire forest shook from a loud explosion.


______________________________________________________________________________


Meanwhile, somewhere in Ponyville, in the middle of a park actually, five ponies were situated in front of a tree that many fillies and colts loved climbing. One pony was held there against their will, sitting in a cage while three fillies and a large muscular pegasus, known as Bulk Biceps, scolded him. 

“YOU WANTED TO PREVENT A DISASTER?!” All his words sprung quickly and at a very loud volume that everypony had to cover their ears with. “ALL YOU DID WAS CAUSE ONE! ATTACKING AN INNOCENT PONY WHO JUST WANTED TO TAKE CARE OF HER FRIEND. MY FRIENDS AS WELL! HOW IRRESPONSIBLE!”

Clang was grinding his teeth as he covered his ears with his hooves. It barely helped with blocking the sounds. He just about had it.

“Irresponsible?!” Clang yelled back at not nearly as loud of a volume. “I’ll tell you what’s irresponsible!” He pointed to Bulk Biceps. “You should be at a mental hospital-” then to the fillies, “-and you three should be at school!”

“And you should be at work,” Scootaloo retorted back.

“I AM working!” Clang responded.

“Yeah. Workin’ fer us,” Apple Bloom said.

“I AM NOT WORKING FOR YOU!” Clang yelled.

“Then who are you working for?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“I’M-” Clang almost responded quickly but stopped himself, grumbling really aggressively. “When I get out of here, you kids are-” A loud rip sounded. “GAAH!”

Angel quickly fled the cage once again before Clang could react. He placed the duct tape into the large pile of tape that held the rest of Clang’s coat hair that spawned from this interrogation. Pretty soon he would have to switch sides. The hairs that spawned Clang’s Cutie Mark was nearly gone, impossible to make out now.

“Darn it! I thought we had him this time,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Come on girls. Let’s think back.” Apple Bloom looked to Scootaloo as she continued. “Scootaloo, you said somepony gave you that letter ta give ta Fluttershy. Who was it?”

“I don’t know,” Scootaloo responded. “But now that you mention it...” she looked to Clang sinisterly. “Whoever gave that to me was a mare in a robe. And she looked scared. Terrified. Like something really bad would happen if Fluttershy didn’t get that letter.”

”P-Please… Give this to F-F-Fluttershy… I-It’s about her job. She must k-k-know."

“She kept grasping, and her hooves wouldn’t stop shaking,” Scootaloo continued. “I thought she was just really worried about Fluttershy’s job.” All three fillies and Bulk Biceps turned their attention to Clang. His expression had changed. 

“I BET YOU THREATENED THE POOR MARE, DIDN’T YOU?!” Bulk Biceps continued yelling. “SETTING A TRAP FOR POOR FLUTTERSHY TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE!”

Clang wasn’t responding. He was lightly gritting his teeth while looking down. His eyes… they were shaking, shaking out of fear. One word came out of his mouth silently. “Witch…”

“SO YOU ADMIT TO IT BY INSULTING THE DELICATE?! WOULD YOUR CLIENT EVER WANT THIS?! DO YOU EVEN HAVE A CLIENT?! ARE YOU JUST A ROGUE PONY HUNTER TRYING TO MAKE AN EXCUSE?!”

“I ADMIT TO NOTHING AND I WASN’T INSULTING!” Clang suddenly yelled back louder than he’s ever managed. That level of volume caused Bulk Biceps’ eye to twitch. The ears of the CMC raised sky high.

“Ooh! You shouldn’t have done that!” they all said in unison. Bulk Biceps' head started to shake as steam blew out of his nose. The three fillies pulled out some ear plugs and placed them over their ears. Even Angel placed ear plugs and hid behind the tree. They knew what would happen now. And one last look at Clang’s face told them he probably knew now, and probably regretted it. All three fillies squeezed their eyes after Bulk Biceps lowered his head.

Before they knew it, a quick bright light flashed, followed by a loud explosion. It caused a powerful wind to blow their manes apart, threatening to pry them off the ground. The wind settled quickly and all was silent. That seemed oddly short-lived from a pony like Bulk Biceps. They opened their eyes.

The cage’s bars that held Clang had been blown open. All sides were charred off. “W-Whoa,” Scootaloo spoke up first. “I didn’t expect that out of Bulk Biceps.” 

Clang was sitting in the back of it, eyes wider than ever with gritting teeth that could only be expressed when being confronted by a monster. “I-It’s y-y-you…” he said very hesitantly.

Before the CMC could wonder what he meant, a new voice spoke very seriously. “Leave! Now!” 

All three fillies froze on that spot with shrunken eyes. They saw Clang fleeing the scene quickly out of fear. They saw Bulk Biceps still dazed from the bright flash that must’ve happened earlier. And they saw Angel looking behind them with fear in his face. Together, they slowly turned around.

“Where’s Fluttershy?!”
> Chapter 16: Delving
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy’s eyes were pea-sized from both the burst of that box and the sudden jolt of her body being pulled away from it. The contents inside that box blew high in the air in an explosion of confetti. The explosion’s sound ended in what sounded like a blast from a party cannon.

As the confetti spread in the air, the items rained down. The first was a large mat that spread itself flat on the grass as a landing zone for the rest of the items. The items consisted of baskets full of cupcakes, cookies, punch, flower sandwiches, pizza pies, swirled oats, and many more types of delicious foods. They all rained down separately on the mat, none landing on top of each other or on the grass. And at its center landed a giant cake to top it all off.

Sadly, nopony got to see this display. Fluttershy was covering her eyes with her hooves while shivering harshly in Rainbow’s grip. Before the explosion, Rainbow had wrapped two of her tongues around Fluttershy’s body and pulled her away. They both had their visions covered while the powdered smoke from the blast settled.

Fluttershy slowly withdrew her hooves from her eyes to look at the carnage that just happened. The only carnage she saw was the perfectly laid out party set she saw on that mat, fit with even blue and yellow balloons on its four corners. She sighed with relief while Rainbow released her tongues from Fluttershy, looking at the set in awe. When Fluttershy noticed Rainbow’s expression, she giggled.

“This was a gift from Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy started. “In one of her parties, she said she thought it would be a good idea to give everypony ‘Parties in a Present.’. All you do is undo the bow tie and your party is ready.” Rainbow turned her eyes to Fluttershy, curiously listening. “Everypony else already used theirs. Even you, Rainbow.” Rainbow turned her attention back to the food with a huge smile. Her tongue was even sticking out in delight. “I don’t know how she did it. I also don’t know how she fit it all in a-”

Before Fluttershy could finish, Rainbow’s wings ignited and dashed her straight towards the food. Fluttershy had to cover her face due to the dust kicked up from Rainbow’s wings. She didn’t have to clear her vision to know that Rainbow was already feasting on the party sized buffet of sweets and goodies like a wild animal. Hearing that munching made her giggle.


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Fluttershy grabbed one of the ice cream flower sandwiches and separated its bread. Using a knife, she cut a large green berry in half. It was the one Rainbow tried to give her earlier. After adding it to her sandwich, she put it back together. She watched Rainbow Dash enjoying her feast as she took a bite from her sandwich.

One cupcake after the next, then to a cookie, Rainbow chomped through each one in one bite. She dove for the giant cupcake topped pizza next, buzzing her wings as her mouth chomped through the pizza in a circular motion like it was a swimming pool. The mess on her face was not a factor as her tongues slurped up any bits that she missed. Her eyes turned towards the birthday-sized cake. Two of her tongues lashed towards and wrapped around it. They dragged the cake straight towards her mouth without slowing down.

Fluttershy giggled and took another bite out of her sandwich. The flushing wave of flavors from both the sandwich ingredients and the berry made her moan in delight. But the flavors were not as unbelievable as witnessing Rainbow chomping through an entire birthday cake in one bite. Rainbow’s head was raised high as she chewed the cake in her mouth vigorously, smiling with her eyes closed in delight. Tatzlponies really did have such a huge appetite. Rainbow already had an impressive one, but this level seemed to be putting even Pinkie Pie’s to shame.

Fluttershy’s expression turned worried for a moment. Thinking about it was a delight, and now scary. Tatzlponies were capable of swallowing other ponies whole, and they had appetites like this. It seemed like this would support her worry that if a tatzlpony was hungry enough, it was possible for a pony to really fall prey to them. But there was something Fluttershy noticed that dissipated that worry. 

Rainbow chewed. She chewed on the food she ate. If tatzlponies could swallow ponies whole, they wouldn’t need to chew their food to swallow them. But Rainbow never ate any of her food without chewing first, no matter how big or small. When it was ponies, she never chewed.

That must’ve meant something, right? Tatzlponies treated ponies and food very differently. Perhaps they were incapable of actually preying on other ponies like she thought. Rainbow did say that it couldn’t even happen by accident while sleeping. The only question was if that was Rainbow Dash or the tatzlpony in her.

Another thing piqued Fluttershy’s curiosity. Rainbow could talk, even though she was a tatzlpony. Yet for some reason, she hadn’t been talking much at all. She seemed to only speak whenever it was needed. But why would she be so quiet? This wasn’t like Rainbow Dash at all. Was it because tatzlponies couldn’t ordinarily speak, was it because of her memory loss, or was it something else altogether? The thought of her animal-like behavior also came to mind.

Fluttershy shook her head, which she instantly regretted when her head sparked in pain. She could figure all this stuff about a tatzlpony in due time. Right now there were more important things to learn, and she needed Rainbow to speak if she was gonna learn them.


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When all the party food was finished, Rainbow was instructed by Fluttershy to lay her back on the mat in a comfortable position. She obliged with a smile, and was even given a pillow to rest her head on. Fluttershy had another pillow with her that was large enough to sit comfortably on. 

Before they started, Fluttershy drank some pills that would make her headache go away. Now that food was in her stomach, she could take them. It was amazing that even after everything Rainbow just ate, her stomach didn't expand much. Fluttershy would question how that was possible, but there were more important things to learn now.

“Okay Rainbow,” she started. “I know that we’ve been having a wonderful time, but I need to ask some very important questions.” Rainbow’s smile disappeared, but she wasn’t sad, just curious. “Your memory was taken away when you became a tatzlpony, but it seems like you can still remember some stuff. And if you think about it hard enough, you may still remember more. So… I need you to really think and try to remember. What happened when you became a tatzlpony? What were you doing?”

Rainbow listened to her closely and understood. Her eyes turned to the sky and stared for a few seconds. Then they closed.

“Please tell me what you can remember. Speak what comes to mind.”

Fluttershy could see Rainbow’s stomach expanding carefully up and down due to her breathing. She looked so relaxed and calm as she thought. Besides that, it was rather silent. Only Rainbow’s breathing could be heard.

After a few seconds, Rainbow answered. “I was in here… in the Everfree Forest… looking for something.” Rainbow paused every so often as she spoke. “I had a letter… and I delivered.” She opened her eyes as she spoke her next bit. “Somepony was there. I felt… sleepy. I couldn’t see, but I heard somepony talking.”

Fluttershy leaned forwards in her seat curiously. “Do you remember what they said?”

It took a while for Rainbow to respond, but she nodded. She closed her eyes, and spoke the words she heard. “‘Embrace the lives of the lost. Today is forgotten, but tomorrow will discover. A new hope for them blossoms now.’” There was a pause as her eyes opened with curiosity. “‘You will be its messenger… And you will be their new beginning.’”

Fluttershy gasped inside upon hearing that. “‘You will be its messenger?’ Somepony… So somepony did turn you into a tatzlpony. But… they did it so we would learn about them?” It sounded like the answer she could gather from those words, but it left her with more questions. This didn’t seem to answer anything about their current dilemma. But before she jumped to conclusions, there was still more to learn.

“Okay Rainbow. Can you remember anything after that? That must’ve been the moment you turned into a tatzlpony. But how did you escape? What did this pony do to you? What can you remember?”

Seeing this plea in Fluttershy’s eyes made Rainbow really want to recall these memories. For some reason at the same time, there was something about these memories that made her not want to recall them. She didn’t understand why, but It left a very cold chill run through her stomach. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and recalled them.


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Nothing but light. That was the last thing Rainbow saw. All sound had ceased, feelings went numb, and her mind went blank. A considerable time must’ve passed since that happened. When she came to, all her feelings returned full force. Her eyes were hugely open in a panic. She was suffering. Why was she suffering? More importantly, why was it difficult to move?

“No! No no!” A panicking voice came. Somepony had approached her in just as much of a panic as she was in. “Please! Don’t move around too much, or you won’t last!” She couldn’t tell who it was, but it sounded like a female voice. It looked like magic was shining from a horn just above her.

“I need you to clear your mind if you want the suffering to stop. Trust me!” Upon instinct through the suffering, Rainbow immediately trusted this pony. When her mind cleared, the pony activated her spell. There was a quick flash. The suffering had stopped. She could move again, but she couldn’t remember why or how she was suffering. All she could remember was that she was simply suffering. It felt like her body had changed, but she couldn’t recognize how or when. Her attention was purely on this pony.

“Good! Now come on! Let’s get you out!” Rainbow was brought to her hooves by this pony, who she now recognized as a unicorn. The voice and image wasn’t clear though. Yet, she followed this pony to where she led. They must’ve been in some building. When they were out, a loud noise sounded right behind them. For some reason, she didn’t look, and was compelled to keep her eyes on the unicorn she followed. She could see lots of trees in their surroundings, realizing they were in a forest. From what she could remember, it was the Everfree Forest.

“Stop!” the mare said as she halted her running. Rainbow obliged. She seemed to be looking all over the place in a panic. "They'll find us..." She seemed to whisper and then looked to Rainbow. “It looks like the spell hasn’t taken full effect yet.” The mare lit her horn towards Rainbow’s forehead. It blinked a few times, and each blink made her eyes more focused towards the mare’s attention. 

“Your memory will be unstable, but I need you to listen to these words.” The mare brought her muzzle closer to Rainbow’s ear. She said 'these words', but only spoke a single word. The word echoed in Rainbow's mind as if the pony was saying it multiple times. As she said this word, her horn lit brighter again. All sound seemed silent except for that word. ‘Tatzl’ was the word. It was the only word that came to her ears.

“Remember this name. ‘Tatzl’. This is what you are. You must remember it so your instincts will carry you through. You must-” The words stopped for some reason and the light went away. Rainbow was in a trance for a few seconds. Her visions, feelings, and hearings soon came back, but still hard to remember or focus. What she saw though made her gasp. Something big had grabbed the mare. She was struggling in its grasp. Upon instinct, Rainbow moved in to save her.

“No!” the mare shouted and fired something from her horn. It shot towards Rainbow’s forehead and made contact. For some reason, it made her stop on her own. “Your actions will only draw more attention! You must go before the spell- Ahh!” She could hear a roar as whatever monster had grasped the mare seemed to pull her further. Instead of wanting to help the mare, her mind wouldn’t make her limbs move closer.

“Go now!” The mare shot two more beams to Rainbow’s forehead, making her oblige even further. "Follow your instincts! Don't fight them! Go!" Without hesitation, she left the mare to her demise and didn’t look back.


______________________________________________________________________________


Rainbow Dash was gritting her teeth, surprised as she recalled that memory. But her surprise wasn’t nearly as intense as Fluttershy’s. Her eyes were hugely opened wide, trying desperately to control her breathing. It was very hard to believe what she heard. She was shaking.

“D-Does… Does that m-mean…” Fluttershy could barely speak. So many questions flowed through her mind. That memory… of all the things she wanted answered, she never thought this would be its result.

“O-o-oh… Dear Celestia...” Fluttershy shivered as she thought about that pony’s fate.


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Meanwhile, somewhere deep in a different part of the Everfree Forest, two ponies were walking together searching for something. One of the ponies stood tall, fully observant about his surroundings. He had to keep an eye out for any dangers lurking in this forest.

The other pony was much less confident about her surroundings. Every step she took, her body shivered intensely. She kept her head low, staying as close to the other pony as possible, while also desperately avoiding contact. Her head turned one way, then turned the other with her eyes growing and shrinking with each new sight.

“They must be here somewhere.” When the stallion spoke, the mare froze from her spot. The stallion had to stop and turn to her, wondering why she had stopped. “Come on!” he said in an annoyed tone.

The mare didn’t respond. Her ears twitched as if it was responding to sounds. Each twitch rustled her feathers. The stallion's annoyance turned to caution when he noticed the sounds too.

Suddenly, the mare yelped. Something shot from one of the trees. The stallion immediately reacted and caught what had lashed out towards them. It was a rattle snake. Gritting his teeth, he desperately kept the snake as far apart from his face as he could while the snake kept snapping at him, attempting to be removed from his grip. He was about to grab something from his bag to deal with this snake, but the mare responded first. She grabbed a stick, flew towards the snake in a hurry, and smacked it over its head. The impact caused the snake to stop struggling and go limp, allowing the stallion to drop it.

Heavy desperate breaths escaped the mare’s mouth as she stared at the unconscious snake with shrunken eyes. Her wings kept her balanced on her hind hooves while her forehooves shakily kept the stick ready to strike the snake again, fearing it would move again. But her breathing was very loud and almost sounded like she was suffocating.

“Control your breathing or you’ll attract more of them!” the stallion yelled at her, causing her to flinch. She managed to settle her breathing by closing her mouth, but she was still shaking while her eyes stayed on that snake. When she was sure it wouldn’t move, she relaxed her wings, dropped the stick, and went to carefully pick the snake up, poking it once before proceeding. With heavy breaths trying to be contained, she opened her bag and set the snake inside, making sure no part of it was revealed outside. Her pulsating eyes turned to the stallion.

The stallion just stared at the shivering mare for a few seconds, his expression emotionless. Suddenly, his eyes grew, and a huge grin formed on his mouth. He slowly brought his head closer to the mare.

“Let’s return back for now,” he said coldly. “We’ll catch that tatzlpony.”

The mare gulped.
> Chapter 17: Hunger
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Fluttershy was nearly heartbroken upon hearing those memories and it left her conflicted on so many levels. While those memories were not the unbelievable things she expected to hear, she still couldn’t believe it. It went against everything she knew of her fillyhood friend.

Rainbow Dash abandoned somepony in their time of need. But… it wasn’t her fault, was it? Her memory was taken. Except that didn’t change who Rainbow was. Though, if her memory was taken, she wouldn’t know they needed help, right? Why was her memory taken and why did they allow this to happen? It became so conflicting in her mind that Fluttershy was hyperventilating out of control. 

“FLUTTERSHY!”

Fluttershy yelped when she heard her name being screamed right at her ears, which echoed a few times. Her eyes shrunk and she shook her head, still a bit aching from her headache trying to recover. She found herself lying on her back on the ground with Rainbow standing above her wearing a worried expression.

“S-S-Sorry!” Fluttershy said as she settled her breathing. Rainbow moved off as Fluttershy was sitting herself up. Although her head was hurting again, she placed a hoof to her chest to take in a few deep breaths. She was ashamed to suddenly develop a panic attack and worry Rainbow that way.

“Thank you. Give me a moment.” Fluttershy thought back on Rainbow’s recalling memories and went over what she learned. Somepony turned Rainbow into a tatzlpony. The first thing Rainbow could remember was that she was suffering. Whoever turned her into that must’ve caused that suffering.

Somepony came to Rainbow and not only stopped her suffering, but also seemed to free her from wherever she was trapped. But… this pony… it sounded like she sacrificed herself to free Rainbow from whatever torture she was suffering. The question was… why? And what sort of connection did she have with this client, if this was indeed the pony Clang was talking about? So many questions, but…

“Rainbow,” Fluttershy started as she collected her thoughts. “Do you remember what happened next? Where did you go?” She had a feeling that she already knew, but she wanted to hear it from Rainbow. Thankfully Rainbow had seen that Fluttershy calmed down from her panic. Moving back to the mat, she laid down, taking an extended glance towards Fluttershy. After a nod of confirmation, she looked to the sky and recalled her memories.


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Panting, rustling leaves, and the distant sounds dangerous creatures lurking around the forest, all focused on her attention as she rushed through the forest. She had no idea where she was going, but she didn’t think about that. In fact, she wasn’t thinking at all, not even sure why she was running. The only thing on her attention was what was ahead. Many thorns tread her path, but they became no obstacle for her. All the while, her mind blurred.

Rainbow soon found herself in a clearing. She expected herself to be completely out of breath when she stopped, but she wasn’t. For some reason, it felt like she hadn’t even been running for that long, like something else aided her escape other than her legs. The running distance felt comparable to about a mile of traveling, something she felt as a common everyday thing. All it took was a couple pants and a deep sigh to regain her breath.

Her mind continued to clear as if something was swirling inside her head. The more it cleared, the more the pain in her mind eased. Soon her visions were able to focus on where she was, making her surroundings clear. She found herself-


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“-here,” Rainbow looked her surroundings over as she finished. Fluttershy closed her eyes, nodded, then examined their surroundings as well. It was just as she thought. This was the place Rainbow stayed at before she found Fluttershy. That would also explain why she wanted to show this place, as it would be the best place to tap into her memories. If only it wasn’t so… discouraging. But Rainbow didn’t seem that bothered. Why was that?

“What did you do while you were here?” Fluttershy asked. Rainbow didn’t immediately respond. She picked herself from the mat and walked off it. As she made her way to the lake, she continued recalling her memory.


______________________________________________________________________________


Her mind was at peace seeing where she was. The sight of the fresh lake before her eyes made her smile in relaxation as she walked towards it. Feeling this calm was as if the previous events had never happened.


______________________________________________________________________________


“That must’ve been when your memory was fully taken…” Fluttershy commented on as she followed Rainbow’s pace.


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She looked upon her reflection from the lake, seeing the form of her cyan coat and magenta eyes, decorated with red lightning bolt markings next to them. It looked all too new to her, but at the same time, it didn’t. There were no thoughts she made on it, only acts.


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Rainbow extended her tongues out and dipped them in the water, including the one that was tied. Fluttershy saw her keeping them submerged for a while, wondering what exactly she was doing. It almost looked like she was sucking the water in with her tongues, but upon closer examination, her tongues were swirling each other and cupping themselves into what was practically a bowl. 

With the water cupped together, the tongues retracted back to Rainbow, scooping a large cup of the lake’s water into her mouth, which she swallowed pleasantly. The flexibility on those tongues continued to surprise Fluttershy. Rainbow continued recalling her memory as she made her way to one of the trees.


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Seeing the berries from those trees made her experience a very strange hunger. It wasn’t from a cause of her belly rumbling, but rather the feeling of being empty. She felt the need to fill it. Through instinct, her tongues reached out to those berries, grabbing several at a time. They were brought in her mouth, but she didn’t chew. Instead, she swallowed them whole.


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As Fluttershy was removing something from her saddle bag, she flinched harshly and nearly dropped what she held upon hearing what Rainbow just said. “W-What?!” she asked, wanting to know if she heard that correctly. Before she jumped to conclusions, she let Rainbow continue.


______________________________________________________________________________


The feelings of these berries inside her did not affect her strange hunger. She could feel her insides, but she could not feel the berries inside them. The berries were large, but the taste was empty. After giving it a moment, she sucked in her breath, reached her tongues inside, and pulled the berries out. They were placed in a pile in front of her, to which she examined, but quickly lost interest in them.


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Fluttershy held a glass container in her hooves and pulled out what was inside. It was one of the large green berries, the very first one Rainbow gave her that she never ate. As she listened to Rainbow’s story, she dug up the soil near the other trees and planted the berry underneath, where it would grow just like the others.

Fluttershy had to hold a hoof up to her head, breathing rather heavily. Hearing this story puzzled her, but at the same time, it felt like it was wearing her out. Looking up above the trees, she noticed that the sun was starting to set. Nightfall would be arriving soon while they were still in the Everfree Forest. While Fluttershy wanted to know more about this strange hunger Rainbow described, she had a different question that felt more appropriate at the time.

“Did you get to sleep anywhere around here before you left?” Rainbow nodded and walked towards said area. Fluttershy stumbled a bit, but she was able to follow where Rainbow walked to. When Rainbow stopped her walking in front of a tree Fluttershy couldn’t help but giggle.

“Of course…” she said as she shook her head. “Even as a tatzlpony, your favorite napping places are still high in a-” Fluttershy got interrupted when Rainbow started digging fiercely into the earth, causing dirt to fly violently in the air. Some of that dirt hit against Fluttershy’s face, making her yelp and look away. With her hooves in her face, she couldn’t see what Rainbow was digging up, or even how she was digging so fast. This felt like Diamond Dog levels of digging speed.

When the digging stopped, Fluttershy was able to remove the cover from her face and see. In front of her was a large hole leading underneath that tree. Peering down the hole, she saw Rainbow inside, looking up at her while nestled between the roots.

“O-Or low inside a tree?” Fluttershy finished her extended sentence break. Rainbow was motioning her head as a sign for Fluttershy to join her. “W-Well… um…” She slowly dipped one hoof inside the hole, unsure about this being an ideal resting place. When it came to Rainbow, she always preferred sleeping outside with the sun shining on her. Now, as a tatzlpony, she preferred here? Or at least, this is what she preferred before she was found.

Spreading her wings, Fluttershy let herself fall gently in the hole. Before she joined Rainbow, she closed her eyes tightly and held a hoof to her head, moaning a little. Her headache was mostly gone, but it didn’t stop her from getting a little dizzy. She waited until this dizziness passed before opening her eyes again. Rainbow looked a bit worried.

“I’m okay,” Fluttershy said. “Just give me a moment.” She dropped her saddle bags to the side and opened it, taking out another pill for her head. There was enough packed in those saddle bags to last them a good few days in the Everfree Forest, even with Rainbow’s crazy appetite. As insurance, Fluttershy also packed a few medicine pills in case of something like this. 

After taking another set of pills, she joined Rainbow in between the roots. She slid herself in the spot next to Rainbow, sliding in slowly, hind legs first, and being careful not to scrape herself until her body was comfortably nestled, or rather, as comfortable as she could get herself. The roots were softer than she thought, making her smile. It actually wasn’t that bad.

“It’s rather lovely!” Fluttershy said softly. Rainbow smiled seeing Fluttershy’s comfort. She nuzzled her cheek against Fluttershy’s for affection. The affection made Fluttershy’s body heat up in embarrassment. It wasn’t bad, but she just wasn’t sure what to think of all these feelings building up in her. These were feelings she found getting harder to deny, only held back by believing it was only happening from Rainbow being a tatzlpony.

“Rainbow…” Fluttershy started again, trying to focus back on what was important. After all, there was something she was especially curious about and wanted to ask. "That hunger you talked about... Do you still feel it? Even now?" Rainbow's smile feigned a bit and she answered by nodding her head. "Oh..." The answer left Fluttershy concerned. "Well... Does it bother you?"

Rainbow turned her eyes down. "No..." she answered, making Fluttershy tilt her head. "Eating a lot of food... helps keep my mind off it."

That answer made Fluttershy gasp internally. It explained why Rainbow seemed to love eating so much. She's been trying to resist that hunger's urge as much as she could, and hadn't been very successful thinking back on it. Was it really that hard to resist that temptation? Surely it was. Now Fluttershy really felt guilty for using her Stare on Rainbow that day. The thought of scolding her for something she couldn't control made her own heart sink.

“What did... you do… after you rested?” Fluttershy asked slowly, trying to get her mind off that guilt. Rainbow closed her eyes and recalled her story.


______________________________________________________________________________


She only stayed at that clearing for one night, leaving the area first thing in the morning. The hole she dug up was covered back before she left. Her stomach still held a strange hunger she wanted to satisfy. None of the berries in the forest helped satisfy it. However, chewing on some of them gave her a taste that was quite awesome. It didn’t satisfy that hunger, but it did stop the growling her stomach had since morning.

She met with multiple creatures as she explored, many of them small. They ranged from squirrels, horned rabbits, a long snake, and now, a strange flying insect with big eyes. It stared at her with a huge smile. There was a feeling of familiarity with this insect, like she experienced something with it that she couldn’t forget.

Just like the other creatures, she lashed her tongues out at this insect and dragged it in her mouth, swallowing it whole. Unlike the others, this creature squirmed and buzzed in her stomach. That feeling held some sort of affect, but there was no taste for it. Suddenly, the buzzing grew more intense. It was like another one of those insects had spawned in her stomach. Another set of buzzes spawned. And then another.

Eyes shrinking and teeth gritting, she quickly reached her tongues inside and pulled out the insect to stop the buzzing. One of those creatures were suddenly many. Six, seven, eight, she wasn’t sure, and they were all different colors. One of them had their teeth latched on a berry she had previously swallowed. It turned out that they were eating the berries she swallowed. They tried going back inside her mouth, making her yelp and fly away.


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Fluttershy was quite baffled by this turn of events. There was only one thing she could say to it. “Parasprites?” She was sure she had more to ask, but that was the only thing that came to mind at the time. Her eyes were starting to get heavy, feeling sleepy. The pills she took earlier were starting to take effect. Rainbow continued, and Fluttershy tried to stay awake for the rest of the story.


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With one berry left wrapped around her tongue, she panted heavily after her quick getaway from those parasprites, having to use all her speed to fly away. That sudden burst of speed quickly drained her energy, but was worth it. Flying that fast even felt a bit exhilarating, but was not her focus right now. Looking behind her gave her the confirmation that she managed to escape those parasprites. They were nowhere in sight.

Her panting stopped when a certain lullaby penetrated her ears. They responded by rising high while her head pointed in the direction of the sound. It sounded like chirping mixed with singing from a lovely soft voice. The tone of that voice piqued her curiosity. She had to see what it was. With the berry still held in her tongue, she moved towards its direction.


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Fluttershy moaned as she listened to the story. It appeared that Rainbow was closing her eyes as well when she told it. “That must’ve been the day you found me,” Fluttershy said. “Then… you were only alone for one day as a tatzlpony… Mmm…” She thought for a bit as she counted the days since that discovery. “Four days… Tomorrow will be the fifth… the fifth day you’ve been a tatzlpony…” Of course, she didn’t know if that was the exact number of days since Rainbow’s transformation, but it was the amount of days since she escaped whoever captured her and turned her into this.

These were the questions now. Who captured Rainbow Dash? What motivation did they have to make her suffer? Why did they have to turn her into a tatzlpony? Was the client who hired somepony to capture Rainbow Dash this same pony? What relation did this client have to the pony who freed Rainbow? How did clearing her mind stop her suffering? And why did the pony who freed her go to such lengths to free her?


______________________________________________________________________________


The sight of this yellow pegasus gave her a very strong sense of familiarity, and pleasance. She didn’t know it at the time, but this pegasus was indeed Fluttershy. It made her adrenaline rush all around her body. That feeling piqued her strange hunger, making her want to feed.

So she did. As her tongues lashed out, they quickly ensnared Fluttershy from hoof, to tail, and to head. Fluttershy struggled fiercely in her grip. That struggle felt promising to her as she pulled Fluttershy in, her tail keeping herself still by being planted in the ground. When Fluttershy reached her mouth, she began swallowing. The fit seemed a lot tighter than everything else she swallowed, yet Fluttershy slid through her throat easily, like she was swallowing something much smaller than her. Her three tongues also made it easy to press Fluttershy’s wings and legs together while they pulled Fluttershy in.

She gave one last swallow, and Fluttershy disappeared in her stomach. Her stomach noticeably expanded before she removed her tail from the ground. There was a taste this time. It was a wonderful taste. The feeling of Fluttershy within her stomach satisfied that strange hunger she was feeling, the one that made her feel empty inside. Now she no longer felt empty. But looking down to her stomach, she felt worried.

Fluttershy wasn’t struggling inside her, not even moving. Her hunger was satisfied, but she didn’t want this to happen. Immediately, she sucked in her breath, reached her tongues inside her stomach, and pulled Fluttershy out. Even with her throat bulging largely, pulling Fluttershy out wasn’t any more difficult.

When she pulled Fluttershy out, her saliva splattered like a pop. Seeing Fluttershy relieved a bit of her worry. Although Fluttershy wasn’t moving, she could feel breathing. Fluttershy was just passed out, but also covered in saliva. Still feeling a bit guilty, she set Fluttershy down to a nearby tree, using her tongues to lick off the excess saliva that covered Fluttershy’s body.

She left Fluttershy to sleep at that tree, heading back to the Everfree Forest. Before she went inside, she noticed the berry she attempted to give to Fluttershy. Still wracked with guilt, she took the berry and placed it in a spot she believed Fluttershy would find it. Her first instinctive response was the front of the cottage door. After leaving it there, she ran away and didn’t look back.

She was now very afraid of herself, not wanting to go back. But there was something that gave her hope. That strange hunger she had, she didn’t feel it right now. Even with Fluttershy no longer inside, her strange hunger was satisfied for the moment.


______________________________________________________________________________


Before they finally fell asleep, Fluttershy remembered the last and most important question there was left to answer. Were tatzlponies good, or bad?


______________________________________________________________________________


Meanwhile...

The front door to the cottage was slammed open by a single panicked filly. “Fluttershy?!” Scootaloo called as she rushed in. “Rainbow Dash?! Oh, please be here! Fluttershy!” Angel jumped out of her mane as he scurried off to search for either pony as well. Fear was written on both their faces as they searched. One room after another, nothing came up. Checking under tables and beds showed no signs. Even opening closets and windows provided no answers.

Scootaloo and Angel met back at the living room, both showing signs of no luck. “No, this is bad... “ she agonized. “Really baaad!” Angel held both paws to his face as his eyes pulsated as if they were about to cry. They went back to the front door, looking outside. Both hoped deeply for their prayers to be answered.

“Please be okay, Fluttershy...”
> Chapter 18: Energy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun’s rays shined brightly across the clearing in the Everfree Forest. It would normally be a shine that would greet them first thing in the morning. Being underground, the sun took a little longer for its rays to shine upon them. With the long day they had, and the deep slumber they succumbed to, it took about noon before the sun managed to wake them.

However, Fluttershy moaned and had to put a hoof over her face when the sun came. That medicine really knocked her out. She was still sleepy, but knew she had to get up. The nuzzling against her face was a definite sign. Opening her eyes, her vision blurred before seeing Rainbow’s smiling face staring at her. All she could do was smile back as her vision focused on those beautiful magenta eyes.

“Good morning, Rainbow Dash,” she said as Rainbow helped her get up. Her head felt like it was swimming in water when she stood. After climbing up from the hole they slept in, she had to brace her head to keep her world from spinning while Rainbow filled the hole. Perhaps the medicine worked too strongly for her. At least her headache was gone, but she still felt a bit loopy. Seeing this, Rainbow Dash helped bring the bag to her so that she could grab what she needed.

But instead, Fluttershy set aside her needs for the moment and grabbed another box. This box looked similar to the box that defied physics and held a party sized amount of food inside. It was orange and had red handles instead. Opening it was like opening a lunch box. Inside it held a few apple fritters, apple sandwiches, sliced apples, apple cakes, just all around everything apples, including apple juice pouches.

“This was from Applejack,” Fluttershy said as she motioned the lunch box towards Rainbow. “It may not be as big as the party gift that came from Pinkie Pie, but I hope it’s enough to help you with that hunger problem.” Rainbow didn’t immediately dig in like she would love to. She was more worried about Fluttershy’s condition and how she was feeling. When Rainbow looked away from the box, Fluttershy tilted her head.

“You don’t want any?” she asked. Rainbow responded by pushing the box with her muzzle towards Fluttershy. She then looked at Fluttershy with a worried expression, making Fluttershy’s ears drop. “O-Okay. If you say so…” Fluttershy reached for the first serving as Rainbow wanted. It wasn’t something she was happy about knowing how hard it was for Rainbow to suppress that hunger, but she couldn’t argue. After all, it was just Rainbow looking after her, just like how she was looking after Rainbow.


______________________________________________________________________________


When they finished eating their share, Fluttershy picked up a large canteen of water and took a lot of large gulps from it. The refreshing cold taste really helped to rehydrate her, making her sigh loudly with glee. She was still a bit dizzy, but the water certainly helped.

Rainbow searched the bag for her leash and offered it to Fluttershy. It made Fluttershy giggle. “Oh Rainbow…” she said as she took it in hoof. It was time for them to head out, and Fluttershy knew where they should go next. The only question was…

“Rainbow. Do you… remember where this all started from?” Rainbow tilted her head, confused by the question. “You went here… in the Everfree Forest… to deliver a letter somewhere. Do you remember where that was? Maybe we can find something there.” This time, Rainbow’s ears raised, understanding what Fluttershy meant. She did remember and nodded her head to answer Fluttershy’s question, making her smile. “Okay!”

Rainbow allowed Fluttershy to mount her once again, letting the leash provide balance. After getting comfortable, they headed out with Rainbow making sure the ride wasn’t too rough.


______________________________________________________________________________


During the trip, Fluttershy decided to take one more medicine pill as her breath felt a bit heavy from all the traveling. Her headache may have been gone, but she was really hoping she wasn’t catching something else. In case she was, she was taking this medicine to make it go away before it became a problem. At least Rainbow was here to help. 

Suddenly, Rainbow stopped walking. Fluttershy was about to ask why, until she heard something slithering around. She softly gasped and looked to where Rainbow was looking. What she saw made her hold her breath, as well as Rainbow Dash.

There were vines that were ever so slightly moving back and forth from the path. They led to a monstrous snap trap that appeared to be sleeping. Three vines splayed down on the path, two closer towards each other than the other.

Rainbow would try and find a safer way to traverse, but if she strayed from the path too much, she would lose her way. And with the branches and leaves this close to the ground, flying was not an option, else waking it would be inevitable. Before she decided, she looked to Fluttershy. Gulping, Fluttershy tightened her grip on the leash. Her feathers shuddered on her sides as she nodded.

With careful steps, Rainbow proceeded to walk through the path. Fluttershy ducked her head and kept her face close to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow could feel the nervousness of Fluttershy’s breath breathing down her neck. it encouraged her to be careful. She stepped over the first vine with her right hoof, and Fluttershy’s breath stuttered. Her left hoof stepped closer to the next vine while her right hind hoof stepped close to the first.

The next two vines were closer together while they were still moving. Twisting her tongues, Rainbow carefully wedged her right hoof to step between the vines without touching them. Fluttershy was staring carefully at the motion of Rainbow’s hooves, nearly yelping with the ever so slight sounds of Rainbow’s hooves crunching on leaves and twigs. There were gargles coming from the plant. It would've made Fluttershy freeze from the spot, and in fact did. But since Rainbow was the one walking, they didn’t stop moving.

With her left hoof passing above both vines, her right hoof exited while her left hind hoof entered. She didn’t look to the monster and only paid attention to her own steps. To Fluttershy, it felt like each step took hours to do.

When Rainbow’s last hind hoof passed the vines, a huge wave of relief chilled across Fluttershy’s beating heart. They were able to move further away from the plant without waking it up. Fluttershy was panting and sweating. She found herself being drained and out of breath despite Rainbow being the one walking. This experience served as a grim reminder of just how fast danger could approach if they strayed off the path. Rainbow was relieved that she was capable of keeping Fluttershy safe. 

Fluttershy looked behind her towards the plant. She didn’t look away until it came out of view. Only then was she able to relax herself as the trip continued. Now that it was safe, she thought it would be a good time to talk again.

“Rainbow?” she started, making Rainbow’s ears raise. “Can you tell me more about this hunger you feel?” There was a delay before Rainbow turned her head towards Fluttershy curiously. She didn’t say anything though. The look she gave made it look like she didn’t know what to say. 

“Well…” Now Fluttershy had to look away, trying to get an idea of what Rainbow should talk about. “Does it feel like you… need it? Or… do you need it like you need food?” There was another pause before Rainbow looked away. Her face was staring at the ground as she took her steps. Seeing Rainbow’s expression, Fluttershy was about to apologize for bringing it up. But Rainbow answered.

“I… I don’t know… but it helped me find you.” Fluttershy had to look over to the side of Rainbow’s face.

“What do you mean?” she asked. Rainbow’s walking seemed to slow down.

“I was alone,” Rainbow continued. “I felt empty. No taste. Lost.” There was a pause, and then she turned her head. “When I saw you, I could feel something. Remember something. It felt awesome. And… delicious…”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened at that remark. “W-What?” She almost repeated it, but wasn’t sure if she wanted to. Rainbow continued though.

“You being in me made me comfortable, and took away that empty feeling. I felt so full of energy, and then... sleepy. You… and Scootaloo…” Rainbow seemed to trail off from what looked like delight thinking all that.

Fluttershy wasn’t sure what to think. It sounded like Rainbow could sense the nature of a pony’s compassion through her taste, but a taste that linked with that strange hunger. It sound like it was much like a smell.

Rainbow suddenly started frowning. “Scootaloo… when she was in me… it was the most comfortable sleep I ever had.” Her head dropped lower as well as her ears. “But… what I did to her… what I did…”

Fluttershy's breath got heavy again and her heart raced. The idea of Rainbow sleeping better with somepony inside her boggled her mind. It made her wonder what a tatzlpony would do if they went too long without that sort of comfort. She thought back to how guilty Rainbow looked that day.

“Rainbow, I forgive you for what you did to Scootaloo,” Fluttershy said. “And I’m sure she forgives you too. You couldn’t control yourself when you took her to the Everfree Forest. But you did-”

“That’s not what I mean,” Rainbow interrupted. “When I had her with me… I…”

“Hmm?” Fluttershy wasn’t sure if she wanted to be curious about this. “What did you do?”

Even Rainbow wasn’t exactly sure. All she knew was, when they felt cornered, Rainbow did something to Scootaloo that felt like it was stealing her energy, and using it herself. The end result was that it made them both really sleepy. It made her moan sadly just thinking about it. What could a tatzlpony potentially do with that?

Fluttershy was about to ask again until she caught something in the corner of her eye. Looking deeper in the forest, she noticed something lurking around. Fortunately, it was moving in the opposite direction they were heading, but it still made her nervous that they were getting close to dangerous territory. As long as they stayed on the path, they would be mostly safe.

“It’s okay,” Fluttershy concluded as she patted Rainbow’s mane. “You don’t have to tell me right away. If you want-” She got interrupted when Rainbow suddenly stopped walking and sprung her head up high. The sudden movement made her heart drop. “W-What is it?” Rainbow was looking at something in front of her. Nervously, Fluttershy tilted herself off the side to see what it was. Her worries relieved a bit.

Up ahead was a small clearing where the center of it held a patch of flowers. Rainbow moved to the clearing so they could have a closer look. These flowers… Fluttershy had never seen them before, but it looked like Rainbow was very curious towards them. It was like she had seen them before. The flowers were purple with a light yellow floral disc. A thought came to Fluttershy’s mind.

”A few weeks ago, a special type of flower was discovered in the Everfree Forest. A very dangerous creature appeared soon after this flower was discovered.”

This must’ve been the flower, which meant they must be in the right place. But it was odd. There was a path in those flowers that subtly stood out, like somepony dragged their hooves through them. In the center of the clearing was a hole that was clearing up. It looked like the size had been able to fit a sign or something.

Rainbow looked off to a different direction. Fluttershy followed her line of sight, but she couldn’t see anything that stood out. It seemed like Rainbow could recognize the area. She started walking towards that direction.

As they were going, Fluttershy had to take another look at those flowers. For some reason looking at them made her adrenaline pump wildly through her body. She couldn’t understand why. As she looked away from them, her body shivered, her hind legs pressed against Rainbow’s sides, and her forehooves tightened their grip on Rainbow’s leash. It was like those flowers symbolized a bad omen. Her heart was beating roughly at this, and her breath forced itself out like it was slightly suffocating.

And yet… Rainbow had no response to this.
> Chapter 19: Journal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow constantly turned her head from one direction to another as she walked. Everywhere she looked, her eyes seemed lost in thought. like she was having flashbacks. If Fluttershy didn’t notice the state of this section of the forest, she’d wonder why.

It looked like something big occurred here. Trees were dented, branches were torn off, and the soil was rough and damaged. There was barely even a path anymore. Yet, Rainbow seemed to know exactly where she was going.

Another clearing soon came into view. Rainbow dashed for it. The sudden dash caused Fluttershy to gasp as her balance was almost lost. She had to tighten her grip on Rainbow’s leash to keep herself from falling off, especially when Rainbow made a sudden halt from reaching the clearing. 

It was not a pretty sight. Trees had fallen to the ground, leaves and twigs were scattered everywhere, and it looked like remnants of desperate magical burns had been left behind. Fluttershy noticed that Rainbow was scanning the area thoroughly. She had a feeling she knew what this meant.

“Rainbow? Is this the last place that you saw her?” Rainbow didn’t answer and instead just looked through different areas of the clearing. The ways she reacted made it look like she was having flashbacks. But it was odd. Didn’t she just recall these memories? Why did she seem so surprised by it?

“Is something… wrong R-... Rainbow?” That strange adrenaline rush suddenly came back to Fluttershy as she asked that. Rainbow started moving again, making Fluttershy have to tighten her grip on the leash. “Rainbow?!” There was no response. Fluttershy had to not only hold the leash tightly, but also brace her chest from her beating heart.


______________________________________________________________________________


Fluttershy kept her head low and her eyes shut as Rainbow Dash ran. She had no idea where they were going. But wherever it was, Rainbow was eager, or rather desperate to get to it. 

Fluttershy didn’t open her eyes until Rainbow came to a stop. Despite the fact Rainbow was doing all the running, she found herself being the one panting instead. Rainbow was looking back at her with concern. She would respond to it, but what was more pressing was what was in front of them. It made Fluttershy gasp.

“Oh my… What happened here?”

They had arrived at another clearing. This one was quite bigger and held multiple structures that looked like it could house a few ponies or creatures. At least, it looked like it could’ve. Now it looked like a massive wreck like something big crashed along it, or a big ruckus occurred. On one side, there was a huge pile of broken wood that looked it used to form a large cabin. There was a path of massively kicked up dirt and fallen trees going towards the direction they entered. 

In the far corner, one building was left relatively intact. It was a small shack. Fluttershy gently climbed herself off Rainbow Dash, with Rainbow lending her a wing to aid. She looked to Rainbow.

“Is this the place you were held captive?” Once again, Rainbow didn’t answer and looked around the area. What was going on in her mind that was making her so frantic? Fluttershy wanted to ask why she wouldn’t answer, but believed it was because Rainbow actually didn’t know the answer.

Fluttershy began walking to the shack. “Maybe we should look in here?” she asked that as she set her hoof to knock on the door. One knock caused the door to open with a slight creak. Though the door wasn’t nearly as damaged as everything outside, it had been left open.

“H-Hello?” Fluttershy called out, Rainbow staying close behind her. Nopony else seemed to be inside. She looked around. The shack held a mess of items straid about like it was abandoned in a hurry. Pieces of shattered jars were on the floor, looking like most of it came from the shelves on the walls. 

The odd thing was, only the area near the entrance was a mess. Even more odd, the pieces were arranged to the sides, like somepony had tried to clean up, but didn’t do much cleaning. 

“W-What happened here?” Fluttershy looked to Rainbow as she asked that question, hoping Rainbow knew the answer. Rainbow didn’t answer and instead held that same curious expression like she was seeing something new.

Fluttershy started walking inside while Rainbow stayed at the entrance. The planks of wood under her felt so unstable, like it would pry apart if it was stepped on wrong. 

“What’s this?” In the back of the room was a desk with a book on it that was still open. “Is this a… journal?” she asked as she reached it. The pages certainly contained enough writing on it to look like a journal, and its outer edges looked like it could close into a package, keeping it safe for travels. There was a song note on the front cover of the journal, decorated with a cloud underneath. Maybe this journal would provide answers. Swallowing her breath, she turned the journal’s pages back to the first chapter and began reading.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash turned away from the shack and looked around the clearing.

_
“Journey to the Everfree Forest. It sounded like a disaster waiting to happen. But after our searches of literally every other forest, what choice did I have? And now, here I am, stuck in this accursed forest for who knows how long. For all I know, it’ll be by the time it takes me anyway.”

The temperature around Fluttershy increased as she read through the first chapter. It didn’t have much, but it already made her want to stop reading. She knew she had to keep reading if they were gonna learn anything. Steeling her nerves, she flipped the page and continued.

_
“Tomorrow is another day, but that only means something if we even make it for that long. Today, we strayed from the path, and were introduced to every reason why that was a bad idea. Cragadiles, timberwolves, manticores, all of them scary. But none were as terrifying as these strange little insects that swarmed around us, eating all our resources. Had we not been able to escape them and return to our shelter, there’s no way we’d last another day. I know he means well. But with every day that I am stuck with this, I wonder if it’s even worth it. Oh how he’d get at me if he ever read this.”

Outside, Rainbow Dash was standing in front of a graved section on the ground nearly covered up by the debris. Her eyes were focused above that graving, staring intently at these visions she was having. Something had been here, something big. The odd thing was, she didn’t remember this at all. These visions she was seeing, she didn't remember them happening. Why was she seeing this?

_
“I just don’t understand. That creature we saw a few days ago gave me one of the most horrible experiences I have ever encountered. I thought we’d be giving up the search after that, but we haven’t even started packing. Our resources are low, yet he hasn’t given up. In fact, seeing that creature has given him the most hope I had ever seen. It seems like he wants to find it again. But what for? If I hadn’t sent him to bed, I worry his health would be at risk too.”

“His… health?” Fluttershy was breathing rather harshly as her nerves got more intense. She had to grip her chest to keep her beating heart stable. It looked like these chapters were skipping ahead a few days for every new chapter. Every time she read a new one, her body’s temperature increased.

_
“This is awful! AWFUL! He’s gone! And it’s all my fault!

That was all the chapter had, but there was still more written in the later chapters. It still made Fluttershy gasp.

_
“How many days have I been here? Why do I continue to torture myself with this denial? I can barely remember what’s been going on. If only I hadn’t procrastinated with this book, I could retrace what’s going on and figure out what I did wrong. Darn it! Why did I have to be born with this accursed illness? He wouldn’t have placed himself in this situation. I wouldn’t have messed this up so much. I…

The ink spread across the page upon that last word. Fluttershy had to grip her chest as her heart pounded harder. Her hooves shook against the floorboards, barely able to keep her standing. Panting and sweating, she said, “I-Illness?” before continuing to read. That was when Rainbow came back to the shed.

_
“I need to stay calm. I need to retrace everything that happened. He told me to go with him somewhere that day. I followed. There was something he was sure would finally lead to a cure for my illness, an illness I was cursed with since I was born, left behind by It was an illness that could be treated, but not known on how to cure. Today was the day I could finally be free of these chains. But this illness has ruined me again. Perform a simple spell. That was all I needed. 

A flower appeared. A flower I had never seen before. Why was it so important? I don’t know. But he was gone when this flower appeared. And in his place was a terrifying creature that tried to eat me. It probably ate him. I don’t know. But I haven’t seen him since that day. And I can't return to my shelter. The beast is there, stalking.

But this flower… There was a silver lining to it all. My illness... that creature… this flower...

“T-This… f-f-flower…” Rainbow noticed Fluttershy’s painful stutters, causing her concern and fear. She rushed to Fluttershy’s side. But when she reached her, a painful gasp escaped Fluttershy’s mouth. Her eyes pulsated then shrunk. “T-This… T-H- O-Owww!” Painful moans escaped her mouth as she suddenly collapsed in front of Rainbow Dash. Eyes wide, she brought her head down to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy’s face was red and her breath was steaming hot. She was catching something bad. Whatever she was catching, her medicine appeared to be having no effect. Rainbow didn’t know what to do and panted heavily in panic. Painfully, Fluttershy opened her eyes.

“R-Rai-inbow-w-w…” 

All of a sudden, the door to the shack slammed open. Rainbow immediately turned around to see why. She cringed harshly. Fluttershy could barely turn her eyes to see who it was. Two ponies were there. One spoke in a deep tone.

“There you are.”
> Chapter 20: Trouble
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow and Fluttershy were backed in a corner as two terrifying… Actually, that wasn’t correct. It was one terrifying pony and one terrified pony who greeted their presence. The terrifying one gave a frustrated grunt.

“You’ve caused enough trouble.” The one that spoke was a stallion unicorn. His coat was a light brown while his hair was short, tied back, and grey. Eyes were orange, and he looked a bit taller than the other pony. It looked like there was a yellow ring wrapped to the center of his horn. He had a Cutie Mark that appeared to be three pairs of Bits, half of them bent in half. There was also a single bag to his side.

“W-Who… ar-r-re y-ou…?” The pain Fluttershy felt from asking that question made her squeeze her eyes back shut. Rainbow placed a hoof in front of Fluttershy’s face as an act of defense.

“Almond didn’t complete his part of the task. So we had to take over.” He motioned his hoof towards himself and the pegasus behind him, who flinched backwards and ducked her head in fear.

The pegasus looked very dark. She had a pure black coat with hair adorning two different colors half and half, dark green, and dark blue. Her eyes however shined a bright yellow, making it very distinct from the rest of her body, especially with them pulsating like that. It looked like her mane and tail were a bit on the long side while smooth. Because of her colors, her Cutie Mark was difficult to see, but it seemed to have specifically two black ‘X’s that were parallel to each other. An odd type of Cutie Mark.

But nothing was more odd than the way she seemed to behave. Her eyes were trying to focus on Rainbow, every so often switching to Fluttershy, then back to Rainbow frantically. Small whimpers were escaping her mouth. She looked so nervous and scared, like her life was at stake.

“The name is Renard Strike. And you-” the stallion pointed a hoof to Rainbow as he spoke, “-if you know what’s good for you, you will stand down and surrender yourself. You're not causing anymore trouble."

Rainbow could feel Fluttershy’s painful and heated moans breathing behind her hoof. She didn’t know what was going on, but it was a bad time for it to happen. Fluttershy needed help, and now these ponies were here to take her away from Fluttershy.

Rainbow turned her eyes to look over her options. The only exit was behind those ponies. Fluttershy was in no condition to move so she had to be carried out. But if she was carried out too fast, it could really hurt her. 

And then there was that book. Rainbow didn’t know what Fluttershy was reading, but it sounded too important to leave behind. The two other ponies were eying her carefully, so she had to be subtle with her own eye movements. She noticed something about how the floorboards were set, and remembered how unstable they felt.

The stallion, Rainbow learned as Strike, struck his hooves into a stance and pointed his horn towards them. “If you won’t come, we’ll take you by force!” That was when the yellow ring around his horn started glowing. Was it possible that that ring could amplify his magic?

Fluttershy releasing another painful moan caused Rainbow to snort. She had to act now. When she saw the spark from Strike’s horn, she slammed a hoof against one end of a floorboard. The force caused the other end to fly up, which is where the other two ponies were standing. Strike’s horn fired, but the sudden shift underneath his hooves caused his aim to go astray. The blast struck the wall behind his target and pierced right through it. He and the other pegasus yelped as their bodies went flying over Rainbow and Fluttershy.

As they went flying, Rainbow lashed her tongues towards the journal, closed it, and pulled it into her mouth, swallowing it. She then grabbed Fluttershy with her head and placed her on her back. When the other two ponies crashed down, she dashed out.

“Argh! They’re getting away! X!” When the pegasus heard Strike call out to her, she gasped and quickly righted herself up. She saw the other two escaping and flew after them.

Rainbow heard Strike's call to the pegasus. Was her name really X? Either way, she saw X shaking as she flew towards them with quick speed. Fluttershy’s face was next to her, moaning in pain. If she didn’t pick up her speed, X would catch up. But if she went too fast, it could really hurt Fluttershy.

Rainbow had no choice. She had to abandon the path if she was gonna get away from these ponies. Just before X caught up with them, she turned a tree and ran deeper into the forest. X had to stop when they took that turn, eyes shrinking at the direction they went.

“They can’t get away like this! Come on!” Strike yelled as he passed X and followed the direction they went. X had to grit her teeth, moaning fearfully before her wings took her to follow them.

Rainbow tried not to look back, swerving left and right as she ran. By abandoning the path, more trees and vines were in her way. She had to focus on what was in front of her. A shallow cliff came to her path and she jumped. But when she landed, the ground squished down on her, making her almost stumble. Using her wings to settle her balance, she continued on.

Unknown to Rainbow, the ground she stomped on was a mighty tiger rudely awoken from its slumber. It growled fiercely ready to charge, but another pony came crashing down on its head. Strike didn’t stop after jumping off and continued chasing Rainbow. When the third pony flew over its head, the tiger released a furious roar, causing X to yelp as her body was pushed roughly against a tree, backside and upside down.

X screamed with her limbs flinging in all directions seeing that tiger charge for her. Her wings zipped her away from the trunk, making the tiger slash its claws against its bark, ripping it apart. She quickly pushed herself against a tree branch as it lunged at her. Letting go made the tiger’s face meet with this branch, knocking it away while X scurried out of there, gasping harshly.

Rainbow could feel Fluttershy’s forelegs squeezing harder around her. She glanced an eye towards Fluttershy to examine her condition. It seemed like she was trying to fight the pain she was feeling. Seeing this made Rainbow cringe, unsure if she should go faster and risk more pain on Fluttershy.

Suddenly, Rainbow heard a beam firing in the distance. It passed right by her, targeting one of the trees up ahead. The beam sliced right through its trunk, causing it to collapse. Yelping, Rainbow slowed down just enough for her to jump over it as it crashed in her path. She looked behind, seeing Strike firing more beams passed her that was aiming for the trees.

Rainbow growled after being convinced on what to do. Only more pain could follow Fluttershy if they were caught. Another tree fell down from Strike’s blast, and she rushed under it before it crashed. Strike fired another one. This one, Rainbow almost prepared to jump over, but then saw what it held. She tried slowing herself to a stop as it crashed down, then heard Strike getting very close to her.

“Come here!” When Strike dove for the tatzlpony, Rainbow turned a ninety degree angle, causing him to miss. He gasped seeing a giant web in his path connected from the tree he just knocked down. Unable to stop, he was caught by the web. At the same time, He noticed a giant spider in front of him, fallen on its back. It righted itself up in a haste, screeching a venomous drool at Strike in an angry fashion.

“AAAHHH!” He screamed and used his magic to pull some nonstick spray, which he used to free himself from the web. Before the spider managed to latch onto him, he hightailed it out of there.

Rainbow took a quick look behind. For a brief second, she could see X in the distance flying towards them while her teeth was gritting in a panic with every tree she got near. Fluttershy’s gasp made Rainbow look ahead of her. There was a large swamp coming up in her path. Steeling her nerves, she decided to tread it. When she got one step just before touching the swamp, she lept and spread her wings.

A large splash came from the swamp, followed by a vicious growl. Rainbow’s hooves suddenly met contact with ground, stumbling her balance. She and Fluttershy screamed at the top of their lungs at the sight of a large cragadile emerging from the swamp. Before Rainbow could recover her balance, she was struck by the bottom of its tail, being flung straight ahead and deeper into the forest. Fluttershy cried in pain from that smack.

When that cragadile appeared X screamed and flailed her hooves in front of her, trying to stop her flight. She tried to move away from it, but it barely managed to snap at the tip of her wing, causing her to tumble towards the ground. The force of its breath when it growled at her made her whimper terrifyingly after finding herself backed up against a tree. It opened its maw wide at her, making her scream.

But before it could close in, a magic beam fired at its face, pushing it away. It came from Strike.

“Come on!” he yelled as he ran passed the cragadile. While it was distracted, X took flight once again, getting herself out of range from that monster before it could snap at her again.

“Ohh… O-Oowww!” The moans of pain coming from Fluttershy were getting bad. Rainbow managed to recover from her daze and continue running. But she was panting heavily now, barely able to turn her head to examine Fluttershy’s condition. It was not looking too good. Fluttershy’s hooves were losing their grip around her neck. Even worse, carrying Fluttershy for this long, as well as all this running, was starting to take its toll. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could go on, least of all, how much more Fluttershy could take.

If things could get any worse, they just did. Rainbow’s ears picked up the sound of distant howling. Timberwolves seemed to be up ahead. Fluttershy was in no condition to keep this up.

Rainbow decided to stop and look around for a place to hide. She had to set Fluttershy down now. Looking around, she noticed this area was infested with trees covered in thorns. Surely there was a good spot somewhere. Looking behind her, she couldn’t see any signs of Strike or X. That Cragadile must’ve launched her far. 

Rainbow saw a small opening covered in… actually it looked like it used to be covered in bushes, but was torn apart. Luckily they weren’t spread too far apart. All she had to do was set Fluttershy down and pull the bushes back together. She started by setting Fluttershy down in the center where a few sprouts would cushion her fall. It didn’t stop her from moaning in pain due to whatever illness was ailing her.

But when she was about to bring the bushes together, she heard hoofsteps approaching fast. When she looked, it was already too late. Somehow, Strike and X had managed to keep track of them and catch up.

“Don’t move!” Strike said as he took his stance and readied his horn. This was not looking good. Rainbow didn’t move, but her eyes desperately scanned the area for some sort of way out. She had to protect Fluttershy no matter what. But the only thing she could focus on was the way X was shivering next to Strike like that. It seemed like she was in an even bigger panic than Rainbow was at the moment.

Rainbow’s nose scrunched. There was a new smell that filled the air, a terrible one. Suddenly, X screeched in terror, making Strike flinch. That was when Rainbow froze on the spot. She knew that smell. It was a smell that anypony would notice from a mile away. Turning her eyes from left to right, she saw them. Timberwolves, three on one side, two on the other, surrounding them all.

Strike hastily charged his horn from the ring and fired a beam at one of the timberwolves, making X gasp. The timberwolf just opened its maw. When the beam reached it, it chomped right at the beam, completely dissipating it as if it was lunch. All five timberwolves’ attentions shifted to Strike and X.

“N-ngh… No…” Strike was now shivering and backing away. The timberwolves started growling. It was then that X screamed in terror and turned tail out of there. “X! Agh!” As Strike called out to her, the timberwolves roared and started charging for them. Immediately, Strike yelped as he had to turn tail as well.

Rainbow’s eyes widened as they ran away. Her breath was still held as her nerves tightened. She only saw four timberwolves chase them. The fifth one’s growl could be heard right next to her to the left. Slowly, she looked to it. 

The timberwolves glowing green eyes stared menacingly, practically piercing into her soul. Any sudden movement and this beast would strike. Could this thing detect Fluttershy’s presence? Rainbow didn’t want to take that chance. She had to protect her, no matter what.

The timberwolf stopped moving, stopped growling. Its expression changed drastically. Looking at Rainbow like this gave it a flashback, a terrifying one. That flashback was seeing a massive tornado that sucked it in and tore it limb from limb.

Rainbow saw that the timberwolf was suddenly backing away. What was going on with it? Its eyes seemed to turn fearful while its ears... somehow... drooped. And then, it ran away, in the direction the other two ponies went. She was confused, unsure if she could relax or not.

Of course she couldn’t relax. Her nerves came back full force as she thought about Fluttershy’s condition. She went back to check. Fluttershy was still moaning in pain, eyes squeezing, body shivering, and face red. Rainbow brought her head down to Fluttershy’s level. Even from here, she could feel that steaming breath.

“Fluttershy… Fluttershy!” Rainbow’s voice cried out Fluttershy’s name, desperately asking her to hang in there. If she didn’t do something, Fluttershy wouldn’t make it. But she didn’t know what to do. It didn’t matter that she got Fluttershy to safety. It was all for not if she couldn’t get Fluttershy some help.

“R-Rain-bow…” Fluttershy’s voice choked out, desperately trying to speak. It pulled Rainbow’s nerves in all directions as she listened carefully to Fluttershy’s words. “The… f-f-flow-wer…” There was a pause as she struggled to breathe. “I… n-need the… flow-er…”

The flower. What flower was she talking about? Maybe the ones near that camp they went to earlier? But how would that-

Rainbow’s mind suddenly went haywire when some words echoed in her mind. These words weren’t from the mare she heard in her past. They were from Clang.

”If anything had happened to me, return to this flower they said.”

Rainbow was backing away as she started gasping in fear. What did this mean? Whatever it meant, she couldn’t think on it now. It was time to act. Fluttershy needed help. And if that flower would do the trick, she had to get Fluttershy that flower.

Fluttershy… she was in no condition to be moved anymore. Rainbow moved the bushes back together to cover Fluttershy, hoping that would keep her safe while she rushed to get the flower. At least without Fluttershy, she could move a lot faster. But that wasn’t the only issue.

Rainbow looked in the direction of the camp. In the distance, she could hear the growls of the ferocious creatures that lurked within. There was no time to waste. She had to go in there, and fast. Her ruckus would surely awaken and attract those creatures towards her path. Nevertheless, she flew, and she flew faster than she ever did in quite a while. Nothing else mattered to her except for one thing.

Save Fluttershy at all costs.
> Chapter 21: Loyalty
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before the creatures knew it, a fierce rainbow streak blew right past them, knocking them down. Rainbow Dash didn’t stop for anything. Many trees approached in her visions quickly. Her wings reacted accordingly, allowing her to slip past each and every one. Several creatures came in sight. Some moved out of the way in fright, and some attempted to catch her. None slowed her down.

Up ahead, a screeching wail was heard, followed by a loud snap. There was a tree falling directly in her path. She increased her speed so that she would pass under it before it fell. But just as she was passing under it, vines appeared in her path. A loud crash first, then a loud smack sounded. Her speed was suddenly stopped from the vines entangling her.

Rainbow grunted harshly as she managed to slip one of her wings away from the vines’ grips. Her other wing however could not escape their grasp. Those vines were trying to pull her in, pulling her to a monstrous plant. She could see saliva pouring like venom from its jaws. With her single wing, she flapped as hard as she could to attempt to escape its clutches. But it was failing her as she found herself being pulled in.

Rainbow gulped as her instincts led her to something she didn’t like. She lashed her tongues towards the vines to ensnare them in her own grip. The vines responded by letting go of her, but wrapping around all three of her tongues. They started pulling her in.

Rainbow’s eyes squeezed harshly from her tongues being pulled. Since her wings were free, she was able to pull back. Those vines were strong though. When it felt like she was pulling herself away, the plant shrieked and pulled harder. She flapped her wings faster, enduring the rough pressure her tongues were suffering. The plant shrieked louder and tried pulling back, but Rainbow pulled all her might into her wings to get away.

A massive shriek echoed in her ears, followed by a loud snap. She found her body being flung backwards as the pressure suddenly ceased. Her fling caused her to hit with a few tree branches along the way before tumbling to the ground. It ended by her body landing back first against the bottom of a tree. All three of her tongues stuck out, laying limp on the ground.

The impact left Rainbow dazed a bit. Her tongues twitched. After her eyes opened, her tongues were able to retract themselves back to her mouth. She had to do a quick rub of the tongue that was tied, making sure it was okay before returning it back to her mouth. When she looked ahead of her, she nearly freaked.

In front of her were the vines that were from that plant, now torn off and wriggling violently in front of her. The sight of that slime squirting about disturbed her, thinking that could’ve been what happened to her own tongues. They were just plants, but it was still a disturbing sight. She got up and looked away quickly, not wanting to see another moment of that. 

And then she heard buzzing in front of her. She opened her eyes to see that the buzzing was being caused by a small insect with big eyes. Parasprite, was the name she remembered Fluttershy saying. It was just staring at her curiously, making her unsure whether to be relieved or nervous.

Suddenly, it opened its jaw massively. Rainbow flinched away as it lunged at her. At least, it seemed to lunge at her, but then she noticed that it was rapidly chomping away at the wriggling vines behind her. Those vines were gone in seconds. It disturbed her seeing all that slime vanish.

Recollecting her nerves, she looked away from the parasprite and continued on. She couldn’t waste anymore time. Fluttershy needed that flower and she needed it now. Her wings spread and allowed her to regain her pace. There was buzzing behind her. It seemed the parasprite was following her. That wasn’t important now, even if it sounded like there was more than one now.

Rainbow looked her surroundings over. The sun was starting to set, making it harder to see. Despite the fact that there was no path, she knew her instincts were leading her in the right direction. Now she was getting that confirmation. There was a clearing up ahead. In the center were the flowers she and Fluttershy discovered earlier. This was it.

Rainbow’s nerves settled a bit as she reached the flowers, having to take a moment to catch her breath. Before she went to pick them, the parasprite from earlier managed to catch up with her, followed by another, and another. Looking around, there was suddenly around six of those things buzzing around her. Annoying was all they seemed to be, until their attentions were set on the flowers.

All of them suddenly opened their jaws. Rainbow shrieked as the parasprites suddenly started chomping down on those flowers. Fluttershy needed those! She dove straight towards the flowers to cover them up from the parasprites feast.

Immediately this felt like a terrible idea. Now the parasprites were biting on her coat, her mane, her ears, and just all around creating a painful experience. She yelped harshly in pain and tried desperately to endure their bites, hoping they would back away.

The biting stopped abruptly for some reason. Rainbow wasn’t sure if she wanted to look up and see why. Then she heard some strange cries and shrieks above her. When she looked up, she instantly regretted it. 

Spiders! Dozens of them! Their venomous fangs had caught and latched onto the parasprites. They were being pulled back up and taken to a web. More of them were coming straight for her. Some of them released themselves from their web.

Rainbow yelled a very loud cry as they attached themselves to her body. She flung her head from side to side to fling them off. Their venomous looking drools spread across the forest just as they did. More attached to her limbs and she wiped them off. The webs were getting stuck on her coat and mane. With one last cry, she flew the coup, taking whatever she was covering underneath her with her. To her relief, it was the flower Fluttershy needed, unfortunately probably the very last one left. It needed to be guarded with her life.

Rainbow didn’t stop flying up. With all those spiders below, her solution was to go above the forest. But going above the surface proved just as dangerous as below. When she reached above the trees, she was greeted to harsh winds beneath very dangerous looking clouds. They looked ready to strike lightning at any moment. And the worst part was, the harsh winds were threatening to blow the petals off this flower.

Rainbow looked in the direction she was sure Fluttershy was waiting. Keeping the flower close to her body, she flew through the storm as fast as she could. The rough winds made it difficult to fly fast, but she fought the storm as best she could.

Lightning struck. The jolt nearly made contact with her, making her eyes grow wide. She looked up to the storm clouds. More of her instincts were kicking in right there, but much stronger than before. It felt so familiar. Seeing a strange pattern within the lightning clouds really triggered her nerves.

Rainbow swerved her position as another lightning bolt struck. Had she not moved, it would’ve struck her. Another one struck and she moved away again before it could reach her. She wasn’t sure how, but her instincts were able to guide her through the storm quite effectively.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t doing the flower any favors. If she moved too much, the winds would blow away its petals. If that happened, she feared getting this flower would mean nothing.

More lightning bolts struck. She tried her best staying in a consistent path where the lightning bolts wouldn’t strike. But whenever it seemed like there was a pattern, it would suddenly change. Even worse, her strength was starting to give out. If this kept up, her strength would fail her before she reached Fluttershy. That couldn’t happen.

But of course, the Everfree Forest seemed determined to stop her from saving Fluttershy at all costs. The last lightning bolt didn’t go for her, but instead aimed at the top of one of the Everfree trees. It caused a massive roaring fire to emerge from the tree, reaching tall and wide in Rainbow’s path. Gritting her teeth, she immediately halted her flight so that the flower wouldn’t get burned.

This was really bad. If that fire spread, Fluttershy’s location would not be safe. She could probably put the fire out, but that would require a lot of speed, something this flower couldn’t handle. More bad news, the lightning strikes were getting more intense. Even if she could put the fire out, only more would probably follow its way.

There was no time to think. She dove straight back underneath the forest to protect this flower. Getting to Fluttershy was all that mattered.

She was close. She had to be. She could feel it. She had to make it. She just had to.

Breaking through any branches that blocked her path, she reached the ground and flew underneath the flames. Looking at that distance, if the fire spread, it would take quite some time before it reached Fluttershy. The creatures nearby seemed to be running away from the fire. Thorns were coming into her vision. Just a little farther now.

Rainbow panted heavily as she swerved around the thorns in her path. It was too dangerous to look back now. Her eyes had to stay ahead, else she’d clip her wings from the thorns. And with her remaining strength, she had to be extra careful.

Fluttershy’s resting spot was within sight. It just now occurred to her that something could’ve gotten to Fluttershy while she was away. Nerves intensifying, she put in one final burst of speed to make sure she was there, and more importantly, if she was okay.

The final stretch that came felt like minutes to Rainbow. She managed to reach the bush she hid Fluttershy in. Setting the flower down, she immediately started pulling the bushes apart, praying to somepony out there that Fluttershy was still here.

It seemed fate had answered her prayers, but only partially. Rainbow saw the hint of pink, making her nerves ease. She pulled the last of the bush away. Fluttershy was there, where Rainbow left her. And it looked like nothing had attempted to attack or reach her while Rainbow was gone.

But the problem was, Fluttershy wasn’t moving. Rainbow wasn’t sure if she was even breathing. It made her nerves skyrocket back into space. The flower… she picked it up with her mouth and moved to Fluttershy’s head. Carefully, she used her wing to slightly open Fluttershy’s mouth and place the flower inside. Then she moved her head slightly away to give space, but not to far in hopes of the worst.

Every second that passed felt like a minute to Rainbow Dash. Her heart pounded fiercely into her chest. It almost felt like it wanted to break right out. She couldn’t ease her nerves. It was all on Fluttershy. There just had to be a response. Something. Anything.

An answer came. Fluttershy’s mouth closed down on the flower and she began chewing. Rainbow continued holding her breath as she watched Fluttershy chew. It was gentle and slow. Witnessing Fluttershy suffering this much pain was painful to watch. Simply chewing for her must’ve been a task.

Nevertheless, Fluttershy managed to swallow. Rainbow looked away and released a huge sigh of relief from the breath she was holding. She slumped down next to Fluttershy to relieve her stress.

Just when she thought things were gonna get worse again, fate gave her the break she needed. Distant lightning storms could be heard, followed by rain. She had nearly forgotten about the fire that she was afraid would spread. But if it was now raining in that area, the fire would be put out. It hadn’t reached them yet, but it seemed like it would eventually.

All that was left now was waiting to see if that flower would eventually heal Fluttershy. For all she knew, the flower probably wouldn’t have any effect on her, let alone if a single flower would even be enough. She wanted to think of some way she could help more.

But it was difficult to even think straight. Every fiber of Rainbow’s instincts kept screaming at her to do the one thing she’s desperately been trying to avoid. Her strange hunger kept longing for Fluttershy. Without the food Fluttershy’s been providing for her, she wasn’t sure how much longer she could resist. But she didn’t want to leave Fluttershy’s side. She also didn’t want to give in to her hunger. 

Rainbow began to wonder what exactly made Fluttershy believe that flower would help. Clang mentioned the flower during their encounter. But what did it mean? Her mind reeled back to the book Fluttershy was reading. Thankfully she still had it with her, in her stomach. Despite her hunger and those grueling experiences, she never felt that book give her any trouble with carrying it. 

Sucking in her breath, she reached her tongues inside her stomach to pull the book out. Fortunately the cover had kept the pages safe from her saliva. She set the book down and turned the pages. There had to be a reason why Fluttershy believed that flower would work. More importantly, why that line from Clang stuck out. Flipping through the entries, one page stood out to her.

_

“This had to be it. The flower that appeared had an effect on my illness, an effect that all those treatments could never do. When I took those flowers, the illness was gone. I thought it had been for good. But the next morning, it came back stronger than ever. 

Even worse, that creature from before had nearly found me. I thought I wasn’t going to make it. Whether it was from my illness or from the creature’s hunger, or even my own for that matter, I couldn’t tell. The only source of food I had left were these flowers. There weren’t many left though. Somehow, I did avoid that creature. But I was sure it would find me again. 

And then, I discovered something. That creature, it was causing my illness. I don’t know how yet, but it was. Whenever I was near that creature, my illness became more harsh. But whenever I ate these flowers, the illness went away.

It was odd though. The other creatures in this forest didn’t seem to be affected by this toxin that this creature was spreading. Even as the days passed, I never saw them affected like I have been. Maybe it only affects ponies? Or maybe I’m just more vulnerable because it was an illness I was born with.

Whatever the case, all I know is that I must avoid this creature at all costs. I must also figure out where these flowers come from. If I could find more of them, I’m sure my illness will finally be cured forever. But that will never happen, as long as that creature is nearby.”

It was as if her heart had sunk within her stomach where the rest of her food had lied, and that food was ready to be barfed up like vomit. Rainbow could barely breathe after reading that. She just couldn’t believe it. But what other explanation was there? If Fluttershy believed that flower could save her, then that must’ve meant the same illness she was suffering, was the same one this book was talking about.

Which meant… Clang was right all along. The creature in this story… it must’ve been a tatzlpony, probably a different one. A tatzlpony was toxic somehow. It was affecting Fluttershy badly. Only that flower could save her now.

Fluttershy may have received that flower. But what now? How could Rainbow know if it would be enough to even work? According to this book, the only chance it had of working... was for her to leave Fluttershy, and stay as far away from her as possible.

Rainbow shed a tear as she placed a hoof on the book. She didn’t want to leave. Without Fluttershy, she would be lost and empty again. But if she didn’t leave, she could put Fluttershy in more danger than she already has. 

Tatzlponies weren’t bad. That’s what she wanted to believe. Despite her hunger, she wanted to believe there was good in them, believe she wasn’t a danger to Fluttershy. Every time, her hunger got in the way. Fluttershy kept giving her faith. Now there was nothing she could do to deny that she was dangerous. Even now, her hunger was ailing her.

Rainbow extended a wing and reached for a feather. Steeling the incoming pain, she plucked one of her feathers, and placed it in the book that she read. She closed it just as her tear dropped, placing the book next to Fluttershy. After that, she covered Fluttershy up with the bushes and moved away. The sun had set. Rain could be seen. It would reach them soon.

This was it. Rainbow had to leave now. But where would she go? Those two ponies that encountered them earlier… they were being chased by timberwolves. Before that, they had been chasing her. Why? To capture her, to take her away from Fluttershy, to prevent the danger that a tatzlpony would cause.

Rainbow’s mind was set. She would search for those ponies. And after saving them, she would turn herself in, so that she would cause no trouble for ponies anymore.

Another tear dropped just as the rain had reached them. Rainbow squeezed her eyes shut and left without looking back. She only hoped the bushes would keep Fluttershy protected from the rain.

All the while, her belly continued to complain.
> Chapter 22: Hope
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun rose over the horizon, leaving behind a beautiful rainbow thanks to the rain that occurred yesterday. It was a beautiful rainbow that could not be seen, for the Everfree Forest was a cruel place, blocking out everything the skies would show.
 
The sun couldn’t even wake Fluttershy up. She had to wake up herself. A sad moan escaped her, wondering why that beautiful rainbow wasn’t there to greet her morning. It was all sad. Maybe it was because she just managed to wake from an illness, an illness that felt so awful that she was afraid she wouldn’t make it.
 
Fluttershy managed to open her eyes, being greeted with a lot of green in her face. Picking her head up, she felt some soaked leaves passing through her head. The air felt quite damp. It must’ve rained last night. But she was more focused on the lack of a certain rainbow greeting her morning.
 
“Rainbow?” Fluttershy called, looking around. “Rainbow Dash?” She looked left, right, up on the tree branches, and down in the bushes. There was no Rainbow in sight.
 
Fluttershy moaned and braced her head with a hoof. It seemed she was still recovering from the illnesses last night. When she tried to move, her other hoof made contact with something. Looking down, she recognized it as the journal she was reading earlier. Rainbow must’ve brought it with her when she was escaping those ponies that were chasing them.
 
“Maybe she went to look for more-” Before she was able to finish her thought, she saw something sticking out of the journal. Opening it made her cringe. “Rainbow’s feather? W-Why would she…” She was afraid to ask. This wasn’t a feather that fell off naturally. Rainbow plucked it out herself. Fluttershy proceeded to read through the page the feather marked.
 
Fluttershy felt a painful blow to her heart upon reading the chapter. It seemed to discuss about a tatzlpony constantly chasing down the writer of this journal. Not only did it support the thought that tatzlponies could be bad, but it also proved that they were dangerous. There was a mention of a toxin that it had that was making this pony sick. And that toxin was apparently coming from the tatzlpony.
 
“N-No…” Fluttershy denied as she flipped the page and hastily searched with her eyes. “That can’t be right, can it?!” Not wanting to believe tatzlponies were dangerous, or rather that Rainbow Dash was a danger to her, she kept reading for answers.
 
_
”It’s all over now. That creature is gone. I should be relieved, right? But I’m not. Oh, why did it have to turn out this way?
 
When that creature found me one last time, I thought I was done for. My strength was at its last limits, and I had nowhere to go. All I could do, was close my eyes, and wait for it to be all over. Even if this creature didn’t finish me, its toxins would.
 
But by some cursed miracle, neither happened. And it didn't make me happy. Why must these things happen because of me? Never give up, he said. Stay calm, he said. Always hang on to hope. Does hanging on to hope always have these types of consequences?

I had been saved once again. And by once again, for the final time. It was him. He saved me again. Now... as I see his body laying on the ground, I realize, he’s gone for good this time. Gone… just like my mother. The only thing he had left for me, was that flower. I really am... all alone now.”
 
Fluttershy felt tears drop from her eyes, both in sadness and defeat. “It i-i-is… T-This is why she…” Her eyes shut tightly, and she cried openly as her face fell into the book. Nopony could hear her sobs this deep in the forest. All she could think about was Rainbow’s thought process to why she would leave.
 
“I-If she di-idn’t leave… I co-ould’ve been… t-tatzlponies are…” More crying ensued from her. She only thought of that flower on a whim because she felt it was her only chance. But she didn’t realize what sort of implications on tatzlponies that would have if it worked. It did work. Which means, what Clang said to them about the flower…
 
Something caught Fluttershy’s eyes. After she was able to calm down enough to open them, she noticed something odd in the book. There wasn’t much writing left in it, but that’s not what made her curious. She decided to continue reading.
 
_
”I was never good at making decisions for myself. Now that he’s gone, I’ve had to do that. But why must it happen like this?
 
Today, I found somepony, somepony I owe my life to. You’d think I’d be happy, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. I wish I had never met them. What have I gotten myself into?
 
I can’t keep doing this. This may very well be the last time I write here. Without him, I have no one left to write for. I know I should keep writing, but those creatures...”
 
Fluttershy gasped in curiosity. The rest of the entry was scribbled out to become unreadable. It looked like quite a lot was scribbled out too. The only readable parts was that last sentence, despite also being somewhat scribbled out.
 
“Somepony they met?” Fluttershy asked out loud. “Somepony they never wanted to meet?” Her head turned up to look toward the forest as she pondered what that meant. She didn’t think long on it though. There were more pressing matters right now.
 
“Rainbow Dash…” Fluttershy thought about Rainbow’s decision. This whole time, they had been searching for answers as to what a tatzlpony was, and who turned her into one. It seemed they got one of their answers, and it wasn’t one they liked. Tatzlponies were indeed bad, and very dangerous. According to this journal, that’s just how they naturally were.
 
Fluttershy wanted to believe that this wasn’t true. But after what she experienced, how could she deny it? She suffered a serious illness that her medicine had no effect on. Only the flower seemed to cure it. The pony who wrote this journal suffered an illness that couldn’t be cured, but the flower also had an effect on it. That couldn’t be a coincidence. Both illnesses had to be the same.
 
The journal mentioned that a dangerous creature that tried to eat them was also the cause of that illness. That meant because of Rainbow Dash being around, she eventually suffered that same illness, and almost didn’t make it. There was just no way those similarities were a coincidence. Rainbow really was dangerous.
 
“No…” Fluttershy said with a stern face. “Rainbow Dash isn’t dangerous. A tatzlpony may be dangerous, but she isn’t.” But when Fluttershy tried to lift herself up, she found her strength faltering. The illness was still having somewhat of an effect on her. 
 
“O-Ooh…” Simply picking herself up felt painful. When she managed to inch herself up enough, another strange thing caught her eye. Underneath the bushes, she saw sprouts growing out of the ground. These sprouts looked familiar. She couldn’t understand why, but these sprouts looked like the ones she saw at the entrance to the Everfree Forest.
 
“M-Mmmh…” After a shaky struggle, Fluttershy managed to stand again. “Rainbow Dash…” A few pants escaped her as she looked her surroundings over. “I have to find you. Where did you go?” She wasn’t sure how she would start until she noticed the hoof prints on the ground. Up ahead was practically a path of destruction that could only be described as the result of predators chasing prey. Many sticks were snapped in half, leaves were crunched, dirt was kicked up, and parts of tree barks were ripped off.
 
Fluttershy left the bush to take a closer look. She was woozy, and felt she shouldn’t move around too much. But she couldn’t let that stop her. Those hoofprints lead through that trail of destruction. That must’ve been the direction Strike and X fled to. But she also recognized one of those hoofprints as Rainbow Dash’s. 
 
Fluttershy’s heart skipped a beat while her pupils shrunk. “Rainbow? A-Are you trying to… to turn yourself in… to protect me?” Heavy breaths escaped Fluttershy. “N-No… This is a mistake! Nothing good can come out of this!” It occurred to her Rainbow probably didn’t read that last chapter. 
 
From what Fluttershy could gather, those ponies were probably hired to capture Rainbow Dash just like Clang. So he wasn’t working alone. Whoever their client was wanted to capture the tatzlpony, Rainbow Dash. According to these ponies, it was because tatzlponies were very dangerous creatures. But if that was true, why would anypony want to turn Rainbow Dash into a tatzlpony? Thinking to that last chapter of the journal, it probably wasn't for anything good. Which means... if Rainbow Dash turns herself in...
 
Fluttershy reached inside her saddle bag. “I… c-can’t let that happe-en.” She pulled out some painkillers from her bag with a determined look. “I can’t let you sa-acrifice yourself for me. I have to find you.” With shaking hooves, she took the painkillers swiftly. Normally she would never think to take these. They were unhealthy and sometimes a dangerous solution to treating illnesses. But this was important. Without her strength, she would never catch up to them in time. Even now, it seemed impossible, but she had to try.
 
Fluttershy threw away her empty bottle of painkillers. She intentionally only brought one with her, so she wouldn’t be tempted to take more if such an emergency were to occur. Now it was time.
 
After taking a deep breath, Fluttershy ran and followed the trail, enduring her wooziness.
 

______________________________________________________________________________

 
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Everfree, two ponies found themselves in a small clearing, thinking they managed to lose the timberwolves. They were wrong. At this rate, they could no longer continue running from them. Their strength would give out long before the timberwolves would. Strike was twitching, watching the timberwolves slowly close their distance. X was shivering intensely behind him, excelling painful sounding moans.
 
The ring on Strike’s horn suddenly shined, causing his eyes to grow wide. The timberwolves were ready to lunge. Before they could, he grabbed X in his hooves and magic. X yelped and clutched herself in that grip. She attempted to step back, but was instead taken above Strike, ready to be thrown at the timberwolves. Her pupils shrunk. The timberwolves roared. Strike yelled while X screamed.
 
Before anything else could happen, a rainbow streak hastily approached their position. It was the tatzlpony they were trying to capture. Rainbow Dash.
> Chapter 23: Kindness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy’s endurance wasn’t holding out as well as she hoped. Thanks to that illness, her strength hadn’t recovered enough to handle running for this long, let alone fast enough to catch up with the tracks she was following. Each pant came out progressively harder with every step she took. The worst part was, with the constant rustling and growls she could hear nearby, it was difficult to follow a safe path.

“I must… *pant* go… *pant* f-faster-r…” Fluttershy spread her wings in an attempt to fly. She took a few flaps, but she was having difficulties putting enough strength in them. A few more flaps and she was able to take flight. Only a second passed before her flight went back to the ground. Another attempt was made. This one lasted longer but dangerously made her wobble.

“Unnh… mm… ack!” Fluttershy’s wobbling caused her wing to clip against a tree. She tumbled and rolled back to the ground, stopping face first in the dirt. A muffled moan escaped her as she lied down like that for a few seconds. When she took her head off the ground, she slowly shook the dirt off her face, feeling defeated.

“Oh… I’ll never catch up to them…” Before she could think of anything else, she heard something massive rustling through the forest and moving fast. “Ah! What’s that?!” Her heart went into overdrive, making her hastily pick herself up in fear. Looking towards its direction made her eyes shrink. She couldn’t tell what it was, but it was approaching her. All she could do was scream and turn tail in an attempt to outrun it.

Fluttershy couldn’t get two steps before the beast emerged with a mighty roar. Only four more steps were possible before the beast latched its claws on her. A loud scream escaped her as she was flung upwards by the beast. She flailed her hooves wildly, unable to escape the inevitable fate that would happen. It came too fast for her to react.

But her fate took a change when she found herself landing on something soft. Whatever she landed on was still moving quickly, and the roaring was still there. Hesitantly, she opened her eyes. What she landed on, was a very familiar looking manticore, running quickly through the forest. Was this the same one she remembered?

The manticore suddenly stopped in its tracks, causing Fluttershy to fly off its back. That sudden stop made her yelp as she landed on her flank. When she looked up, she was met with another roaring manticore, differently colored from the one she was riding. Her eyes shrunk. These two manticores were doing battle with each other, and she was caught in the middle. When they both roared, she shot herself up with her wings and held both hooves out towards them.

“WAAAIIIT!” Fluttershy yelled, and then excelled a few pants. “Please! Can we settle this in another-” She got interrupted by a huge roar in her ears. It came from… the manticore that was protecting her? Claws latched onto her body, picking her straight up. “W-w-wait!” The manticore only responded with a few growls, a few growls she could understand.

And then… Fluttershy let out a loud scream. The manticore threw her as hard as it could through the forest. She covered her face from the fierce wind blowing on her. Her body was thrown faster than she could ever fly on her own. It gave her such a fright, thinking she’d slam into one of the trees. There were silent roars and poundings from the manticores. That was the last she heard from them before her distance brought her too far to hear them.

It was difficult to understand through their rage, but Fluttershy could somewhat understand what their growls were saying. The one that was trying to attack her sounded like it was arguing that a prey had gotten away. And from what she heard from the one protecting her, it sounded like the attacker was a friend or relative.

Pride. That must've been what was going on. With that thought, she opened her eyes.

Fluttershy found herself flying very fast through the woods without her wings spread. Somehow, her path had no trees or branches in her way. She was gliding through this forest as if those trees weren’t there. But perhaps that was because, the trail that she was following had them pried apart, whether from toppling trees over or ripping bushes and branches off. Magical scars could be seen from some of them. It was like the manticore was listening in on her dilemma, while it had problems of its own.

It was a scary sight. Fluttershy gulped. Up ahead, she could see that the trail was starting to change directions. Slowly, she spread out her wings to attempt to take control of her flight again. The very moment she did, she yelped as she lost control. She reared too far to the left and nearly crashed into a tree. Rearing to the right caused her attitude to severely drop. Flapping her wings caused her to go too high. This one, she couldn’t fix in time.

“Ahh!” Fluttershy made contact with one of the branches, causing her to tumble down. She bounced and rolled along the floor, releasing painful ‘oomph’s’ along every bounce. When she came to an abrupt stop, sharp pain stung all across her body as she lied there face first. Stutters escaped her breaths. With all her strength, she resisted crying and tried to get up.

“I-Is this… the pain… Rainbow Dash… always endures?” Crashing was indeed a very painful experience. Fluttershy thought she felt the worst of it. Things only got worse. Something was slithering along her body, something large. She could feel it slithering under her, wrapping around her body. The hairs on her coat and mane straightened out from her fear. All she could hear was its hissing.

All this was noticed at the same time Fluttershy managed to bring her head up. Her eyes had opened, immediately being met with another pair of eyes. It was swirling with two colors and glowing, belonging to a large snake that gazed into her soul. The glow tamed her nerves into a still state while its body coiled around her body. Her own eyes were swirling and glowing in synch with the snake, making her one with it. She held her mouth open with her tongue stuck out, no pain, no struggles, and a calm breath. With her soul tamed, the snake opened its jaws wide, moving towards Fluttershy, who had no idea what her fate entailed. No danger was felt, just inviting.

For some reason, the snake stopped moving. The invite was halted and the color vanished. Fluttershy shook her head as the hypnosis lost contact. She regained her sight and composure, releasing a questioning hum as she looked at the snake.

The snake was cold stone, and the grip it had on her had loosened before it froze like this.

“Ah! What happened?!” Before she realized it, she looked at the top of the snake’s head, meeting the eyes of another snake perched on top of it. Actually, that wasn’t right. She quickly noticed the change of color and shape on its body. “Oh no!” she yelped and looked away, realizing the chicken like face that it had. It was a cockatrice, and she looked directly at its eyes.

But for some reason, she didn’t turn to stone. Realizing this, she peeked an eye towards the cockatrice. Her nerves were released, noticing that what she looked at was the cockatrice’s eyes, but they had been closed.

“Huh? But why would…” Fluttershy noticed that the cockatrice was smiling. Something dawned on her. “Wait a minute! I know you!” The cockatrice nodded as she continued to talk. “You’re the cockatrice I met when I was looking for the girls!”

Another cockatrice made itself present that was pulling on her mane. Fluttershy looked at it, noticing it was quite bigger than the one in front of her. It was its mother, as well as a few children! And it was pulling her out of the stoned snake’s grasp. She gave a delightful giggle towards them.

“Thank you so much!” Fluttershy said as they were taking her back down. Her eyes turned to the tracks again. “I need to get going. If I don’t catch up to those tracks-” She interrupted herself with a gasp. “I must hurry!”

Fluttershy made a dash to follow the tracks once again. She soon realized her hooves weren’t making her move anywhere. In fact, they weren’t even touching the ground. She realized her hair was still being tugged on by the cockatrices. They never finished setting her down and were now all flying her along the path.

“Oh… well, okay. If you insist.” They flew faster than she could run, but not exactly faster than she could fly herself. After her previous accident, she didn’t trust her flying skills in this forest. But they seemed capable.

The keyword was ‘seemed’, because a few minutes after flying, the hoof prints’ path went to a hill. When they reached it, they stopped to look down the path. Multiple skids could be seen going down the hill like a slide. No doubt they all went down there. But while they were examining the hill, something snapped at them.

“Ahh!” Fluttershy screamed as she felt gravity take her down that hill. She barely managed to see what happened to the cockatrices. It was a snap trap hidden among the trees. One of the cockatrices got snagged while the rest fled away. With the snap trap having no eyes, they could do nothing to defend themselves from it.

Fluttershy was plummeting and rolling down the hill, unable to stop herself. A collection of ‘oomph’s and ‘oww’s escaped her with every bounce and roll. Twigs pierced into her coat, dirt kicked up, and all the spinning made her disoriented. One of her bounces felt oddly soft. It made her bounce one more time in the opposite direction before she came to a stop.

“O-oww…” Something groaned. Fluttershy heard a few things scamper off. She half thought that that groan came from her after all that pain she suffered. It was bad enough she was suffering all this pain in the first place, but the thought made it even worse with the fact she was suffering it after taking pain killers. This was really bad for her health.

Her inner health was probably the last thing she should be worried about right now. Something was growling angrily in front of her. When she looked up and saw its vicious drooling teeth, she yelped. A full grown blue leopard bracing its head was in front of her. She could only guess that it was bracing its head because she landed on it.

“Ahh! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!” The leopard roared at her fiercely, spitting drool at her and blowing her mane backward. She covered her face with one hoof and whined in fear. But then she heard another growl. It wasn’t from another monster. No… This one was from its... stomach.

Fluttershy opened her eyes and gasped. A thought came through. As soon as the leopard snapped at her with its jaws, she moved out of the way, making it hit the cliff behind her. She hurried to her bags and searched through them frantically releasing desperate huffs with every item she moved. The leopard recovered from its crash and had its eyes on Fluttershy. It’s growl made Fluttershy gasp again. Closing her eyes and looking away, she grabbed her bag and thrusted it towards the leopard, releasing a single item that was inside just as the leopard opened its mouth again.

The item she threw was the jackalope she found two days ago that didn’t make it. She tossed it towards the leopard, hoping that would make it stop. There was a chomp. A second passed before another chomp sounded. The chomping then turned to chewing. Every chew echoed in her ears, making her heart beat faster. When the cringe-worthy chewing stopped, she peaked opened her eyes.

Fluttershy saw the leopard swallow, then turned its eyes to her again. Watching it slowly walk to her made her shiver as she took steady breaths. It seemed to have calmed down. A gentle growl was emanating from it. When It closed the distance, she could feel its breath. She carefully lifted a hoof towards its head.

“I’m sorry for hurting you,” Fluttershy said as her hoof made contact. It made the leopard’s growl grow slightly louder. “I didn’t mean to. It was just an accident.” She began rubbing the spot she landed on. The growling was slowing down. Careful motions and soothing words seemed to be having their effect. “I was just trying to find my friend. But I slipped down that cliff and fell. I tried, but I couldn't stop myself from falling. Can you forgive me?”

Fluttershy stopped her motion for the moment. Her heart settled seeing that the leopard’s growling had stopped. Its eyes were no longer ferocious or predatory. In fact, it responded by licking Fluttershy along her cheek, a long, salivated lick that pushed her upwards while saliva splashed all across the ground, some soaking her coat. She could only giggle.

“Aww! Thank you for your understanding!” Fluttershy looked back to the path again. She noticed there was a second path, looking fresher than the one she was following. It looked like it was created by a smaller animal, one that just recently fled the scene quickly. Her ears dropped, realizing the scampering she heard earlier must’ve been that animal. Which means, her distraction caused this leopard to lose its prey. Maybe it was more mad about that, but she hoped she made it up to the big fella.

“I need to go!” Fluttershy said. “If I don’t follow those tracks, my best friend will be…” She gasped at the thought of what could happen. “I must hurry and find her! Celestia knows what’ll happen!”

Fluttershy rushed to follow the path again. Her thoughts made her never have the chance to look at the leopard again after that lick. She hoped it was alright now, for she wasted enough time already. But now she felt her body going numb. The painkillers were probably starting to have their full effect. Even though it was making her move quicker, it was worrisome for her health.

But not as worrisome as the rapid steps quickly approaching her. When she turned her head, she saw the leopard catching up to her fast. She gasped, not having enough time to react. The leopard lifted and tossed her up with its head, making her yelp as she found herself landing on its back. One second she was running, the next moment, she found herself riding on a leopard. It gave off a roar as it followed the path.

“Oh d-dear... T-Thank y-y-you,” Fluttershy stuttered as she held on tight, finding it difficult to stay on the leopard. “But… could you…” She was about to ask it to slow down. But this was the speed she needed if she was ever gonna catch up to them. “I-I mean, faster, if you can, please!”

It was almost a regretful decision when the leopard’s speed increased. Many trees zipped by, somehow avoiding contact with either of them. She found it very difficult to stay on, but she was managing. This speed was far faster than she could fly, especially in this forest. Every twist and turn the leopard made caused her to yelp, fearing a crash that could happen at any time.

“I... m-must hold on… for Rainbow Dash!” She forced her eyes shut so that she can focus on just her grip. The piercing sounds of trees and branches passing by still penetrated her ears. Using her wing tips, she tried plugging them, but they could still be heard. If only those painkillers could’ve numbed her hearing. There was no way she was ever taking them again.

After some time passed, Fluttershy began noticing a smell. Before she could get a good whiff at it, the leopard suddenly rushed to a halt. The sudden stop made her lose her grip and fly off the leopard.

“Waah! Oof!” It was a rough landing, but not one she couldn’t handle. She picked herself up and looked back to see why the leopard stopped. The leopard was looking down at something, shaking in fear. There was a piece of wood lying on the ground. Looking around, she noticed that similar pieces of wood scattered the area. And then there was that smell… Fluttershy knew that smell.

Timberwolves.

The leopard cried and ran away from the area, leaving Fluttershy behind. Fluttershy looked behind her as well as the rest of her surrounding areas. Multiple piles of wood belonging to the timberwolves decorated the place. There were magical scars on tree trunks and pegasi feathers strewn about. Something must’ve gone down here, but there was still a trail further ahead.

“I must be close!” she said. She knew that had to be the case because the breath of the timberwolves still lingered. Grunting, she continued running to follow the path. They couldn’t be much farther. At least, that’s what she hoped.

As she ran, a massive chill ran through her features. It made her release a fearsome stuttered gasp. The more she followed the path, the greater the chill became. She wasn’t sure why, but it felt like something really bad was about to happen. Whatever it was, it only meant she had to get to them now.


______________________________________________________________________________


Further ahead the forest, three ponies stood in a clearing, or actually, a rather cramped clearing. It was a clearing that only formed due to the battle that took place here. Timberwolf parts, fallen tree trunks, feathers, and strands of coat hair scattered the area. A burnt out campfire was set at the center of the clearing. The fallen trees were the source that fed the fire.

Rainbow and the other two ponies were at the edge of the clearing. They had been discussing things for a while. The longer the conversation went, the more Rainbow’s heart ached. She really didn’t want to do this, but she believed it was for the best.

Neither pony noticed, but a fourth pony eventually arrived at the scene. It was Fluttershy, gasping internally, yet harshly when she saw them all. She could hear them all still talking.

“So now you understand the kind of danger that you are,” Strike stated. Rainbow only replied with a nod. “A wild predator that feasts on other ponies, bringing harm to them with every breath you take.” X was carefully approaching Rainbow while carrying something in her mouth. Her bright yellow eyes shook as well as her face. Rainbow was looking at her with a frown, but she made no attempt to move away.

Fluttershy gave a hurtful gasp as she noticed what X held. It was a leash. She quickly attached it to the collar Rainbow was wearing, and then flinched back while holding the leash in her hoof. At that moment, Fluttershy learned she was right. Rainbow really was turning herself in.

When the leash was placed, Rainbow looked X in the eye. Even now, X was still a bit shaky and breathing carefully. Looking at her eyes though, it seemed like something was on her mind. Her bright eyes stared into hers for a long period of time, not really focused on anything else. The more she stared, the more her breath sounded curious. For a moment, they turned to Strike slowly. They then turned back to her looking a bit more curious.

“Be happy why don’t you,” Strike suddenly started. “Pretty soon, you’ll never be a danger to anypony anymore. And you’ll never have to hear from-”

“WAAAAIIIT!!!”

All six ears raised at the sound of that yell. It made Rainbow’s heart twist as everypony turned to the source. Her teeth gritted as she saw her. Fluttershy was here. She should be happy to see her. But she wasn’t. The only thing she felt... was worry.

She didn’t want to see Fluttershy here.
> Chapter 24: Trust
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy was gasping for breath after yelling like that. Strike and X were about to take Rainbow Dash away, and Rainbow was allowing this to happen. She couldn’t have that happen.

“You again?” Strike asked. “How did you manage to catch up with us?”

Fluttershy didn’t answer and turned to Rainbow. “Rainbow Dash, please! Don’t do this! You’re making a mistake!”

“A mistake?” Strike snorted. “The only mistake she’s made was what she did to you. These creatures are nothing but dangerous.”

“Rainbow Dash isn’t dangerous! She may be a tatzlpony, but she wasn’t always one. I know because she’s my best friend! We’ve known each other since we were fillies! She would never hurt me on purpose!”

There was an audible yet stuttered gasp that silenced the conversation. Surprisingly, it came from X. Rainbow could see Strike turning his eyes to look at her, so she did the same. X’s mouth hung open while she shivered. Her eyes were focused on Fluttershy. The awkward silence tensed Fluttershy, wondering what just happened.

“Almond Clang never told you, did he?” Strike suddenly responded, making Fluttershy’s heart sink.

“Told me what?” she asked.

Strike seemed to hum to himself in deep thought. It was like he learned something he wasn’t expecting to learn. But why would it be that shocking?

“Let me ask you something,” he said to Fluttershy. “You called this creature a tatzlpony. Why is that?”

Was that the reason? Did they not know what Rainbow was? Confused, Fluttershy looked down and tried to come up with her answer.

“It’s… because…” She thought back on when she first learned the name. “Rainbow was speaking a single word when I asked her what she was. ‘Tatzl’. That was the word. It must’ve meant she was a tatzlpony. Right?”

Strike appeared to be thinking for a few seconds. It sounded like he hummed. “I see.” He seemed to turn his eyes slightly towards Rainbow. “Then that means, everything you know about a tatzlpony has only come from her, hasn’t it?” His voice sharpened at the end, making Fluttershy tense up. So they did know? “And you claim a tatzlpony isn’t dangerous.”

“Rainbow Dash isn’t dangerous!” Fluttershy defended and stomped her hoof.

“Do you need a reminder of the sickness you experienced earlier?”

Fluttershy stumbled back from that comment. Learning about that really hurt, and remembering it put a damper to her confidence. But she didn’t let up.

“No. I already know.” Rainbow gasped internally when Fluttershy said that. Regret could be seen in Rainbow’s eyes.

“A tatzlpony is a creature capable of swallowing ponies whole." Strike continued. "But the thing that makes them so dangerous is their toxic presence. Now here’s a question for you. Our client told us specifically to keep the tatzlpony away from you. Why is that if you two are as close as you say?”

Fluttershy’s heart was starting to beat fiercely. The way Strike asked that made it sound like a threat. But what scared her more was that Rainbow didn’t react to it like she usually did.

“I… I…” Fluttershy couldn’t find the words to respond. X appeared to be gritting her teeth in response to Fluttershy’s stuttering. Strike decided to answer.

“Tatzlponies are attracted to those they like or deem friendly. They respond to that friendliness by feasting on their prey, keeping them trapped in their stomach. Why do they do that? They have a better taste for those they are close to.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened from what Strike was saying. “If they were to trap somepony they didn’t like, they would be met with a terrible taste.” A flashback played in her mind. When Rainbow spat Clang into the cage back at her cottage, she remembered Rainbow spitting in disgust. “Sounds natural, doesn’t it? But then you remember their toxin. They’ll swallow their prey and keep them trapped in their stomach. Meanwhile, their toxins will slowly infect you, taking away your life. And you’ll have nowhere to escape while they stick to you like glue.”

Fluttershy started gritting her teeth. The more Strike explained himself, the more it made sense why they say Rainbow’s so dangerous. “You’re starting to get it now, aren’t you? The closer you are, the more tempted she’ll be.” Strike pointed to Rainbow, who was looking away in shame. “That is why our client requested to keep her away from you! Else you’ll meet the same fate they had!”

Fluttershy excelled a nervous moan. She thought about the last comment Strike made. “Somepony very close to your client. Friend or family?”

Strike nodded. “I'm sure Almond told you about the life that was lost.”

Fluttershy gave a retort. “But that wasn’t Rainbow’s fault!” Rainbow’s eyes were directed back to Fluttershy. “Rainbow told me herself what happened. She remembers!” It made Strike raise an eyebrow. She put a serious face and continued.

“Rainbow Dash was turned into a tatzlpony. I don’t know who did it, but somepony tried to rescue her. Whoever they were, they sounded like a mare.” Fluttershy pulled back and started frowning as she recalled the event she was told. “While they were running away, something bad happened. Some horrible monster found them and caught Rainbow’s rescuer. She wanted to help them, to save them. But…” She grunted at the next part. It just didn’t sound like Rainbow, but it sounded like this was what happened. All she could blame was the memory loss. “They convinced Rainbow… to leave them behind. They said that she would only attract more of them. Following her rescuer’s orders, she left, and she never saw that mare again.” With more confident eyes, she looked back to Strike. “Rainbow Dash didn’t take anypony’s life away! They sacrificed themselves to save her! Your client is mistaken!”

Fluttershy finished and started panting heavily. She had so much to say, some of it being painful to recall. But it was the truth she knew and she had to let it out. All that seemed to produce was silence in the air. Nopony was responding. Strike just looked like he was waiting for Fluttershy to continue. Rainbow was still looking away and frowning.

There was suddenly a response that came from X. A shivered gasp escaped her as she looked to a bag sitting next to her. The bag was starting to shake. Rainbow looked at it and tensed up. Fluttershy gave a fearful moan as she felt a thick change in the atmosphere. Green magical auras spread across the air. They were coming from the pieces of wood scattered across the clearing. All of them were shaking.

The timberwolves… they were pulling themselves back together. Fluttershy’s eyes shrunk as she took a slight step back. She couldn’t leave now. Rainbow Dash still needed her. But what could she do?

“Is that all?” Strike suddenly said. The tension took a turn. Fluttershy released a quick gasp as she looked to Strike. She noticed a change with the pieces of wood scattered around. Their shaking slowed to a stop as well as their bag. The green aura dissipated. Rainbow’s tense softened and returned back to its frown. X didn’t take her eyes off the bag, moving a shaking hoof towards it to nudge it.

The bag… Were their timberwolf parts inside that bag? Was that why they couldn’t pull themselves back together?

“I never said Rainbow Dash was the tatzlpony that took their life,” Strike continued. The sudden news startled Fluttershy.

“W-W-...What?! B-But, wasn’t that the reason-”

“Our client wants us to capture this tatzlpony because of her toxic presence. She's dangerous! If she's left alone, her toxin will spread and the tragedy will repeat. After all, it almost just did with you. We don't need any further risks.”

“Nnngh…” Fluttershy gritted her teeth. She had to find a way to reason with them. “It won’t happen again... I just know it won’t. Besides… even if it does, we now know how to cure it. The flowers… back at the campsite. They can repel the toxin. They can-”

“No, Fluttershy…” Fluttershy’s breath froze upon hearing that response. It didn’t come from Strike. It came from Rainbow Dash, in a very defeated tone.

“W-Wha…” was all Fluttershy could make as a response.

“They’re gone, Fluttershy…” Rainbow continued. “All gone… Every last one… eaten… by the parasprites.”

Fluttershy’s mouth hung open in shock, breaths stuttering in a way that sounded like she would choke. Strike had even turned his attention away from Fluttershy to listen to Rainbow Dash, while simultaneously listening to Fluttershy’s defeat.

“No… T-That can’t be… Rainbow?” Rainbow just turned her eyes down. She could feel X’s hooves trembling more violently in the grip of the leash. Fluttershy continued. “Rainbow, please… Don’t do this…” It hurt a lot more hearing Rainbow be the one to push their reasons. “Trust me Rainbow Dash. We can find a way to stop this. You won’t be a danger. Trust me.”

X had taken a closer look at Rainbow, her shivering halting for a moment, then resuming. Rainbow brought her eyes back to Fluttershy. Even now, Rainbow felt that strange hunger. It may not have looked like it, but she was severely fighting her instincts. Her instincts kept telling her to lash her tongues out at Fluttershy and swallow her. The fact that it was Fluttershy specifically really didn’t help. They really were just targeting the one she cared for the most.

“I trust you, Fluttershy,” Rainbow said. The words were there, but the tone wasn’t very promising. She closed her eyes and turned away. “I don’t trust… myself…”

X’s breath stopped upon that response. She quickly looked to Fluttershy, who wasn’t faring any better. The world around Fluttershy collapsed as her colors faded. All feelings in her body went numb like the painkillers were responsible. But they weren’t. This feeling all came from the defeat she felt of hearing Rainbow giving up. Not even her heartbeats could be felt anymore.

A whining cry escaped Fluttershy as her body collapsed in defeat. She closed her eyes as tears started spilling out of them. It was over. How could Fluttershy convince Rainbow if Rainbow no longer believed in herself? There was nothing she could do now. Rainbow had been convinced, all to protect her. But she was the one who wanted to protect Rainbow.

“AAHHH!!!” Fluttershy suddenly felt something blast against her stomach. It felt like a magic blast that flung her backward. Her back slammed into a tree. She opened her eyes with a gasp. Strike darted towards her, slamming some sort of handle that went right between her neck, trapping her as it wedged its bars against the tree. X’s head sprung up and gasped. Rainbow’s eyes grew a bit and her attention was shifted back to Strike.

“Now that we understand each other,” he said with a seriously mean expression. It terrified Fluttershy.

“W-W-What are you do-oing?!”

Strike didn’t answer and turned his attention to the other two. “X!” he shouted, causing her to flinch back. “Toss me that bag.”

Fluttershy tried to pry the handle away from her, but it was proving useless. The handle was gripped too tightly on the trunk of the tree. Not to mention Strike's hoof was keeping it there. Meanwhile, X did as she was told, slowly bringing her hoof to their bag to pick it up. When she raised it in the air, she threw her hoof to toss the bag.

Everything went silent when the bag plunged to the ground. For some reason, X only managed to toss the bag halfway to Strike’s position. Both Fluttershy and Rainbow gave a questioning look when they witnessed it. It somehow made the tension drop. X shy’d away with a shameful moan.

“Seriously, X?” Strike said with an unamused face. He used his magic to levitate the bag the rest of the way. “I know you’re not that strong, but that’s just embarrassing.” His head turned back to Fluttershy with a serious scowl on his face. It made Fluttershy shiver. Whatever it was, he was not happy.

“The plan was supposed to be simple,” he stated as he moved the bag next to him. “Lure you out of the cottage, then capture the creature.”

Fluttershy’s breath hiccupped a few times. “L-L-Lure?” she asked. Rainbow took a step forward, her curiosity piquing. This change of tone was making her heart drop.

“While you were taking care of that tatzlpony, we were preparing our capture plan. We had X here deliver a letter at your place. She said she saw a filly leaving the cottage just before she arrived and asked her to deliver it instead.” Strike snorted. “A filly being in the presence of that thing.” His tone was dark there. “I’m sure you know by now, that letter was to send you to our third member Almond Clang. While you were distracted by him, we could sneak into your cottage and capture the tatzlpony without your notice.”

Fluttershy’s eyes shrunk upon hearing this plan. The breath that she inhaled was getting more difficult to breathe out as Strike went on. He unzipped his bag rather roughly with his magic as he went on.

“But of course, the tatzlpony decided to follow you! Your bond with such a creature was already too deep. And while we did have a backup plan, it was only because he wanted to let out some steam, well, steam because something really irritated him. But you STILL somehow stopped his plan too!”

Some sort of device was swiftly pulled out of the back. It looked to be shaped like a small tuning-fork, but with two clear cylinders. He levitated it towards Fluttershy, who tried flinching back further against the tree. “Ahh! W-What is that?!” she asked desperately. Rainbow lightly gasped. Seeing Fluttershy’s fear was starting to bring doubt in her mind. A button was pressed on the device. Fluttershy saw something flowing within it. Inside its two clear cylinders, many small insects swarmed into view. Each one sparkled a blue electric current, which resonated along and outside the device's cylinders. That electricity flickered a blue glow so intense, it illuminated Fluttershy’s fear clearly. Her mouth was wide open and her pupils shrunk to pea-sizes. The flickering glow was bright enough to blind.

“Tw-... Twi-... TWITTERMITES?!” Fluttershy shouted in agony.

“Yes,” Strike answered. “Over one hundred of these little buggers which will send a coursing shock through your whole body. You’ll live, but you’ll be out like a light.”

That didn’t ease Fluttershy’s nerves. She thrashed violently, trying to escape Strike’s clutches. “N-N-NO! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?! AHH!” Rainbow’s ears raised hearing Fluttershy’s torment.

“Like I said. A tatzlpony is more dangerous to those they are close to. I know your kind. You’ve already demonstrated the sort of bond you have with her from your repeated resistance. Even after everything I’ve said, you’re still gonna try and take the tatzlpony back. Because she’s your friend. And you would never abandon a friend, would you?”

The last thing Strike said echoed in Rainbow’s mind. She could practically feel the torment and pain Fluttershy was feeling right now. What Strike said to Fluttershy, was that what she was doing? Was she abandoning Fluttershy? No. That’s not what she was doing. This was to protect Fluttershy, right?

Protect Fluttershy… How was this protecting Fluttershy? Rainbow’s head shook as she started realizing what sort of logic she was believing. Maybe she was poisonous, and maybe her presence endangered Fluttershy’s life. But right now, if something wasn’t done, Fluttershy was gonna get harmed. Strike said she would live, but could he be trusted?

That was the word she needed. Trust. Her head lowered as she started to growl. She trusted Fluttershy, but couldn’t trust herself. However, there was far more trust in herself than she had with these ponies. A tug could be felt on her collar. That snapped the last straw.

Fluttershy whimpered fiercely as that device inched closer to her face. She couldn’t deny what Strike said. Even after all he said about Rainbow being dangerous to her, even after she accepted defeat, there was still a part of her that wanted to save Rainbow. Now, Strike was gonna make sure she didn’t get that chance. There was nothing she could do to defend herself. Tears poured from her face like a fountain out of sheer fright.

“We’re saving lives here, so this is for your own good.” He inched the device closer. “Don’t worry. You’ll wake up in a few hours. Plenty of time to get our task done.” As the device inched closer, Fluttershy’s whimper turned to screaming. Every inch increased the volume. She was screaming louder and louder, more than she thought her lungs could handle. Her eyes shut tight, waiting for the zap.

A loud pound penetrated her ears, followed by a yelp from Strike. Her eyes flung open to witness Strike getting tackled by a pony’s body. It bounced off him, making his body plunge to the ground while his device was thrown astray, colliding against the ground with a large spark.

Fluttershy gasped as she saw the pony’s body plummet to the ground. It was X. Her body had slammed face first against Strike’s body, bouncing over him and colliding with the ground. She wasn't moving, and her wings were sprawled out.

Strike released an angry and painful growl as he picked himself up. His eyes turned behind him with a frustrated ‘grr’. He was looking at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow… she was furious. Her teeth were gritted against each other so hard. They looked like they would crack from their own force. It scared Fluttershy. The leash she had was now on the floor, ripped off of her collar.

“X!” Strike extended her name as he looked at her body. “You were supposed to be holding her back!” X didn’t respond. Her body remained motionless. It made Strike give an angry scowl. “Darn it! She’s out cold!” Another grunt as his eyes quickly turned towards Rainbow. Rainbow lowered her head and intensified her glare. His eyes went back to the device.

“This was NOT how things were supposed to go!” he yelled as his magic gripped the device again. The ring on his horn was glowing menacingly. “Take back the tatzlpony without attracting attention. Nopony would have to get hurt. But now?!” The device came to his side with the spark running faster. “Fine! Your struggles leave me no choice! We’ve had to capture tigers that took the lives of family all because of this blinded bond. You think I’ll hesitate to do the same to you?! Any harm that comes to this pony will be because of your actions! You understand?!”

Rainbow ignored his threat. The only thing she focused on was his movements with that device he levitated. He looked ready to use that thing recklessly. He even brought it closer to Fluttershy’s neck as a threat. It didn’t matter what Strike said next. All that mattered was his actions. And right now, those actions were threatening Fluttershy to the point of releasing tears. She only needed to say one thing, one thing that would seal Strike’s fate if he disobeyed.

“Get away from her you FEATHERHEAD!”
> Chapter 25: Poison
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash left behind a rainbow trail as she dashed towards Strike in all her fury. Strike left Fluttershy alone and ran towards Rainbow as well. He used his magic to throw his zapper device at Rainbow. She had to dodge out of the way, else she’d get zapped pretty harshly. Both ponies collided hoof to hoof with each other, but Strike still had his magic. The ring on his horn glowed as bright as his horn did. An electric buzz could be heard, signaling Rainbow to release contact, for Strike had sent the device their way.

Strike caught the device in his hoof when it reached him. He growled. “Hold still you slippery beast!”

Strike jumped at her with the device. With a quick flap of her wings, Rainbow dashed backward to avoid the zap. She had to do something about that device, otherwise, she couldn’t even get close to Strike. Its electric currents zapped a wide area in the air every time he swung it. Backing away towards one of the trees, she decided to turn herself and extend a hind leg to kick one of its branches. The branch snapped upon impact, allowing her to grab it in her hooves. After seeing what Rainbow was up to, Strike lit up his horn again as well as the ring. A beam fired from his horn. Rainbow gasped and hid behind the tree to avoid being hit.

Off in the corner, Fluttershy moaned in fear watching the battle progress. Strike was firing more beams towards Rainbow as she zigzagged from tree to tree to close her distance with Strike. When she did, she swung with her branch while Strike swung with his zapper. An intense spark shine resonated from their collision which reflected off of Fluttershy’s eyes. She worried for Rainbow Dash. But with Strike distracted like this, she had to use this chance to escape from her imprisonment. 

"Be careful, Rainbow," Fluttershy said softly as she placed her hooves on the bar handle that was between her neck, grunting as she attempted to pry it away.

Rainbow moved from tree to tree, using them as cover from Strike’s magic. When she closed the distance, Strike prepared to lash his zapper using his hoof. Reacting swiftly, Rainbow lashed her tongues out. Her coils wrapped around his hoof, preventing him from completing the swing. She then swung with her tree branch, retracting her coils just as she smacked the device out of his hoof. He gave off a raging grunt as the device bounced against the ground, releasing bright sparks. Before Rainbow knew it, Strike had turned himself around and kicked with his hind hooves. A painful blow was struck on Rainbow’s face, knocking her backward.

Strike’s horn, as well as the ring, started glowing brighter as he frustratedly groaned. Rainbow had her hooves on her face, rubbing off the pain from the blow she took. She put them away just in time to notice another beam from Strike heading straight at her. With a yelp, she pulled her head backward, barely avoiding it as she watched it go right over her, singeing a piece of her mane. The beam continued on and struck a tree, causing an explosion that tore the tree down.

Looking back to Strike, Rainbow’s eyes widened with gritted teeth. Strike was preparing another one, looking really serious on hurting somepony. As Strike fired again, she dropped down and lunged herself behind the nearest tree she could find. Her eyes turned to the zapper device on the floor.

“Mmm… Come on! Mmm!” Fluttershy moaned as she pressed her ears to her head. Her moans grew more painful from trying to pry the bar handle apart. It was really wedged. She was starting to feel pain in her forelegs. Every time she pushed and pulled, the handle felt like it clipped between a small bark on the tree, feeling closer to being released every time. But the loud noises from the battle kept spoiling her concentration.

Another loud bang as Strike fired a blast at the tree he saw Rainbow hide behind. Two more blasts were released for good measure, leaving behind a thick magical scar. He turned his head with a growl toward the zapper device. It was quite a distance away, but he made a beeline for it. His horn and ring were glowing brighter with fury. It seemed he really wanted to put an end to this.

But Rainbow would be the one to do it. When Strike got close enough to the device, he lowered his horn toward it. That was when Rainbow emerged from her hiding spot inside a bush. She flipped her body around and kicked upward with a hind leg directly on Strike’s ring. A loud clang of hoof and metal colliding sounded.

“AAAAGGHHH!!!” It was a deafening yell that frightened Fluttershy severely. The sudden startle, however, allowed her to finally pry the handle apart, making her face fall to the floor.

The ring on Strike’s horn was kicked off, releasing massive sparks of magical energy. It was practically impossible to tell where the ring went. But if Strike’s power was coming from that ring, it wasn’t anymore. His body flew backward a few yards before he aligned himself to land on his rump, sliding some distance.

“Grrr… A-AAaaRrRGH!” Strike’s voice became very unstably frustrated. It sounded like he was in a lot of pain, squeezing his eyes tightly. He was bracing his head with a single hoof while his horn continued to release magical sparks. They were growing harsher as well as Strike’s yells.

“WhAaAt… hAve YOu d-Done?!” The magical sparks severely grew, making Rainbow grit her teeth in surprise. Fluttershy, startled by the light, covered her eyes with her hoof. It continued growing, larger, and larger...

“I… c-CAn’T L-l-LeT M-mY CLi-I-ieNT!!! UUwWaahHH!!!”

Rainbow and Fluttershy cried out a yell as the magic sparked lightning in an aggressive explosion. It spread across the entire clearing, making its light visible very deep in the forest. The sound and flash alerted many animals in the forest to its presence. Most, if not all of them, predator or prey, immediately fled the scene in fright.

The flash’s light soon settled, leaving behind a thick cloud of smoke from the dirt. Heavy breaths could be heard in the middle of that smoke. When it settled enough, Strike’s silhouette could be seen. There was a vibrating flash emitting from him, revealing the condition of his body. Unsteady magical energy swirled around him like electricity. He looked severely scarred from magical burns that came from his own magic. His inhales and exhales lasted a full two seconds each with his body rising and falling each time.

The dust fully settled. Fluttershy was dropped to her rump while pressed against a tree. She slowly opened her eyes to find the grounds near her covered in magical scars. The very sight of them all frightened her. Who knows what could’ve happened if she had gotten caught in the crossfire? But that led to another question.

“Rainbow? Rainbow Dash?!” She looked around the clearing. Rainbow Dash was nowhere in sight. X’s body was nowhere to be seen either. All she could see was Strike in the center of all those scars looking deep in pain. The sight terrified Fluttershy.

“T-There…” Two more huffs of breath came from Strike. “Agh…” A long pause. “Are you... nng-happy now?” His head turned in different directions, looking like he was looking for Rainbow. “You… b-brought this on yourself.” He stopped looking for a moment and raised his hoof towards his mouth. “The lives you willingly put in danger is unforgivable.” After licking his hoof, he jammed it against his horn with a fierce grunt. A loud sizzle emanated from his horn as he did, settling the sparks coming from it.

Fluttershy’s pupils shook to the point of popping. Many emotions filled her head. Her lips trembled and struggled to speak words. “D-Danger…?” she forced out as she looked down. Strike slowly turned his eyes towards her. “Y-You… call her a danger… b-but…” Her hooves and head trembled in fear and worry, but more importantly…

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” Fluttershy shouted in all her rage at Strike, making him flinch back. “If anypony is a danger to us, it is YOU! All you have done is attack us, threaten us, and for WHAT?!”

Strike took a step back, looking away and squeezing his eyes shut. “Gah… N-No! Not that look! Grr!” He forced himself to look back to Fluttershy. “Almond told me about this look. A look worse than a devil’s eyes. But... i-it has nothing to back it up! You know nothing!”

Strike began charging for Fluttershy. Or at least, he attempted to. For some reason, he found himself unable to move from his spot. He was forced to stare down Fluttershy from where he was.

Fluttershy, who had nearly lost her composure from Strike’s resistance, returned her argument full force, slowly walking towards him. “I may not know what a tatzlpony is, but I don’t need to know everything to know what they want, what Rainbow wants! And she does NOT want to go with you, so LEAVE HER ALONE!”

“S-Shut up!” Strike growled harshly and raised a hoof in the air. But when he tried to swing it, it froze in mid-air. “Nnngh!” He tried all his might to force it to move. For some reason, he couldn’t get it to. “W-What’s… going on?” Fear drew from his eyes. “Don’t you understand?! If we leave her alone, lives will be lost!”

“What about HER life?!” Fluttershy’s eyes grew as wide as they could, releasing her Stare full of confidence without a shred of fear. “What do you plan to do to her when you capture her?!” She could see Strike’s pupils shaking while his teeth gritted. “Will you torment her?! Keep her locked up?! What does your client want with her?! Tell me!”

Fluttershy was inches within Strike’s face now. He tried to flare up his horn again to blast her away, but it fizzled out a split second after trying to charge it. 

"Ahh... A-Aaahhh!" Words could no longer form from Strike's mouth. Sweat poured down his face as fear took him over. There was nothing he could do. Every time he tried to fight this devilish look, his body refused to move. His limbs were practically restrained behind him, unable to fight the demon that he was staring down.

“Leave... us... alone! And NEVER bother us again!” The fear overtook Strike. His limbs became free, but he closed his eyes and screamed, running in the opposite direction in terror. He ran deep into the forest and didn’t come back.

The chains that were holding Strike in place had let go the moment he decided to flee. But Fluttershy knew what those chains were. They didn’t come from her Stare. No. That came from her bond with Rainbow Dash. Literally. She saw Rainbow’s coils dangling down from the trees above her. Every time Strike tried to attack, they would hold his attack in place. His fear had made him unable to realize what was really holding him back.

Fluttershy looked up, smiling as she watched those coils retract back up in the trees. Moments later, her tatzlpony, Rainbow Dash, dropped down from them with a big smile on her face. She hadn’t been harmed from the explosion and was okay. It made Fluttershy smile in glee.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash! Thank you thank you thank you so much!” Rainbow Dash opened her mouth with a bright smile as well, holding her tongues slightly out, including the one with a knot. Oddly enough, their presence hadn’t made Fluttershy nervous at all. It seemed she was finally getting used to them. They went for a hug.

“D-Don’t mo-o-ove!” a high, desperate voice suddenly made itself present, followed by a clicking sound that hissed. Fear struck both Rainbow and Fluttershy instantly. Their hug was halted before it started. The voice continued. “Tur-rn aro-ound, a-a-and don’t mo-o-ove!” Slowly, Rainbow and Fluttershy turned to the sound of that cracking voice. What they saw made them gasp silently as their fear grew ten-fold.

It was X. That was who the voice belonged to. They could see her bright yellow eyes filled with cracks that could only be described as a fear somehow more intense than what they were feeling now. She was gasping and shaking harshly, like she would suffocate at any moment.

But what drew their fear was what X was holding. She was standing on her hind legs. Her wings were spread to keep her balance while she pointed a device towards them with her forehooves. The device she held looked like a small cannon-like crossbow, but a snake was strapped inside its barrel. Not just any snake either. A rattlesnake. It seemed to be shaking its head violently, clearly raged and trying to get out of the barrel, ready to bite anything it made contact with.

Fluttershy’s pupils shrunk to pea-sizes. The rattlesnake… there was a rag strapped all across its face, rendering it unable to see or hear. All it had was its mouth. It didn’t care what it was gonna bite. The moment X pulls that trigger, that rattlesnake would seep its venom into whatever poor soul it was shot towards. And right now, they were the ones being targeted.

“W-W-What a-are yo-ou…” Fluttershy was too afraid to speak properly.

“T-The tatzlpony… COME HE-E-ERE!!!” X’s voice broke into a whine. Fluttershy found herself shivering, slowly twisting her head to look to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow was already looking at her. The look in Rainbow’s eyes told her that Rainbow was just as afraid as she was, or worried just that much for her sake.

Rainbow turned her eyes back to X. If her previous actions were any indication, she cared far more for Fluttershy’s sake than her own. She started walking, making Fluttershy’s heart sink further.

“N-No… Rain-”

“Aa-a-ahh!” Fluttershy silenced herself when X cried and turned the device toward her direction. She was too afraid to try and talk Rainbow out of her decision. With that amount of fear she was seeing in X’s eyes, any sudden movements could set her off. Would she really fire that thing? Both Rainbow and Fluttershy were too afraid to take that chance.

Whimpers were coming from X’s voice as Rainbow was closing the distance. Fluttershy desperately wanted to say something that would stop Rainbow from doing this. But her mouth refused to voice words. With that snake snapping violently in her direction, only fear crossed her mind.

Suddenly, an even greater fear crossed Fluttershy's mind. What if… what if X was planning on using that on Rainbow?

“AHH!” As soon as that crossed Fluttershy’s mind, she gasped, which made X release a terrified scream that startled Rainbow. The next thing they knew, X shut her eyes and twirled herself. Another device appeared in her other hoof, which she immediately thrusted to Rainbow’s forehead.

Rainbow shrieked as her body suddenly illuminated in a bright blue flashing zap. It was the Twittermite Zapper Device. The sight made Fluttershy cry out as if she was the one in pain.

“NNOOO!” Fluttershy ran to Rainbow.

“St-Stop!” X cried as she pointed the snake device back at Fluttershy. The fear grew on Fluttershy again, but Rainbow was being zapped right now. She ignored her fear and continued running. But that didn’t stop X’s fear. Her cries of terror only grew louder seeing Fluttershy’s resistance.

“You’re hurting Rain-”

...There was a firing snap.

The entire forest was suddenly drained of its colors as that snap echoed in Fluttershy’s ears. X had fired the snake at her. The firing caused X to recoil back violently while the snake was shot towards Fluttershy. Seeing it made the whole world slow down in her mind. Her eyes shut tightly as she spread her wings and dug her hooves in the floor to stop her running. With a quick thrust, she jumped to the left, attempting to avoid contact with the snake.

The rag… it came loose when the device was fired. With the snake rapidly darting its head and chomping down, the rag flung off. No longer blinded, the snake turned its head to the first living target it could see. That was Fluttershy. Its body darted, changing its direction to lunge straight at her change of path.

Fluttershy’s eyes slowly grew wide as that snake slowly approached her side. Her mouth dropped slowly. Everything in her mind played slowly. But the actual events happened so fast. The snake closed the distance. She shut her eyes tightly. When they fully closed, the snake’s fangs dug into the side of her body.

A bloodcurdling scream echoed across the area, making the world’s color return as time regained its proper motion. Fluttershy’s body plummeted to the ground. She could feel the snake’s venom coursing through her body. Her feelings were going numb and her sight blurred.

She saw Rainbow Dash’s body dropping to the ground with an electric current. She saw X’s hooves shuffling around in some way. She saw a bright light flashing near her. She felt the light somewhere around her flank. She saw it flashing around Rainbow Dash too. She saw X hastily flying towards her. She saw a green aura forming above X. She could hear yelling coming from X. She heard a violent rustle behind herself.

And then… she felt a stab on her back. That was the last thing she felt before her visions went black.


______________________________________________________________________________


Meanwhile, somewhere in the void of deep darkness, two ponies stood. At least, that’s what this place felt like to her when she was in the presence of this pony right now. She was terrified. The pony staring her down was filled with unbound rage.

“You, LIED TO US!” the pony yelled as it lit up its horn fiercely. But even that horn’s light could not illuminate the area for her. She backed away, sweating, suffocating her breaths, and tears dripping from her eyes.

“N-N-NO!” she tried saying as the pony drew closer to her. “I-I’M SORRYYY!” Her breath hyperventilated as her eyes practically stared at Tartarus’s doorstep. As she braced a hoof to her chest, she knew she was about to meet it.

A loud magical flash could be heard all across Ponyville, followed by a mare’s bloodcurdling scream echoing a number of times. It silenced the whole town.
> Chapter 26: Message
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ring. Ring. Ring.

All she could hear was that silent ringing in her ears. Eventually, it cleared up after lasting a good few seconds. Something else was echoing. It wasn’t her own heartbeat, which she could practically hear. The echo… sounded like voices, voices that were nearby. From the echoing, it sounded like they were in a building. She must’ve been in there too.

She opened her eyes with a moan when she heard those voices. They were too garbled to make out. Her vision was also blurred and blacked out, making it difficult to understand anything. All she noticed was that the garbled voices seemed to stop. Up ahead, she could see a silhouette and a shadow. It looked like they were talking and just recently stopped.

As she saw them, her vision and hearing cleared up slightly. It looked like the silhouette had turned their eyes toward her. But then it turned its eyes back to the shadow. She could hear their voice.

”You must leave now,” the voice said. It sounded like a mare’s voice, but she couldn’t tell who the shadow was. All she knew was that it left on her word. But it almost seemed like the shadow was hesitant to leave. The mare looked at her and started walking closer. It was then that she realized, she couldn’t feel much of her body at all. She couldn’t move her mouth. It had been taped shut, not that she had any energy to speak anyway. There wasn’t even energy in her legs or wings. Thinking was also a challenge. What could she even remember? Her name was Rainbow Dash. That much she could remember. Could she remember what just happened?

The answer was ‘no’ for the time being as the silhouette came close enough to her. She couldn’t make out her colors, but she could see the color of her eyes. They were red… a deep clear red with what looked like small cracks near them, like they had suffered a number of strains. Most of her face could be seen too. It wasn’t anypony she recognized, but the pony was a unicorn, with her horn still glowing.

“Embrace the lives of the lost,” she said. Rainbow could remember those words now. But what did she mean by them?

For some reason, Rainbow regained feelings in her hooves. She felt compelled to lift herself from her lying position. So she did. Slowly her hooves picked themselves up. It was odd. Clearly, this pony was the reason why she was here, but she didn’t feel compelled to leave.

A sudden rattle gave her one reason. While her hooves weren’t restricted, she felt her hind leg wrapped in a brace. There was a chain attached to that brace, preventing her from going anywhere, not that she could find the energy to attempt an escape. Why was escape in her mind anyway?

“It seems my spell’s effect is still lingering,” the mare said. "You are not fully awake yet, but you should hear me." It was odd. There was no tone in her voice. No emotion. Just calm and clear. She moved her glowing horn closer towards Rainbow. Her eyes and horn seemed to be searching along her body. Certain parts of Rainbow’s body lit up as her horn touched. Not really touched, but rather they tapped close to Rainbow’s body like there was a magic bubble covering it.

“My…” she continued. “Your physical form is well developed. Strong… healthy… You must do a lot of exercising.” She moved to look at the sides of Rainbow’s body, letting her horn brighten up more spots. Rainbow followed her with her eyes, but not her head. “Oh… but your body… also shows signs of agony. Many scars still visible. Some on your legs, some on your face, some on your wings.”

The mare’s horn stopped glowing. “All of them minor, but there’s a large one at the base of your right wing that’s not so minor. It looks like it was broken at one point.” She started walking back to the front of Rainbow. “Do you still feel it?” A moment of silence came. Rainbow couldn’t respond due to the tape on her mouth. Even without the tape, she didn't have the energy to. “These scars are old. But they always remain, invisible to the naked eye. And while they may linger on, the pain doesn’t.” Her eyes looked directly into Rainbow’s. “Have you ever wondered how it would feel like… if that pain you suffered never went away?”

If Rainbow could gasp, she would in a soft way. Curiosity filled her eyes as she was intent on listening. “After suffering a harsh injury or a devastating illness, all you want is for the pain to vanish. You sleep, you dream, you forget. For that moment, the pain is gone. But when you awaken, it returns.” She closed her eyes. “Sleep long enough, that pain doesn’t return. When that happens, what is that feeling you get? Relief? Pleasure? Like you’re at the top of the world?”

The mare’s eyes opened and seemed to wander around fantasizing. “That feeling… I always wonder how it feels like. To be freed from the shackles of pain. To be recovered after being sick. To awaken one day no longer feeling weak and helpless.” It was creepy, yet also somewhat depressing that her tone didn’t change from her rant. Although it also sounded like she was somewhat struggling to keep that toneless tone.

The mare turned her eyes back to Rainbow. “The only thing worse than feeling so much pain… is knowing that you’re unwillingly spreading it to others.” Rainbow wasn’t sure how to respond, not that she could. For some reason, none of what this mare was saying was feeling threatening. All she felt was pity.

“Am I wrong?” she asked as if Rainbow Dash could answer. “Would you really feel worse that way?” Silence followed before she took a few steps forward. “Maybe some ponies would. Maybe some ponies would gladly see others in pain. Relieved to be freed from their pain. Sacrifice other lives to save themselves.”

Rainbow Dash blinked as she felt her stomach go hollow. Something about those words dug deep in her mind. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling. She didn’t notice it until the mare did, but her eyes were slightly twitching. The mare seemed to respond to that by releasing a long but soft ‘huh’.

“Curious…” she stepped back and went silent again. The strange hollowness in Rainbow’s stomach went away. She seemed to just be lost in thought. It was strange that even now, her horn was still glowing, not even a sign that she was tired yet, or what she was using it for. And then, her eyes closed as she shook her head with a moan.

“You know… I don’t even know why I’m telling you all this. Chances are… you won’t even remember any of it.” Her eyes wandered. “Hmm…” Silence came for a couple seconds. “Maybe I just wanted to talk to somepony. I don’t know… Ever since he…”

For some reason, she cut herself off. There was a shake to her head. “Nevermind…” She took a deep breath through her nose and let it out through her mouth. “Today is forgotten. But tomorrow will remember. Everyday… I wonder if tomorrow will ever happen… that what happens today… will be forgotten when tomorrow comes. Much like what will happen to you.”

A low growl sounded somewhere. Rainbow’s eyes grew. She wasn’t sure if it was a response to either the mare’s words or the growl. “Sounds like the beast awakens.” the mare said. She picked herself up and continued. “Its tomorrow is now today, but its pain still lingers. All that pain… you may wish to forget it, wish to recover from it and forget it ever happened. But tomorrow will come and the pain is still remembered. For some, that pain came not from themselves, but to others. They never had a choice. They were resented for it even having no choice, much like a predator bringing pain to its prey.” Inching herself closer, she spoke in Rainbow’s ear. “The pain vanishes, but there's no tomorrow for them, is there?”

For some reason, Rainbow couldn’t feel the mare’s breath, despite giving her quite a chill. The mare backed up and now looked closely at Rainbow’s eyes. “A new hope blossoms for them today. But what will happen to them?” Every time she asked something, she seemed to ask it as if expecting an answer. She sighed. “I was never good at making choices. Now I no longer have one. I lost that privilege long ago. My hope. My freedom.” There was a pause. “Him...”

Rainbow found herself breathing harder the more this mare spoke. All these words felt so familiar, but her conscience just couldn’t focus on why that was. The voice, the growl, this room… she felt like she heard them before. Her thoughts broke when something came out of the mare’s mane. She pointed her horn towards Rainbow’s forehead, bringing the object with her. Seeing this object made Rainbow’s eyes shrink. It looked like a syringe.

“Your pain will only be felt for a moment. After that, you won’t remember it happening.” Her horn started glowing brighter, bringing the syringe closer towards the left side of Rainbow’s neck. “But my pain, you will only begin to feel, begin to understand. The others… theirs will depend on you. Their sake… depends on you.” Rainbow was starting to shake. What was that syringe for? Why couldn’t she find the will to resist?

“Listen to your instincts. Listen… to their plea.” The mare jabbed the syringe to Rainbow’s neck swiftly, making Rainbow’s eyes snap closed while the mare’s horn glowed brighter. “You will be its messenger. And you will be their new beginning.”

Rainbow suddenly snapped her eyes back open. For some reason, she didn’t feel any pain. Looking towards the syringe, it was clearly being jabbed into her neck. The mare in front of her held a serious face while she held the syringe steady. She was casting something, something that felt all too familiar.

Rainbow gasped internally. Now she understood what was going on. About as soon as she realized, the mare’s eyes grew wide. The syringe was pulled away. A loud and stuttered gasp escaped the mare, a gasp with a tone. It echoed in Rainbow's ear. Another gasp came shortly after the first. Then there was a third, which sounded like she was about to cry and could no longer breathe in air.

Rainbow could see what was happening, despite her head lowered with her eyes closed. The mare’s eyes, the cracks in them formed bigger while her magic lost grip on the syringe. Her chest was puffed out unwillingly. Something bumped within her chest. It sounded like a heartbeat, a heartbeat that echoed with a force similar to a bell chime. Two more followed, each one more scary than the last. When the syringe clanged on the floor...

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!” The mare’s horn flashed uncontrollably brighter, engulfing both her and Rainbow. It was a blinding light, but Rainbow felt nothing, despite seeing both the mare and herself suffer. A magical shockwave blasted from the mare’s horn, turning her screaming into an even louder yelping scream as her body was thrown away from Rainbow. Many magical sparks resonated all over the building. Rainbow was screaming as well. She felt the brace holding her hind leg get blasted off. Her body felt like it was changing shape. If she could feel pain right now, she was probably experiencing a lot of it.

When the mare’s body impacted the wall, a massive roar from a monster sounded while the wall shattered. Behind that wall, a bright light came. Another roar came as that light started sucking reality in. Rainbow was finding herself being sucked in as well, with no way to resist its grasp. It was startling, and she found herself yelping when her body was pulled full force towards the light.

But what scared her was the sound of another roar. In the middle of that light was the silhouette of a huge beast. She couldn’t recognize it. It sounded like it was angry and in pain.

When the light engulfed her, it was all over. She knew that everything she just saw wasn’t actually happening. It was all just a dream.

No… It was a memory.


______________________________________________________________________________


Rainbow Dash opened her eyes to the sound of a panicked voice. Whoever it belonged to was making a lot of rustles using branches and leaves. It was garbled and her vision blurred. Blinking her eyes a few times cleared her vision, but she was still woozy. She saw bars in her vision. Oddly enough, the bars seemed to be made from logs and sticks from the forest. Despite what they were made from, it was clear what she was in.

Rainbow was in a cage. She had to get out. When she tried lifting herself up, she found herself wobbly and dizzy. The panicked voices she was hearing was starting to clear up. It was huffing and panting frantically.

“I c-can’t hear t-them! Where are the-e-ey?!” It sounded like X’s voices. That’s right… X was trying to capture her, trying to take her away from Fluttershy. Where was Fluttershy now? What happened to her? Thinking about her suddenly made her stomach hollow. Something must've happened while she was knocked out and she had to find out what. She... her stomach for some reason... really wanted to see Fluttershy again. With a grunt, she forced herself to run towards the bars, slamming her body against it.

A gasp sounded nearby. The bang against the bars left Rainbow woozier than before. She just couldn’t find her strength. Somepony flew down near the cage shuffling through some bags. It must’ve been X. After rubbing her face, she moaned groggily and opened her eyes.

The next thing she saw was a blue electrical device coming straight for her forehead. A painful bright zap came. All she could do was scream in agony. She blacked out again.


______________________________________________________________________________


Meanwhile, in another clearing, somepony laid on the grass motionless. It was barren, save for a single red and black rattlesnake. The snake slithered along her body, gazing at her beautiful yet motionless form. There was a pair of bite marks on her right side just above her wing. This bite mark came from the fangs of this rattlesnake.

The snake continued slithering along her body, moving towards her face. As it moved, it hissed with its tongue, testing her motion while its body coiled around hers. Her face was just as beautiful as the rest of her body. When it moved along her long pink mane, it was like sleeping in a mother’s warm embrace.

Whoever this pony was, the snake was mildly attracted to her. It wrapped and embraced its body around her, looking into her closed, motionless eyes.

So… peaceful.
> Chapter 27: Life
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chirping, squeaks, tiny steps scampering about, and a calming flow of a waterfall nearby penetrated her ears. Fluttering wings, tiny paws, a gentle breeze, and the warmth of the sun penetrated the feelings in her body. She opened her eyes. Blur, sun flare, silhouettes of butterflies, squirrels, mice, and many other critters filled her visions. The critters came into focus. They were filled with smiling faces. Even the butterflies’ smiling faces could be seen clearly. Picking herself up, she smiled back while gazing upon the scenery. A luscious pond, bright fireflies, beautiful flowers, and elegant trees dancing from the gentle breeze blowing in the area.

“This place…” Fluttershy started with a smile. She gazed upon the scenery, seeing the critters wave at her as her sights went in their direction. Some of them were picking berries off the trees and bushes in the area. One of them went to her and offered a berry. With a smile, she accepted. The little squirrel smiled as Fluttershy took the berry in her mouth.

As she chewed the berry, her eyes turned to the pond. There were critters swimming in it, splashing about, jumping over the water, and generally having a good time. On the other side of it, she saw a gentle waterfall flowing. The waterfall went above the trees, where the sun’s light shined brightly around the area.

“It’s… beautiful.” Fluttershy finished. It was more than just beautiful to her though.

It was paradise.


______________________________________________________________________________


Many critters circled around her as she walked to one of the beautiful flower patches nearby. They were decorated with multiple colors. Red, yellow, pink, and blue. She smiled to the critters as they climbed on top of her, gesturing her towards the flowers. She lowered her head to take a whiff. That was when the critters leaped off her mane to dive into the flowers. Lots of butterflies spread from those flowers. Purple, orange, green, and cyan. Their appearance surprised Fluttershy, making her gallop across the flowers.

As she galloped, she laughed. The butterflies swarmed around her body as if they were bees violently stinging her for disturbing their habitat. But they weren’t stinging.

“Ahahah! Stop it! Heheh! That tickles!” Fluttershy continued running, trying to escape the butterflies. But they stuck to her like glue. She found herself being tripped by one of the critters hiding underneath the flowers, making her fall and roll on her back. More laughing came from Fluttershy. The flowers surrounding her joined in the tickling. Despite the circumstances, she didn’t find this as torture. All the tickling felt enjoyable to her.

The tickling soon stopped. They turned into a pleasant massage. She opened her eyes, seeing the little critters brushing her mane. Fireflies flew closer to her to brighten up her mane. Some of the butterflies stretched it out, showing just how long it was. Feeling all their brushes and snuggles against her mane was all so soothing for her. It was all…

“How lovely!” she said with a tear.


______________________________________________________________________________


The critters of this paradise invited her to many different activities. Fluttershy took a swim with some of them, splashing about in so much joy. Some of them did some gardening and Fluttershy happily assisted. A flock of birds started chirping a song and Fluttershy conducted for them. But the best part was when they all gathered together for a tea party, where she could have a friendly chat with them.

During that chat, she started thinking. They weren’t pleasant thoughts, but they felt important. As she took one more sip from her tea, she began asking those thoughts.

“What is this place? And how did I get here?” When she asked that question, the smiles from the animals turned to concern. None of them spoke a response to her question. Fluttershy took a look around the area. Her heart started becoming hollow. Despite seeing how beautiful this garden was, and all of the wonderful animals that inhabited it, she started feeling sad.

“Why does it feel like… something’s missing?” The lights around Fluttershy became more glaring to her. Depression started filling her soul. She felt that she wanted to be alone right now. As soon as she thought that, the animals disappeared without her notice. All she focused on was walking to the lake with her head hung low.

Fluttershy looked to her reflection in the lake. “What happened to me? Why can’t I remember?” Looking at herself in the lake’s reflection made her realize. “I’m… alone…” Her body slumped to the ground. She regretted her earlier wish. Paradise had become barren, void of life. “I don’t want to be alone…” A tear shed from her eyes as she closed them. The atmosphere became heavy, the sounds dimmed, and her feelings went numb. All she could feel was her heart getting heavier over time.

“You’re not alone.” Fluttershy heard a voice. It made her moan curiously as she opened her eyes again. She heard something slowly walking towards her. For some reason, she wasn’t afraid. The voice she heard… she recognized it.

Fluttershy hesitantly turned around, only fearing that if she looked, she would see nothing. A bright light came to her version. This light brightened her spirit. She continued turning around. Somepony was there. They were walking towards her. Her eyes pulsated in hope when she saw who it was.

She saw the form of a blue pony. Powerful wings to the side, magenta eyes, and a colorful rainbow mane that practically shined in her eyes. But they also had red markings near their eyes, and their tail was long and lizard-like, holding scales with the colors of the rainbow, ending in purple at its tip.

Fluttershy’s lips quivered. “R-R-Rainbow… Dash…?” When she said her name, Rainbow opened her mouth. Three black tentacle-like tongues came out of it. They stretched towards Fluttershy. Watching them moving towards her brought unnerve to her heart. When they reached her, one wrapped around her front hoof, one wrapped around her back hooves, and the last wrapped around her body, binding her wings. Feeling them restraining her body made her shiver.

The coils started dragging her towards Rainbow. With whimpers, she made a small attempt to stop herself from sliding. It didn’t help at all. She found herself continuing to slide until she reached Rainbow. All she could do was shut her eyes as she practically cried.

But then she felt her body rub up against something warm. The coils unwrapped themselves and moved towards her head, embracing her closer. Her eyes opened and her fear vanished. Rainbow Dash was hugging her close with a gentle smile. She found herself looking into Rainbow eyes as her own pulsated in delight. Whimpers of fear turned to whimpers of joy. The light around the area became clear.

“Rainbow Dash…” Fluttershy said as she rubbed her face against Rainbow’s. "Oh, Rainbow..." She could practically feel Rainbow’s heartbeat filling the void in her own. It warmed her body to the core, releasing tears in her eyes as she smiled. Rainbow Dash was looking back, smiling just as brightly.

“Hey,” Rainbow said. “No need to be sad. I’m here.” Her voice was so gentle and calm while her her hoof brushed along the back of Fluttershy’s mane. The brushing sent a relaxing chill along Fluttershy’s body. She didn’t want it to stop.

“Where are we, Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked. “And how did we get here?” Rainbow brushed Fluttershy’s mane a few more times before stopping. It was unnerving to Fluttershy because it felt like bad news would be the answer.

“We’re in what you called this place, Fluttershy,” Rainbow said as she put a hoof to Fluttershy’s nose. “Paradise.”

Fluttershy blinked as her nose was booped. But Rainbow’s answer was the bigger question. “P-Paradise?” Rainbow Dash smiled and nodded. “B-But… why are we… here?”

Rainbow pulled away from Fluttershy to answer. “You don’t remember what happened?”

Fluttershy had to look away to think. What was the last thing she could remember when she was awake? For some reason, she was afraid to think about it. Closing her eyes, she tried harder. But her mind just refused to remember, making her shake her head. Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her shoulder to calm her down. She looked up, and found herself looking into Rainbow’s confident eyes. Through those wonderful black and magenta orbs, she could see the visions of what happened.

Fluttershy was trying to save Rainbow Dash from a couple ponies trying to capture her. She saw the Twittermite Zapper Device, Rainbow’s battle against Strike, Strike fleeing the scene in fear, and then X.

That was when she remembered. The visions cut off as the tragic moment played in her mind. Her eyes opened wide in shock and her body trembled at the memory. She saw herself getting bitten by a rattlesnake fired by X. Tears rolled down her eyes.

“N-N-No… Then… T-That means… U-Uhn…” Rainbow pulled her back in for a hug, lending her a shoulder to cry on. It was a depressing cry of defeat. Her muffled cries screamed out while Rainbow gently rubbed her mane. She could see Rainbow’s body glowing brighter despite her eyes being closed. The brighter it glowed, the warmer Rainbow’s body felt.

“Oh… Rain-bow…” Fluttershy managed to sob out. “I’m-m so sor-ry-y-y…” A sniff came before she looked up to Rainbow’s eyes. Seeing that smiling face only made her sadder. “I was trying so-o hard to protect you. To prove that you… that a tatzlpony… wasn’t bad. But… now I’m… I-I’m…” She hiccuped in the middle of her sobs. Mashing her face back in Rainbow’s chest, she finished. “I failed you-u-u…”

More tears flowed out of Fluttershy’s eyes as she openly cried. Rainbow’s body only glowed brighter with Fluttershy’s words and tears. But they couldn’t calm Fluttershy’s sorrow. All she could do was let it all out. Soon, Fluttershy felt a hoof placed under her chin, making her remove her face from Rainbow’s chest. She felt her head being tilted back up, looking at Rainbow again. That smile was still on her face.

“No, Fluttershy,” she said while shaking her head. “You didn’t fail me. Not yet.”

Those words made Fluttershy sniff as her sobbing halted. “W-What… do you mean?”

Rainbow Dash gently removed the embrace Fluttershy held on her. When she picked herself up and moved away, Fluttershy whimpered and reached a hoof out, not wanting to see her go. She was missing that warmth already. After a few steps, Rainbow began speaking again.

“Fluttershy. Do you know where you are?” The question left Fluttershy’s heart hollow.

“P-Paradise,” she answered painfully. “That’s what you said it was, right?”

Rainbow just shook her head. “That’s what you called it.” She pointed at her as she answered. “We’re in your mind, Fluttershy. You’re dreaming.”

Fluttershy’s breath stuttered in a gasp. “W-What?” She had trouble believing what she was hearing. “Y-You mean I’m… I-I’m…” There was a long pause. “I’m still alive?” Rainbow answered by nodding her head. “But… b-but… the venom...”

Rainbow started walking to her again. “You’ve been asleep for awhile ever since I bit you.”

Fluttershy’s eyes grew for a second. “Bit me? But… you didn’t bite me. It was…” She hesitated to finish her sentence, but also stopped it completely when she noticed the glow around Rainbow Dash dimming. Her smile was also turning into a frown. “Wait a minute… Rainbow?”

Rainbow’s smile returned. “I’m the snake that bit you.” She resumed walking forward. “I’ve been hypnotizing your mind to send you to a wonderful world, so that you can be happy and calm. It’s something I always do to my prey… just before I feast on them.” Fluttershy’s ears dropped as her smile quickly turned to a frown. When she backed away, Rainbow Dash just chuckled. “Not you though. You’re too big for a little snake like me to swallow.” For some reason, Fluttershy was thinking size didn’t matter. “I’m just using an image of your friend so that I could communicate with you, and keep you happy while you recovered.”

Rainbow Dash, or, the snake projecting an image of Rainbow Dash, reached Fluttershy again and put a hoof to her cheek. She couldn’t help but smile and tear up from hearing what the snake did. 

“You… did that for me?”

Rainbow smiled and nodded. “Your mind…” she started. “It’s so wonderful. The ones you care… the things you would do for us animals… even to a snake like me. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Like being around a mother that I never had.”

Rainbow moved her head closer to Fluttershy to look her in the eyes. “But none of that is as great as the bond I saw with you and your friend.”

Fluttershy felt a tingle in her heart that made her body shiver. She couldn’t describe it, but she liked it. There was something about Rainbow’s eyes that brought her extra comfort. Was it just the snake’s influence, or was it something else? As Rainbow pulled back and sat down, Fluttershy had to ask a few things.

“But… I-I don’t understand. How did I survive? Your venom… when you bite me, the poison doesn’t just leave my body. Even if I could survive it for a few minutes, it would eventually consume me. So… how…”

Rainbow kept her smile and just closed her eyes. “I don’t know. All that matters is, you’re still breathing, and recovering.”

Fluttershy wasn’t sure how to respond to that. For a moment, she thought maybe she wasn’t poisoned, but that wasn’t it. She remembered vividly about the pain she felt and the feeling of that poison consuming her just before she blacked out. That reminded her.

“Where are we?” Fluttershy asked. “I mean, my body… where is it?”

“Still where you collapsed,” Rainbow answered. “A clearing that’s normally not here. All the trees nearby were snapped off. There’s a lot of burn marks. It’s messy.”

“Anypony else around?” Fluttershy asked. “Any animals? Timberwolves?” Rainbow just shook her head. It left Fluttershy a bit confused. For some reason, she didn’t think where she was would be so barren all of a sudden. “How long have I been sleeping?”

“Hard to say,” Rainbow answered. “After I bit you, I saw a bright flash of light. Then, I blacked out just like you did. When I woke up the next morning, everything was gone. The pony that captured me, your friend, the timberwolves, all gone. When I saw you, I was in a trance. Looking into your soul was like finding a mother. I couldn’t look away. Even when night came back, I couldn’t stop looking, watching as your body recovered. Morning will rise soon once again, and it still feels like home.”

Fluttershy took in how Rainbow described the time pass and didn’t like the results. “So then… I’ve been out for two days now. That must mean… they’ve already left the forest…” She looked away as a tear started shedding in her eye. “They’ve… taken her away. I… I still failed her…”

Fluttershy closed her eyes as she let her tears drip. It didn’t matter if she somehow survived the poison. By that time, they would’ve left the forest already and taken Rainbow Dash to Celestia knows where. Even if she could figure out where they were, whatever horrible things they wanted to do to Rainbow Dash, they would have done it already.

“Not yet, Fluttershy. Not yet.” Fluttershy’s tears halted. She hesitantly turned her eyes to Rainbow, unsure if she heard correctly. “I still hear them. Two ponies in a clearing further in the forest. I hear they’re still there.”

Fluttershy looked to Rainbow in a gasp. “But why? And how? How did you hear them?”

“The forest speaks,” Rainbow said. “And by that I mean, the others in the forest spread word on what is going on. They say that two ponies are holding themselves up in a clearing. They’re not sure what one of them is doing. But the other one seems scared st-” Rainbow interrupted herself to correct her wording. “Well… not scared stiff. But it looks like she’s been frantically trying to barricade the place, keep everything else out.”

There was no doubt in Fluttershy’s mind anymore. That must’ve been X and the real Rainbow Dash. Why X hadn’t left the forest yet, she wasn’t sure, but maybe there were a number of reasons as to why. The real question was, how was Rainbow Dash? But for now…

Fluttershy closed her mouth and turned her eyes serious. “How is my body?” She thought this illusion of Rainbow would grow concerned, but Rainbow just smiled.

“You want to wake up, don’t you?” Fluttershy could only gasp again. It was like the snake was able to read her mind. “Morning is coming. My venom in you seems to have vanished. And your body has managed to recover significantly.” Rainbow closed her eyes. “I can wake you at any time. I just…” There was a pause. The smile on her face seemed to fade. As her smile faded, so did the surrounding areas. Paradise started turning into a void. “I just hope I can make up for what I did to you.”

Fluttershy suddenly felt sorry for the snake. “Don’t worry about it,” she said with a shake of her head. “It wasn’t your fault. You were just being used. The way I see it, you already made up for it.”

Soon, all of Paradise was no longer visible. It truly became a black void, where the only light that illuminated came from an eerie glow from Rainbow’s body. “Are you ready?” she asked.

Fluttershy nodded but quickly retracted that. “Wait!” she started. “What is your name? Or... do you have one?”

There was a moment of silence. All Fluttershy could hear during that silence was her own heartbeat. It was odd. But Rainbow eventually closed her eyes and smiled.

“Just call me,” Rainbow’s voice suddenly grew lower with each word she said. It began to sound much like a stallion. Her mouth suddenly opened wide with her three tongues lashing out. “Sssssssllyyyyyyyyy!”

Fluttershy yelped when those tongues wrapped around her. Shocked from both the change in voice and the lash out, she didn’t have time to react before the tongues wrapped around her hooves, her neck, and her body. She screamed as the tongues lifted her and pulled her in. This time, there was no hesitation. Struggling and flailing around proved no effect in slowing her down. The last thing Fluttershy saw was her face heading straight in Rainbow’s mouth.

Echo. Echo. Echo.
> Chapter 28: Search
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy could hear the echoes of her screaming as the sun came to her eyes. A twitch and a moan came from her. Carefully, she opened her eyes. There was a blur in her vision before it managed to focus. But when her vision focused, she shut them again, groaning in an attempt to pick herself up. She was lying on her stomach, but her body felt very stiff. It made sense though. If what she was told earlier was true, she had been asleep here for two days.

When Fluttershy managed to sit herself up, she felt something sliding off her, something slick and slippery. She noticed that it was a black and red rattlesnake. It was slithering away rather quickly, and she tried calling out to it while reaching a hoof out, but her voice went silent. The snake had already slithered out of view, not even looking back.

Sly, was the snake’s name. Fluttershy remembered that. A male snake that sent her mind to a paradise while she was recovering. But his behavior seemed very different out here than what she saw in her mind, at least, based on this. She could only wonder why he left so hastily.

Fluttershy looked to her side where Sly had bitten her. “Oh my…” she expressed. The bite marks were still visible, but the pain was gone. She gently rubbed on the bite mark with her hoof. “At least it doesn’t hurt. Hmm…” Looking ahead, she was also reminded of the bandage still on the back of her head. Since there seemed to be no pain on that anymore, she removed the bandages there and ran a hoof through it. With a deep breath, she left her hoof there to think.

“Okay, Fluttershy. You need to remember. What happened?” Closing her eyes, she thought back to the events of that bite and what occurred after. “Sly bit me. X sounded like she was in a panic. But… she always seems to be in a panic. I saw Rainbow Dash falling to the ground. Then, X ran towards me.” There was a pause. “Why did she run towards me? Hmm… I saw a green aura flying in the air. The same ones… t-the same ones from the timberwolves. They must’ve been putting themselves together again. But didn’t they have their timberwolf parts in the bags? They couldn’t put themselves together. But…”

Fluttershy opened her eyes and took a look around the clearing. It was still a mess with many trees torn off their trunks with leaves and sticks, as well as magical scars scattered everywhere. But something that used to be here was absent.

“I don’t see their parts here at all.” Fluttershy noticed a leaf that was scrunched up as if claws had stepped on them. She walked to it. “They must’ve put themselves back together, and chased X through the forest. But… they left me alone?” An ache came to her heart. “And what about Rainbow Dash? Did X take her? Or did the timberwolves…”

Fluttershy found her gasps going out of control. To settle it, she placed a hoof to her chest and took a deep breath. “Calm down, Fluttershy. Don’t come to conclusions like that.” She took another look around the scenery. “I don’t see Rainbow’s feathers. She must’ve been taken by X. Then…” The thought of Rainbow Dash being taken interrupted her thoughts. One image kept replaying in her mind. It was Rainbow falling to the ground after she was zapped. “Rainbow…”

Fluttershy backed herself to a nearby tree that wasn’t broken and slumped her back to it. Lately, thinking about Rainbow Dash was always making her mind go wild while her heartbeat raced. Her mind went back to that dream, specifically on their bond that Sly mentioned.

“Rainbow… What am I feeling with you? Why does it feel so…” That was when her mind wandered to another detail she was forgetting. She gasped slightly. “Something shined from my side when X was running towards me. I couldn’t feel it very well, but it felt like it came from… where my Cutie Mark is. I saw it from Rainbow too. Just before I felt…” Another gasp came. “The stab… The timberwolves… They must’ve been behind me too. Did more come? Was X trying to stop them? Then... they didn’t leave me alone.”

Fluttershy put a hoof to her mouth, now more puzzled than ever. “How did I survive? The poison. Timberwolves. That bright… light…” Thinking about that light calmed her nerves. “Our Cutie Marks… T-That must be it, right?” She couldn’t understand why, but this line of thinking brought warmth in her heart. “They must’ve… done something. The poison, the stab…”

Fluttershy let her body slump further against the tree as she sighed in glee. A smile came to her face. “Rainbow Dash… I don’t know what our Cutie Marks did. But whatever they did, it must’ve been… must’ve… been…” She quickly picked herself from the tree with a new look. “I’ve gotta find you. Where were you taken?” Turning her head towards different directions provided no clues. But a second glance at a previous clue gave her the answer. Looking back to the scrunched leaf, she noted the directions of where the claws would be and what direction they went. “This way.”

Fluttershy began running in said direction. She had no idea what lied ahead, or how far they would be. But it didn’t matter to her. Her bond with Rainbow gave her another chance, and she was not gonna waste it.


______________________________________________________________________________


A few minutes had passed and there was no sign of Rainbow Dash, X, or the timberwolves. That was okay, though. Fluttershy wasn’t expecting to find them so quickly. She did, however, start thinking about Rainbow Dash again. More specifically, she thought about what Rainbow’s mind was going through and why she was treating herself the way she was. The thought of Sly made it easier now.

"Rainbow... I think I'm beginning to understand now. You were a pegasus before, and my best friend since fillyhood. But now that you're a tatzlpony, and the only kind I've ever seen, you treat yourself like you were one your whole life. The reason for that? Tatzlponies must've been a race once before. You want to believe that you're not bad, that they're not bad. To accept that you were a pegasus, is like abandoning tatzlpony kind to you, isn't it? To you… it would be like abandoning the Crystal Ponies..."

A tear shed from Fluttershy's eye. But it was a shed that motivated her desires. "Well, Rainbow Dash, okay. You were always a tatzlpony. But you were always my friend too. And one way or another, I will prove to you that tatzlponies aren't bad. Even if you're poisonous, you're not bad. You'll see! You won't have anything to worry about! With Celestia as my witness, I will prove that tatzlponies are not bad creatures!"

When Fluttershy ended her self rant, she started hearing rustling in the distance, followed by a panicked voice. She thought she would be relieved to hear she was on the right track, but instead, her fear returned quite harshly.

“Oh… But before I can do that, I have to rescue you…” Fluttershy bit the bottom of her lip. It now dawned on her that she was searching for the very pony that caused her a near fatal experience. If Sly was the snake that X used, she didn’t have that sort of weapon anymore. But who was to say she didn’t have more like it? Hopefully, she didn’t.

But before that could be addressed, Fluttershy found herself having to stop her running. Something had come up in her path. It was a thick pile of bushes and logs from trees. Some of them looked to be tied with vines. Definitely not a natural formation.

“Oh my… Sly mentioned it looked like somepony was trying to barricade the place. But… hmm…” Fluttershy tested the strength of the bushes. It certainly felt like a lot of its leaves and branches had been piled together. She tried pushing against it, but it was too thick for her to go through.

“How am I gonna get inside?” Fluttershy shifted her placement, pressing in different spots of the bushes for a weak point. There didn’t seem to be any here. She could still hear the panicked voice inside as she moved further to the right to check more sections of the wall. Inside, more bushes were being placed together. How much more of a barricade did X need?

Fluttershy gasped as she soon found her answer. There was a section in the wall that seemed to be falling apart. The leaves were withering and the branches became less stable. She gently pulled against those branches to pry them apart, hoping she wasn’t making too much noise. With those obstacles off, she checked the pressure from the bushes. It was possible to slide through.

Fluttershy gulped nervously before moving forward. Each step felt like the ground would crumble underneath her hooves. The bushes didn’t just make it unsteady, but unbearably noisy as well. It also didn’t help that the leaves kept scratching her coat, making her get quite itchy.

The panicked voice she was hearing grew louder and quieter at very random intervals. She couldn’t tell if she was getting closer or not. If that was X, she must’ve been moving from one side of the clearing to another. Rustling could be heard in different volumes as well.

Fluttershy gasped when she felt her hoof meet with open air. She quickly retracted it back and held her breath. This was the clearing. Which meant this was also where X was, along with hopefully Rainbow Dash. Swallowing her nerves, she took a peek out the bushes.

Broad daylight filled her visions once again. What she saw was a clearing alright, but it looked a lot more widespread than usual. Everything from flowers to dirt looked like they had been moved around. Lots of trees in the surrounding area were missing their branches and vines, replaced by piles of them barricading the area. The clearing wasn’t exactly messy, but it looked very flat. It looked flat enough to build a hut on.

Fluttershy heard the voice again and followed it. She saw X, still flying from one section to another, moving bushes and branches, or adding new ones to them. Looking around some more, Fluttershy caught sight of somepony else.

“Rainbow!” she expressed aggressively, but silently. Her heart chilled upon seeing her, but then confusion filled her mind. Rainbow Dash had been placed in a cage. But the cage appeared to just be branches from the trees with its hinges tied together with vines. Even the door was tied with a vine, not even having a lock.

“Hmm?” she wondered. She guessed that there wasn’t much else X could’ve used in terms of the forest, but something still confused her. “That’s not enough to hold Rainbow Dash.” Flashbacks of Rainbow Dash breaking down doors and kicking through multiple tree trunks filled her mind, as well as some experiences she’s seen with her animals. “That’s barely enough to hold one of my deers. What happened to her?”

Fluttershy inspected Rainbow’s body. She was lying down motionless. Or at least, she was a moment ago. Now she appeared to be grunting and twitching. Her hooves dug into the ground as her face lifted. A gasp came from Fluttershy. It looked like Rainbow was in pain trying to pick herself up, blinking very disoriented. After getting up, she fumbled a bit. That was when she thrusted her body towards the bars, slamming her head against it.

Fluttershy gasped. There wasn’t any strength put into that charge. Things got worse when she heard X gasping as well. She must’ve heard that bang as she looked over to the cage, flying down next to it. There was a bag next to that cage. As X was whimpering in a panic, she was shifting through the bags.

Rainbow was rubbing her head as X pulled something out of the bag. Fluttershy gasped when she saw what it was. It was the Twittermite Zapper Device. Before either of them could react, X thrusted the device through the cage and connected it to Rainbow’s forehead. There was a massive flashing zap, followed by Rainbow’s shriek.

“NOOO!!!” Fluttershy yelled and jumped out of her hiding spot. Hearing the yell, X jumped in fright, tossing the Zapper in the air as her body flipped around. Rainbow’s body fell to the ground, unconscious. When the Zapper came falling back down, X fumbled her hooves toward the device, making it bounce out of her grip a few times before managing to catch it.  X was shaking, shivering, clutching the device high in the air like she was ready to swing it. Her wings were spread to keep her balanced standing on her hind hooves.

Fluttershy grew nervous with X holding the device the way she was. But when their eyes met, X held an unexpected sort of reaction. Seeing Fluttershy made her gasp and shake more harshly than usual. A fearful and shaky moan escaped her mouth, eyes pulsating. It was like she was seeing a dragon, or under the influence of Fluttershy’s Stare, even though she wasn’t using it.

“Please! Put the device down!” Fluttershy asked out of habit. When she asked that, she didn’t expect X to actually oblige. X’s shivering softened, but she also did what Fluttershy asked and lowered her device. She didn’t let go of it, but it looked like she no longer had any intention on using it. This released some tension off Fluttershy as she continued.

“Turn… the device… off.” It was a bit more carefully this time, and X didn’t respond right away. She stood there whimpering for a few seconds before she moved her hoof to the device. With the press of a button, the twittermites inside turned off their lights and flew back inside the handle section of the device, going out of view. The device was now off like Fluttershy asked.

“Okay… now…” Fluttershy gulped. “Put the device away.” X turned her eyes nervously back up to Fluttershy. There was a few more seconds of silent shivering from her before she obliged. She inched to her bag and placed the device inside. With a hind hoof, she pushed it away as far as she could, looking back to Fluttershy nervously.

Fluttershy took a deep breath. “Now…” Her heart pounded as she made the last request. “Please move away from Rainbow Dash.”

X stood there with shaky hooves, nervously gritting her teeth. She just stood there… stood there… a slow step back was taken, but that only put her closer to Rainbow Dash. After a while, Fluttershy came to the conclusion that she wasn’t obliging.

“Please move away from the tatzlpony,” Fluttershy said, being more specific this time. But X just responded with a rapid shake of her head. It was clear that X understood her the first time. She was just refusing to do so.

Fluttershy put on a stern face. “You need to release Rainbow Dash right now!” she said deeply while walking closer.

“N-N-No…” X was shaking her head as she responded. The closer Fluttershy got, the heavier her breathing became. It didn’t take long before Fluttershy was inches near her.

Fluttershy closed her eyes. “I said…” She then opened them into a fierce Stare. “Move!”

X’s eyes shrunk as her body pulled back even further, but she refused to move as her head shook. “St-Stay a-awa-a-ay!” She turned her head away and shut her eyes tightly.

“Either move away from Rainbow Dash, or release-”

X suddenly yelped and threw a punch. It collided with Fluttershy’s cheek. She yelped and backed away, placing a hoof on the spot X hit. While she was bracing her cheek, X looked up with her eyes pulsating nervously.

Something soon dawned on Fluttershy. Her eyes turned to the side of her cheek that was hit. She rubbed it with her hoof a few times, then removed it to look at her hoof. There was almost no pain coming from her cheek. It felt much like a friendly pat on the back Rainbow Dash would do whenever she accidentally put too much force behind it. But this one was on the cheek, and this was from a punch X did. Why did it only hurt that much?

An image came to Fluttershy's mind. It was an image of X trying to toss a bag over to Strike. But the bag fell short at only half way, leaving Strike shaking his head in unamusemnt. Strike said that X wasn't very strong, but she didn't expect it like this.

Fluttershy rubbed her cheek one more time to rid the rest of the pain. “I’m sorry,” she said as she put her stern face back on. “But if you won’t move, I’ll just have to make you.” It didn’t sit right to Fluttershy saying that. She didn’t want to have to fight, but now it seemed like the only option. X was pulling her head back, but she refused to move away.

“Even if she is poisonous, Rainbow Dash must be free!”
> Chapter 29: Fear
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy started by charging straight for the cage. If X refused to move, then the fight would start. That’s exactly what happened. X moaned nervously as Fluttershy quickly approached. She threw both hooves forward, stopping Fluttershy’s advance as she slammed her body against them.

Fluttershy grunted as X continued to resist. Both ponies were gritting their teeth as they were pushing against one another. But it seemed X was struggling to keep her position more than Fluttershy was. X released a painful grunt. Her hind leg was forcibly starting to pull itself back while Fluttershy’s was pushing forward. Seeing X struggle like this was painful for Fluttershy to watch. She was starting to feel regretful.

All of a sudden, X’s eyes widened. Her grip released as she pulled herself back quickly. This sudden change in force caused Fluttershy to lose her balance and make her fall forward. That was when X thrusted her wings to lunge herself forward, slamming into Fluttershy again.

Fluttershy found herself being pushed back fast. Due to the momentum and the loss of her force, she couldn’t stop X from pushing her back in time. When she regained her balance, she had already lost a lot of ground. That was when X released herself from Fluttershy, pulling herself back. They were in the middle of the clearing, no where near the cage where Rainbow was captive.

X charged for Fluttershy again. Fluttershy noticed X thrusting a hoof at her. It was heading for her face again. Grunting nervously, she stopped the punch with her own hoof. Eyes widening, X threw her other hoof towards Fluttershy, but Fluttershy bounced that one off too. 

"Stop it!" Fluttershy shouted. With X throwing all these punches her way, she had no choice but to fight back. But when Fluttershy threw her first hoof at X, X gasped loudly. She shut her eyes tightly, yelping as she moved her head away. Somehow, she moved her head away from Fluttershy’s hoof. The next thing Fluttershy knew, X jabbed at her chest, making her eyes grow wide. X then threw a jab at her cheek, reeling her back some more.

Fluttershy put a hoof on the cheek that was hit and looked at X cautiously. X was facing sideways, wings flared, head down, eyes squeezing tightly, her body shivering, and her voice jittering. As she opened her eyes and looked towards Fluttershy, she looked as if she was the one who just got hurt.

But that wasn’t what happened at all. Fluttershy was the one who got hit, twice. There may not have been much force in those blows, but they still hurt. She rubbed her cheek, relieving the pain that she just got. All she could do was frown, watching X shiver like this.

“Please stop,” Fluttershy said in a sad tone. “I don’t want to hurt you.” X just looked away. Her eyes squeezed tighter and her teeth clenched harder. It was difficult to tell what she was going through and why she was so afraid. She suddenly turned to Fluttershy and charged at her while screaming.

Fluttershy gasped. With both hooves covering her face, she blocked the first punch X threw. When she threw the next, Fluttershy had to back away to avoid it. Her eyes shrunk, watching X throw volley after volley of punches while Fluttershy continued backing away to avoid them. But then, X jumped back, flaring her wings after she separated her distance with Fluttershy.

This wasn’t going well. Fluttershy realized she just lost a lot of distance from where Rainbow Dash was. If only she could get to her. But X’s tactics seemed to involve keeping the two as far apart as possible. She had to get back to closing the distance. Gritting her teeth, she charged straight for Rainbow’s cage, which X was in the path of.

X just stood there, shivering, eyes growing wider the closer Fluttershy got. Eventually, she held her hooves in front of her and snapped her eyes shut. Fluttershy was about to ram into her. Just a few more steps. A little closer, watching that cowering face.

With one more step left between them, X cried in fear and threw both hooves in front of her. Fluttershy closed her eyes and jumped. As X thrusted forwards, Fluttershy flew right over her, landing behind her. X gasped and looked to where Fluttershy was. She now had a clear path to get to Rainbow Dash. When Fluttershy noticed this, she giggled a relief with a smile. She could get to Rainbow Dash now.

But when she tried to move, something tugged at her tail. It was X, using her teeth to keep Fluttershy in place.

"Please! Let go!" Fluttershy said as she tried to force her body forwards with her legs. Both ponies grunted harshly as they struggled between pulling and pushing. X moaned as Fluttershy managed a slow step forwards. It forced X to follow suit. Their steps were taking them forwards, closer to Rainbow Dash. She couldn't muster enough strength to stop Fluttershy from closing the distance. So X spread her wings and took to the air.

Fluttershy felt her balance faltering as her hind legs were forced in the air as well as her tail. She tried all her might to keep her forehooves on the ground, but they couldn't stop themselves from sliding backwards. When they left the ground, she had no choice but to ignite her own wings. They stopped pulling back, but her wings couldn't get her to go forwards either. Their bodies alternated from pulling back and pushing forwards as they both strained themselves in this tug of war.

X's moans got louder as she started to raise herself higher. Fluttershy flapped her wings harder, desperately trying to get back to the ground. The pressure she felt on her tail made it feel like her tail extensions were about to rip right off. Gritting her teeth, she put more strength in her wings. She cursed herself for not training her wings stronger. More strength... more strength was all she needed.

All of a sudden, X's grip on Fluttershy's tail was released. The sudden release in pressure caused Fluttershy to lunge straight in the direction she was facing. Due to all that raising, that direction was directly towards the ground. She didn't realize it until her face slammed harshly against the ground, sliding her body across its rough grounds. Dirt flung everywhere, and a noticeable path was left in Fluttershy's wake.

When Fluttershy's sliding stopped, all the pain registered in her body. Her voice was muffled in the dirt as she groaned in pain. She heard X land in front of her again, whimpering as if she was worried about Fluttershy's condition. Fluttershy managed to dig her hooves back on the ground to pick herself back up. After shaking her head, she charged forward, growling in anger. X cried in fear.

Then suddenly, a loud smack sounded. Fluttershy's surroundings turned gray. She was suddenly looking towards the right, heading towards the right uncontrollably. There was a sharp pain at her cheek, as well as her saliva flinging in front of her.

It was then that Fluttershy processed what just happened. X moved. She moved to the side, twirled herself around with her wings, and with her hind hoof, kicked Fluttershy on her left cheek. Everything happened so fast. The whole event replayed in Fluttershy’s mind just before she hit the ground, being flipped over once before coming to a stop.

X landed firmly on the ground with her wings still stretched. She quickly turned with a gasp toward Fluttershy, who wasn’t moving… much. Fluttershy was facing towards X’s direction. Her eyes were twitching as well as her body. When they looked each other in the eyes, X shrunk back and shut her eyes.

But… this all felt so backwards to Fluttershy. When she tried to get up, she found it difficult to, not just from the pain, but from fear of getting hit again. She pushed those thoughts out as she winced harshly to push herself back on her hooves. After a few pants, she gave X a determined look.

But that bravery faltered. The world around Fluttershy changed.

“What… What’s going on?” she hesitantly asked. Her eyes started seeing the world in a strange dimension conjured up by her own fear. All she could focus on, was X. Every detail of that dark body could be seen in this vision. Each strand of hair on her pure black coat, the very center where her mane split between dark green and dark blue, every motion that each feather on her wings moved with the wind, and every muscle that vibrated her body into shivering, it was all so clear to her. But she couldn’t understand why it was happening, why X was acting this way.

And then, X opened her eyes, the only part in her body that shined brightly. Through those bright yellow eyes, she saw true fear, a fear that Fluttershy could never comprehend. The more Fluttershy looked, the more fear she felt. She feared that fear. But X…

X started walking forwards. Fluttershy flinched, but managed to keep her stance after gulping. Every detail of that walk was clear to her, and it made her even more scared. Each step shivered and shifted. It was like they feared falling through the floor, but still walked close enough to look like casual shivered steps on a cold night.

These fears… Fluttershy tried to push them out. When X closed the distance, Fluttershy shut her eyes and forced herself to throw a punch. But her hooves collided with nothing. In that brief moment, she saw X shutting her eyes more harshly than Fluttershy did as she ducked from that punch. The next moment, Fluttershy felt a harsh jab against her exposed stomach. It’s collision echoed in her ears as her world flashed in a multitude of colors.

X’s punches may not have been very forceful. But that didn't matter when they pressed in the most sensitive spots. This one was devastating. It wasn’t until X opened her eyes that she retracted her hoof. Fluttershy slowly clutched her stomach as she fell to the ground, agonizing inside from that painful blow. Tears started shedding in her eyes. She never felt pain like this before. This was even worse than when Clang bashed her on the back of her head. Sure, her head may have been hit harder, but her head could take pain far better than this spot in her stomach. The pressure, she could still feel it, finding it difficult to breathe.

"R-Rainbow... Dash..." Fluttershy cried out, unable to understand how this was all happening. She tried to rescue Rainbow Dash. But the more she tried, the more hopeless it seemed. Not one of her attacks made a successful blow on X. Nothing she said to X was making her stop doing what she was doing. The more she tried either, the more she got hurt.

Fluttershy hesitantly lifted her head to meet with X’s eyes. Somehow, despite the circumstances, X held more fear in her eyes than Fluttershy did. But unlike Fluttershy, she didn’t have any tears. No… there were tears. Her eyes were pulsating, but the tears were kept inside. Why was she keeping them inside? How was she more afraid than Fluttershy right now?

Suddenly, X spoke.

“Don’t fight… your fears…” She spoke very carefully. The next thing Fluttershy knew, X yelped and threw a hoof towards her. Her eyes widened immensely then squeezed shut as she looked away and covered her face with one hoof. All she could do was shiver as she waited for the pain to arrive.

But it never came. Nothing was felt on her hoof either. Hesitantly, she opened her eyes. What she saw didn’t make her any more comfortable. She winced as she saw X’s hoof directly under hers, in a clear path for her muzzle. Her hoof had not been able to block the strike. If X hadn’t stopped, she probably would’ve been knocked out right then and there.

Fluttershy decided to look up, wondering why X had stopped. She saw her bright pulsating eyes again. Even now, they still held fear greater than Fluttershy had ever experienced. But there was more this time. On the sides of her head, Fluttershy could swear there was something floating around them. It was something that wasn’t there, but X could see. Something… that was bringing her that fear. From the look of her eyes, Fluttershy asked. Was it a sign of loss?

“Listen… to their warnings,” X spoke again. The words quickly brought Fluttershy back to reality. Fluttershy gasped really harshly at the reveal. Somehow, she understood where X was getting at, the meaning behind her words. Their meaning terrified her to the core.

Before Fluttershy could process it fully, X had gasped a second after she spoke her words. She squeezed her eyes and her body turned one-eighty.

The last thing Fluttershy heard and felt, was a loud smack against her face from hind hooves. Her body flung as tears flung from her eyes. Many images flashed in her mind as her body was in the air.

She could see her first discovery of Rainbow Dash as a tatzlpony. She could see Rainbow meeting with Scootaloo. She saw Rainbow chowing down at their large picnic inside the forest. She even saw them sleeping together under the tree with smiling faces. 

Then, she could see Clang bashing her head very harshly. She saw herself falling victim to the poison that Rainbow Dash was spreading. She saw Rainbow Dash giving her that flower. And then she saw the worried eyes Rainbow had from seeing her when she caught up with X and Strike.

But the last thing she saw, jumped back to her first meeting. Rainbow had a mean face. Her tongues lashed out at her. They grabbed and ensnared her, pulling her in despite her struggles. She had these images many times. This time, as she lost conscience in her eyes, she felt she deserved it.

She had failed Rainbow Dash.


______________________________________________________________________________


X had her mouth held agape in shock as she turned around. If she didn’t always have fear written on her face, it would be there now. Her breath stuttered, her face shook, and her eyes vibrated.

Fluttershy had not fallen to the ground. She had been caught in the air. Looking to the side, X saw the dust settling from a spot she did not want to witness. Beyond that dust was the cage. The tatzlpony’s cage. It was empty, with its branch bars torn apart.

X looked back to Fluttershy, gasping as she saw her body being dragged back by three black tentacle-like tongues. The source of those tongues were from the tatzlpony, Rainbow Dash.

X screamed as she saw Rainbow Dash pulling Fluttershy into her mouth. Their fight must’ve distracted her long enough for Rainbow to recover from the shock. The last zap she gave to Rainbow must've not been applied long enough, thanks to Fluttershy's disturbance. Rainbow’s mouth wrapped around Fluttershy’s head first. She pulled with her tongues and sucked with her mouth, letting Fluttershy’s head slide through her throat. No struggles came from Fluttershy as Rainbow raised her head high. Fluttershy’s mane disappeared. Her wings slipped between the walls of Rainbow’s mouth. If she could feel, her body would be a lot warmer now.

As Rainbow Dash was swallowing Fluttershy’s body, X quickly looked back to where the cage was, looking to the side of it where a bag was still resting. Hastily igniting her wings with gritting teeth, she dashed for the bag. She had to get the Zapper Device now, before it was too late.

It was already too late. Rainbow dashed right in front of X, blocking her path. X yelped as she was forced backwards. She continued backing away with sloppy steps until her hooves lost balance. Her body fell to its flank with her forehooves on the ground behind her, whimpering and shaking violently.

All that was left visible of Fluttershy was her tail. Rainbow slurped it inside and gave one last swallow. Her belly expanded, and her body was covered in burnt marks from all the zapping. But she ignored those conditions as she looked X in the eyes with intense fury and a monstrous growl. Steam was practically blowing out of her nose.

It didn’t matter how much X was cowering right now. To describe Rainbow Dash as angry was an understatement. X hurt Fluttershy badly. Now, Rainbow swore she would pay.
> Chapter 30: Endurance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow’s tail swished back and forth as she panted, staring down X like a predator ready to attack its prey. As much as she wanted to charge right then and there, her energy levels were low due to all the zapping she received earlier. But she didn’t have time to rest. If she was gonna take on X now, she would have to do something she wouldn’t like. Her swaying tail mimicked her mind’s contemplation of whether to do it or not.

In the end, her tail decided. It dug itself into the ground as she closed her eyes. X started wailing feared moans again as Rainbow turned her head down. Rainbow’s stomach started gurgling about as she begrudgingly activated her magic. Her body started glowing, which X responded in dismay to.

“No! No! Nooo!” Each ‘no’ was separated by a short gasp. X vibrated and hyperventilate as she braced her head harshly with her hooves. It sounded like she was straining herself over something. But Rainbow didn’t pay attention to that. She had to focus on the pony inside her belly. Fluttershy laid inside her, curled into a ball in a neat fit. Whether she was comfortable or not couldn’t be determined due to her current condition. There was still energy in Fluttershy. The risk of what it would do to her to drain some of that energy, Rainbow wasn’t sure. All she knew was that, if she didn’t stop X here and now, Fluttershy’s efforts would be wasted.

“I-I can’t hear the-e-em!” X cried. “Where are the-e-ey?!” Rainbow could feel Fluttershy’s energy surging through her body and flowing through her tail. The energy felt stronger than the first time she did this. It also felt quite comforting. But more importantly, it gave her the will to shake off the pain her body was feeling.

When she released her tail from the ground, her glow stopped. X’s eyes widened harshly when Rainbow looked back up at her with flare. She took hasty steps back, vibrating her gasps while her eyes were shrinking. Rainbow spared no second and ignited her wings to charge straight after X.

Rainbow Dash closed the distance towards X, but X jumped away with a yelp at the last second. A swift kick off the ground brought Rainbow to change direction back towards X. She threw a hoof towards X. As X looked away, her hoof made contact with Rainbow’s, blocking the attack.

That was when Rainbow gave a quick flap with her wing to twist her body around. While X was prepared to block a front hoof attack, she was not prepared for a hind one. Rainbow’s hind hoof twirled to the side of X’s head while she was still blocking the front. With a loud smack, it collided with X’s head.

X yelped in pain as she was flung back down and slammed to the ground. Rainbow wasn’t done yet. She quickly stopped her twirl and adjusted her wings to rush straight towards X. There was a scream that came from X as she flipped her body around, avoiding Rainbow’s blow as her kick only made contact with ground.

Using this moment, X threw a punch toward Rainbow, but Rainbow blocked it. X threw another hoof at Rainbow, but it was at the same spot. As X threw even more punches at her while screaming and wailing, Rainbow had to hold both hooves up to defend from the assault. Rainbow gritted her teeth as those punches started pushing her back.

All of a sudden, something came straight to the side of her face. It was X’s tail! Somehow, in the middle of that volley, X turned herself around and went past Rainbow’s defenses, landing a smack on her cheek. The blow made Rainbow get knocked back further, but she managed to stay on her hooves. X charged and threw another hoof. Rainbow managed to block it. Another one came her way and she jumped back further to avoid it.

When Rainbow landed, the battle took a halt. Both ponies stood their ground from their separated distance, neither attempting to inch forward. Instead, they stared each other down, observing their situation.

At least, that was what Rainbow Dash was doing. It was difficult to tell what X was thinking with the way she continued to shiver like that. As for her own condition, she wasn’t too worried about that yet. What she mainly worried about was Fluttershy’s condition. Thanks to the sticky walls in her stomach, Fluttershy hadn’t been bouncing around inside. Moving with her weight wasn’t an issue. But without her conscious, she had no idea how well Fluttershy was doing.

X started moving again, but she seemed to be heading away from her. Rainbow followed her movements to see that she was grabbing onto one of the branches of the trees on the other edge of the clearing. When she started pulling on one of the branches, struggling to do so, Rainbow’s eyes widened. Looking around, she searched for a tree closer to her, and dashed to it when she found it. Almost simultaneously, X managed to snap off the branch, yelping from stumbling back, while Rainbow Dash kicked a different branch to snap it right off.

X held her branch in both forehooves and pointed herself towards Rainbow Dash, jittering nervously while her wings were spread to keep her balanced on her hind legs. Rainbow twirled the branch as she landed back on the ground, stretching out one wing and catching it between her feathers. It was then that X charged Rainbow with her branch, with Rainbow doing the same.

X let out a cry and closed her eyes as she pulled her branch back to swing. Rainbow tossed her branch in the air, jumped up, caught it in the air, and swung it down with a yell. A gasp escaped X as her eyes flung open. With a quick flap of her wings, she managed to move to the side, avoiding Rainbow’s swing. In retaliation, X used the opening to strike down. But Rainbow did a similar flap with her wings to twirl her body around to swing her branch directly in X’s direction.

The two branches collided, and now it was a struggle of who could push the other back. Rainbow growled harshly as she put a lot of force into her push. X was crying out in pain as her strength was failing her. She tried as hard as she could to try and push the branch back, but it seemed like Rainbow wasn’t even trying.

Eventually, Rainbow managed to stumble X back by putting even more force into that push. She then struck X’s branch harshly with her own branch, knocking it out of X’s hooves. X ended up falling to the ground, holding both hooves over her head as she wailed in fear. Rainbow gave a battle cry as she held her branch high, ready to strike at X.

All of a sudden, X kicked. It connected with Rainbow’s stomach. Rainbow’s eyes went wide as multiple flashing colors appeared in her vision. The world practically froze. Even X was holding still as her hoof pressed harshly against Rainbow’s stomach. A noticeable dent could be seen from where X’s hoof was pushing through.

It seemed like the world had frozen, but… it didn’t. Rainbow and X just froze on the spot. X seemed to be the first to respond. Opening one eye, she hesitantly turned her head to face Rainbow, shaking violently as she did so. What she saw was Rainbow just looking down at the spot X’s hind hoof was at. Sure enough, it was still against Rainbow’s stomach, and Rainbow was surprised. However… she didn’t look like she was in pain.

And then, Rainbow yelled in a rage. X gasped as Rainbow continued her harsh swing with the branch. Just as X’s eyes shrunk, she was hit in the face with that branch, knocking her clear across the other side of the clearing. Rainbow swung that branch so hard, she ended up losing grip on that branch as it flew out of her hooves. But that didn’t matter to her. As soon as her hooves went back to the ground, she sat down and inspected her stomach.

Rainbow could feel the details of that kick. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt at all. But she felt Fluttershy’s body behind the brunt of that kick. From where Fluttershy was lying, the spot that was kicked was around the back of Fluttershy’s neck. No part of Fluttershy’s body however was forced off the sticky walls of her stomach. Her stomach was strong, but was it enough to take brunts like that and protect what was inside? She started gasping in fear of the possibility that it wasn’t.

The next thing Rainbow knew, she found herself getting kicked harshly in the face by X. As she was flung, X continued charging further to catch up. Rainbow had her eyes shut tightly as she gritted her teeth. All she could think about was how getting distracted in the middle of fighting wasn’t the best idea. When she was about to hit the ground, she opened her eyes and twirled herself around. X saw Rainbow landing on her forehooves, making her gasp as the next thing she saw was Rainbow kicking with her hind hooves.

X immediately covered her face as the hooves made contact with her. Rainbow’s hooves were pushed back due to the momentum, but they eventually managed to stop X in her tracks, even though she was in the air. With a growl, Rainbow pushed her hind hooves further, but X slipped away from the push and landed by her side. She twirled herself around with her wings to deliver X a punch. But X ducked her head backwards to avoid it.

Rainbow didn’t stop there. She continued to deliver punches, but X continued to cower away in fear, backing away with each punch. Nothing was connecting, yet X continued to back away. That was when Rainbow decided to put her hooves to the ground to push herself off it, giving her a sudden burst of speed. X yelped as she covered her whole face. Flipping herself with her wings, Rainbow kicked both her hind hooves forward. The kick made contact with X’s hooves, causing her to yelp in pain as her body slid backwards from the ground. Her sliding stopped with her falling on her flank with her fore hooves on the ground behind her.

As Rainbow stared down X’s shivering body on its flank, she was starting to pant. X wasn’t that strong, but she was certainly incredibly agile and reactive. Rainbow just couldn’t get a decent hit on X. Every attack she tried, X has managed to evade. And even when she did land an attack, X usually managed to stop it with minimal damage.

But now she was seeing X grip onto the fetlock portion of her forehooves, rubbing them nervously like they were in pain. When she removed them, her hooves shook violently as her eyes looked closer to them in immense terror. It looked as if she was about to burst in tears. Instead, X just braced her hooves against her head as she squeezed her eyes tightly.

Actually, that position looked more plausible that X was about to burst into tears. Despite that behavior, Rainbow knew she couldn’t let her guard down. But she couldn’t help wondering how all this was possible for X. Why was she able to put up resistance like this?

“I can’t hear the-em…” X started speaking. Her voice sounded like it was sobbing. “I c-c-can’t h-hear the-e-em!” She screamed a little this time, lifting her face in the air. Shaking sobs could be heard coming from her. It sounded like she was crying, but no tears were escaping her eyes. When she turned her head slowly back down to meet Rainbow’s eyes, she continued.

“What did you… d-do to them-m?” she asked. “Almond Clang… Renard Strike… o-our client… where are the-e-ey?!” her voice shook between each breath in desperation. It was then that Rainbow released some tension as she listened to what X had to say.

“Our mission… wasn’t supposed to go this way. They… our client, they…” X swallowed harshly. She put her hooves on the floor and looked down, halting her shivering. Her eyes still pulsated though. “They gave us our mission… clearly…” There was a pause. “Find the tatzlpony under Fluttershy’s care. Capture the tatzlpony. Keep them away from each other. Don’t harm anypony… but do what we must.”

X shut her eyes tightly. “If we fail… I-If we fail… Everypony could… Everypony would…” She held a lot of pressure under her breath as she bursted out. “You would make everypony suffer!” Rainbow’s eyes widened at the sudden shout, making her sit down on her flank. “You’ve seen it, haven’t you? Your poison… what it did to her…”

A concerned breath left Rainbow as she looked down at the bulge in her stomach. “Every breath you take… you release some of that toxin in the air. It… It never leaves. It spreads… spreads… as long as you continue breathing… it keeps spreading.” Rainbow started rubbing the bulge on her stomach. It was her breath that caused Fluttershy to get that sick? She asked herself that in her mind.

“Our client told us… the closer you were to somepony, the faster they would be affected. And if you ever got sick, the entire town could follow by nightfall!” Rainbow’s head shot up at that. An entire town getting poisoned because of her? She was more contagious if she ever got sick?

“You can’t stop your own breathing. You have to be taken to our client, to put a stop to this.” X was starting to breathe rather harshly, more harshly than the breath Rainbow tried to settle when taking all this in. “They warned us how dangerous you would be to capture. Swallowing ponies whole, combating a pack of timberwolves. Our client… T-That’s why they requested our help. Now… N-Now-w-w…”

X’s shivering returned back full force. Her hooves slowly moved back up to her head as they shook, only halting when they braced against her head. “I can’t hear them! Clang, Strike, our client... I can’t hear them!” she ended with strenuous whimpering.

Rainbow could only look down to the bulge on her stomach as she let out a breath. Her mind only thought about what happened to Fluttershy, the way she looked when she was affected by that toxin. The pain that she saw on Fluttershy’s face… she thought of how an entire town could end up that same way, all because of her presence, her breathing. Even if she could learn to stop swallowing other ponies, she couldn’t stop that… could she?

“You must come! Come to our CLIENT!” X shouted her last word and charged forward. Rainbow looked up in surprise at both the charge and shout. She put her hooves in front of her as X bashed against her with her hooves. It caused Rainbow to start sliding backwards while X continued to punch with her hooves.

“Come to our client to put an end to this! End this danger before it becomes a TRAGEDY!” One final punch made Rainbow stumble backwards as she hit a bump behind her. With her yelping and flailing her hooves, X took this opportunity to twirl herself to kick. It collided on the side of Rainbow’s head.

A painful yelp escaped Rainbow as she was flung across the field from the force of that kick. Her body slid for about half a second before it came to a stop, face lying on the ground. X’s whimpering pants could be heard as she stared down Rainbow’s body from her distance. Even now, worry still filled her face.

Rainbow’s forehooves slowly planted themselves on the ground, pushing against it to lift her face off the floor. As she was picking herself up, a flashback came to her mind.

”So now you understand the kind of danger that you are,” she heard Strike say. This was after she helped them deal with the timberwolves that were chasing them. “A wild predator that feasts on other ponies, bring harm to them with every breath you take.” At the time, she thought her toxin had to do with her swallowing other ponies. Even if that was the case, she still couldn’t stop herself from swallowing Fluttershy now.

Fluttershy… Another flashback came from thinking about her. Seeing her standing there… while Rainbow allowed Strike and X to drag her by the leash…

Rainbow managed to pick herself back up, still with the resolve in her eyes. Her eyes turned to X. Despite what X had told her, she couldn’t do what they wanted and go back to their client. And now, she started speaking her reasons why.

“Fluttershy…” Rainbow started as she put a hoof to her cheek. X shivered more at the sound of her voice. “She knew about the toxin. She knew… but she still came back.” Her hoof rubbed against her cheek and wiped away the blow that X delivered earlier. When she finished that wipe, her eyes glared at X.

“Twice she came. She knows I’m dangerous. But if she still wants to be with me…” She ended that sentence by just flaring her wings. It made X flinch. Gulping, X lowered her head as she shakily flared her wings as well.

Rainbow wasn’t sure if she was doing the right thing. If she went with X, they promised that their client would put an end to the toxin that she continued to spread. Not going with them meant she was willingly putting many ponies in danger.

But she wasn’t leaving that decision to herself anymore. There was one pony she could trust more than anypony else right now, more than herself even. That was Fluttershy. Fluttershy came to her aid, not once, but twice after learning about her toxin. Even after she told Fluttershy there were no more of those flowers that cured her poison before, she still came. Despite the evidence they were saying about her dangerous nature, Fluttershy still tried the best she could to be with her.

Rainbow was not gonna betray those efforts. She was gonna stop X here and now, while keeping both her, and Fluttershy protected. Anything less would be unacceptable to her.

The word ‘failure’ came to her mind. A sudden familiar rush of hatred filled her mind from that word.
> Chapter 31: Persevere
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash and X continued to stare each other down, if you could call that staring. One side was staring confidently while the other wouldn’t stop shivering. If there was an audience watching this, one would think Rainbow was the villain in this situation and picking on a frightened mare.

That wasn’t the case though. X came to Rainbow and attacked her, trying to capture her and take her away from Fluttershy. Why she was so scared like this, Rainbow didn’t understand. But X’s actions spoke clearly as to what she wanted. She was afraid, probably so afraid that she believes capturing Rainbow was the right thing to do, as she was told that a tatzlpony was toxic. Rainbow couldn’t deny that, but she couldn’t go with her. So now, X made the first move.

X’s wings started slowly descending, then flaring back up. They went again, simulating a flap. But X’s hooves weren’t leaving the ground. Every flap they made, they went faster, and faster. Rainbow watched those flaps closely. Eventually she started feeling the light breeze coming from those wing flaps.

X continued flapping harder and faster. They were starting to blur in Rainbow’s visions. The breeze started blowing like wind. Rainbow’s mane began swaying back and forth with that wind. It was getting stronger and stronger the faster X’s wings flapped. Soon, the dirt started kicking up in the air. Strong winds blew across the clearing, kicking the dirt up everywhere. When it reached Rainbow, she had to cover her face with a wing. Some of that dirt was getting close to her eyes, making it difficult to see.

X’s wings vibrated in a blur. More dirt kicked up, surrounding her and the entire clearing. Rainbow gritted her teeth as she crouched down. Her tail had to dig itself in the ground to assist in keeping herself from being blown away by this wind. A groan escaped her in this struggle. Not only was X causing so much wind with the vibration of her wings, she was also making it very difficult to see. In fact, Rainbow could no longer see where X was. The dirt had been kicked up into what could only be described as a sandstorm. Peaking through the feathers of her wing, she tried to look around, tried to see where X was in this sandstorm. But there was no sign of her anywhere. She had disappeared in this storm.

Rainbow couldn’t see, but she could hear X’s whimpers nearby. She looked to the areas where the whimpers echoed. But with the combination of the sandstorm and the wing vibrations, it was difficult to pinpoint where it was. At first, she thought it came to her right. When she heard it again, it sounded like it came to the left. Every time she heard it, she looked to its direction. There was one to the right, one up front, one above. It grew so complicated that Rainbow started gasping every time she heard it again.

All of a sudden, a smack from a hoof came to her right. A yelp came from her as she stumbled from the hit. After putting a hoof to her cheek, she checked the direction she was hit. But the sandstorm was making it difficult to keep her eyes open. She had to keep her feathers close to her eyes to keep the sand away from them. Even worse, when she looked, there was no sign of X. Somehow, she could still hear X nearby, but couldn’t tell where.

Rainbow was now more desperate than ever to locate X’s position. The sandstorm just continued to rage on. She looked around every time she heard a whimper. Every time she looked in another direction, she gasped. And every time she looked, there was nothing. X’s whimpers and wing beats just continued sounding in a different direction.

Once again, she heard one very close to her left. When she looked, a hoof already came straight for her face. It crossed between her feathers and smashed into her face, causing her to cry out in pain as she was knocked back. As her front body lifted in the air to brace her face, her hind hooves stumbled backwards and she almost fell on her back from the knock back. Thanks to her tail and her one hind hoof, she barely managed to let her body fall forwards, landing her hooves back to the ground while her wings continued bracing her face.

Grunting and groaning, Rainbow continued trying to hear for X. Another sound came very close by. She didn’t just look to its direction this time. Instead, she turned and threw a hoof at the same time  in that direction. For that split second, she saw X yelping and ducking, already with her eyes closed. X wasn’t using her eyes at all in this sandstorm, and yet still managed to see Rainbow’s attack coming.

After X ducked, she launched herself from the ground using her hooves, smashing against Rainbow’s chest. Rainbow’s eyes squeezed as her body was launched not just from the attack, but the winds caused by that attack. X’s wings continued to vibrate even during the attack, and the force of those wing beats blew her away. Even her tail had yanked out of the ground.

Rainbow groaned as her distance separated from X. She couldn’t see through this storm, couldn’t hear through this storm, and now could barely move around in this storm. Her groan soon turned into a growl. Enough was enough. If she was gonna stop X, she had to get rid of this sandstorm.

Just before Rainbow slammed into a tree, she spread her wings and stopped herself in the air. Opening her eyes, all she could see was sand. But that wasn’t gonna be a factor for long. X would soon learn that she wasn’t the only one who could pull off crazy tricks with her wings. Now Rainbow was gonna show one of hers.

Looking behind her, Rainbow saw the branch of the tree she almost hit. Grinding her teeth, she placed her back to it while bracing it with her hooves. And then, she ignited her wings in a vicious vibration, causing massive winds to be blown in front of her. Her wings were already beating in a blur, but she beat them faster to blow back the sand, faster for good measure, and faster just because. The faster she beat them, the stronger the winds became. It made her body pull back against the branch.

Somewhere inside the sandstorm, X started screaming. The sandstorm was being pushed back, being driven away from the clearing. X’s body was soon revealed as the sand pushed past her. Her eyes were squeezed tightly while her wings were covering her face.

“Ahh! St-stop it! N-nnngh!” X yelled. She had to keep her hooves on the ground in order to prevent her body from being flung away. With her hooves somewhat sliding from the ground and her cries of agony, it looked like she was really struggling to do so.

When the clearing was all clear from the storm, Rainbow halted her wings. But the branch she was bracing herself on had bent pretty far back, which she planned. With her wings no longer pushing her back, the branch snapped back into place, launching Rainbow like a rocket and sending her straight to X.

X heard the snap and yelped harshly. She let her body drop to the side in order to avoid Rainbow’s impact. But Rainbow wasn’t exactly aiming at her. After she moved, Rainbow started turning in a circle, spinning around X quickly. When X picked herself back up, she tried to follow those movements in a panic. Rainbow only circled around her faster, faster to the point where she blurred just like her wings. There was even an actual rainbow trailing her path. Pretty soon she could even see the winds forming from such speed.

“Oh no-o-o…” X’s pupils shrunk as the wind started forming a tornado. She could feel the winds attempting to blow her up in the air. Closing her eyes, she crouched in a desperate attempt to keep her hooves on the ground. But the winds were only growing stronger. All she could do was wail in pain as she felt her strength failing her once again.

X’s back hooves were pried off the ground. Her front hooves desperately tried to stay down, but were shortly followed after. Screams escaped her as she floated further up. She tried to use her wings to stop herself, but they only seemed to make things worse. In the end, she had to keep them to her sides to slow down her propel.

Rainbow turned her attention to X during the middle of her spin. She could see how much she was struggling and shivering from her body being trapped in this tornado. Now was her chance. Shifting her wings, she launched herself straight to X.

A gasp escaped X with her eyes flinging open. Just as Rainbow launched straight to her, she shot her wings out to shift away. The reaction made her escape contact, with only a single feather on her wing being plucked off. Rainbow groaned as she missed her target. She did another full circle around the tornado to keep it held together. Halfway through her second, she launched herself at X again.

X could barely react in time for this one. She had to flap her wings in a way that flipped her body, making her go just beneath Rainbow as she passed right above her. Rainbow made another circle around the tornado. Even quicker than before, she launched herself again. This time, X couldn’t get away. As her eyes shrunk, she cover her face with her hooves as Rainbow made impact, pushing both of them out of the tornado.

Rainbow growled while X whimpered with her eyes squeezed shut. They were heading towards the ground at hasty speeds. X could barely turn her head in time to see just how fast their altitude was dropping. She yelped at the speed. In order to avoid the harsh impact, she flapped her wings to slide herself down and away from Rainbow’s push, making her fall to the ground faster, but upside down.

When Rainbow landed to the ground, she slid on her hooves, looking underneath and behind herself to keep track of X. After X had landed on the ground, her body rolled forward once, allowing her hooves to go back on the ground, sliding a bit. She slid for half a second before pushing herself off, igniting her wings to charge for Rainbow. Seeing this quick recovery, Rainbow’s eyes widened. There was barely any time to react to this. All she could do was jump in a way that would flip her forwards. As her body went upside down, she covered her face with her hooves to block X’s assault of punches.

Rainbow was flapping her wings in a way that would keep herself airborne despite being upside down. X continued punching her and pushing her back. At this speeds, they were gonna run out of room in this clearing. Knowing this, Rainbow had to look behind her, as risky as that was. She gritted her teeth as she saw what was coming. They would reach the edge of the clearing and impact a tree in just a few seconds.

In the end, Rainbow did a similar thing that X did not too long ago. She flapped her wings to propel herself backwards at a faster speed than X could keep up. X attempted to catch up however by increasing her speed. But just before Rainbow impacted the tree, she stopped herself by slamming her front hooves on the ground and stretching her wings far apart. At the same time, X was rushing in for a punch. Rainbow managed to push herself off the ground and in the air, causing X’s punch to slam against the tree.

There was a painful cry that came from X. Her hoof only caused a small bark to chip off from the tree and damage herself in the process. It was her right hoof that was damaged. Rainbow Dash managed to land a good distance away from X. But she was now panting exhaustingly. X was moaning and clutching her hoof. In a desperate struggle, she turned her body to look towards Rainbow.

“Oww...” X sniffed. “O-oww-w…” From the looks of it, that really hurt her hoof. Her teeth were gritting harshly, but she was still suppressing her tears.

If there was a time to act, it was now. But Rainbow couldn’t stop panting. Her stomach felt like it was getting heavier by the second. She had to finish this now before her energy ran out. After taking a deep breath, Rainbow raised her tail and struck it down to dig beneath the ground. Her mouth then opened wide, lashing her tongues out straight towards X. The sight of those things made X scream. When they reached her though, X let go of her hoof and turned herself to the side to go in between their touches. Rainbow closed their grip, but X ducked underneath and moved away from them, keeping her injured hoof off the ground.

As Rainbow retracted her tongues, she growled. She released them again to chase after X. X just continued using frightful maneuvers to escape their clutches. When they tried grabbing in front of her, she turned the other way. Rainbow tried to swing them towards her, but she jumped over their swing. Even when Rainbow tried to grab her in mid-air, she would somehow twist her body to avoid their touches, while forcing herself back to the ground. One more try on all directions, X jumped away from Rainbow to separate their distance.

Rainbow retracted her tongues back to her mouth, panting heavier than before. The last jump X did caused her to stumble on her flank after landing. That injured hoof was definitely messing up X’s movements, but Rainbow’s exhaustion was slowing her down too much to benefit.

This was looking really bad. The side-effect of that magic Rainbow used earlier was rapidly taking effect. She needed more energy from Fluttershy if she was gonna stay awake. But if she took anymore, that would put Fluttershy in even greater risks, and she already put her at risk already. Besides, even if she did use that magic again, what could she do? Direct actions against X was just proving more and more futile. Every attack was either softened or evaded. It was like X was able to see her attacks coming before she actually made them.

Rainbow squeezed her eyes and groaned in agony. She had to think of something. X was dealt with before, but how? It was then that she thought back to when Fluttershy first came back to her, the time when Strike threatened her with that Zapper Device.


______________________________________________________________________________


”Because she’s your friend. And you would never abandon a friend, would you?” She could see the very image of Fluttershy’s fear with that device getting closer and closer. This had to stop right now. But when she tried approaching Fluttershy, she felt a tug from her collar. That was X pulling on her leash. It was the last straw that she could take of their reasons. She didn’t think, she acted. And what she did was tug back on that leash, causing X to get flung towards her, grabbed X in the grip of her hooves, and threw her at Strike.


______________________________________________________________________________


The flashback ended. That was X’s weakness. Her physical strength was not that great. If she could just grab X, there was little that X could do to resist. But how was she gonna do that if not even her tongues could grab her anymore?

“NOOOO!!!” Rainbow’s thoughts snapped back to reality when X suddenly screamed. Soon after, her eyes flung as she gasped herself. Through her instincts, she had activated her magic and drained more of Fluttershy’s energy. X was starting to charge after her in a panic. Another instinctive reaction came to her. There was no time to think. All she could do was act.

Rainbow jumped and dove to the ground, rapidly digging herself underneath. X gasped as Rainbow disappeared underground. She couldn’t follow her. The hole where Rainbow dug through started filling up shortly after she went in. Shaking and whimpering, X tried tracking Rainbow’s movements, looking in many different directions. But it wasn’t possible for her.

Rainbow couldn’t think about her reasons anymore. As she continued digging through the ground, all she did was act. Stopping X was all that mattered. If she wasn’t stopped, Fluttershy’s sacrifice would all be for nothing. This was important, right? So why was her heart aching at the thought? With a frustrated growl, she started digging herself straight back up.

X could feel the sudden shift in the ground. Rainbow was coming back up, but she couldn’t tell where. She tried moving away from the spot she was standing. Shortly after, it sounded like Rainbow was about to pop out in front of her. Yelping, she stopped and turned the other way. But it again sounded like Rainbow was approaching her direction again. More and more attempts to move away from Rainbow seemed futile, and every time caused her to yelp and whimper more.

Something popped up to X’s side, causing her to jump away. Whatever it was, didn’t fully come out. When she landed, it came back, this time in front of her. Yelping harshly, she jumped backwards. Due to her injured hoof, she couldn’t sustain her balance long enough. That last jump caused her to stumble on her flank.

And then, that creature came directly underneath her. Rainbow emerged from the ground, sending both her and X airborne. X was crying out in fear upon the sight of Rainbow’s furious face. Flailing her hooves, she ignited her wings and attempted to get away. But with the momentum of her launch, she couldn’t react as fast. This allowed Rainbow to lash her tongues at her, this time, managing to grab, wrap around her body, and tug her back.

“Aahhh! Let go! Let go!” X wailed desperately as Rainbow captured X into her hooves. She was carrying her high in the air, flapping her wings to rush through the leaves covering the forest. As their altitude increased, X wailed more wildly and cried out louder. Rainbow started feeling the back of X’s head smack against her chest. Due to the strength, it was only making Rainbow grunt.

They soon broke above the tree levels. Rainbow started descending after they broke it. She could already see the clouds above being agitated. Their altitude went beneath the trees before they did anything. X’s wails started getting less frequent as their speed increased, but her cries were getting louder and more desperate. It sounded much like a little filly suffering the trauma of an awful amusement park ride.

Rainbow ignored her pleas and continued diving faster, passing through many leaves and branches. Her wings kept hitting the branches, but that didn’t stop her. In fact, there was more pain coming from the branches than there was from X’s struggles. There was however painful grunts coming from X every time they hit a stray branch in front of them. Every grunt was sounding more painful by the second.

That was when she saw it. Through X’s whimpering cries, Rainbow finally saw tears escaping X’s eyes. Her cries of pain really was her crying now. She could no longer suppress her tears. They just dripped out, flying past Rainbow Dash. Despite this, Rainbow didn’t slow down. All she did, was follow her instinct.

They soon returned back inside the clearing. Only a split second later, they impacted the ground with a loud crash. X had been thrown off just before they landed, making Rainbow slide a few meters away from her, leaving behind a cloud of dust. The dust lasted for a few seconds before it settled. Rainbow’s energy had dropped tremendously. She shook desperately in her struggle to pick herself up. A few stumbles came from her as she lifted her body. Her eyes blinked harshly, trying to stay open. It was difficult to stay conscious. In her desperation to stay up, she looked behind her to see X’s condition.

X wasn’t faring any better. The impact left her body covered in scars and bruises. Her eyes still poured out with tears as she whimpered and shook, also desperately trying to pick herself up. Painful sobs escaped her, but she was managing to lift herself. Seeing this, Rainbow’s eyes grew wide in fear. This battle needed to end now. She could literally feel her heart pounding against Fluttershy’s body. All of this needed to stop for her sake. If X still had fight left in her…

But just as X was about to fully stand back up, her strength failed her. A slow motion blur came from her visions as her eyes shut in a grunt. Her body collapsed to its side, leaving her passed out. Tears still flowed through her eyes. She was motionless now. And the sight of her damaged hoof was clear as day.

Rainbow struggled to sigh for one relief. But now what? Her legs shook from her lack of energy. She could fully feel Fluttershy’s weight hampering her now. It felt like that weight was on her eyes as well. Even though she managed to stop X, what did that result in? Was Fluttershy still okay? Why did she follow her instincts so hastily?

As Rainbow’s eyes closed, the reasons for her actions were losing itself again. Her instinctive actions… they came from the tatzlpony side of her. Maybe X was right… right in more than one way. Not only was she toxic, her instincts led her to reckless actions. While her head was falling to the ground, regret filled her mind. Even after stopping X, there was no way she would wake before X did. That was how bad her side-effect was.

When Rainbow’s head hit the ground, the last of her conscious blacked out.
> Chapter 32: Wake
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The morning sun rose over the horizon once again. Every time the sun rose like this, it was a sign that Equestria was still overall in safe conditions. If there was a time when it didn’t rise, it was a sign of tragic troubles. So every time ponies saw this sun rising, it would always brighten their day.

But this deep in the Everfree Forest, the leaves would block out the morning sun. There were times where it was impossible to see the morning sun rise. Today was not one of those days. Somehow, the morning light shined into Rainbow Dash’s eyes. She had no idea how long she had been sleeping, but feeling that warmth of the sun’s rays stirred her to wake.

When Rainbow opened her eyes, she was met with an intense blur of sun that could only be described as seeing directly into a lens flare. It wasn’t bright enough to hurt her eyes, but it took some time, and a few blinks for them to start focusing. Oddly enough, the lens flare was the first thing that vanished while they were focusing, almost like something blocked out the light when she opened her eyes.

Soon, Rainbow could make out two blobs in front of her. One was green and the other was purple. As her eyes focused, she could start seeing black in their centers. The colors on those blobs soon focused enough that she could see them as wings, which flapped slowly in anticipation. Then she saw bug eyes, antennas, and many small and short legs.

Rainbow blinked one more time as her vision fully focused. These two creatures were both butterflies, and she could see their smiling faces. Were they happy to see her? If so, why? She looked around to get her bearings straight, trying to remember what happened. As she noticed the clearing she was in, it all came rushing back to her.

Rainbow gasped, causing the butterflies in front of her to flinch. She picked herself up and looked around the clearing more desperately. But her nerves calmed down when her eyes caught the sight of somepony lying down. They weren’t just lying down though. Something was forcing them in that state.

Rainbow released a curious breath as she walked to that pony. The butterflies followed, flying side by side next to her head. It was X. She was lying on her back with her head gazing at the eyes of her captor, gazing at it in a trance. As Rainbow approached closer, she noticed that X’s captor was a red and black rattlesnake which fully wrapped above and underneath her body. It’s eyes were gazing at X’s eyes in a hypnotic manner.

What was creepy though was that while X’s head shifted slightly left and right in a slow and simultaneous motion, she wasn’t shaking, wasn’t afraid, not even in tears. X was… smiling. She was in peace. For a pony as jumpy as her, it almost didn’t seem possible. But it looked like even X could find a happy place somewhere in all that fear.

As for the snake, it seemed familiar. When Rainbow approached the snake, it started turning its gaze to her. Rainbow’s eyes grew as she recognized the snake. This was the same snake that X was threatening to shoot at them after they drove Strike away. She didn’t know it yet, but the snake was named 'Sly'. Why was it here?

X’s eyes stopped mimicking the movements from Sly. When Sly tore its eyes off her, the hypnotic gaze vanished. After a harsh blink, she regained consciousness. Rainbow and the butterflies noticed this. All of them, along with X, yelped harshly, which the butterflies’ yelps came out silent.

Rainbow acted immediately. X tried to pick herself up, but Rainbow managed to grab her and push her against a tree, dragging Sly with them. X’s wings and hooves, minus her damaged right one, were flailing in a desperate attempt to escape. Feathers were being flung all over the place. All that happiness X had before, it was gone now. Her fear showed itself full force in this struggle.

Without many options, Rainbow grabbed Sly and wrapped it around X and the tree, keeping her tied to it by using Sly’s snake body as a rope. She tied the tail into a knot below its head to where it could still move its head around freely enough. X desperately struggled in an attempt to escape Sly’s grip. But it seemed along with the snake being tied to a knot, it was strengthening its coiling to keep her in place.

Sly turned its eyes back to gaze at X again. X was still struggling to free herself, whimpering fearfully. She was in a sitting position with her back against the tree and hind hooves exposed. Both of her front hooves and her wings were binded by Sly’s body.

The butterflies flew over to X’s ears to grab her attention. Shivering desperately, X slowly opened her eyes. They now met with Sly’s hypnotic gaze. Looking into those eyes made X’s struggle slow down. Her nerves softened. When she blinked, her eyes revealed the same hypnotic gaze Sly was making, now gazing in sync.

X’s struggles and whimpers came to a stop. Her frown turned back into a smile. Rainbow and the butterflies released a sigh of relief seeing X fall under Sly’s influence again. It seemed that these animals wanted to help. But why? Before, most of the harmless animals were actually fearing her. Why would they want to…

Rainbow gasped as she remembered the very reason why she was fighting with X in the first place. Fluttershy! She was still in her belly! Turning away from X, Rainbow quickly rushed to the center of the clearing. The butterflies watched her go and grew concerned. They decided to follow.

Rainbow frantically looked around for the flattest part of the clearing she could possibly find. Due to their battle, the clearing was quite a mess and had debris strewn about all over the place. Fortunately, there was a section she could set Fluttershy down. When she found it, she raised her tail and struck it down, digging itself in the ground. The butterflies glanced at each other before looking closely at Rainbow’s actions.

Rainbow started breathing in and out harshly, almost sounding as if she was choking on something. She squeezed her eyes as her stomach churned violently. After exhaling all her breath, she took a large inhale with her breath as she pushed her tongues down her throat, reaching down into her stomach. When they reached Fluttershy, they wrapped around her body and started pulling her out.

The butterflies could see the lump in her belly expand first and then shrink. That lump started going up her body, expanding her neck to levels they never thought would be possible for any living creature. If their gasps made a sound, Rainbow Dash would be hearing it clearly. Her mouth opened wide with something coming out of it, something pink, yellow, and completely covered in her saliva with her tongues wrapping around it. When it was released, Rainbow carried it in her tongues and gently set it down to the floor. After unwrapping Fluttershy, she had to pant a few times to catch her breath. Thanks to that knot on her tongue, releasing Fluttershy was a lot harder than the first time. She completely forgot that one of her tongues had been tied to a knot to help heal a wound that Clang inflicted on it. This was the only time that knot ever got in the way.

“Fluttershy… *pant*,” Rainbow said as her breath caught up to her. She couldn’t tell how Fluttershy’s condition was with all that saliva on her. To fix that, she used her three tongues to lap up the excess saliva that covered Fluttershy’s body. Her tongues had to lick across her face, around her stomach, underneath her wings, and even down to her hind hooves.

The butterflies watched as Rainbow continued to lap up the saliva covering Fluttershy’s body. They could see just about every detail of where those three coils went. Rainbow’s tongues started going back up Fluttershy’s body. When they came back to her face, they focused on rubbing the eyes to lap up the rest of the saliva. Rainbow made one final slurp, pushing Fluttershy’s face up as saliva flicked off. All three of her tongues returned back to her mouth.

When all the licking had stopped, the butterflies moved in closer to inspect Fluttershy’s body. Rainbow also checked Fluttershy’s body, but she was far more worried. Her body was still covered in the bruises suffered in her battle with X. None of them looked severe, but she hadn’t responded to anything so far, not even the licks. All she did was remain motionless. No twitch, no moan, nothing. A chill ran through Rainbow’s body. She asked herself… what if she was too late?

“Fluttershy…” Rainbow forced out. No response. She moved her head down to nudge Fluttershy’s. “Fluttershy…” she repeated. Fluttershy’s head just limped back into place. Still no response. It was now difficult for her to breathe. A moan escaped her as she tried again, this time licking her cheek. Nothing.

The butterflies hovered down to latch to Fluttershy’s mane, taking a close look at her. They didn’t find any responses either. Worried expressions and frowns came from them too.

“F-F… Flutt-er-shy…” Rainbow started tearing up. She was the one who caused this. If she hadn’t taken Fluttershy’s energy like this… she would still be…

All of a sudden, Rainbow bursted out. “FLUTTERSHY!!!” Her head dropped to Fluttershy’s stomach as her tears poured out. It was all her fault, she told herself as she sobbed. She should never have listened to her instincts, she should’ve fought them harder. But she was too weak, doubted herself too much, trusted Fluttershy too much. X, Clang, Strike, she should’ve…

Rainbow’s regret train took a halt when she felt something. Did she imagine it? No… She didn’t imagine it... because she felt it again.

Thump… Thump… Thump…

It was faint and slow, but she could definitely feel it in Fluttershy’s body. Rainbow picked her head off Fluttershy’s body. What she was feeling was her heart beat.

“Fluttershy?” Rainbow tried calling out again. But there was still no response. Her breath suddenly got very heavy. It wasn’t too late yet, but she didn’t know what to do. She tried nudging Fluttershy’s head again. Nothing. Now her own heart beat was pounding.

Rainbow quickly looked around the area. She had to wake Fluttershy up. But how was she going to do that? Nothing she did made Fluttershy respond. If this kept up, she would never wake up. There had to be something.

Rainbow gasped harshly as her sight went to X’s bag. There was something she could do. But… she didn’t like it one bit. Terrible memories started rushing through her mind, something from both her present, and her past memories.

That something was the Twittermite Zapper Device. The electric shock that those twittermites could send… Strike tried to use it on Fluttershy earlier. He said that Fluttershy would live through the shock, but it would leave her out cold for hours. Instead Rainbow was the one who suffered it. And indeed, such a device put her to sleep for hours.

But… it could also work in reverse. She slowly walked towards the bag as she thought about it. The right amount of shock could also shock a pony awake from a deep slumber or coma. Could she do that? What if she messed up though? If she messed it up, it could potentially damage Fluttershy even further.

The butterflies curiously watched as Rainbow moved away from Fluttershy. Sly wanted to see what was going on, but it knew it had to hold its gaze on X, or more trouble would brew. Rainbow couldn’t stop moaning as she battled her decision of whether she should go through with this or not. She reached the bag and she wanted so much to look away from it. What instincts was she following? Was she following her tatzlpony instincts, or her instincts from her past memories before being a tatzlpony? There was no way to tell for her.

Rainbow closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as she reached for the bag with a hoof. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. Her head turned away when she touched the bag, wanting so much to let go. When she peaked an eye open, she saw Fluttershy’s body again. If she didn’t do this, Fluttershy could stay like that forever. One of the butterflies flew up to her expressing their curious, yet worried expression. It seemed they cared for Fluttershy too. Gulping, she opened the bag and took a look inside.

And then… Rainbow Dash released a long and extended gasp. She saw something inside X’s bag. The Zapper Device was inside there, but there was something else that caught her eye. That something… it was…

Rainbow’s body began shaking. Her eyes pulsated and shook as well. The emotion that she was building up, it forced her teeth to clench together. All she felt… was pure… unbridled… rage…

A furious growl escaped Rainbow Dash as her eyes turned to X. All that hatred she was building up was aimed straight at her, and everypony else she was working with. Clang, Strike, the client, all of them held a volcanic fire of hatred through her mind. If there was ever a time to believe every word they told her was nothing but lies, it was now. The butterfly near Rainbow Dash started backing away in fear. It had no idea why Rainbow Dash was suddenly getting so furious.

Rainbow Dash snapped her head back to the bag. She quickly grabbed the Zapper Device, closed the bag, and ran straight for Fluttershy. Her decision had been made to follow her instincts no matter which ones they were. All that hatred for X could wait. Once Fluttershy was awake, she would show her when the time came.

Rainbow approached Fluttershy with the Zapper Device, causing the other butterfly to back away in fear. After she turned it on, she hesitated for a moment, taking heavy breaths. Where should she jam the device? For some reason, her instincts were leading her to a very vital area. But it wasn’t just instincts telling her this. It was a memory, a memory of past experience.

After expelling a large breath, she thrusted the device. It jammed to the side of Fluttershy’s chest area, giving her a good shock. Her entire body jumped and flashed brightly, causing her eyes to fling open while the butterflies flinched in fear. Rainbow forced herself to keep the device in place until a full second passed. She then quickly removed the device with a loud yelp and tossed it away. If the butterflies could scream, they would’ve done it then when they flew away from the device. The device smashed onto the ground, causing it to crack open, releasing the twittermites. In a swarm, they started leaving the area, releasing many crackles of lightning in their wake which came close to the butterflies, but thankfully didn’t make contact.

Rainbow Dash was panting from the tough decision she made. She did what she had to do, but did it work? Was it enough? Her eyes slowly opened to check for the answer. Then they widened. With a close look to Fluttershy’s stomach, she saw that it was moving. Fluttershy was breathing.

And then she heard a moan. Fluttershy’s eyes were closed, but they were starting to twitch. Her entire body followed. Slowly, they opened up.

Fluttershy was greeted with a morning flare, and a shadow blocking that flare enough so it didn’t hurt her eyes. She recognized the shadow as a pony’s head. Somepony was looking down at her. When her vision started focusing, she started making the face out. It was somepony she recognized.

“...R-Rainbow?” When she said that name, her vision focused fully. It was Rainbow Dash, and she was smiling brightly. “Rainbow Dash… i-it’s you… Am I d-dreaming?” Upon that question, Rainbow just closed her eyes and licked Fluttershy across the cheek. She licked her with the tongue that was still tied to a knot. Feeling the affection made Fluttershy giggle as she put her hooves around Rainbow’s mane.

“Oh Rainbow! You must’ve saved me!” Rainbow continued licking Fluttershy across the cheek while Fluttershy brushed Rainbow’s mane affectionately. They were both so happy right now and couldn’t stop giggling. “You’re a good tatzlpony, Rainbow Dash! A really good tatzlpony!”

If the butterflies could make sounds, they would be in ‘awe’ right now. Seeing the way these two interacted with each other, they wished that they could be treated in the same way. Everything Sly mentioned about her seemed pretty spot on.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy soon halted their affections to breathe a sigh of bliss. They were back together again, no pony tied up or in any kind of trouble. At least, that’s how it was for right now. It may not be for good yet, but they wanted to enjoy it while it lasted. Now that they did, Rainbow helped Fluttershy back to her hooves. Her cheek was quite smothered in Rainbow's saliva, but Fluttershy wasn't bothered by it at all. In fact, she didn't wipe it off, and just let it dry naturally. But she did grunt and put a hoof to her stomach as she came up. There was still some soreness on her stomach. She remembered where it came from. So she started questioning.

“What happened to…” Before she could finish the question, her eyes caught the sight of X. Not just X though. She also saw that X was smiling, tied up, and that a couple of butterflies were hovering nearby. Her eyes kept shifting from one to another, to X, to Rainbow, to the butterflies, and even a random direction around the clearing, trying to understand what occurred while she was unconscious. While she did this, she started walking towards X with Rainbow Dash following.

Seeing the clearing in the state it was, she could tell that she definitely missed out on a lot. The clearing was no longer how she remembered it. What was once a very flat land crowded in a huge circle of piled up leaves and bushes, was now a jumbled mess of holes, skid marks, leaves and branches lying about, damaged terrain, and many open spaces in that circle wall surrounding the clearing. It looked like now that wall wasn't gonna keep anything out. There was also that destroyed cage that trapped Rainbow Dash earlier, now lying like a pile of garbage. Considering how weak that cage was, she could already guess as to how Rainbow Dash was able to escape.

When Fluttershy got closer to X, she bobbed her head back. She noticed that what was used to tie up X was a snake which she recognized. “Sly?” she asked as she walked a little faster to it. Rainbow heard the name that Fluttershy used. That answered one question she had. The reason that snake came had to be because of Fluttershy.

And then Fluttershy covered her mouth to stifle a gasp. She noticed X’s right hoof and how damaged it was. The top edge of the outer rim had been cracked. To most animals, that would simulate as a really bad claw/nail snap further than where it’s supposed to. It made her cringe at the thought of how painful that must’ve been.

And yet, X was smiling, following Sly’s movements as her eyes continued spanning glowing rings of multiple colors in the same style that Sly’s was doing. It must’ve been the hypnotic gaze that Sly did on her before. It also seemed like Sly was not bothered with being tied up in order to keep X in place.

Right now though, Fluttershy was most concerned about that hoof. X may have tried to hurt them, or rather, tried to separate them, but she felt that even X shouldn’t deserve a pain like that without treatment. Even the butterflies agreed. From her looking at X’s hoof, the butterflies hovered down to it. They started rubbing on it with their antennas, doing what they could to soothe the pain.

For now, that seemed to be the best way to go. Fluttershy took a glance to Rainbow, and Rainbow did the same. They both knew what they had to do. Though Rainbow seemed to respond with a glare that said there was much more to it. Regardless, it still meant what it meant. It was time to question X and get her to tell them what she knew.

Maybe X wouldn’t tell them about her client, but maybe they could get her to tell them some other things that might help.
> Chapter 33: Surprise
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sly’s hypnotic stare slowly settled upon Fluttershy’s request. While he closed his eyes, he lowered his head back down to his body, breaking the hypnosis. The swirls in X’s eyes soon vanished as a result. After blinking, her eyes returned to normal and she was conscious again. The first thing she saw was both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy giving her a serious look. She shut her eyes as she panicked and squirmed, making the butterflies detatch themselves from her hoof. Due to Sly’s grip, X's efforts to go anywhere was in vain.

“Please, settle down,” Fluttershy said. “If you cooperate, we promise we won’t do anything to you.” X continued to squirm and whimper, but her efforts were slowing down. Gritting her teeth harshly, she made one final attempt to break free of the grip. When she couldn’t handle anymore, her muscles gave away and she instantly stopped all her struggles. She began sobbing after that. A few tears even started escaping her eyes again. The butterflies looked her over, waiting for a few seconds. When they believed X was done with her squirming, they returned back to her hoof to ease the damage.

“It’s over-r-r…” X sobbed out. “I… I f-failed… failed…” She finished with a sniff. Fluttershy’s eyes grew concerned. It was hard to believe that a pony like this caused them so much trouble. Seeing her sob out like this just didn’t make her feel right. Rainbow Dash however kept her stern glare at X as she felt no guilt at all. While Fluttershy didn’t understand why, she did understand that despite this guilt, they still needed answers.

“X, listen to me,” Fluttershy started. “I need you to answer a few questions.” X only responded with more whimpers and tears. She wasn’t saying anything more, so Fluttershy continued. “Tell me again. Why are you trying to capture Rainbow Dash and separate us? What does your client want with a tatzlpony? You say that they are dangerous, but how? Tell me.”

There wasn’t any immediate response. X continued to shiver, but her whimpers turned into gasps of breath. The way she was breathing made it seem like she was just recovering from suffocation. But all she was recovering from was just intense fear and acceptance. Fluttershy began to wonder if she’s had to experience fear like this quite often. Maybe that was why she was the way she was?

Finally, X opened her eyes and began answering. “T-They’re p-p-poisonous…” she answered. “E-Everytime they breathe… They-y-y… release some of that toxin… i-i-in the air.”

X proceeded to tell Fluttershy everything she told Rainbow Dash earlier. She explained to Fluttershy that the toxin may be very small, but if she stayed exposed to it for too many days, she would be affected. Rainbow was careful to listen on what X was saying to see if there was any changes to what X told her. Unfortunately, there was nothing out of place. There was however something else that she added.

“E-Even if you cured it… you’ll only be affected again…” And then, X finished with that last thing she told Rainbow Dash. “If the tatzlpony… e-e-ever gets sick, they’ll… their toxin spreads f-faster. I-It’ll affect an entire town within a day!” X finished with a gasp of whimpers and moans. That last revelation got to Fluttershy. It made her look at Rainbow Dash with her mouth open in concern. And yet, Rainbow Dash still didn’t look regretful. Why?

Fluttershy looked back to X and continued questioning. “Okay. But what about your client? Why does your client want to capture Rainbow Dash?”

X took a few breaths before answering. “To… prevent this tragedy from happening. If… If the tatzlpony is left alo-” She didn’t get to finish before Fluttershy interrupted her.

“What would your client do though? When they capture Rainbow Dash, what will they do to her?”

A heavy pant escaped X. “They’ll…” There was a pause, a long pause. “T-They’l-l-ll…” Another pause came, but it was cut off by her going silent when she released a silent gasp. Her eyes looked a bit stunned. “I don’t know…” Fluttershy’s eyes widened at the response, not just because of the words, but also because of X’s tone when she said it. No fear was present in that tone. It was very calm and collected.

“You don’t know?!” Fluttershy asked in surprise.

“We never thought to ask,” X responded with that calm tone. “Never thought it was needed.” After hearing fear in her voice for all that time, it was so strange seeing X so collected all of a sudden. Unfortunately, it was short lived. Rainbow started growling, causing X’s eyes to shrink as she began shivering again.

“Then what do you think they’ll do to her?!” Fluttershy asked with a slight anger in her tone. “Would they release the toxin from her, or would they do something else?!” X’s eyes shut as she began whimpering again. “Answer me, X. Just like Rainbow Dash doesn’t want anything to happen to me, I don’t want anything happening to her either. What do you think your client would do?”

X’s eyes were squeezing tightly as she was gasping for breath, moaning deeply as if she was pleading for something, something that would get her out of this situation. And then, X responded, but not with Fluttershy’s answer.

“I can’t hear them! I c-can’t hear the-e-em! Why-y-y?!” It was a strange way to respond. Rainbow began wondering why X kept repeating that. She was saying that during the time they were fighting too. There was also another time she was saying it, but the exact moment escaped Rainbow for the time being. Fluttershy seemed to be curious too, because she asked…

“Who are you talking about?” It took a moment, but X’s shiver slowed to a halt. Opening her eyes, she answered.

“Clang… Strike… our client… I-I can’t hear the-e-em…” Fluttershy just stared at X for a few seconds. Her eyes turned to the left, then to the right, then back to X. She was trying to process why X would be saying that.

“You can’t hear them because they’re not here,” Fluttershy said. But X just shook her head.

“N-N-No… You don’t under-rstand…” X said. “I-I… I can hear them… when they’re not around.” Fluttershy blinked at that. “W-We can hear each other even when we’re separated. We could… B-But now…” It was then that X’s tears returned as she closed her eyes. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Capture the tatzlpony. Return her to our client. Harm nopony.” There was a pause as X panted her breaths. She opened her eyes and looked at Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy pleadingly. “Before our mission began, we gathered together... in Ponyville… gathered to discuss our mission.”

Fluttershy sat down and listened closely to what X was saying. She didn’t want to interrupt X because wherever this was going, it could be important.


______________________________________________________________________________


X shivered at the doorway of this house she was meeting at. Clang was waiting for them inside. There was an obnoxiously loud racket going on inside, most of which consisted of hooves hitting against metal. Every time they sounded, she flinched and coward further away.

She looked around the area where this building was located. For some reason, it was actually rather barren on this side of town. By barren, not many ponies were setting hoof in this area. And any who did were indoors. One would think it was because of the loud racket going on here, but it was barren before Clang came here.

X yelped when she heard a hoofstep nearby. Looking to its direction, she saw that it was Strike giving her a scowl.

“You did not have to wait for me, X,” Strike said in a growling tone. X just shrunk back. And then she yelped and shut her eyes when there was a sound of metal banging inside the building. Without waiting, Strike turned to the door and it with his magic. All of a sudden, the racket stopped. 

“Ever heard of knocking?” Clang commented. He was at the other end of the room on top of a ladder.

“With all that noise, you wouldn’t hear us,” Strike responded as he went inside with X following behind him. “Now stop foaling and gather around. Our client wants to speak to us to review our task.” Clang chuckled, but he started putting his tools away as the others moved to the center of the room. “X?”

X flinched when Strike called to her. Strike didn’t have to say anything for her to know what he wanted. She reached over to the bag Strike was carrying and set it down. After searching through the bag, she pulled out a ring, which Strike grabbed using his magic. As he was setting it to the center of the room, Clang dropped down from the ladder to join them. The center of the circular device shined a blue light above. Inside this light, vocal waves emitted as well as a voice. It was their client.


______________________________________________________________________________


“They told us what they could about a tatzlpony, and a few things we should not reveal,” X mentioned. “Such as who our client is. Most of this... you already know now."


______________________________________________________________________________


”The creature that you’re after, I’ve decided to call it a tatzlpony,” the client continued. “I won’t bore you with the details of why, just what you need to watch out for. If it gets a hold of you, it will swallow you alive.” X’s ears dropped and she shrinked back further from the light. Strike’s serious expression went unchanged, and Clang just smiled. “Something I want you to do, refrain from mentioning the details about this creature unless they ask specifically.”

Strike raised an eyebrow at that. “Why so?” he asked.

“Every detail they learn about this creature will give them false hope,” the client answered. “A false hope that took somepony away from me.” X shrinked back further than usual upon hearing this. “The more hope they have, the more they’ll resist.”

“Heh!” Clang laughed. “Why not just make up some lies then?”

“Because then they won’t believe a word you say, and that’ll only be worse. Remember, nopony is to be harmed during this duty. Do what you must to ensure capture, but if fighting can be avoided, take it.”

“Alright, you got it,” Clang responded.

“I’ll keep myself in contact for the time being. If you have anymore questions, give a call. Out.” After those words, the light turned off and went back inside the ring that was emitting it. Strike was levitating that ring. Now that the call was done, he moved it back up to his horn and attached it.

“Hah!” Strike laughed. “In an operation like this, there’s ALWAYS gonna be fighting involved. Never expect any le-”

Strike got interrupted by the sound of knocking at their door. Confused, they all looked to the door. “Strange,” Clang said. “Nopony’s supposed to be coming over here.” As Strike made his way to the door, X’s eyes shrunk as she cowered back. Her nerves were suddenly attacking her all over the place. When Strike opened the door, he found what he could only describe as an old hag, light purple with white hair. She was holding a package out to them.

“Special delivery,” the old mare said. Strike scowled.

“Beat it old hag. We didn’t order anything.” When he was about to close the door, the lady responded in a sudden mean tone

“It’s a gift, FROM ME!” She suddenly threw the package above Strike’s head and inside the building. X gasped as it headed her way. She flew out of the way and went straight for cover while Clang and Strike watched where the package was landing. The lady suddenly left.

As soon as the package hit the ground... ‘Bam! Boom! Flash! Kaboom!', and what ever else could describe a bomb going off. Firework levels of explosions scattered across the entire building. Explosions from the left, explosions from the right, explosions from top to bottom, explosions blinding the area, explosions on top of explosions, and even a rocket launching out of the explosion. Every split second caused a boom, every five seconds sounded about fifteen booms, and every boom emitted an epilepsy level of flashing lights.


______________________________________________________________________________


Meanwhile, Fluttershy began wondering if what X was describing was accurate, or an exaggeration out of what her fear experiences. But she remembered meeting that lady just after Clang tried to capture them. She blew up the door to that building, yelling at them for making so much noise. Clang wasn’t too happy hearing her voice again… which meant…

Before she could finish thinking on it, X continued.


______________________________________________________________________________


The entire building had about fifteen full seconds of nothing but explosions before the noise finally settled. Everything inside was charred. Clang was charred, Strike was charred, their tools and bags were charred, even the debris that were falling from the ceiling was charred. The only thing that wasn’t charred was X, who had taken cover before the explosions went off.

And then the lady returned. “NOW KEEP IT DOWN OR I’LL HAVE THIS WHOLE BUILDING TURNED TO ASHES!!!” She finished with slamming the door closed, causing more charred pieces to drop in the house. It was suddenly silent minus the shivering and whimpering coming from X. After being able to open her eyes again, she took a peak from her covering spot.

Clang and Strike were left speechless and stock-still against the walls their bodies were thrown at. Nothing but char covered their bodies. Both of them were purely pitch-black with their eyes closed. When they opened, they blinked twice before one of them could manage a response.

“WHAT THE HAY JUST HAPPENED?!” Strike yelled.

“THAT OLD HAG JUST BLEW UP ALL MY HARD WORK!” Clang yelled back. While they were yelling, X started coming out of her cover zone, whimpering at the destruction that was left behind. Posters were shattered to pieces, shelves were toppled over with their items scattering the place, ceiling lights were dangling towards ground level, and everything in the ground level was painted black. It was everything you would see from a destroyed building, but with all its walls still somehow intact. And because of all the lights shattered, the room became quite dark.

“What was her problem?!” Clang asked. “What kind of old hag just blows stuff up like that?!”

Strike suddenly thought of something. “Hold on. Why did you choose for us to meet here again?” he asked Clang.

“Because this side of Ponyville was barren. I don’t know why and nopony would say why. The only ones I’ve seen coming here are the ones shopping at the-” Clang cut himself off when the realization kicked in. There was a bomb shop at this side of Ponyville. It had to be run by somepony. When he put two and two together, he came to a conclusion. The reason this place was barren was because of that crazy old lady, the same pony running that bomb shop. His face turned into a deep scowl. “That… witch…” he commented in a very deep tone.

And then... he started chuckling a very deep chuckle. Strike’s eyes raised. He knew what that chuckle meant. “Clang!” Strike said. “Our client specifically asked us not to harm anypony! Don’t get any ideas!”

But Clang’s expression didn’t change. He just released a few more chuckles before he abruptly stopped and looked towards X. X flinched away from that sudden stare, making Clang grin more.

“You know what?” Clang started as he turned to Strike. “You two can go to that meeting without me.”

Strike scowled even further. “What did I just tell you?!”

“This isn’t about our mission,” Clang responded. “THIS... is personal.”

“This is a WASTE of time!”

X had her hoof to her mouth as these two argued. She turned her head every time they made an exchange. But suddenly, Clang’s exchange was directed to her.

“This is FAR from a waste of time.” Clang started walking towards X menacingly. “When a mare like her scolds you like that, NEVER give in to their sass.” X’s eyes shrunk further. She started backing away while Clang approached closer. “If you do, you’re giving them nothing to fear. They’ll keep lashing out at you, making you fear them from just their words.” It was then that X found herself backed to a wall, gasping heavily as Clang’s face approached inches away from her. “Never give them that sort of power. You gotta pony up and give them a reason to fear you. Show them who’s boss, even if you have to use physical force. Else, every lady like that will ALWAYS take advantage of you, no matter how strong you are compared to them. I'll never allow that. Never.”

Clang finished by raising his hoof in the air. It was directed at X. X looked away and covered her face with her hooves, shivering intensely against the wall. He was going to punch her, punch her really hard. At least, that’s how it looked like, but Clang intentionally stopped right there to show his point. But Strike was not amused.

“Almond Clang!” Strike shouted frustratingly. “I am ordering you to put a stop to this silly campaign of yours while we are on this mission. Do as I say!”

Clang just continued looking at X with that threatening smile. Still shivering, X moved her hooves slightly to take a peak. Of course, he saw that fear in her eyes, which delighted him. And then he closed his eyes and put his hoof down. He then looked to Strike in a smug way.

“I’m sorry. But last I checked, you’re not the boss of me!” he said, which made Strike’s expression go into shock and fury.

“Don’t… you… dare…” he growled. But Clang just rubbed it in.

“Dare I what?” Clang said as he moved closer to Strike. “You seem to be forgetting who the real leader is, unless you can prove otherwise!” Strike was grinding his teeth in a seething manner. X could hear his growls and shivered at them. “You gonna do something about it? Go on then! Do it!” She saw his horn start glowing through his rage. The ring on his horn glowed as well as sparks were leaking out. Seeing all this, X’s shivering turned to whimpers of fear worse than what Clang was causing. “Prove your worth as a leader!”

With that final word, Strike released his rage. A focused beam fired straight out of his horn. But it wasn’t aimed at Clang. It was aimed… at X. The moment he fired, she yelped and jumped away from where she was standing. When it hit the ground, it ricocheted off and went straight for X again. Using her wings, she accelerated herself enough to fly behind one of the lights dangling from the ceiling due to that explosion earlier. Pulling it in front of her, her eyes shut tightly as she blocked the beam with that light, causing it to ricochet again thanks to the glass mirror it had.

Strike gasped. Clang saw where the beam was headed. Before he could react, the beam hit his target, causing him to shut his eyes tightly as he lowered his head. The beam’s impact left a blinding flash with an intense screech. There was no yelling oddly enough. But that could’ve been because the target was too frustrated to even give a sound.

Clang and X opened their eyes to see the target of that beam. Strike was still standing, eyes closed, practically motionless, and completely redecorated in pitch-black again thanks to his own magical beam. To X, it was a moment of agony, but to Clang, it was a moment of brilliance, a moment which he thought supported his example quite well.

“Our leader, fillies and gentlecolts,” Clang said. It took a moment, but Strike finally opened his eyes, causing a bit of char to flick off his body from just the movement of his eye-lids. He was no longer seething at least, but he still looked extremely frustrated.

“Tell me that did not just damage my ring,” Strike said. Almost immediately after, he heard a response. But the response was heard in his mind.

(“I don’t know. Can you hear me?”) That was Clang’s voice in his head. X heard it too. Strike could only respond with a groan, somewhat wishing his ring HAD been damaged. Clang continued, but in a vocal manner. “That ring is the only thing allowing us to communicate from a distance. It would be a real shame if anything happened to it from YOUR actions.”


______________________________________________________________________________


Fluttershy was at a loss for words. It didn’t seem possible, but from what X just described, it was. She just had to ask to be sure. “X… Y-You’re their leader?” X didn’t nod, nor did she shake her head. All she did was turn her head away as her eyelids drooped in a sad expression, all the while whimpering. Maybe it was true. Or maybe, it was just the way Strike and Clang viewed her as, but she didn’t. There was one thing it did mean though.

“So… when your client offered you a job to capture a tatzlpony by force, y-you accepted... willingly?”

A few seconds of no response went by. X turned her head and gave a different answer. “A tatzlpony’s breath is poisonous. I-If it’s left alone, everypony would suffer. W-We… h-h-had to…”

So that was it then. The only reason X took the mission was because she believed it would protect everypony from that toxin. If they could just convince her that Rainbow Dash… that a tatzlpony wasn’t as dangerous as they thought it was, maybe they wouldn’t want to continue their mission, and maybe they would tell Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash about their client.

But that was easier said than done. The story that X told, it felt like there was something wrong with it. Even worse, it felt like she was forgetting something very important right now, but she couldn't figure out what. As she thought, X continued.

"T-That was the start of everything going wrong. From then on, things only got worse. We... We continued with our mission. Strike and-"

X was suddenly interrupted by a loud gasp coming from Fluttershy. The gasp was so intense, it caught Rainbow by surprise, frightened the butterflies tending to X's hoof, and even made Sly flinch, whereas X yelped and started whimpering. Rainbow had to hold her stance, wondering why Fluttershy released a gasp like that. Well, if Fluttershy had seen what was in X's bag, it would've made perfect sense to her. But Fluttershy didn't and she doubted that's why Fluttershy gasped. This made her really wonder what Fluttershy managed to catch that was so surprising.

After the initial surprise, the butterflies looked at Fluttershy cautiously as they floated back down to X's hoof. Afterwards, X opened her eyes again, and looked at Fluttershy. Fluttershy was staring at X with a seriously curious expression, a face that demanded answers.

"When you were telling the story, you mentioned something," Fluttershy started. "Clang... mentioned something. According to you, he said this. 'You know what? You two can go to that meeting without me.'"

When Fluttershy said that, X gasped out loudly, shaking her head in a terrified motion. "No... N-No No!" A painful yelp escaped her.

"You just had your meeting with your client, and you were all together," Fluttershy continued. "What was this other meeting he was talking about?!"

X was starting to struggle in her grip again, continuing to shout her responses. "No! No! I-I can't! I wasn't supposed to mention that! Ohhh!"

'Wasn't supposed to mention that.' Those words repeated in Fluttershy's head. Their client mentioned that there were some things they shouldn't reveal, because it would give them false hope. This hope was anything but false. Even Rainbow Dash was starting to glare at her. Fluttershy approved it this time.

"What was that meeting about?!" Fluttershy scolded. But X continued to remain speechless. All Fluttershy could do was shake her head. There had to be something important about that meeting, else they wouldn't try to hide it. But how was she going to get it out of X?

Fluttershy noticed Rainbow Dash moving past her and closer to X, fiercely growling as she approached. It looked like Rainbow was ready to pounce at X at any time. While Fluttershy didn't approve of that, it gave her an idea. She put a hoof to Rainbow's head gently, moving her mouth to Rainbow's ear as she whispered something to her.

Rainbow's expression took an immediate curious change. She looked to Fluttershy to make sure she heard correctly, and Fluttershy nodded. So she stayed where she was while Fluttershy continued.

“I’m sorry, X. But I need to get that information. I don’t believe a tatzlpony is as dangerous as you think they are. What your client said about it being false hope, I don’t think it is.” Rainbow Dash started inching towards X as Fluttershy talked. X could only tilt her head back while gritting her teeth nervously. “X, will you tell us?” Her breaths got heavy, breathing in and out a few times. She slowly shook her head again, disappointing Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash soon got into position directly in front of X. Slowly, she lowered her head and spread her wings, making X shiver and whimper. The butterflies tending to X’s hoof stopped what they were doing, looking to Rainbow Dash a bit worried. Fluttershy continued. “I don’t like making ponies suffer, X. I don’t like to see them get hurt, and I don’t like hurting them myself.” Hearing that, the butterflies looked to each other, nodded, then hopped off X and hovered towards Fluttershy.

“However, this tatzlpony, my best friend, Rainbow Dash, is very much the opposite of me. She may have lost her memory, but I know it’s still there somewhere. Like right now, she loves seeing ponies get hurt. She loves seeing them suffer when they deserve it. And right now, I think she believes you deserve it if you don’t tell us what we want to know.”

X was still breathing harshly as a sweat gland started sliding from her face. Despite how frightened she looked, she was still slowly shaking her head. No matter what Fluttershy said, it seemed baseless threats wasn’t gonna get X to crack. It sounded a lot like what Clang was telling Strike during that story. Perhaps that little campaign was influenced because of X? Regardless, this wasn’t planned to be a baseless threat. Rainbow moved closer with that thought.

“But… even now I can’t allow her to hurt you. You’re still injured from your fight with her yesterday. I can see it, and I’m very sorry that that happened to you. However...” Fluttershy then opened her eyes in a mean expression. X gasped. At the same time she opened her eyes, Rainbow’s wings started pointing towards her. And when Fluttershy’s eyes started resembling her Stare, X’s eyes shrunk. “There is a way to torture somepony without causing them pain.” Her voice was raising. “And if you won’t tell us what this meeting was about, then I’ll have no choice but to allow her to do it!”

X started shaking violently as she noticed where Fluttershy was going with all of this. Those feathers that were pointing towards her, they were pointing at her exposed hind hooves. She began shaking violently, shaking her head violently. “No! N-No! N-N-NOOO!!! AHH!!!”

After that last ‘no’, Rainbow motioned her right wingtip forward, moving it until it made contact with X’s left hind hoof. She began brushing up and down the hoof, causing X to wail in a mixture of both yelps, and laughs. Her hoof desperately tried to bend away from the feather, but had nowhere to go. The feather just continued brushing and tickling.

“Tell us what the meeting was about, X,” Fluttershy continued. The butterflies had landed on both sides of Fluttershy’s ears, watching the torture that Rainbow was causing to X.

“AHAHA!!! I, HAHA… C-C-CAN’T!!! Ah… AAAAHAHAA!!!” With that second denial, Rainbow’s other wingtip joined in the frey and started tickling X’s right hind hoof. X’s body was trying to break out of her rope again, but because of her strength, Sly didn’t require much effort to keep himself firmly coiled around her. Tears of laughter started dripping out of her eyes. And because of her sitting position against the tree, her hind hooves could barely move, making it impossible to escape the tickles.

“P-P-PLEASE!!! HAHA! STO-AHA, STO-O-OP!!! AHAH!!!”

Fluttershy didn’t make Rainbow stop. She encouraged her to keep going. And she encouraged her, because X knew very well how to get Rainbow to stop. This would continue until X told them what they wanted to know. During the torture, X managed to open her eyes. She could see the tatzlpony grinning in enthusiasm from the torture she was giving her. And she could see Fluttershy staring at her, waiting impatiently for the information she wanted to know. The tickles didn’t stop. It wouldn’t stop.

And then… Rainbow Dash started opening her mouth. One of her tongues started slowly sticking out.

"Tell us!" Fluttershy warned. "Or she’ll start licking.”

It was then that X couldn’t take it anymore. As that tongue inched closely to her right hind hoof, she gave in.

“WE WERE… HNNGH, HNGH! WE WERE GONNA MEET WITH THE PRINCESS OF FRIENDSHIP!!!”

When X finally told them what they wanted to know, Rainbow halted her tongue, halted her wings. She stopped the tickling as promised. Retracting her wings to her side, and retracting her tongue back to her mouth, she gave a proud smile as she watched X gasping for breath in tears. X may be able to handle baseless threats, but it looked like she wasn’t immune to torture. In fact, she may have been far more vulnerable to it than most ponies were. Torture was essentially a test of physical and mental strength. Her mental strength was debatable, but her physical strength was clearly lacking. All this wasn't just familiar to her, it felt really good. Looking to Fluttershy, she gave a smile.

Or… that’s what she wanted to do, but when she did, she only grew concerned. Fluttershy looked stunned from the information she got. Her lips were quivering. She stuttered, trying to form words and make sense of what she had heard. Once again, that feeling she was forgetting something important crawled up again, stronger than ever.

“The princess of…” she mumbled quietly. “But that’s… Why would…” All of a sudden, it all came rushing to her like an avalanche. She gasped really loudly, causing the butterflies on her ears to float off in fright. “Oh my gosh! I completely forgot! I never told Twilight that Rainbow Dash turned back into a tatzlpony!”

Rainbow turned to Fluttershy completely, more concerned than ever. Fluttershy had backed away, falling to her haunches as she grasped the situation. She was shivering, shivering like she was at the presence of a dragon.

“B-But Twilight... s-she…” She could barely form her words. Her heart was pounding out of her chest. “We never saw her after that… Sh-... She never checked up on us, never wrote us a letter…” The more she grasped the situation, the more terrifying it became to her. Everything that had occurred since that visit, they kept distracting her from thinking about it. Rainbow swallowing Scootaloo, recovering from a timberwolf attack, trying to learn Rainbow's past, and of course, ponies like X trying to take Rainbow Dash away.

The light left Fluttershy's world. All she could see now were the flashbacks of her visit with Twilight. She thought she was imagining it, and she didn’t want to believe it, but some of Twilight’s actions at the time were a bit strange. When she was about to perform the spell to turn Rainbow Dash back, she took longer than usual to get her spell ready. It seemed intentional. There was a time where she blinked rather harshly, like there was something she saw in Rainbow Dash.

A terrifying grandfather clock bell began playing in Fluttershy’s background. Her body fell forwards, her hooves barely holding her face from pressing against the ground. She had her eyes fixated on the grass, unblinking, and all she saw were the images of that visit with Twilight. This had to be some sort of mistake. It just had to be. But the questions she had told her otherwise.

“D-Does she… a-already know-w-w?” she forced herself to ask. “Is she somehow... involved in all of thi-i-is?” The questions she asked made her want to hurl. This couldn’t have been true, not their Twilight. But then, why was she acting so strange? Why was she never seen again? Did Twilight not check up on them because she knew the spell wouldn’t work? And if she didn’t, then why didn’t her spell work? All these questions swimmed in Fluttershy’s head like a hurricane.

And then, X said something. What she said changed the perspective of everything that Fluttershy was questioning.
> Chapter 34: Reveal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“But the princess… wasn’t in her castle.”

The moment that those words were said, Fluttershy’s panic attack came to a sudden halt. It wasn’t what she was expecting to hear. As the world around her returned to normal, she began to wonder if she even heard that correctly.

“W-What?” she asked as she looked up to X. X had to squeeze her eyes as she repeated herself.

“The princess… She… She wasn’t at her castle. Nopony was.”

Those answers completely changed the perspective of Fluttershy’s questions. All those questions of why Twilight would be involved in any of this, went to questions of ‘if she wasn’t involved at all’. It made her think quickly that X was lying. She rushed to her hooves and began asking.

“Then you didn’t meet the princess at all?!” Fluttershy shouted closely to X, causing her to yelp.

“N-N-No!” X said through her shivers.

“Then why were you trying to hide it?! Why would your client want you to not tell us about that?!”

X was bracing her head harshly against the tree, desperately trying to keep her distance from Fluttershy’s head. “It… It wasn’t requested by our client!” When X said that, Fluttershy’s anger halted out of pure confusion. She backed away to give X her space. Unsure of how to respond to that answer, she asked randomly.

“What… do you mean?”

X had to take a moment to recover. Then she answered. “O-Our meeting with the princess… I-It wasn’t requested by our client. I-It was something… we wanted to do ourselves…”

Fluttershy sat back down in utter disbelief. Her body was boiling, heart pounding in regret. All those things she was accusing Twilight of, she was afraid she made such huge, false, and regretful accusations. Rainbow was looking her over in concern. She didn’t respond to that. But before she could feel even more regretful than she already had, X continued.

“But when we gathered there, nopony was there. We thought it was just really quiet. So… when we were there, we did something... regretful…” Seeing that things had calmed down, the butterflies floated back down to Fluttershy’s mane to rest their wings. X continued to tell her story.


______________________________________________________________________________


”What is going on here? No Royal Guards?” Strike asked as he walked up to the front doors of the Crystal Castle, knocking on its doors. “Hello?!” X winced, looking left and right for signs of anypony who was present or watching. None were.

All of a sudden, the door opened. “The door’s not even locked?!” Strike said. He opened the door fully and proceeded to go inside. X’s ears dropped as her heart got heavier than usual. This was not something she wanted to do. But Strike had already gone inside, so she had no choice but to follow.


______________________________________________________________________________


“We searched… and searched. N-Nopony was around. We had no idea w-why. The castle was so big… but so… e-empty.”


______________________________________________________________________________


X and Strike had separated to check the rooms of the castle for any signs of the princess, her royal guards, or really, just anypony present. They found the guest rooms, the library, and even a kitchen.

“Not even chefs,” Strike commented angrily. “You can’t be serious! What kind of castle is this?!”

Meanwhile, X went to explore the library for something. But with how big the library was, she got easily disoriented. The library shelves were so high and surrounded the entire room. As she looked at all of them, her world began spinning. She could only whimper as her body uncontrollably stumbled into one of the shelves.

X had to brace her head to collect her thoughts. The more she hung around this castle, the heavier her breath got. She had to open her bag and breathe deeply inside it. Sweat started dripping down her face. There was something she had to do. But the thought of doing anything in the princess’s corridors without a princess felt wrong. Even simply looking at these books felt wrong.

“X! We’re leaving!” X gasped upon hearing Strike. Searching quickly through her bag, she pulled out a book she had herself and placed it in one of the shelves of this giant library. With that done, she hastily returned to Strike as they left the castle.


______________________________________________________________________________


X had to pause as Fluttershy looked her over curiously from what she said. The question was obvious, but what Fluttershy was really wondering was why X just decided to mention that.

“What was that book that you had?” Fluttershy asked. X looked down and frowned.

“I don’t know…” she said. “I couldn’t understand the language.”

Fluttershy blinked. “Who did you get that book from then?”

“O-Our client,” X answered, which confused Fluttershy.

“But… you just said your client didn’t request for you to visit the princess.” Rainbow had to release a small snort. All this back and forth questioning was making her lose her patience. X answered with a shake of her head.

“They didn’t.”

Fluttershy continued questioning. “Then why did you have to take that book there?”

X closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It took her a few seconds, but she answered. “When I told my client we were gonna visit the princess, they asked if I could do that while I was there…”

Both Rainbow and Fluttershy had to blink as their eyes widened from the reveal. “‘When you told your client’... you mean you two were talking face to face?”

X nodded. “Clang and Strike weren’t here for this, so they don’t know anything about it. This wasn’t part of our mission. It was just a small favor that my client asked me to do.”

‘Just a small favor’, X said. Was that all it was? With the way X revealed that, it seemed to be the case. But Fluttershy couldn’t tell. She tried to think of what that meant. But right now, she wasn’t coming up with anything. After a bit of silence, X continued her story.


______________________________________________________________________________


”It’s official. Ponyville is the WORST town I have ever visited! First, a clumsy pony who nearly dropped an entire sofa on us, on us, a crazy old hag who blows up anything that causes too much noise, and now the worst offender, a castle left completely unguarded by a princess or her guards!” X flinched further and further away as Strike was shouting at nopony in particular.

“I almost want to savage this place just to provide an example. X!” He suddenly shot X a glare. “This visit NEVER happened! If anypony learns we invaded this castle, it’ll look very bad on our record. Don’t speak a word of this to anypony!” As X gritted her teeth, she shakily nodded her head.


______________________________________________________________________________


X paused her story to sob out. “A-A-And now the wor-rd is out. O-Our mission was to capture the tatzlp-pony. We would ne-ever go against a prince-e-ess. Mmm…”

Fluttershy wasn’t sure what to say to that. On one hoof, it sounded like they were afraid of what Twilight would do to them if they ever crossed her path. And on the other hoof, it supported the thought that X really believed what she was doing was a good thing, and that was why she accepted the mission. They didn’t know anything about Twilight, and everything they learned about a tatzlpony was through what the client said.

“When we started our mission…” X continued. “We separated into the two groups that we already had.”


______________________________________________________________________________


X and Strike had gathered near the garden where Fluttershy’s place resided. They were hidden within the trees, almost ready to make their move. All they needed to do was make sure everything was ready for the plan to proceed. Strike made the call out to Clang, making sure things were clarified.

“(Our client told us that the tatzlpony is currently here. A special animal caretaker named Fluttershy. We’re at her cottage right now ready to start our plan. You remember how it goes, right?)” X could also hear the conversation that Strike was making. While they conversed, she shakily just stared at the cottage, watching for anypony, or anyone coming out.

“(Yeah, yeah,)” Clang answered. “(X is gonna give her that letter, she’s gonna come to me, then while I’m chit chatting about some random lost animal, you two are gonna find and capture it.)”

Strike smiled and nodded, despite the fact nopony could see him nod. “(Good. Then let’s get this started.)”

“(Alright, but first,)” Clang started with a sudden excitement in his tone. “(You gotta tell me. How did that visit with the princess go?)”

Strike snorted angirly. “(We don’t talk about that! It never happened!)”

“I’m sorry! But I’m busy fixing the mess that YOU caused!” Clang suddenly yelled out.

“(Hey! I did NOT cause that!)” Strike responded.

“(Not you!)” Clang said. “(Anyway, how did that visit go?)”

Strike blinked in disbelief. “(What the… Clang! What are you doing?!)”

“No! If you want me to move out, than come and make me!”

X was wincing her eyes from the back to back yelling that Clang and Strike were doing in her head.

“(Almond Clang! Stop this stupid-)” Strike got interrupted with Clang continuing.

“I don’t care what you blow up! Your baseless threats don’t mean a thing! The next time you come here, I hope you’re-” Strike silenced the connection right then and there, releasing a furious groan.

“That old hag BETTER not be the reason for our failure,” Strike muttered out silently. “X!” he yelled, causing X to yelp and jump, falling onto her back as she stared horrifyingly at Strike. “Proceed with the plan. You know what to do.”

X hesitantly nodded. All she had to do was cover herself up in a robe and deliver that letter to Fluttershy.


______________________________________________________________________________


“But as s-soon as I came out of the bushes, a filly came out. We… we weren’t expecting that. O-our client told us it was just you two there.”

A thought came to Fluttershy. This was back after the first day Rainbow Dash turned back into a tatzlpony. When they came back to the cottage, Scootaloo was inside Rainbow’s belly. If anypony was watching them, they would only be seeing two ponies enter her cottage. So did that mean the client spied on them coming home that day?

“That f-filly rushed out and bumped into me in about two seconds. I-I’ve never seen a filly as hyper as that. I… had to change the plan a little.”

Fluttershy shuddered at that. X didn’t know the half of what Scootaloo could cause. When she was with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, the troubles they caused were ten times worse.


______________________________________________________________________________


”P-Please… Give this to F-F-Fluttershy… I-It’s about her job. She must k-k-know.” X grasped as she spoke to the filly. Before the filly could respond, she yelped and ran off, not wanting to blow their cover.

“W-Wait!” the filly called out, but she didn’t turn back. She continued running.

“(X! Where are you going?!)” she heard Strike call out, but she didn’t listen to him either. She went to whatever hiding place she could find that was completely away from that cottage.

X eventually found a place to lie low in an alleyway. While there, she panted and gasped for breath, not just from the running, but the anxiety that their plan would not go the way they wanted to. She removed her robe and placed it back into her bag.

Some time had passed. There was no update from Strike during that time. It was both odd and scary. If it was taking this long, then maybe Fluttershy wasn’t gonna leave the cottage. Still, she had to be patient.

“(No! Flying Feathers!)” X yelped when she heard Strike yell such foul language. “(Clang! Fluttershy is heading to where you are now!)”

“(Wait, that’s good right?)” Clang asked.

“(Yes. Except that she’s bring another pony with her under a cloak. It must be the tatzlpony. She’s been hiding it twenty-four seven.)” When she heard this, X desperately looked out from her hiding place to look if she could see Fluttershy and the cloaked tatzlpony.

“(I see. Guess my trap’s gonna have to be sprung on them then. And you said this was a waste of time.)” X could hear Strike growling.

“(Shut it! I need to go find X. She must have her mind closed or something. Remember, that tatzlpony was able to fend off a pack of timberwolves. Expect heavy resistance, but DON’T go overboard! We may be dealing with a deadly creature, but our client requested to bring it back alive!)”

X started whimpering. This was not going according to plan. Their client wanted them to avoid fighting with anypony. That wasn’t gonna be avoided now. Clang was gonna have to fight them. She just knew it. Back when it was just the tatzlpony, it was okay. Nopony would know about that scuffle. Maybe they still wouldn’t know. After all, with all the noise Clang already made, nopony should suspect the fight that was about to break out.

With the plan now taking a turn, X walked around Ponyville, waiting for another update. Without her cloak, she would just be seen as another citizen, so there was no reason to hide anymore. But she did make sure to lurk either near Fluttershy’s cottage, or the place where Clang was, in case anything came up. She would've stuck around where Clang was. Unfortunately, for some reason, that filly she gave the letter to earlier, was there spying in on them. And she was constantly checking her surroundings, probably on edge knowing that that bomb shop was nearby.

As time passed, X heard more details of what had occurred during that visit. They fought like she thought they would. Every second that there was fighting made her whimper. All the details came from Clang though, including the part where he had to smack Fluttershy on the back of her head to get her to move.

And that was when disaster struck. The tatzlpony swallowed him. As he was being taken away, X saw them from a distance. She casually moved in closer to see where they were going. But as she was positioned in that path, she heard two fillies galloping towards her. Gasping, she looked to where they were coming from, then quickly ducked to cover. They weren’t after her, but with how fast they were rushing, they could’ve easily crashed into her by mistake. It looked like they were following another filly, who was following Fluttershy and the tatzlpony.

During all of this, Clang and Strike were yelling at each other over how bad the mission was going.

“(How could she have gotten up after that?)” Strike asked. “(You said you clearly bashed that thing in the back of the head just like Fluttershy!)”

“(I did!)” Clang answered. “(It must be really hard headed or something!)”

“(Where are they taking you?)”

“(I’M IN THIS THING’S STOMACH! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?!)”

They continued arguing until Fluttershy and the tatzlpony reached the cottage. The fillies were there too, one that X recognized as the filly she gave the letter to. She went back to the same hiding spot that she and Strike were at before, only Strike was nowhere to be seen.

“(Don’t tell them anything our client requested,)” Strike said. “(X! Where are you?!)” And then suddenly, their client contacted them.

“(What is going on?)” X yelped when she heard the client’s voice. Clang went silent. Strike hesitated to respond back, but he did.

“(A-a-a little set back. The tatzlpony’s captured Clang and we have no idea where they took him. But don’t worry. Once he figures it out, we’ll spring another trap on them.)”

X was breathing harshly, awaiting the response from their client. But for some reason, the response never came. They waited and nothing happened.

“(Hello? Client!)”

“AAAAAHHH!!!” X jumped at that. That was Clang’s screaming. They were torturing him?

“(Clang! What happened?!)” Strike asked, but there was no response. “(X?!)” X remained silent. She wasn’t sure what to say. Horrified by the scream that Clang did, she wanted nothing more than to find out what they were doing to him. But she didn’t want to give away her position. After some time passed, another shout from Clang happened. This time he responded.

“(STUPID BUNNY!!!)” At that point Strike mentioned that he would give anything to figure out what in Equestria was going on in there. Based on Clang’s description, all of his torture wasn’t even coming from Fluttershy or the tatzlpony, but rather, a small white bunny that he could literally just step on. How was that even possible? He wasn’t even tied up and yet this was happening.

Then again, Clang did say that this town was full of crazy ponies. But when he said that, they didn’t expect animals too. While this was all happening, they tried to devise a way to get Fluttershy to leave to another location where they could spring another trap. They just needed to wait for an opportunity to bring it up without sounding suspicious, while at the same time, giving Clang an opportunity to escape. It never came.

Some time later, the three fillies outside the cottage barged in. And after more time passed, they came back out. But they came out with Clang, who was in a cage that somehow had wheels. X was horrified at the sight of that. She had to brace her head at the agony of how bad this mission was going. It was supposed to be simple. Why wasn’t it simple?

Eventually, X saw more activity at the cottage and gasped. Fluttershy and the tatzlpony were heading out. Where were they headed? They were headed towards…

“(The tatzlpony’s heading in the forest!)” X said in her mind while bracing her head. “(The tatzlpony’s heading in the forest!)” she repeated in a higher tone, both of which were desperate.

“(The Everfree?)” Strike asked in shock. X didn’t need to tell him where she was anymore. From just that, both Clang and Strike knew where she was.

“(Not even that forest is gonna be an insulator if it ever croaks...)" Clang silently commented. "(Forget about me! Don’t let that thing get away! Tail them if you have to!)”

Strike groaned. “(Fine! We’ll find a way to bail you out later. Client! Can you hear me?)” There was still no response from their client.

“(And Strike?)” Clang continued. “(That timid one, Fluttershy. She may not look it, but she’s got a lot of bark. And I mean A LOT! Actually... one of the biggest ones I’ve ever had the pleasure of silencing. But compared to that tatzlpony, she has no bite. So don’t let her words control you and just fight!)” Strike just groaned. He would never admit when Clang’s silly little campaign started making relevance. “(Now that X is with you, there should be no trouble in catching that thing.)” And that little remark just made Strike furious.


______________________________________________________________________________


“A-As we followed you two into the forest, we tri-ied to contact our client again. B-But we never could. We ne-ever heard from them again.”

Fluttershy was still carefully listening to X’s story. She noticed that there seemed to be big segments to it that X was skipping. The reason could’ve been because they were segments she already knew about, or there was some information mentioned there that their client didn’t want them talking about. There was one thing she wanted to ask though. To halt the story, Fluttershy raised a hoof.

“What you’re saying about Clang, it sounds like he’s been to Ponyville before. Has he?”

X nodded her head. “Y-Yes… I mean, n-no… Um…” She squeezed her eyes and continued. “B-Before we m-met our client, h-h-he was living in P-Ponyville.” Fluttershy had to blink and raise an eye at that. “It was temporary… l-like all of his visits. While in Ponyville, h-he passed himself off as a construction worker. When we were d-done with this mission, he was g-gonna move again.”

Fluttershy sighed out curiously. So Clang had been living in Ponyville for a few days before he got hired to do this mission. With how many ponies were now living in Ponyville, it was easy to see why she never remembered seeing him. Either way, she decided to drop the subject because it didn’t seem like it was relevant at all. So she told X to continue.

Before she did, X looked away and ended up looking down at the snake that still had her tied up. Sly was looking back at X, slithering his tongue out and drawing it back in. He then turned his head away to lie it down to ground level. With a few more hisses with his tongue, he closed his eyes to rest. This conversation must’ve been going on for a while.

X swallowed harshly, looked back to Fluttershy, and continued. “U-Um… A-After I told them where you were going, I waited for him to come.”


______________________________________________________________________________


A harsh stomp behind her snapped X out of her thoughts. It was Strike with a familiar annoyed expression. “Once again, you did NOT have to wait for me!” he said. X didn’t say anything and shrank her head back nervously. “Let’s go before we lose their tracks even further.” They began entering the forest together, attempting to follow the trail of Fluttershy and that tatzlpony.

But their attempt at following their trail was quite in vain. For some reason, there was only one set of tracks they were following when there should’ve been two. The tracks were very difficult to see. And with the numerous amounts of predators inside this forest, following a straight was practically impossible. Many times, they found themselves encountering predators as their roadblock and causing them to move around that and lose their trail.

One instance when they were trying to find the trail again, Strike was attacked by a rattlesnake which he barely had time to react to. In her haste, X grabbed a nearby tree branch to knock it away. She was breathing quite harshly after that.

“Control your breathing or you’ll attract more of them!” was what Strike said after that encounter. X was looking down at the snake with more controlled breathing. This wasn’t part of their plan, but she decided to take the snake with her and placed it in the bag. Snakes like these could be used to fuel their resources for their next mission. But after she placed it, Strike gave her an intimidating grin.

“Let’s head back for now,” he said. “We’ll catch that tatzlpony.” X could only gulp. She didn’t like where this was going. Whenever he talked like that, it meant he had a plan with great risks, but great results if they could pull it off. It had to have something to do with the snake she just bagged.

But right now, there were more pressing concerns. She hadn’t heard her client in a while. In fact, she hadn’t heard from Clang for a little bit either. The last she heard of him was before what sounded like a loud explosion set off in the distance. He was being interrogated by the three fillies who took him away, and their pegasus assistant. According to Clang, he was big, white, had wings the size of a newborn, and a mouth bigger than his muscles. If it wasn’t for his mouth, Clang said he might’ve actually liked this body builder. Now he hates him with a passion.

After that explosion, she stopped hearing from him. But it didn’t make any sense. The explosion she heard wasn’t in the direction of Ponyville. She and Strike swore that it was somewhere deeper in the forest. If it wasn’t for that rattlesnake attacking, they would still be following it.

Now, they headed back to a clearing they passed by a few minutes ago. They used that clearing to prepare a few things.


______________________________________________________________________________


X paused her story with a nervous gulp, looking towards Sly. That look told Fluttershy what she needed to know, which made her heart sink a bit.

“The Snake Cannon…” Fluttershy answered for her. X nodded.

“B-But… tha-at wasn’t the only thing we… p-prepared,” X said. Thinking she knew the answer, Fluttershy responded.

“The Twittermite Zapper Device?” X responded with a shake of her head.

“We… a-a-already had that prepared. When we f-found you, that was gonna be-e our first resort. Mm-m-m… Nnngh! N-ngh...” X was starting to squeeze her eyes and jitter. Fluttershy gasped and looked to X’s right forehoof. It looked like she was trying hard not to move it around too much, but it was starting to hurt again. The butterflies noticed this too.

When Fluttershy looked up to them, they flew back to X’s hoof to ease the pain again. Meanwhile X was continuing after taking a few heavy breaths.

“We… m-managed to track you down the next day. B-But… when we found you, you were… a-already affected by the tatzlpony’s t-toxin. We… h-h-had to separate you, before it was too late.”


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”If you know what’s good for you, you will stand down and surrender yourself,” Strike said as they had Fluttershy and the tatzlpony cornered. “You’re not causing any more trouble.”

Both X and Strike were careful to block the doorway so that the tatzlpony wouldn’t have any way of escaping without a struggle. If it came down to that, they could use the Zapper Device to stop them. Thanks to their position, it looked like they would have this situation locked down.

Unfortunately, the tatzlpony was very observant and did something very unexpected for both of them. By pounding its hooves on the floor, one of the floorboards launched them both into the air, causing them to fly above the tatzlpony as it made its escape with Fluttershy.


______________________________________________________________________________


“O-Of course… you already know all of this… don’t you?” X asked. Fluttershy answered with a hesitant nod. She didn’t want to think about that because it was such a painful experience.

“By the end of it all, you were chased away by timberwolves,” Fluttershy continued for her. “You provoked them when Strike tried to attack them, so they focused on you. Though… it almost sounded like one stayed behind. But I guess it never did. I was hidden away underneath the bushes, so I couldn’t tell.”

Rainbow could still remember that moment. For the most part, Fluttershy was right. One timberwolf did stay behind, but it left soon after, looking like it was scared. She still couldn’t figure out why that was, but at least it happened.

“The flower…” Fluttershy continued, bringing Rainbow Dash’s attention back. “I told her to go get the flower. There was a small patch of them we saw earlier, very far away from the shack. But one of those flowers was enough to cure me from the toxin. If we could find more, we wouldn’t have to worry about the toxin, right?”

X just looked at her with a whimpering expression. That little hope that Fluttershy had was starting to waver from that look. It seemed like bad news. But Rainbow… she just narrowed her eyes even sharper towards X.

“Did you… e-e-ever find more?” X asked. Upon that question, Fluttershy’s heart sunk. She gave a sad sigh and answered.

“N-No… I’ve never seen a flower like that until that day. That small patch was the only place I ever saw them. And… from what Rainbow Dash said, they’re gone now…” When she looked to Rainbow, Rainbow looked back at her, giving her a nod to confirm. But she still seemed stern. Nothing X was saying was making that stern expression waver.

“T-The flower doesn’t last fore-ever…” X continued. “E-Even if it can cure you, you’ll… o-o-only be affected again.” Fluttershy brought her attention back to X. “As long as you remain with the tatzlpony, the toxin will affect you again… and again…”


______________________________________________________________________________


“Tatzlponies are attracted to those they like or deem friendly.” Strike was telling to Fluttershy. “They respond to that friendliness by feasting on their prey, keeping them trapped in their stomach. Why do they do that? They have a better taste for those they are close to.”


______________________________________________________________________________


“A-And they will continue to stay close to you. T-The closer you ar-r-re, the faster you’ll g-get infected.” X sniffed. “Y-Your bond… i-i-it’s very close. W-We’ve seen what that has done befo-ore.”

Fluttershy raised her eyes. “‘Before’?” she asked.

“Ponies find an animal,” X started. “T-They love them. But… they don’t know anything about them,” she shook her head as she said that. “They don’t want to abandon them, even with how dangerous they ar-re. They k-keep them, they h-hide them. They…” Pause. “E-Even after they were told…” Another pause. “The next thing they know... they’re bitten… their loved ones... eaten… t-t-their trust… s-shattered.”

X looked back up to Fluttershy. “That’s why Strike responded the way he did.” Fluttershy blinked, then gasped inside. “Even after it looked like you were convinced… he knew that... you wasn't.”


______________________________________________________________________________


Strike was holding Fluttershy against a tree with her neck between a bar handle that wedged against the tree. He was holding the Zapper Device in the air, ready to zap Fluttershy with it. X was whimpering at the sight of this. Clang did warn them that Fluttershy had a bark that was far bigger than anything they would’ve expected, but they have yet to witness that. Either way, it seemed like Strike was no longer taking any chances. She didn’t like it, but it had to be done. When Strike was nearing that device towards Fluttershy’s head, she looked away and winced.

Unfortunately, that was the big mistake that costed them. After she winced away, the tatzlpony began struggling again. Before she could make an attempt to stop the struggle, the tatzlpony pulled on the leash she was holding and grabbed her. With her lack of strength, she was unable to get away. As a result, the tatzlpony twirled her around and threw her straight to Strike, colliding her body with his. The impact made her black out.


______________________________________________________________________________


“T-The next thing I knew… Strike was go-one,” X said. “H-He was gone. But you two were still around. I-If I didn’t do s-something… you would get away. S-So I… I-I…”

Fluttershy winced as she looked towards Sly, another terrifying experience she did not want to remember. “The Snake Cannon…” she said. Rainbow had to look at Fluttershy in concern, wondering why Fluttershy was this tensed up.


______________________________________________________________________________


X shakily aimed the Snake Cannon towards the duo as the tatzlpony slowly walked towards her. She had the cannon in her hooves, and the Zapper Device underneath her wing. The snake strapped in the cannon continuously shook violently in a desperate attempt to escape. When she launched it, the strap covering its eyes would fly off and the snake would bite the first thing it sees.

X didn’t want to have to use this. But nothing was going their way. She tried calling out to them, but nopony answered. Clang, Strike, their client, she couldn’t hear them anymore. Grab the tatzlpony and get out. That was all she knew on what to do now. If they just cooperated, nopony would have to be hurt. The tatzlpony was almost with her. All this struggle could end soon.

But then, Fluttershy gasped. It startled the tatzlpony, which startled X into using the Zapper Device. The tatzlpony screamed out in pain from the zap, flashing the area in a vibrant blue hue.

“NNOOO!” Fluttershy yelled as she started running to her. X noticed this and pointed the cannon back at her.

“St-Stop!” she warned. But Fluttershy wasn’t stopping. Why wasn’t she stopping? If she didn’t stop, X would have no choice but to fire the cannon. She continued to come closer, like the cannon that X was holding wasn’t a threat to her. Was it really not a threat to her? X didn’t have a choice now. Fluttershy wouldn’t stop unless she fired the cannon.

“You’re hurting Rain-” X fired the cannon, silencing Fluttershy. The silence only lasted for about a second before it was replaced with a shrieking scream. Fluttershy had been bitten. The venom from the rattlesnake was already coursing through her body. Just as X opened her eyes to witness the effects caused by her action, Fluttershy collapsed to the floor, twitching violently.

“AAAAAAHHH!!!” X wailed.


______________________________________________________________________________


Rainbow Dash had her mouth held wide open with stunned eyes, barely able to contain her breath. Her head hesitantly turned to Fluttershy, who was still wincing from what X just retold. Fluttershy soon noticed the look on Rainbow Dash’s face. When it clicked, she lightly gasped.

That’s right… Rainbow Dash couldn’t have known about this yet. She gave herself up so that this sort of thing could be prevented. But in the end, nothing was prevented. Fluttershy was shot by Sly and Rainbow Dash had given herself up.

Rainbow soon closed her mouth seething up a bottled growl that could explode at any moment. She wanted to burst out at X right now, untie Sly so that he could bite X right back for doing such a thing to Fluttershy. The only reason she was holding herself back was because, well, first, she didn’t want to stoop that low, and second, the lingering question in her mind. How did Fluttershy survive?

The look that Rainbow was giving was making Fluttershy too scared to try and stop whatever she was about to do. Whatever that was couldn’t be good. And the only comfort she had was that Rainbow appeared to be hesitating on it. She looked to X and her nerves halted.

X was jittering, but she wasn’t focused on Rainbow Dash. She was looking at the ground with eyes that looked like she had been traumatized. Thinking about that event must’ve been painful to her as well. But there was something else. It seemed like she was trying to say something, but was having a very hard time figuring out how to go about saying it. Eventually, she did.

“But…” A long pause came. “T-This was why…” Another pause, shorter this time. “This was why… we went back to that clearing.” X looked up to them with that same traumatized expression. “The second thing we prepared…”


______________________________________________________________________________


As Fluttershy’s body fell to the ground, X hastily opened her bag to pull something out of it. In a panic, she pulled it out and rushed to Fluttershy, unable to have time to reclose the bag. And as luck would have it, unknown to her, a green aura started emitting from the bag, as well as several other areas around the forest. It was the timberwolves’ aura. They were attempting to pull themselves back together again. Since X’s bag was open, this time they would succeed.

X hastily flew towards Fluttershy with something in hoof, completely unaware of the green aura that was emitting behind her. Fluttershy was still twitching, her eyes barely open. For some reason her body was starting to glow in a deep yellow. The source appeared to be from her Cutie Mark. Despite this glow, the rattlesnake continued to dig its fangs deeper into Fluttershy’s coat, refusing to let go.

X soon reached Fluttershy’s body. First, she smacked the rattlesnake off Fluttershy’s body using the object she had. Then, she popped open the object, revealing a needle. Finally, with a quick thrust, she jabbed the needle into Fluttershy’s back, making her black out instantly.


______________________________________________________________________________


Fluttershy gasped. Though it was hard to remember with how blurry everything was during those moments, it met up with everything that X was saying. The last thing she saw was X rushing towards her as Rainbow collapsed, there was a bright glow coming from her body, and the last thing she felt was something stabbing at her back. But…

“T-That needle…” Fluttershy stuttered out. X looked up to her with that regretful expression.

“The o-other thing we prepared,” X answered. “A-A-An antidote… for-r-r the rattlesnake’s venom. I had to i-inject you with it befo-ore it was too late.”

Fluttershy felt like her heart had dropped into the center of her stomach. “O-O-...Oh…” she barely managed to stutter out. “I-I see…” Her ears dropped into a really sad expression. Hearing this news was a lot more disappointing than she expected it to be.

When Fluttershy first woke up that day after being bitten by Sly, one of the things she wondered the most was how she managed to survive and recover from the venom. She thought she came to a wonderful conclusion. Both her and Rainbow’s Cutie Marks appeared to glow at the same time shortly after she got bit. Her conclusion was that their bond must’ve done something to protect them through their magic.

Now it was just a crushed fantasy. The reason she survived was simply that X used an antidote on her, an antidote that was most likely only prepared because their client requested for them not to harm anypony.

“B-But I… still don’t understand how you survived…” Fluttershy raised her head in confusion at that. X continued. “A-After I injected you with that needle, t-t-the timberwolves… I-I noticed them. It was too late.”


______________________________________________________________________________


X moved away from Fluttershy’s body as the green aura surrounded the clearing. All the wood that made up the timberwolves were pulling themselves back together. The ones in her bag had already been pulled out.

“N-No!... No! No!... N-N-Nooo!” X panically shouted as she watched them all float to a single spot. There was no way to stop them from reforming. She looked to the tatzlpony, then she looked to Fluttershy. Both of them had no way to defend themselves now. If she didn’t get them out of there, the timberwolves would feast on their bodies.

But how could she get both of them out? It was impossible. Her strength wouldn’t allow her to carry both of them. In fact, if it wasn’t for her wings, she wouldn’t be able to carry just one of them. As she rushed to the tatzlpony’s body, she squeezed her eyes and tried calling out again.

“(Somepony!)” she said in her mind. “(Anypony! Please answer!)” The reforming process had begun. Their legs had fully taken shape. Now their bodies were forming. “I can’t hear them! I c-can’t hear them! Where are they?! (HEEEELLLPP!!!)” But nopony would answer. Not Clang, not Strike, not even their client. She was all alone with the tatzlpony, trapped deep inside this forest with hungry predators at every turn.

The timberwolves’ bodies had been complete. All that was left was their heads. X was out of time. With all her strength in her legs and her wings, she carried the tatzlpony out of there. Nopony was gonna save Fluttershy. Her body would easily be a meal to the timberwolves.


______________________________________________________________________________


“But… t-they didn’t…” X looked at Fluttershy in a pleading way. “I… d-don’t understand. You w-weren’t moving at all. Why didn’t they? I-I thought you were… t-thought you wer-r-re…”

Still in disappointment, Fluttershy thought about X’s question. She had thought about that question when she woke up that day too. Again, she had the same conclusion when it came to Sly’s venom. Thinking about it again, she hesitantly gasped as another conclusion came.

“O-O-Oh…” Fluttershy said in disappointment. “I know why they left my body alone. Oh, it’s so obvious…” Her fantasies continued getting crushed further and further as logical reality kept forcing its way through her mind. X’s whimpering halted as she looked at Fluttershy curiously.

“The timberwolves…” Fluttershy started slowly. “They left my body alone… because I was poisoned.” X responded with a few blinks. “With the venom inside me… if they tried to eat me, they would be infected too. They knew this. That’s why they left me alone…”

X sighed out in awe from that. Ever since Fluttershy showed up, so much confusion had been filling her mind. It felt like such a relief to have it cleared up. But she looked back down in depression again. That was only one relief she could get.

Rainbow was looking at Fluttershy on edge with her wings flared. The thought that she was that close to losing Fluttershy forever was very painful to her mind. She was still lost as to who she was and why she felt so attached to Fluttershy. More and more memories came to her the longer she was with Fluttershy. If she ever lost Fluttershy, she felt her life would utterly collapse.

“T-The past… two days… now three…” X continued. “I had been hiding here… thinking I had just… that I left you to be eaten by them. I… I didn’t know what to do. O-Our client told us not to harm anypony. I-I thought I…” She squeezed her eyes and winced. “N-N-Now... I can’t hear them! I can’t! Why can’t I hear them?!” Her voice was grasping again. “F-First our client, then Clang, n-now Strike! I-I can’t hear a-any of them anymore! I’m all alone! All alo-o-one!”

Fluttershy grew concerned. She recalled X mentioning something that suggested that she was the leader of their group. But with the way she was acting, she certainly didn’t seem like one. This behavior was supporting her theory that X didn’t see herself as a leader, but the others did for some reason. Or at least, Clang did. Strike sounded like he had a grudge against X.

Fluttershy pondered something for a moment. It seemed one of the initial questions she had was finally answered. But just to be sure…

“The ring that Strike wears on his horn,” Fluttershy started, bringing X’s attention back. “Can you tell me a little more about that?” X didn’t seem reluctant to answer, but she remained silently curious. “You say you can’t hear them. From what Clang said, it sounded like the way you can hear them is through that ring.”

A few seconds later, X nodded. “I-It increases the focus of his horn, a-allowing him to cast more concentrated magic. The one he needs it for... is connecting our minds together. We can talk to each other through our thoughts miles apart.” X paused to breathe in and out a few times. “I-I-If I close my mind, then I won’t hear the others, and they won’t hear me. B-But that’s o-only temporary. If we keep our thoughts connected, s-somepony with enough magic c-can easily track a-all our positions through that link. W-We can remove our thoughts from the ring at a-any time to prevent that. But if we do that, we have to go back to Strike to reconnect them…”

X grasped her breaths again. “S-Something must've happened to them! I can’t hear any of them! Ahh!” She squeezed her eyes. It sounded like another moment of pain. “Our client stopped talking to us! Clang was captured. We stopped hearing from him! I got separated from Strike! Now I can’t hear him either! Where are they?! What happened to them?! Why can’t I hear them?! Hnnnnngh!”

Fluttershy had to put a hoof to her mouth in concern. It was just as she thought, but the situation seemed a lot more dire to X. While she didn’t have an answer to why Clang or their client stopped talking to them, she did know why Strike was unable to contact her.

“That ring… is gone,” Fluttershy said.

“H-H-Huh?” X responded, halting her grasping.

“After you were knocked out from Rainbow throwing you, Strike attacked her. During the fight, Rainbow did what she could to stop him from attacking. She knocked away the Zapper out of his hoof. But more importantly...” Fluttershy paused for a moment to think. “We thought that ring was the source of his powerful magic. So Rainbow… kicked that off of him, thinking it would stop him from being able to attack us. We have no idea what happened to that ring. But if what you said is true, it’s impossible for you to hear them now.“

Another sigh of awe released from X. It seemed like she was more curious than she was surprised, which was an odd reaction. Even though she had been agonizing it over the past… few days, she seemed oddly calm about learning one truth behind it. Or maybe something else was on her mind, because she suddenly responded.

“C-Can I… a-ask you something.” Fluttershy blinked curiously. Now X was the one asking the questions. “The t-tatzlpony… you c-call her ‘Rainbow Dash’. S-She… wasn’t always a tatzlpony… was she?”

Now it was Fluttershy’s turn to sigh in awe. She had mentioned that a few times before, but this was the first time any of them have ever considered that fact. “T-That’s right,” Fluttershy answered. But it left X frowning in response.

“T-Then why…” she started, causing Fluttershy to hum questioningly. “Why have you been hiding her?” Fluttershy hummed questioningly again, this time silent. “If she’s not a tatzlpony… then can’t she be changed back? If you can change her back, why haven’t you? Why have you been hiding her instead, hiding her while her toxin continues to spread. Do you… want to change her back?”

All these questions, Fluttershy had to repeat them in her mind. She wanted to answer, but as the thoughts came to her, it made her heart ache. Could Rainbow be changed back? If anypony could change Rainbow back, it would be Twilight. But for some reason, she couldn’t.

“O-Oh…” Fluttershy looked to Rainbow who looked curiously back at her. Did she even want Rainbow to change back? At first, she thought she did. But thinking back to that visit with Twilight, was something that made her think otherwise. When Twilight was casting that spell, it was very subtle, but Fluttershy was indeed hoping that the spell would not work. Why did she want Rainbow to stay a tatzlpony? Because of the way Rainbow acted, that’s why…

Fluttershy found herself sitting down, frowning. She took a glance at Rainbow, more specifically, at the collar that she was still wearing. The times she spent with Rainbow as a tatzlpony was some of the most enjoyable experience she’s ever had with her. Rainbow became not just a great friend, but a great pet as well. Those two things combined gave her very special feelings towards Rainbow that she didn’t want to give up. Maybe that was why...

Fluttershy sadly sighed and looked away. Maybe that was the real reason why she never thought to go back to Twilight again. She wanted to spend all the time she could with Rainbow as a tatzlpony. Now… she learned that tatzlponies were toxic, that keeping her like this wouldn’t just be harmful to her, but harmful to everypony else around her.

The worst part of it all, if Rainbow couldn’t be changed back, then what could they do? It’s not like they could get Rainbow to stop breathing. And Fluttershy didn’t want to keep Rainbow locked up in her home forever. All this thinking left Fluttershy in a depressed state. X was looking away in regret. Both ponies were quite depressed from their responses.

However, Rainbow was still not quite so. She was looking to X and Fluttershy, checking between them quickly with fast breaths. Her eyes focused on X, screaming out a big ‘no’ in her mind. This was all wrong. Clang did a similar thing to Fluttershy before. He would spout all this nonsense, getting Fluttershy to believe them and thinking she’s in the wrong for what she is doing.

But Rainbow knew that was far from being true. Nothing Fluttershy did was in the wrong at all. Everything she did was purely for the care of Rainbow Dash herself. There was absolutely nothing wrong about that. She would even let herself be put in danger just so Rainbow could be safe with her.

No… X was lying. Somewhere, someway, X was lying. And she knew it. She knew the proof. It was time to show Fluttershy that proof.

“Oomph!” Fluttershy suddenly felt Rainbow shove her shoulder rather harshly to get her attention. If it was this harshly, it had to be something important. She looked to Rainbow, about to ask what this was about. But Rainbow was holding a very serious expression, pointing her wing tip out to something. When she looked to its direction, she noticed that it appeared to be pointing to X’s bag. Looking back, Rainbow nodded in confirmation without turning her gaze. Whatever this was about, Rainbow was very, VERY serious about it.

Fluttershy picked herself up and started walking. It brought X’s attention back. But when she noticed where Fluttershy was going, her eyes widened immensely. Intense panic filled her mind.

“No!... No Noo!!!... NOOOOO!!!” X began struggling violently again. Both butterflies were startled and flew away from X. All of X’s struggling woke Sly from his slumber. Fluttershy was quite surprised by this reaction. She glanced back to Rainbow who only nodded again. If X was acting this way, and Rainbow kept edging her to check it out, it definitely had to be important.

Fluttershy was quite scared to find out. Her heart was beating quite aggressively. What could be in X’s bag that could cause such a reaction? She was about to find out. Upon reaching X’s bag, X looked away and winced, not daring to look back. Slowly, Fluttershy lifted her hoof to the bag, taking a deep breath before she proceeded.

This was it. What could be inside?
> Chapter 35: Alpine
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The tension was so thick in the air right now. Fluttershy had opened X’s bag, which drove all three ponies through an intense reaction. Rainbow Dash growled in anticipation to how Fluttershy was about to feel. X whined out as she looked away, shivering violently.

When Fluttershy saw what was in X’s bag, she couldn’t even gasp to describe how she felt. Her eyes and body were practically paralyzed at what she saw. There was actually quite a lot of supplies inside the bag, most of which she couldn’t recognize. Some of the ones she did recognize was the cannon used for launching Sly, an injector, probably the antidote used to cure her from Sly’s venom, and one last thing, which was barely sticking out.

Fluttershy’s hoof shakily reached out for that item in disbelief. It was a miniature flower vase. These flower vases could hold both water and flowers inside in such a way, they could keep the flowers nurtured without spilling its water. The flowers themselves though, there were three of them, and Fluttershy couldn’t believe X was hiding this. Purple petals, a light yellow floral disc…

These were the flowers that cured her from Rainbow’s… from a tatzlpony’s toxin…

Fluttershy held this vase in her hoof and turned to X. She slowly walked to her. Rainbow snorted as she saw that look in Fluttershy’s eyes. It was a pure look of utter betrayal, a look that Rainbow would never want to be directed with.

When the butterflies saw the expression that was on Fluttershy’s eyes, their face drew pure fear. Both of them were shaking, nearly falling out of the air when their wings locked up for a second. Slowly, they backed away from both her and X as Fluttershy closed in. They suddenly felt like they were in the presence of a predator, and the prey would be them if they set her off.

Even Sly was shaking right now. He backed his head away as far back as he could, like Fluttershy’s Stare was being directed at him. For the first time, his body tied to X gave him the feeling of being just as trapped as X was. When Fluttershy reached X, she asked in a deep and serious tone, which was the voice of a demon to Sly and the butterflies.

“Where did you get this?” But X didn’t answer. In fact, she kept her head turned away from her while whimpering. Rainbow shook her head with a big ‘no no’ coming from her mind. Walking up to X as well, she stuck two of her tongues out to grab X’s head, forcing it to turn to Fluttershy’s eyes. X’s struggle was futile and she was now forced to stare into Fluttershy’s angry eyes.

“Do you know what this is?” Fluttershy asked in a tone that sounded like it would explode. Grasping breaths escaped X as Rainbow pulled her tongues back. Her expression hadn’t changed. She was already angry with X. Now Fluttershy was too.

“These flowers cure a tatzlpony’s toxin. You asked us if we found more, but you’ve been hiding the ones you found. Why?” X still wouldn’t answer. The more Fluttershy asked, the more X shrank back from the tree she was stuck to. Sly wanted to ask to be untied now, but was too scared to. And the butterflies had to hide themselves behind branches from the blockade.

“Where did you get them,” Fluttershy asked deeply once again. “Tell me.” Rainbow was starting to growl at X again, like a predator ready to pounce at its prey. X hyperventilated her breaths, still refusing to answer. Her head was slowly shaking left and right, whimpering at a higher pitch as the seconds passed.

All of a sudden…

”TEELLL MEEE!!!”

Rainbow shot her three tongues to X’s body. After a yelp, X bursted into laughter. Each coil was licking along sensitive parts of X’s body. One was underneath her left foreleg while another was underneath her right. Her tongue with the knot licked along X’s neck, leaving saliva trails along every surface they slid.

X was flailing in laughter for as much as her binded body was able to. Both her forehooves and wings couldn’t move, but her hind legs flailed back and forth while her head practically tried to escape her body.

“Tell me where you got them!” Fluttershy demanded. X was already in tears from her laughter.

“AAHAHAHH!!! AH-I… C-C-CAHAHAN’T! Aha… GAAAH!!! AHAHAAAHAA!!!”

Rainbow Dash moved her two side tongues over to X’s hind hooves, one on the left, one on the right. X burst into an even louder hysterical laughter when they touched, licking up and down her hind hooves. As much as X flailed her hind hooves around, they couldn’t escape the licking.

“Was everything you said just a lie?!” Fluttershy yelled. “Do you really just want to capture Rainbow Dash so she can spread her poison further?!”

X struggled a response. “AHAHNNN!!! NNGH N-NOHOHOOO!!!” Her tears were pouring out faster. Rainbow continued to lick her hind hooves and lick her neck with no signs of slowing down. Even the saliva trails that were left behind were tickling her as they trickled down.

“THEN WHY WERE YOU HIDING THIS?!” Fluttershy yelled again. Sly was gritting his jaws against his mouth. He wasn’t sure what was worse, Fluttershy’s terrifying rage, or the immense pressure coming from X’s struggles.

“P-P-PLEASE!!! HAHAHAAA!!! ST-ST-STOOOHOHOP!!!” Rainbow shifted her knotted tongue, moving it down to X’s belly. “GN!!! AAAAHAHAHH!!! AAAAAH!!!” X’s laughter turned into screams so loud, her uvula could be seen shaking in plain sight to both of them. Her tears were now pouring out like a fountain.

Each tongues’ motions were like a blur to Fluttershy. The two licking X’s hind hooves moved up and down in a semi-symmetric pattern, going opposite of each other every pass, all the while staying attached despite the flailing of her hind hooves. But the knotted tongue had a different motion on X’s belly. It pressed in a rough manner, making sure her tongue could feel the bones and muscles underneath that coat, even if it meant pressing the knot on her tongue deep against that belly.

Fluttershy snorted and shook her head, watching X agonize over the intense tickle torture. It was clear she couldn’t take much more of this, yet she refused to answer. There wasn’t anything she could do about that. She wanted... she needed answers.

“X,” Fluttershy started. “I can’t make this any easier than I already have,” she spoke casually as if the intense torture and laughter coming from X wasn’t happening at all. “If you don’t tell us where you got these flowers from, then…” There was a pause as Fluttershy looked away. “I’ll have to turn my back. Once I do, I won’t have to know what Rainbow Dash will do to you.”

Rainbow Dash’s hairs stood up from those words. It was scary, but at the same time, exciting. Fluttershy was practically giving Rainbow absolutely free reign to do whatever she wanted to X. And as long as Fluttershy didn't have to see it, she wouldn't care.

X’s laughter didn’t change, but her decision was decided.

“NORTHWEST AHAH!!! N-NORTHWE-HEHEEST!!!” Rainbow didn’t stop. But she slowed down the tickling to make it easier for X to tell more. “THERE’S A LA-HARGE GARDEN OF THOSE FLO-HOWERS… N-NORTH-AHAH, NORTHWEST FROM WHE-HE-HE-RE WE ENTERED THIS CLEAR-HING!!! AHAH!!! AHHH!!! IT’S A FEW MILES AWAHAHAY!!! AAAHHAAHHH!!!”

Fluttershy listened to the information that X was telling carefully. When she told enough, she placed a hoof on Rainbow’s mane, signaling her to stop. Rainbow obliged. She stopped the motions of her tongues and retracted them back to her mouth, leaving X’s body soaked in her saliva. X was gasping for breath, and now, crying. Her crying sounded like a little filly who just received a spanking from her mother.

The torture had stopped as Fluttershy promised, but she had to lift a hoof to her mouth to think over what X said, holding the flower vase in her wing. There was a missing piece of information she needed to know. So she asked.

“Northwest from where I entered, or from where you entered?” But of course, it wasn’t that easy. In the middle of her sobs, X slowly shook her head and pleaded.

“P-P-Please… I’m be-egging you… Don’t gohoho…” Her eyes were filled to the brim with tears, more hurt than scared right now.

A strange pang of guilt spread in Fluttershy’s heart right now. But Rainbow didn’t seem to feel a thing. And who could blame her? After everything she did to them, why should they feel pity for her? Yet... when Rainbow was ready to continue with round two with the torture, Fluttershy held a hoof out to stop her, confusing Rainbow.

This was all wrong. Fluttershy had noted how X was a leader to a hunting group, but didn’t act like a leader at all. But it was a lot more than just that. It was more like X was literally a little filly in a full grown mare’s body. When she saw that fear in X’s eyes during their fight, she recognized it as a look of somepony who lost something very important to them. She was beginning to believe that that was indeed true. And maybe that spiraled X into becoming what she is now.

“X…” Fluttershy started in a gentle tone. “Why don’t you want us to go? What could be so important over there that makes you not want us to go?”

X sobbed and sniffed a few times before she could answer. “It… It’s the only garden we know about. T-The only one that’s left.” She moaned depressingly. “I-If you go there… there will be nothing left. Nothing…” Fluttershy glanced at the flower vase, ready to say something until X continued.

“O-Our client… showed me that garden before we began our mission. B-But only me! Not even Clang and Strike know about it! The flower patch that you found earlier… t-they were moved there from that garden. There’s a large gap in that garden that made up those flowers. They’re not growing back! I… I-I promised them that I wouldn’t tell. Those flowers may be able to cure a tatzlpony’s toxin, but they won’t be enough to provide for an entire town. O-Once they’re gone, n-nothing will stop the toxin from spreading! Nothing!”

X finished with painful sobbing moans. Fluttershy was a little surprised. It sounded like X spoke with her client more personally than Clang or Strike did. She was even trusted with information that the other two didn't learn. And all Fluttershy was doing was forcing the information out of her.

Fluttershy hummed. This was it then. X wanted to prevent disaster. If she could just convince X to trust them like she trusted her client, maybe she would be more cooperative. Right now, they weren't exactly providing a very trusting example with all this torture. That was why X wasn't trusting them right now.

Fluttershy moved closer to X herself to try a different approach. Kneeling down, she spoke.

"X. I can't speak for your client, but I assure you. We want to stop this disaster just as much as your client does." X blinked a few times to wipe away her tears. With all the saliva on her body, it was difficult to tell where her tears dropped. "If you tell us where that garden is, I won't let them go to waste."

"B-But... you will!" X responded after sniffing and whimpering a few times.

"What makes you think that?" Fluttershy asked.

"You... said it yourself. The flower patch that you found, you sent… her…” she looked to Rainbow Dash as she said that. “-to go get one of the flowers so that it would cure you. Only one was needed. B-But now… they’re gone…” For the first time, Rainbow’s expression changed to a hurt one from X’s words. Fluttershy noticed this, and it made her heart ache. “I… c-c-can’t… let that happen to the garden. Ple-ease…”

Fluttershy was at a loss for words. X certainly had a point there. Even Rainbow seemed to understand the situation. When they first discovered those flowers, they were careless as to how valuable they were. Rainbow said that it was because of the parasprites that that patch was now gone. If they let something like that happen again to the garden, there really would be nothing left.

Fluttershy looked to X firmly. “I won’t let that happen again,” she said. “I won’t.” X just looked at her fearfully, not providing a response. “The first time we saw those flowers, we had no idea how valuable they were. Now that we know, we’ll make extra sure that something like that won’t happen again.”

“X…” Fluttershy paused to bend back down to X’s level again. “When I find that garden, I won’t just eat them and share them with everypony else who gets infected. I’ll find a way to make them grow. If we can do that, we won’t have to worry about preserving them. And we won’t have to worry about tatzlponies anymore.”

Silence came after that, minus the silent whimpering that was coming from X. The way Fluttershy spoke, it was so soft and comforting, absolutely nothing like the way she was a few minutes ago when she was angry. It was quite… motherly in fact, which panged X. And the scariest part was, Fluttershy seemed to notice and understand that pang.

“H-H-How…?” X asked. “H-How will you do it?”

Fluttershy responded with a shake of her head. “I don’t know yet. But I will find a way. All I ask is that you trust me.” There was that word again. “Trust us.” Every time that word was spoken, X seemed to agonize over it in a depressing way. Something about that word left X very cold. But it didn’t seem to go any farther than that.

“Now tell us,” Fluttershy started as she stood back up. “Which way is the garden?”

X’s tears finally stopped dripping out. They soaked her cheeks just about as much as the saliva covering her body. The butterflies, still shaking from the rage Fluttershy showcased earlier, finally started coming out of their hiding spot with hope. Sly, who was also very relieved from the drop in tension, looked to X with hope too.

And Rainbow Dash walked closer to Fluttershy, putting her faith in her. After X mentioned about what happened with the flower patch, she wasn’t so sure about going to the garden anymore. But if Fluttershy still wanted to go, then she would too. All they had to do was make sure what happened to the flower patch didn’t happen to the garden as well. How hard could that be?

X was looking between both of them, still with pleading eyes. But the pleading in her eyes was faltering. They slowly turned into something that looked… trustful, like she was beginning to understand them. At the same time, it looked like she was trying to find a way to deny that trust, but failed.

In the end, X looked and released a sad moan. “Northwest… from when I entered,” she answered. She took a short look around the clearing, then pointed with her head to the east of where Fluttershy was to X. “I-It should be in… that di-Irection. I-It's a few miles away.”

Fluttershy took a deep breath and exhaled a sigh of relief. “Thank you,” she said to X. “Just… one last question though.” When she said that, X turned back to her. “What is the name of this flower?” She motioned the vase towards X as she said that. “Do you know the name of it?”

X took a moment to stare at the flowers, staying silent. After a few seconds, she looked away and frowned. Rainbow snorted. That pony just didn’t learn when to stop hiding things. But before she could make any other acts, Fluttershy held out a wing in front of her. Looking to Fluttershy, she was looking to X with hope written on her face. When she took a more thorough look at X, she could understand why.

X was scrunching her face and narrowing her eyes. It didn’t look like she was trying to hide it. Actually, it looked more like she was trying to remember it. Her eyes squeezed and she began to moan. She was in deep thought.

“Alpine,” X finally said. “T-They named it… Alpine.” After the answer, Fluttershy took in a deep breath, then released it with a bright smile.

“Thank you,” Fluttershy said. She looked down to X’s damaged hoof. “Now… here’s what's gonna happen.” X looked up to Fluttershy, noticing that she seemed to be waving to the butterflies, gesturing them to come over. They obliged, but very hesitantly. She then turned to Sly, slowing moving a hoof down to him.

“We’re gonna go to that garden to check it out. Meanwhile, you are going to stay here to recover.” X whimpered at that answer, and then noticed that Fluttershy was gently moving Sly’s head to look towards X. “Like I said, once I’m there, I’m going to find out how to make these Alpine Flowers grow. You’re too much in pain to be moving around, so…”

X whimpered even harsher when Fluttershy made her and Sly meet each other’s gaze. Sly had already begun the process of swirling his eyes to place X in a trance. She tried to look away, but Fluttershy’s hoof made her unable to do so. In the end, she stopped struggling as she gazed into Sly's eyes. Eventually, her eyes blinked, mimicking the swirling glow that Sly was emitting. Her quivering lips slowed to a stop along with her shivers. And then, her lips formed a smile again, completely fallen in that trance.

“While we are gone, these three are going to look after you and take care of you. Once we have made our trip, we’ll come back for you.” X moaned pleasantly and slowly closed her eyes in her hypnotized state. She slowly fell into a deep and peaceful sleep state, where she would have nothing but pleasant dreams as long as Sly kept the influence.


___


Fluttershy finished applying a bandage to X’s right forehoof while Rainbow was lapping up all that saliva covering her body. It was the least that she deserved after her cooperation. For safety, Fluttershy pulled out one of the Alpine Flowers from the vase, placing the stem in X’s mouth with the petals sticking out. She would be able to eat it at any time, should she need to.

The butterflies helped put Fluttershy’s medical tools away and back in her bag. When they were placed, Rainbow picked the bag up and strapped it back to Fluttershy. When they were done, both butterflies flew to X’s mane, burying themselves inside so they could rest, while at the same time, watching over X. If needed, they could untie Sly and release X at any time.

Fluttershy was about to look away when X started mumbling something. “S-Sis...ter…” she said softly with the flower still in her mouth. Her eyes slightly opened, revealing those still swirling rings going on inside. “I can’t… I-I’m scared… S-Sister…” When X closed her eyes, her breath sighed and she went back into her hypnotized sleep.

Fluttershy looked down at the bandage on X’s right hoof. She must’ve been influencing X’s dream when she was wrapping that. And from the sounds of it, she was dreaming about her sister. Was that where her fear was coming from? Did something happen to her sister?

Fluttershy sighed and looked to Rainbow Dash, deciding to figure that out later. Rainbow was looking to X and Fluttershy curiously. She was astonished by the decisions that Fluttershy was making here. After seeing the Alpine Flowers, she was convinced that X was lying the whole time, that nothing she would do or say would redeem what she did. And yet, here Fluttershy was, still placing trust in the words X said. It made her smile at just how forgiving Fluttershy was, but also a little worried. Just a little.

Fluttershy however wasn’t so sure about the decision she was making herself. After all, what if X really was lying? What if the garden that she was talking about was also a lie? Would they just be running into another trap?

Whether it was or not, they essentially didn’t have much of a choice. Fluttershy took a glance at the vase she was holding. They now held two Alpines, two safety nets, and that was it. She needed to hope that this garden did exist, and then she would figure out how they grow. Of course, that was easier said than done. From looking at these two, they didn’t have anything like seeds on them. At least, these ones didn't. So figuring out how they grew probably wasn't gonna be so simple.

“Okay, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said. “Let’s start going.” She looked to the direction that X gave. “She mentioned that the garden was a few miles away from here, and in that direction. If that’s true, it’s gonna be a long walk.” Rainbow nodded.

Fluttershy placed the vase in the bag and zipped it up. After taking it from Rainbow Dash, Rainbow gave her a smile. But Fluttershy just couldn’t smile back. All she did was start walking ahead, leaving Rainbow with a confused frown. She soon followed closely behind Fluttershy.

Fluttershy’s heart was still aching from the things she learned today. Learning about how she was really cured from Sly’s venom really took a blow to her fantasies. From the moment she discovered Rainbow Dash as a tatzlpony, she really liked the time that she had. And up till now, it really showed how much she would continue to enjoy it.

Rainbow Dash… she was intelligent like a pony, but obedient like a loyal pet. In fact, right now, she was so obedient that she would follow just about all of Fluttershy’s commands, and protect her whenever something dangerous came up. If she ever went wild, all Fluttershy had to do was tell her to calm down, and she would listen. That feeling... she wanted to keep feeling it... felt that it could go deeper than just being a loyal pet.

But all of this was wrong. Her fantasies were wrong. Rainbow Dash wasn’t a pet. She was a pony, a pony who was captured, turned into a toxic creature, and had her memories taken away from her. All of these fantasies of Rainbow being an obedient pet needed to stop. Their bond with each other wasn’t gonna solve anything. In fact, from what they were told, their bond would only cause more trouble. They needed to find a way to put a stop to the toxin she was spreading, and find a way to change her back.

Fluttershy approached the clearing’s bushes, finding a spot that was open enough for them to squeeze through. As she carefully navigated her way through the bushes, Rainbow followed after.

As they brushed through, Fluttershy continued to think. Did Rainbow Dash want to change back? After all, she was still wearing that black collar around her neck, never making an attempt to remove it. Would it be okay to leave her as a tatzlpony if she didn’t want to change back? Was it okay if she herself wanted to continue staying as Fluttershy’s pet?

Fluttershy had to pause her train of thought as they got through the bushes. Looking around, she faced the direction that X said the garden was. From here, all she could see was an endless amount of trees up ahead, growing thicker, and thicker. It was stunning for Fluttershy. In all the times they had traveled in the Everfree Forest, they never went THIS deep. And they were only going deeper. Zecora’s hut was already miles away from here, and this garden was gonna locate them even further.

Fluttershy gulped and her ears dropped, shivering with anxiety. When Rainbow noticed this, she moved her head and licked across Fluttershy’s cheek to calm her nerves. Her ears perked as she looked to Rainbow. It did seem to calm her nerves, but why was she frowning?

This was what Fluttershy was talking about. The more Rainbow behaved like that, the more it edged Fluttershy into wanting Rainbow to stay this way, for their bond to continue going deeper in this direction. But she couldn’t think like that anymore. She had to focus on what was important, and that was staying on reality and figuring out what could fix Rainbow’s state.

“Come on,” Fluttershy said. “We better get moving.” Seeing Fluttershy frown like that made Rainbow frown. What was wrong her?

As they moved, Fluttershy only thought more deeply. And then there was Twilight. There was still that nagging thought that when she went to get Rainbow changed back, Twilight was acting a little strange. But... she didn't start acting strange until she had a good look at Rainbow. Why? Could she turn Rainbow back into a pony? If her first attempt was any indication, that answer was no. Unless... there was a reason why she didn't want to.

And then, there was that book… Two big questions lingered in Fluttershy’s mind as they traveled.

Did Twilight have any involvement in this whole thing? If so, what involvement did she have, and if not, why was she acting so strange?


___


Somewhere outside of Ponyville, miles, miles away from Ponyville, somepony was sitting down by a lake, staring at it with misery in her eyes. She had been looking at her reflection for the past hour, trying to relieve the pain she felt inside. But it could never relieve itself. It was only growing deeper.

She whimpered heavily as she stared at her reflection. On the left side of her neck, there was a bandage, a large bandage, large enough that it could take up half her face.

But what pained her more was the images she saw from the water’s reflection. It played out exactly what happened that day. She was in a dark room, completely devoid of lights. Somepony was in front of her. Hesitantly, she approached them, tears shedding from her eyes.

“N-No…” she said as she approached the pony, their body on the floor, eyes limp shut. She tried sparking her horn, but it flickered out, too scared to witness the body. But she already knew who it was. It was too late. Trying again, she sparked her horn again. It flickered again, but ended with it successfully lighting up. Shining her horn at the body on the floor, she whimpered even harder.

“N-N-No…” Her tears poured out harder, letting a tear drop down on the reflection of the fallen pony’s face.

That pony… was none other than the Princess of Friendship herself.

“I-It’s all my fault…” she said as she let more tears drop in the lake, dissipating that image completely. She shut her eyes tightly, and she cried, and cried openly into the lake, with no pony around to hear her.

She was in pain.

So. Much. Pain.
> Chapter 36: Review
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had navigated a great distance through the thick leaves and branches that these trees kept providing for them. It had been a couple hours since they left the clearing and there was still no sign of this garden. Only more and more trees. At least they weren’t navigating through thorns like last time.

However, THIS little predicament that they found themselves in wasn’t any better. Both of them were shivering at what they stumbled upon. A large horde of snakes directly in front and behind their path. Most of them were hissing and slightly slithering about. Some of them big, some of them small, some of them even decorating the branches like they were vines. Flying over them wasn’t an option because of that.

Luckily, they haven’t agitated them… yet. The big ones were asleep while the small ones were slithering around. If they got agitated, they could wake the big ones, waking them up for breakfast.

Both Rainbow and Fluttershy were huddled so close, practically sweating on each other. If they were gonna get out of here, they would have to navigate it very carefully. Fluttershy took a big gulp, then whispered to Rainbow.

“Follow my steps very carefully.” Rainbow nodded nervously to her. She took note of each snake’s position and their movement, seeking out the best possible path for them to take out of here. When she found it, she took the first step in the depths of the snakes.

The first crunch from that step was practically ear piercing. Fluttershy winced at it while Rainbow was darting her head back and forth, frantically looking at the different snakes. Seeing that none of them were agitated, Fluttershy silently sighed in relief and kept going.

Once Fluttershy got enough distance, it was Rainbow’s turn to make the first step. Rainbow had to roll her tail to her side as she made the first step. It made it harder for her to balance, but she had to do it, else it would drag on the ground and make contact with the snakes.

Fluttershy watched carefully as Rainbow entered the horde. The first few steps went smoothly. But once she made the fourth step, one of the snakes made contact with her right hind hoof. The moment it did, Rainbow’s eyes widened. But before she could scream, Fluttershy hurried and placed a hoof over Rainbow’s mouth while she herself was gritting her own teeth in fear. All that came from Rainbow’s voice was a muffled moan out of panic.

The snake continued slithering along Rainbow’s hoof, practically nuzzling against it. Of course, her hoof was shaking, but she tried so hard to keep it still. She swear she could feel the thing licking her hoof now, which, if not for Fluttershy’s hoof, she’d be whimpering really loudly to. Fluttershy could practically see the hair on Rainbow’s coat standing straight at that. Looks like even though Rainbow was turned into a tatzlpony, she still had such sensitive hooves.

Eventually, Fluttershy led Rainbow to pick her hoof up very slowly. She had to put a hoof to Rainbow’s chest to keep the hair on her coat from getting any sharper. When she managed to lift the hoof, the snake’s head followed slightly, until it was out of range. Thankfully, the snake was left unagitated.

Both of them went, ‘phew’, when Rainbow was able to set her hoof back down. Fluttershy looked back ahead of herself for them to continue on. But just before they could continue, Fluttershy nearly bumped her head against one of the snakes dangling from a branch, causing her to recoil too harshly and lose balance.

Fluttershy screamed internally as she desperately wobbled over the snakes, trying so hard not to step on them. Shortly, her balance couldn’t hold up and she started falling down. Squeezing her eyes and holding back a scream, she fell, waiting for her body to inevitably topple against one of the large snakes.

But somehow, her body had stopped falling, eyes quivering with sweat dripping down her face. When she peaked one eye open, she nearly screamed again when she saw that she was directly in the face of one of the giant sleeping snakes. Her eyes shrunk to pea-sizes from seeing just how close that was.

It was then that Fluttershy noticed that what caused her body to stop falling was Rainbow Dash, more specifically, her three tongues catching her body from the fall. She looked back to Rainbow Dash to notice she was bent forwards, standing only on her front hooves while her back hooves were in the air. Her wings were spread to help her balance while she was holding Fluttershy with her tongues. Fluttershy was nervous being wrapped around those things, but it was better than falling on those snakes.

With that little save, Rainbow helped Fluttershy right herself up until her hooves were balanced back on the ground, in between all those snakes. After that, they continued treading through. Rainbow kept her tongues against Fluttershy to better her balance. Fluttershy could navigate the path, but Rainbow had the better balance. Together, they were able to cross without anymore issues.

After managing to get away from those snakes, both Rainbow and Fluttershy slumped against a tree, sighing a huge wave of relief. Their hearts were still pounding from such an experience. Fluttershy was also relieved to be freed from those tongues. She still hadn’t gotten used to them wrapping around her like that.

Unfortunately, she and Rainbow barely had a reason to celebrate. She looked at what was up ahead in the forest. That garden was still nowhere to be found. Instead, all they found was a garden of snakes, and just more endless trees up ahead. It just wasn’t ending.

Fluttershy looked down with a frown, questioning again why they were trying to find this thing. She thought about the Alpine Flowers in her bag. That felt like reason enough, but unless she figured out how they would grow, then finding it would practically be meaningless.

And then there was the question of whether it even existed at all. Could they trust X after everything she and the others did? How would she get the flowers to grow? They had to have some sort of relation to the tatzlponies. What was their relation? To figure that out, she had to ask, what did she know about a tatzlpony so far?

With all these questions, Fluttershy sighed and concluded. “Rainbow… I think… we need to stop.” Hearing that made Rainbow’s head flip up. She looked to Fluttershy, wondering if she heard correctly. “I think we need to stop for now, and think this over.” Fluttershy turned to Rainbow to clarify. “What do we know about you, and what has happened to us so far?”

After that clarification, Rainbow understood what Fluttershy wanted. But they weren’t going to have it here. She stood up and walked away from the tree.

“Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked. Rainbow didn’t respond, but she stopped walking after she got some space. Closing her eyes, she lifted her head up into the air, taking a long whiff. She stayed like that for a good few seconds with her ears twitching a bit. She soon brought her head down and laid her ear against the floor.

Fluttershy was wondering what she was doing. Her tail was slithering along the ground, feeling it as if it was searching for something. It dug itself into the ground, twitching back and forth. Suddenly, Rainbow propped back up. She looked to a certain direction, then started running. Confused, Fluttershy quickly got up and followed after.

“Rainbow! Where are you going?” Fluttershy was a little worried. They weren’t going in the path that the garden was at all. And thanks to all the leaves, she couldn’t even see what was up ahead. Yet, Rainbow seemed to know.

After about a minute, Fluttershy lost sight of Rainbow Dash. But she could still hear her so she continued following the sounds. And then, the leaves cleared up. She and Rainbow stopped just before they entered the place Rainbow was leading.

Fluttershy gasped in awe as she stood by the entrance. A sight like this was absolutely beautiful after seeing nothing but thick trees for days. They walked inside as they took in the sights. Rainbow Dash had led them to a clearing with a clear spring in the center. While not as majestic as the first spring Rainbow showed, it certainly felt more majestic for the time.

“Now I understand,” Fluttershy said as she looked to Rainbow with a relieved smile. Rainbow was smiling back. This was why Rainbow took off so suddenly. She just wanted to find a more suitable place to stop and rest for a while.


___


Fluttershy dipped her lips into the spring, filling her mouth with large amounts of water to gulp down. Rainbow was doing the same, but cupping her tongues together to bring the water to her mouth. After taking their drink, they laid back on the mat they set up, releasing a huge sigh of pleasure. Water like that tasted golden when their hooves were aching from all the walking they’ve done. She was so thankful that Rainbow could find a place like this.

Of course, that only fed more to her guilty pleasure. The more things like this that went on, the more and more Fluttershy wanted Rainbow to stay like this. She was loving it, and it made her sad how much she was loving it. If this kept up, it would make it so much harder for her to accept the day Rainbow would have to turn back to normal.

The worst part was, Rainbow didn’t know. Rainbow didn’t know and she hated herself for that. She wanted her to know. So badly, she wanted to tell Rainbow how she felt. But she just couldn’t bring herself to tell her.

To escape that mindset, Fluttershy went back to what was important right now. She went to her bag and took out the journal that she found in that cabin quite a while ago, a journal that could close like a case to cover its pages, and had a broken note as its cover. After turning to Rainbow, she set the journal down, waited for Rainbow to turn to her, then started.

“Rainbow, I think we need to go over everything that has happened to us so far.” Rainbow blinked curiously and she moved closer. “There is so much that I want to know about you, and because of your toxin, so much I need to know if I’m going to help you. So before we go any further, we need to go over everything we discovered and everything we were told. Maybe we can find something out.”

Rainbow stared at her for a few seconds, probably thinking about the situation. At first, she thought it would be best to find that garden as soon as possible to protect Fluttershy from her toxin. But since they had those two Alpine Flowers in reserve, that probably was a good idea. So in the end, she nodded and lied on her stomach in a more comfortable position. Fluttershy would probably pick at her brain again.

“Okay, here we go.” Fluttershy took a deep breath before recalling the events that had transpired.


___


“It all started when you found me practicing a melody with my bird friends at my garden. Your very presence scared the poor critters. I was scared too, but only because I didn’t know who was out there. I found that it was you. And when you looked at me, your eyes pulsated like you could recognize me. And then… you swallowed me. I was passed out, and didn’t find you until the next day.”

“But… according to you, you were transformed into a tatzlpony one day before you found me on that first day, with your memory lost. So… I guess I’ll call that Day One. Day Two was when I discovered you, and Day Three was when I took you in. You had been a tatzlpony for three days before anypony could help you, all alone without your memory...”

“After getting to know you a little, I took you to Twilight to see if we could get you fixed. According to her, you were affected by transformation magic similar to the one she used when she turned all of us into breezies. She said that in order for that to work, you need a sample of the critter that you’re transforming them into. So all she had to do was cancel the spell’s effect, and you would be back to normal.”

“...I didn’t think about it at the time, but before Twilight casted the spell, she was looking at you for a really long time, not doing anything. It looked like she was thinking on something, and then pushed it away. Why? It makes me thing she may have had something to do with you turning into a tatzlpony. But… there’s no way she would’ve wished for all of this to happen to us. So if she didn’t want this, why couldn’t she tell us what was on her mind?”

Fluttershy paused her recollection, looking to Rainbow as she thought on that matter. Rainbow was just looking at her blankly, not able to answer that either. So on the back of the journal, Fluttershy decided to place a note of that question. ‘Why did Twilight stutter before performing the spell?’

“Continuing on. After she performed the spell, it looked like it worked. ‘Looked like’... until the next day. Day Four, After I took you home, I decided to stay with you to see if you were okay when you woke up. But you weren’t. Not only did you not have your memory restored, but you were changed back into a tatzlpony again. Do you remember anything happening that night?”

Rainbow shook her head to answer Fluttershy’s question. Fluttershy made a note of that.

“That day, I learned a little more about you. For one, you can have a big appetite. Really big.” She wrote that down. ”I haven’t been able to learn just how big yet. But… not only do you have a big appetite, you swallow ponies whole. That day, Scootaloo came to visit you, and you swallowed her just like you swallowed me. Before you did though, your eyes pulsated just like when you saw me.”

Fluttershy paused to look to Rainbow Dash. “But you didn’t do that when you saw Twilight. Why is that?” Almost immediately, she gasped as she thought of something. “Oh that’s right. You swallowed Angel at the time. I didn’t even know you had him with you, but you did. Hmm…” She put a hoof to her mouth as she pondered. “I think I’ll go back to that one later.”

“Anyway, so a tatzlpony not only has a big appetite, but they’re also able to swallow ponies the same size as them, and keep them trapped. But you meant no harm for Scootaloo. You ran away into the Everfree Forest, scared by me. When I found you, you had just survived a timberwolf attack, injured, and tired. I took you back to my cottage so that you could rest and heal, but was so worried about Scootaloo sleeping inside you.”

“She… did say that it was comfortable in there. Is it?” Fluttershy shuddered harshly. “No! Forget I asked. Um… Just thinking about that, I couldn’t sleep. If it hadn’t been for Angel giving me those sleeping pills, I probably would’ve been up all night, disturbing the little critters, even though Scootaloo was sure that she would be alright. She was. Day Five…”

Fluttershy took another pause when she mentioned that day. This pause was a lot longer than the others, amazement in her eyes.

“Oh my… A LOT has happened on Day Five…” She took another deep breath as she recalled this eventful day. “Day Five, you woke up and pulled Scootaloo out of your stomach with your tongues, and then cleaned her body from your saliva.” Fluttershy went back to the journal. “Tatzlponies… they… *gulp*... s-swallow ponies that they have a fond connection with. But in time, anypony swallowed would be released unharmed.”

Rainbow turned her head away from that. After what happened at the clearing, she wasn’t entirely sure about that. Fluttershy caught this and was able to partially tell why. So at the end, she wrote ‘unharmed’ with a question mark at the end.

Fluttershy put up a smile. “Scootaloo was unharmed though, and as energetic as ever. I felt that we were finally at a time where we could relax again. So I cooked a big breakfast for us all to celebrate over, and…” She couldn’t help but giggle and blush. “We made a really big mess over it. I wanted to see just how big your appetite was, but still couldn’t get that answer. Still… I was sooo happy!”

Rainbow couldn’t help but smile as well. She moved over to Fluttershy and nuzzled her side. Fluttershy accepted the gesture, but only for a moment. After she got to the next part, her frown returned.

“But... that wonderful moment was cut short. You asked me… if tatzlponies were bad or not.” Rainbow pulled back, frowning again. “You… tried to swallow me… as a demonstration. And I was…” Fluttershy shivered as her voice grew to a higher pitch. “S-Scared… That’s what tatzlponies do. They swallow other ponies. Does that make them bad? Mmm… I-I don’t know. But it makes me so-o scar-r-red.”

Rainbow lowered her head with her ears drooped. The way she looked up at Fluttershy with those pleading eyes, it ached at Fluttershy’s heart in more ways than one.

“You have gotten better at it though. You’re no longer swallowing anypony uncontrollably now. And if you can resist that urge, I’m sure other tatzlponies can too if they tried. But…” Her own ears drooped now. “That was when we started meeting... them. Scootaloo came back and said somepony in a cloak, shivering, gave her a letter to give to us. Hmm… From what we heard earlier, that must’ve been X. They wanted me to meet with Almond Clang. It said that they wanted to discuss something with me about my job as an animal caretaker. But they just wanted me out of my cottage so that they could capture you while you were alone. And… that almost happened. I wanted to leave you there so that I could take care of this. And they were planning to use their Twiitermite Zapper Device if you resisted. But that didn't happen, because you insisted on staying with me.”

Fluttershy looked at Rainbow quizzically. “Did you know that that was gonna happen?” Rainbow shook her head, making Fluttershy put a hoof under her chin. “Were you… worried about my safety then?” It took a moment for Rainbow to respond this time. While it was true that she was a little worried about her safety, that wasn’t the entire reason. So she shook her head once as a response. This left Fluttershy puzzled. When Rainbow refused to stay at her cottage, it wasn’t easy convincing her. She even had to evade Fluttershy from placing a leash on her collar that would get her to stay put. If it wasn’t for her safety, or knowing the danger that was about to happen, then why did she want to go with Fluttershy so badly?

Fluttershy’s eyes widened as she thought up an answer. With a sorry expression, she asked. “...You didn’t want to be alone... did you?” Rainbow’s shameful expression said it all. All she could do was curl her tail to her side, looking away with her ears drooped. That was all the answer Fluttershy needed. It sunk Fluttershy’s heart deeply. She was really sorry for her, for the tatzlponies. In the journal, she noted that tatzlponies were very lonely.

Most of the time, Fluttershy thought Rainbow’s actions were just the result of her losing her memory. But in fact, most of her actions were from her tatzlpony instincts as well.

“What happened to the tatzlponies…?” Fluttershy shivered at that question. “When we left my cottage, we were met with a pony named ‘Almond Clang’. He prefers just ‘Clang’. And he told us that he was hired to capture you, saying that tatzlponies were dangerous. We would later figure out the real reason why that is, the hard way.”

“We were barely able to make it out of that. We took him back to my cottage to question him, but he refused to reveal much at all. And most of the time, he tried putting the blame on me, which got you very angry. Hmm… We captured him, but he was the one manipulating me.”

“The only thing we really got him to reveal was that there was a new flower that was recently discovered, a flower that was very important to his client.” Fluttershy looked down to her bag. “The Alpine… the cure for the tatzlpony’s toxin.”

Fluttershy paused for a moment to hum. “You know… I didn’t notice until now, but that was about the time when I started feeling the effect. It started off with a really bad headache. I thought it was just because of all the noise and that bang on my head that Clang did to me. But my health only slowly got worse and worse from there.”

“And… it wasn’t until the next day, Day Six, where it got really bad. Six days… except… I wasn’t with you for all six days.” Fluttershy made a few notes on these days. “Day One, I wasn’t with you at all. Day Two, I was only with you for a few minutes. Day Three, I was with you almost the whole day. Day Four, I was with you for about half that day. And Day Five and Six… I was with you the whole day…”

“So… Day Two and Three makes about a whole day, Day Four makes that about a day and a half, Day Five makes about two and a half… Day Six, at the time it got bad, makes three…” Fluttershy looked at Rainbow, who was looking quizzically at her. She looked back to her notes, then at her bag. “That makes about three days… three full days of being around you… two before it starts to have an effect, and three before it gets bad. Since being cured, I was around you for one day so far, which means, by the night of the second day, which is tomorrow, I should take another one of those Alpine Flowers.”

Rainbow took a glance at the bag as well. If it really did take three days before her toxin took effect, and if they had two Alpine Flowers with them, then Fluttershy would be okay from her toxin for six days, minus one thanks to yesterday, making it five days. Which means, assuming they can’t find this garden, that gave them at least eight days to find out how these flowers grew. She hoped that would be enough time. Looking to Fluttershy, she nodded.

0	“You weren’t really around other ponies for that long, so they should still be okay for a while. X was with you for the longest time, but we left one of the flowers with her, so she should be fine.” Fluttershy turned away. “But… Scootaloo…” Rainbow lightly gasped when her name was brought. “She was around you for at least one full day. If she stays around you for another, it’ll start affecting her too, unless we give her one, which will shorten our time to five days before the toxin becomes a problem.”

Rainbow nodded again, understanding the situation. After finishing that note, Fluttershy went back to Day Five. “Speaking of Scootaloo, while we were trying to get answers from Clang, she and the other girls came and took him away to question him themselves. While they did that, I went with you to search for answers in… well… here.” She waved her hoof towards the trees. “You brought me to a clearing, much like this one, except it had some…” A smile came to her face as she put a hoof to her cheek. “It had some very delicious berries. Mmm… You know, when we get the chance, we should tell either Applejack or Pinkie Pie about those berries. With their baking skills, I’m sure they can use them as very wonderful ingredients. But we’ll wait for that another time.”

“Anyway… that clearing that you showed me, was the place you stayed at the first day you turned into a tatzlpony. With how you found that one, and how you found this clearing here, you seem a lot more in tune with the forest. Something to do with tatzlponies being lonely?”

Fluttershy paused, expecting Rainbow to make a response to that. But there was none, so she continued. “While we were in that clearing, we… well first, I tried again to see just how big your appetite was, using one of Pinkie Pie’s 'Party in a Box' gifts. And you ate everything... except for the small bit that I ate compared to you.”

Fluttershy paused for a moment as she glanced at her bag. She subconsciously moved a hoof to her stomach as she eyed Rainbow. But when Rainbow looked her in the eyes, she shook her head and went back on topic.

“A-After we ate, I started digging into your memories. Before you became a tatzlpony, you said you were delivering a letter here in the Everfree Forest. But when you delivered it, you became sleepy, and saw somepony walking to you and talking. The words they said…”

“’Embrace the lives of the lost. Today is forgotten, but tomorrow will discover. A new hope for them blossoms now. You will be its messenger… And you will be their new beginning.’”

“Those words…” Fluttershy went back to the journal. “It sounded like they wanted somepony to discover a tatzlpony, by turning you into one.” She labeled this as the ‘Spellcaster’ pony along with the short summary that described them.

“After that, you told me about what happened when you woke up. You were suffering, and somepony was panicking when they found you. From what you said, it was a mare unicorn. She said that you had to ‘clear your mind’ if you wanted the suffering to stop.”

Fluttershy gasped as she realized something. “You know… that might’ve been what caused your memory loss. Because later on, she said… ’It looks like the spell hasn’t taken full effect yet. Your memory will be unstable, but I need you to listen to these words.’ Although… she only spoke one word, but she seemed to tell you just as you were losing your memory.”

Fluttershy went back to the journal and labeled this pony as the ‘Rescuer’. “I think she was the one responsible for your memory loss. And the only reason she did it was to stop your suffering, whatever this ‘suffering’ was...” She paused and closed her eyes with a frown. “Whoever she was, she knew what a tatzlpony was. She was attacked by some sort of monster, a monster who was chasing you. And... she sacrificed herself to make sure you got away. But… she also did something… It sounded like she shot a spell at your mind, something that convinced you to leave her behind, to abandon her.”

Fluttershy looked firmly to Rainbow. “The Rainbow Dash that I know would never abandon somepony like that. The question is, ‘how?’ and more importantly, ‘why?’... All she had time to say was, ‘Your actions would only draw attention’. Did she think you couldn’t do anything to help?” She brought a hoof to her mouth as she rethought that. Her eyes raised in shock as she realized the answer. “The memory spell was taking effect on you. You… couldn’t have done anything.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes grew shockingly as well. Something about those words panged at her heart. They were words that she didn’t want to believe, but they were so true. “You couldn’t have done anything, and she was the cause of that.” Those words were really panging at Rainbow’s heart. She thought about what would’ve happened if she had thought that way about Fluttershy, or Scootaloo.

Rainbow Dash layed her hooves in front of her as she stared blankly at the mat. Multiple times something like that had happened. After she had swallowed Scootaloo, she put her and herself in danger. But thanks to Scootaloo, she was reminded of the feeling of not wanting to let anypony down. If they were in trouble, letting them down was the last thing she wanted to do.

When she saw Fluttershy get attacked by Clang, she had to stop him no matter what, even if it meant doing something that would scare Fluttershy. When Fluttershy got infected, she did everything she could to get her out of danger, and bring her the cure that she needed, even if it meant having to leave her for her to be safe.

Pulling these acts had consequences she didn’t like, but if it meant protecting somepony she cared for, she would do it. It was just something about her, something from her past that she was remembering. That feeling rushed to her mind so fast and she cherished that feeling.

But for some reason, thinking about that incident with her rescuer, it wasn’t providing any feeling of guilt for her. Whenever she thought about the moments with Fluttershy or Scootaloo, it panged at her heart. This one just… didn’t. Why? Was it something that that rescuer did, or was it something about her that she was forgetting?

“Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked, but Rainbow didn’t respond. She just continued to stare at the mat in a trance. “Is something wrong?” There was still no response. It was as if Rainbow was so much in thought that an important memory was trying so hard to come back to her.

All of a sudden, Fluttershy’s stomach started growling. And unfortunately, the sound of that is what broke Rainbow out of her trance. She was now looking at Fluttershy with worried eyes. Those eyes were worried for Fluttershy’s health.

Fluttershy could only sigh with a frown. If that’s what broke Rainbow out of her trance, then she was gonna be too worried about Fluttershy to try and remember whatever it was she was trying to remember. It left Fluttershy staring at her bag. When was the last time they had eaten? She couldn’t tell anymore. But she was desperately hoping to wait until Rainbow specifically got hungry before they had eaten again. Looks like they were gonna have to eat now.

“Okay Rainbow,” Fluttershy started. “Let’s take a break to eat.” This left Rainbow with a smile. It was odd. Even though Rainbow had such a crazy appetite, she didn’t seem to grow hungry faster than Fluttershy did. Maybe it had something to do with that second hunger that she had? Or maybe it was the fact that she could fit so much in her stomach in the first place.

That thought could wait till later. For now, Fluttershy went to her bag and rummaged through the supplies that she brought. It felt so long ago since she prepared all this that she started forgetting what sort of things she actually brought with her. She had to dig all the way to the bottom of her supplies to grab the one she was looking for.

“Okay, Rainbow. This next one came from…” Fluttershy paused as she thought about this next bit of food. In addition to keeping them fed, she also wanted to bring certain kinds of food that would help Rainbow’s memory. But something about this one was unusually special. It made her give a giggly smile to Rainbow.

“Actually, this next one is a gift from you!” Rainbow blinked questioningly at that. Was that true? And then, Fluttershy pulled out a wrapped net that held the food she was talking about, making Rainbow blink two more times as she stared at it. For some reason, when she sniffed it, her eyes started to water.

“Onions!” Fluttershy answered, making Rainbow look to her. “One day when we were hanging out at a store… well… not just me and you, but all of our friends as well, you decided to buy me a gift. You remembered that onions were some of my favorite foods. When you gave them to me, I was so happy. These were the same ones that you got for me that day!”

After hearing all that, Rainbow just had to smile as that memory came rushing in. It wasn’t quite as memorable as all the other things that she was slowly remembering, but this was still nice. Maybe it was just one of those smaller things she casually forgot about even before her memory wipe. Although she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something odd about those onions, it didn’t seem that big, so it didn’t bother her. But now, she started remembering quite a few moments from her fillyhood that involved Fluttershy with onions. She must’ve really loved them.

Rainbow opened her mouth and reached into the bag with her tongues, grabbing and pulling out one of the onions. When she set it down in front of her on the mat, she began smiling and tearing up as those past memories rushed in.

Fluttershy could see the desired effect and started removing the rest of the onions down to the mat. These onions were actually a lot bigger than regular onions. There were four in the bag, each one about as big as their heads, and there was a reason for that. That reason, she wasn’t telling Rainbow Dash, and wouldn’t be telling her even if she still had her memory.

While it was true that onions were one of her favorite foods, it wasn’t because of the taste. Instead, it was because of the effect they had. When she first discovered her love for animals, it didn’t take long before she started seeing the tragic tale that came with it. The Circle of Life for the animals.

Many animals that she took care of passed away as she raised them. Every time one of them did, she would cry. As a filly, she took a liking to these onions because every time she ate them, she would cry, without having to feel sad. There was nothing she could do for the animals and she knew that, but it still hurt her heart every time it happened. She didn’t want to talk about it either. So every time one of her animals met that fate, she would take an onion and eat it. Anytime Rainbow Dash, or anypony else who cared for her would ask what was wrong, she would tell them she was eating her favorite food, onions. It wasn’t healthy to do this for all her problems, so she only used onions as an excuse whenever it involved one of her animals’ tragic fates.

But the thing was, she had grown out of that sadness a long time ago. Sure, she would still feel sad whenever one of her animals met that fate, but she no longer felt the need to cry about it. As a result, she never felt the need to eat onions like that anymore. This bag of onions that Rainbow Dash bought for her, they were bought about twenty plus moons ago. When she took them home, she dug them into her back yard, where they could be water, fertilized, continue to grow bigger, and stay healthy. She wanted to save them for a special occasion, or an important one like this.

During their fillyhood, Rainbow constantly used her allowance to buy Fluttershy onions as a gift. With how often she was bullied, the onions would constantly brighten up her mood and show just how much Rainbow cared for her. Not only would Rainbow protect her from bullies, but Rainbow would also do what she could to brighten up her mood afterwards, even if it was something as simple as buying her an onion.

“If you start to tear up, that’s normal. That’s what these onions do. And sometimes, it’s a nice feeling to let out a few tears and cry.” Rainbow looked up to Fluttershy with her eyes already filled with tears. Fluttershy was starting to get them too. But they were both smiling. Smiling with tears. It really did feel good.

Rainbow decided to take the first bite into the onion in front of her. Biting into it brought even more tears to her eyes, but it tasted really good. Fluttershy smiled brighter at this and closed her eyes. She was happy to see Rainbow enjoying the onion. Happy, but sad that a moment like this wouldn’t last, depressed that thinking like this about Rainbow Dash was so wrong. When she took the first bite into her onion, she bursted out with her crying.

For the first time in a long while, she hid her sadness behind these onions, a very deep and regretful sadness that wished Rainbow wouldn’t have to turn back. She wanted Rainbow to stay as a tatzlpony so they could continue having moments like this. At the same time, she hated herself for thinking that way. If only she could tell Rainbow how she felt. But if she did, she would be taking advantage of Rainbow’s condition to influence her decision. And that would be wrong. So she had to hide it, hide it behind these onions.

Rainbow stopped eating for a moment as she noticed Fluttershy munching into her onion with a lot of moans. A lot of tears were dropping from her, but she was smiling. She really did love those onions.

The thing was, Rainbow didn’t know all those tears weren’t the result of the onions, but rather, Fluttershy’s own sad regret.
> Chapter 37: Motive
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Many tears were shed during this feast that they gorged themselves into, more so on Fluttershy’s part. When they reached the last onion, Fluttershy was surprised that Rainbow Dash had just been finishing up her first onion, while Fluttershy had already finished her second. This was the first time that Fluttershy found herself not only eating faster than Rainbow Dash, but also more. In fact, this was the first time, even before Rainbow turned into a tatzlpony. Why hadn’t she started on her second onion yet?

Rainbow answered that when she began using her muzzle to nudge the onion towards Fluttershy. It surprised Fluttershy at what she was suggesting.

“No, Rainbow!” Fluttershy said, still in tears. “I-I’ve already had my two. That one is yours.” But Rainbow just shook her head. She leaned over and took one bite out of the onion, bringing more tears to her eyes, and then nudged the onion closer to Fluttershy. Fluttershy understood what she was suggesting. “But Rainbow… that would still mean that I’ve had more than you. And that wouldn’t be…”

Rainbow just cut her off by moving the onion straight in her face. Fluttershy sighed. It seemed Rainbow wasn’t gonna change her mind on this. “Okay... if you insist. We’ll share this last one.” She went ahead and leaned her head forwards, taking a bite out of the onion with Rainbow following suit. This of course brought more tears in her eyes, but, if her heart could cry, it would be flooding with tears right now. They were literally eating the same onion together, sharing food.

”Oh, Rainbow…” Fluttershy thought. ”Why are you being so cute right now? What happened to that side of you that denied cuteness?” She shut her eyes tightly as she took a hard bite into the onion, letting her tears pour faster. ”And why does it have to be absent now?!” This moment with Rainbow Dash, she was enjoying it a lot. But she didn’t want to enjoy it. Her heart told her yes, but her brain kept telling her no.

Fluttershy kept biting into the onion. Every time her heart raced, she bit into it faster. Rainbow Dash could see just how fast Fluttershy was biting into the onion, how joyful her moans of pleasure was. She was actually enjoying it more watching Fluttershy enjoy the onion, than actually eating it herself. So when she got through a quarter of it, she stopped biting into it and watched Fluttershy munch through the rest.

In a matter of seconds after stopping, Fluttershy finished the onion. She tried to take another bite into it, only to realize that there was nothing left. Realizing this, her eyes snapped open, immediately questioning how much of that onion did she really eat. All she found was Rainbow Dash looking back at her with a smile, chuckling even. From that reaction, and the feeling of how full her belly was, she could only conclude that she ate way more than half of that onion.

Fluttershy sat back and looked away, moaning with a regretful blush. She didn’t mean to do that. And to make matters worse, Rainbow moved up to her and gave her a lick, this time just below her eyes. It made her recoil a bit, realizing that Rainbow just licked off one of the tears sliding down her face. Before she could respond, Rainbow moved up even closer, placing her body against Fluttershy's. 

Fluttershy yelped as she found her self suddenly lying on her back, with Rainbow's hooves pressed on top of her. Rainbow continued licking across her face, lapping up all the tears that was covering her face due to the onions. She instinctively braced her hooves against Rainbow's weight, but all she could do was moan and keep her eyes closed while the licking happened. Those tongues lapped along her cheeks, above her snout, just under her neck, but mostly along her closed eyes. They felt so slick and slippery, but removed the tears without leaving a mess. Half her mind wanted to push Rainbow off, or at least tell her to stop. But the other half didn't want to move, or say anything. Every time Rainbow did this, it was sending a pleasant chill through her body that she absolutely loved. Now this pleasure was just torturing her. Why did this have to feel so bad, yet feel so wonderful at the same time?

Rainbow didn't stop until all the tears were gone, also making sure the saliva was lapped up as well. It was amazing how her tongues could be really messy, yet still be used to clean really well. When she removed herself off Fluttershy, Fluttershy was left blushing, happy, embarrassed, and held with regret, all at the same time. A moan escaped her as she got up, not sure which of those feeling was most present during it. Looking towards Rainbow's smiling face wasn't helping her figure that out either. If anything, it was just making it worse. 

Rainbow was wiping her own eyes by using her wing. But it didn't stop there. She took those wings in front of her face and started licking them with one of her tongues, licking the tears that she just wiped from them. It was way too cute for Fluttershy to keep witnessing. So she took her eyes off Rainbow and looked to the bag. Maybe going back to her review would help keep her mind off this torturous fantasy.

“Okay, Rainbow. Let’s continue where we left off.” Fluttershy reached for the bag to grab the journal, but paused. Her heart sank further as she remembered the real reason why she didn’t want to eat right now. She didn’t want Rainbow to worry about this, but after what she just did, now she really had a reason to worry.

The thing was, those onions were actually the last of their food. Besides the Alpine Flowers, there wasn’t anymore food left on them. They had to find this garden soon, else they’d have to turn back, or run the risk of starvation unless they found some more edible food around this part of the forest. At least she was quite full for the time being, but she was far more worried about Rainbow Dash getting hungry. If she got too hungry...

Fluttershy shook her head quickly at that. She grabbed the journal and went back to her notes in the back of the book. Rainbow Dash took that time to situate herself back to her comfortable lying position.

“We stopped at the part where we were discussing the mare who sacrificed herself to rescue you.” She took a deep breath as she continued this. Having remembered this subject, Rainbow’s frown returned, still unable to believe that she allowed that to happen. “You were under a spell that was getting your memory wiped. You still wanted to help, but it sounded like she did something to you to convince you to leave.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “I still don’t know why she would go through all that trouble to rescue you. But after you left, you eventually found yourself in the clearing that you showed me that day. And that was when your mind was fully cleared… of everything… even what happened just a few minutes ago. You were at peace… carefree… without guilt. It was home to you.”

“That is… until you found me. While you were exploring the forest, you were swallowing almost everything in sight. Berries, squirrels, snakes… parasprites… and even me. But just like everything else, you spit me out, and left.” Fluttershy noticed that Rainbow sunk her head low with her ears drooping. She still must’ve been feeling guilty about that.

“It’s okay, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said as she moved up to pat her mane. “You didn’t know any better at the time. Besides, you also said you were having this strange hungry feeling in your stomach at the time. Do you feel it now?” Rainbow looked down to her stomach for a second before shaking her head. “See? You also told me that eating a lot helps you with it too. As long as you keep eating regular food a lot, you’ll be able to keep that hunger in control.”

Except what Fluttershy didn’t know though was... she recently fed on Fluttershy before her battle with X. That was probably why she hadn’t been feeling it right now. Maybe it wasn’t… maybe it was. But one thing Fluttershy was right about, food did help. And maybe that was why Fluttershy wanted her to be eating so much. Then again, she kinda did just say that.

“After you told the story, you…” Fluttershy blinked. “Actually, you introduced me to another thing about the tatzlponies. They can dig themselves underground, dig really fast. Fast like a diamond dog I think. You told me that underground was where you slept that night.” She put a hoof to her mouth to think. “Do you think that’s because tatzlponies… live underground?”

Rainbow’s eyes grew curiously in awe at that. “Maybe that’s why nopony’s ever seen them before. Do you think we could find more tatzlponies if we checked underground somewhere?” Both their eyes grew curiously, but then Fluttershy’s shrunk. “Oh… but their toxin. If they’ve been living underground, then all the toxic air that they’re releasing would be insulated in their home. If we ever did find them, somepony like me would instantly suffer from that toxic air.”

“But! If they’re living underground together, then that must mean they’re immune to their own toxin. Which means you won’t suffer anything if you find them.” Fluttershy put her hoof back to her mouth as she re-read the notes of what the Spellcaster was saying. “Tomorrow will discover. Is that what they want? Do they intend to use you… to find these other tatzlponies?”

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy exchanged glances at this, both eyes in awe. It sounded plausible, but… “But why do they want to find them?” She then thought about another part of the verse. “You will be its messenger… And you will be their new beginning.” There was a long pause. Nopony could provide a response.

Fluttershy started having doubts. She went back to the journal after marking that down with the Spellcaster. “If that’s all they wanted… why did they force it on you? Why couldn’t they have asked?” Scanning her previous notes left her with no leads. All she could find was that… “Somepony tried to stop this Spellcaster from doing whatever it is they wanted to do with them.” All she could conclude to, was sighing. “We just don’t know enough yet. But… I think it does give me some good news.”

Rainbow raised her ears at this. “If tatzlponies live underground, then… I think I know of a way to slow down the spreading of your toxin.” There was a light gasp that came from Rainbow. Her eyes were filled with hope. But, Fluttershy’s looked concerned. “Well… I’ll leave this decision up to you. But if your toxin can be insulated underground, then… during nights, when we’re ready to go to sleep, you can sleep underground while I sleep above ground. That way your toxin won’t have to spread further while we’re sleeping. It’ll give us about twice as long as we have now.”

Fluttershy looked away with a frown. “Of course… that means that we won’t be able to sleep together anymore. But if we can find a way to make those Alpine Flowers grow, we won’t have to resort to that. What do you think?” Rainbow had to turn her head to think on that. But that was okay. If Fluttershy’s theory was right, then tatzlponies were indeed very lonely. Any sort of insecurities, including sleeping apart, was probably a hurtful sign to them. She didn’t want to be a bad tatzlpony, but insecurities like these would make her feel otherwise.

“Like I said, it’s your choice, and you don’t have to choose right now.” Rainbow nodded in understanding. Fluttershy went back to the journal. “So… that moment we slept under that tree, we finally came to the end of Day Five.” She braced her head with a hoof. “Phew… What an eventful day that was. Now… Day Six… that was when my health was getting really bad. I tried taking medicine for it, but I would later learn that wasn’t working.”

“We set out to look for the place where you were held captive.” Rainbow remembered. It was about this time where she tried telling Fluttershy about what she did to Scootaloo after she swallowed her and took her away to the Everfree Forest. She still couldn’t find it in her to tell Fluttershy about those energy draining capabilities. And she still didn’t know enough about it herself. All she knew, was that she could drain her prey’s energy to restore her own. It would leave her prey exhausted and sleepy, and after a certain amount of time, leave herself just as sleepy and exhausted, if not more.

After what she did to Fluttershy with that kind of power, even now, she couldn’t find it in her to tell Fluttershy about it. Fluttershy continued. “On the way, we found a patch of flowers that we’ve never seen before. The Alpine Flowers. It was also the place where you met that Spellcaster, wasn’t it?” Rainbow nodded. “A few miles away from that, we found the place where the Rescuer sacrificed herself to set you free. You seemed to have a lot on your mind back then. Can you remember why?”

Rainbow tried to re-think that. Sighing, she shook her head. Fluttershy hummed. “After that, we found the shack where you were held captive. You still had a lot on your mind, and my health was getting worse. While you explored outside the shack, I explored inside.”

Now Rainbow remembered. Something about the place gave her a massive chill throughout her body. She thought it was a memory, but now, it felt more like a dreaded sense. There was something that she saw around that site, something huge. A monster. Probably the same monster that attacked her and her rescuer earlier. What was this monster, and what was it about this monster that gave her such chills?

“Inside the shack was… where I found this journal.” Fluttershy pointed to the journal she was currently using for notes. “This journal belonged to somepony, somepony who was born with an illness, an illness that could be treated, but had no cure. They were searching for a way to cure that illness, and that search brought them here.”

“Two ponies were mentioned. The Journalist, and… ‘Him’?” Fluttershy noted those down as ‘Journalist’, and ‘Unnamed’. “Whoever he was, it seemed that the Journalist didn’t want to mention him by name, or even who he was. They also didn’t want him reading this journal.”

“The Journalist mentioned meeting a creature that gave him hope, but gave the Journalist a horrible experience. Was that creature possibly another tatzlpony? Or was it something else?” Fluttershy paused for a moment to think. “Clang said… that a tatzlpony… ‘took the life of somepony very close to his client’.”  A huge shudder ran through Rainbow’s spine. Was it possible that her power of draining her prey’s energy could do that?

“We thought they meant you… But then Strike told us that it wasn’t you specifically that they were talking about. If that’s the case, then is this what they meant?” Fluttershy thought back to what she learned from Clang, and what the journal said. “A new type of flower was discovered recently. It was very important to his client. Very important… because it provided a cure for the tatzlpony's toxin. The journal was mentioning this flower. But before I could get to it, I became infected, very badly. My heart felt like it was on fire, and beating so fast. It left the rest of my body in so much pain.”

Fluttershy closed her eyes and winced. “And to make matters worse, that was when the rest of the group that the client hired appeared before us.” She decided to note down ‘Client’. “One of them, he called himself ‘Renard Strike’. And the other, he called, ‘X’.” A hum escaped her mouth. “I wonder… is that really her name? Or is that just what they’re calling her?” While it was a curious question, it wasn’t important right now, so she dropped that subject.

“Anyway, you managed to get us to safety, after the timberwolves appeared. Strike provoked them when he tried to attack, making them all focus on him and X, instead of us. We were lucky, but without that flower, I wasn’t gonna make it. So you went out there without me to try and find that flower patch again. You said that when you found it, parasprites came and ate all of them, except one, which was the one you gave me. Were they following you?” Rainbow nodded.

“Because of that, X doesn’t trust us with finding this garden. We have to make sure that there’s nothing like that following us when we find this garden.” Fluttershy sighed. “IF… we ever find it that is…” She and Rainbow looked off into the direction that X said it was. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t see any signs of the garden from here. And judging by the fact they were in a clearing right now, it was probably still a good few miles away.

“I didn’t really know at the time if the flower would be able to cure what was wrong with me. It was the only hope I could think of from reading the journal. And I didn’t realize what it would imply if it worked. The illness that I was suffering turned out to be the same illness that the Journalist is having. Only... they were born with it.”

Fluttershy put a heart to her chest as a wave of despair washed through her body. “I can’t imagine what it must be like to feel that kind of pain every day. But they did mention that it could be treated. I wonder how.” There was a pause as Fluttershy collected her thoughts. Rainbow’s ears dropped. She knew what was coming next. “The Journalist mentioned that this creature they were talking about was the one causing the illness. Since I recently got sick at the time, even though I was taking medicine, that could only mean that the creature they were talking about was a tatzlpony. A tatzlpony… was attacking them…”

Both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy weren’t liking where this was going. If that tatzlpony attacked them, it was only further proving that tatzlponies were indeed bad. There had to be a reason why it was attacking them. But what was it?

“The Journalist said that they had to perform a simple spell. A flower appeared as well as the tatzlpony. It tried to eat them while the Journalist made off with that flower. Are the flowers that precious to the tatzlponies?” With that in mind, Fluttershy decided to go to her bag to grab the Alpine Flowers that she had. Curious, Rainbow sat up to watch what she was doing. After pulling out the vase that contained them, Fluttershy brought them in front of Rainbow Dash.

“Tell me, Rainbow. Do you feel anything special when you look at these flowers?” Rainbow did as Fluttershy asked and took a nice long look at the Alpines presented to her. The results were as expected, but also disappointing. She could feel that these flowers were indeed very important to her. But the reason for that didn’t have anything to do with her tatzlpony side. These flowers were the cure to anypony infected by her toxin. That was the only importance she could feel with them right now, and Fluttershy already knew about that bit.

Sighing, Rainbow Dash replied by shaking her head, leaving Fluttershy with a disappointed frown. “Why did that tatzlpony attack then?” She placed the Alpine Flowers back into her bag. “If only we knew what kind of spell they were using, it would help us understand why it was attacking. But as it stands now, I can only say that a tatzlpony can become quite aggressive if it’s disturbed.”

“Rainbow?” Before Rainbow could start worrying about that statement, her attention was immediately brought. “You were always pretty aggressive before you lost your memory. But you were always fighting for what was right. I know you’ve been pretty aggressive as a tatzlpony too. But please understand that it wasn’t because of your tatzlpony side. I know that, because all those times were times you were trying to protect somepony. Protect me.”

Hearing all of that put Rainbow’s mind at ease. What she said was true. All those times she was aggressive were from her protecting somepony. Mostly protecting Fluttershy. Even the time when she literally had to rip off the vine tongues from a monstrous plant trying to eat her. Yeah… she was violent, but for a good cause. Speaking of which, that’s actually part of what happened during the time she went to get those Alpine Flowers, not that Fluttershy knew that.

“Back to what happened,” Fluttershy continued. “You managed to save one flower and bring it to me. That was when you learned that you were poisonous, and causing my illness. You left, left so that I wouldn’t have to suffer anymore.” She closed her eyes, as did Rainbow, trying not to let this news get to them that much. This is what they’re trying to fix.

“Day Seven. After eating that flower, I was feeling a lot better. But I noticed that you were gone, gone because of what the journal said. I kept reading after that, and learned that the Journalist had a moment of all hope being lost. They were saved, but they called it a cursed miracle. They… weren't happy that they were saved. They were saved, but it came at the cost of… ‘him’... ‘Unnamed’. When they said he was gone, they also said, ‘just like my mother’.”

Fluttershy placed a hoof onto the book. “It sounds like this ‘he’ that the Journalist is mentioning, was their father. But why didn’t they want to call him that?” She tried skimming through the other words mentioned by this Journalist. Rainbow moved up for a closer look. “And what about the Journalist’s mother? What made her…” A thought came to Fluttershy. There was one part of the journal that was crossed off. “‘Left behind by’... an illness that they were born with… oh no.”

Only one conclusion could come to Fluttershy’s mind. She didn’t want to say it out loud. But judging by the look on Rainbow’s face, it looked like she could already tell what happened too. Rainbow may have had her memory lost, but it certainly didn’t leave her clueless. A part of Fluttershy kind of wish it did for this moment. Maybe it was better that it wasn’t that way. The question that escaped Fluttershy was how this journalist was stuck with an illness caused by a tatzlpony’s toxin. Instead, her mind was left on the sadder note.

“They grew up without a mother… grew up with a father they didn’t want to name… and grew up with a terrible illness every day.” Fluttershy noted these details next to where the Journalist was noted. “They’ve been searching for a cure ever since.” Suddenly, Fluttershy’s heart started pounding. She quickly flipped through the pages to where the journal was talking about the flowers. “The Alpines… they were the cure. They said that if they could find more, they could finally be cured of that illness, as long as they stayed away from a tatzlpony.”

“That garden… if it does exist, that would give them more than enough, right?” Another thought came to Fluttershy, making her gasp. “The Client… they said that this flower was very important to them.” That was when Rainbow Dash raised her eyes in shock. Looks like she realized where Fluttershy was going with all this. “The Client hired three ponies to capture a tatzlpony... that is… you. They want you captured because they believe you’re dangerous, poisonous. And it was because of a tatzlpony that somepony very important to them was lost.”

All of the pieces came together. Such a huge motive was placed. “Now I understand why they’re so desperate to capture you. The Journalist’s only experience with a tatzlpony was an awful, awful one. One who left them born with an incurable illness, took their mother upon being born, and now took what I believe was their father.”

Heavy breaths escaped from both Rainbow and Fluttershy. “It has to be. The Journalist and the Client, they must be the same pony. And that must mean…” Rainbow and Fluttershy looked at each other directly, both with the same conclusion on their minds.

“If they capture you, they’ll get rid of you, for good. They believe tatzlponies are bad...”
> Chapter 38: Garden
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Both Rainbow and Fluttershy were staring at each other in complete shock with the conclusion Fluttershy made. Fluttershy was breathing heavily while Rainbow Dash practically had her breath held. They were both probably thinking the same thing. When Rainbow Dash decided to give herself up to protect Fluttershy, this was what she was getting herself into.

Eventually, Rainbow Dash looked away and gulped, letting her ears drop flat on her head. Fluttershy wasn’t sure what she should say. All this time, she believed that nothing good could come out of Rainbow Dash giving herself up to the client. But to discover that this must’ve been the reason why was devastating to learn.

“Was this why… you wanted to know so badly?” Fluttershy asked. “If tatzlponies were bad?”

Rainbow Dash didn’t provide a response. And after Fluttershy questioned that, she began to wonder why that would be if she answered yes. After all, did she know about this already, or was it just something in her subconscious?

“Well…” Fluttershy began. “I-If we ever meet that client, t-then… somehow… s-s-s-somehow… I’m going to prove to them… convince them that tatzlponies aren’t bad! S-Somehow…” Her body was shaking heavily inside from the words she was saying. She really didn’t want to believe that tatzlponies were bad anymore. Although she didn’t have enough to go by yet, it didn’t stop her from trying. “A-A-And I’ll start… by figuring out how these Alpines grow!”

With fire in her eyes, Fluttershy went back to the journal to review the rest of the information they learned. There had to be something, somewhere.

But then, Fluttershy’s eyes widened in realization. “Wait a minute…” she said, bringing Rainbow Dash’s attention back. Fluttershy had to do a quick skim of the last page of the journal that the Journalist wrote.

“Before I left to go find you, there was one more page that I read. Up until now, I thought this would be the reason why going with the client was a bad idea. The Journalist… before they stopped writing, they said that they met somepony, somepony that they owed their life to. But it was also somepony they wished they never met. Why is that?”

Fluttershy looked to the last parts of the page. A lot of it had been scribbled out, but the beginning part was still readable. “‘I know I should keep writing, but those creatures…’. Hmm…” she hummed as she read that part again. “Is it possible that they met another tatzlpony? One that could talk?”

The only response Rainbow Dash could provide was scrunched up eyes. After saying that, Fluttershy began to wonder how would that be. Why would they want to turn Rainbow Dash into a tatzlpony if there was another one out there?

Fluttershy’s head shot up. “Hold on!” She repeated the question in her head again. Why would they want to turn Rainbow Dash into a tatzlpony? “Hold on a second. All this time, I figured out why somepony would so desperately want to capture you. But I never figured out why somepony would want to turn you into a tatzlpony in the first place.” This provided a gasp from Rainbow Dash. Even now, she had forgotten that the only reason she was a tatzlpony now was because somepony turned her into one.

“There’s no way the Journalist would want. After their experience, they would never want to be near one again. But what about this pony?” Fluttershy decided to note this next pony as ‘Unknown Pony’. “They must’ve saved the Journalist’s life, but if they wished they never met this Unknown Pony, it could only be because… because they wanted something in return, something the Journalist didn’t like, maybe.”

Rainbow Dash looked at Fluttershy with realization in her eyes. When she looked away, she looked down to her body’s form, flicking her tail around until it was positioned directly in front of her eyes. Putting two and two together, Fluttershy realized it now.

“The Journalist doesn’t like tatzlponies, but they were the one to discover them again. The Unknown Pony, what if they wanted to know about them?” Looking back to her notes again, one conclusion came to mind. “What if the Unknown Pony, is the Spellcaster?” Rainbow Dash made a single nod with her head, signaling that she was on the same page as Fluttershy with this. “How would that be though?”

Fluttershy put a hoof under her chin to think about what that would imply. “If this Unknown Pony is the Spellcaster, and the Client is the Journalist… then there are two ponies trying to do completely opposite things. The Client’s trying to be rid of tatzlponies while the Journalist wants to get rid of them.” She paused to hum for a few seconds.

“And then… where does this Rescuer come in?” Fluttershy looked to Rainbow as she asked that. “If the Rescuer was trying to rescue you from that shack, then it wouldn’t make sense for her to be the Client. But what if she was the Spellcaster?” Almost immediately, Fluttershy looked away and retracted that thought. “Wait... the Spellcaster was the one who captured you in the first place. Why would she suddenly want to rescue you after capturing you? Is it because of something that the Client did?”

Fluttershy went through a number of possibilities in her head, but none of them were providing a clear result. If the Client knew that the Spellcaster was planning to bring the tatzlponies back, then they would’ve tried to stop her a long time ago, right? They didn’t know much about the Spellcaster or the Rescuer. Rainbow could confirm that the Rescuer was indeed a female unicorn, and it sounded very possible that the Spellcaster could be a unicorn too. But the reasons for everything else just wasn’t coming together clearly.

Rainbow tried to think on the matter as well. But every time she did, all she could think about was that giant silhouette of a monster towering over her. She could still hear its roars, but she couldn’t make out what it was. Why was this monster so important to her?

In the end, Fluttershy sighed. “Maybe there’s some sort of clue ahead. Where did we leave off?” It took a moment, but she managed to remember where. The part she left off was after waking up from her illness. “I went off to find you. It was difficult because I was still sore from the illness that I was suffering. But thanks to some help from the animals, I was able to catch up. I found you already giving yourself up to Strike and X, with all the timberwolves broken up with their parts in their bag.”

Rainbow frowned in regret. After everything that happened, she regretted ever thinking that was a good choice to make. “Strike told us the reason why his Client wanted to keep me away from you. It makes sense now. If tatzlponies like you are lonely, they’ll want to stay close to a pony they can trust. Any insecurities will discourage them. But as long as tatzlponies remain close to somepony, their toxin will continue to affect them. And that’s what they’re trying to prevent, even by force…”

Fluttershy sighed. “Even after telling us, he attacked me anyway, believing that I still wouldn’t give up, that I would still try and convince you to come back. He wasn’t wrong, but…” She couldn’t finish what she was about to say. And when she thought about the next part, she winced. “After we drove him away, X attacked. You gave yourself up again, but this time it was so that I could be spared. But I moved anyway when I saw you get zapped, making X fire that Snake Cannon, causing Sly to bite me.”

Fluttershy could hear Rainbow growling from that. Sounds like she still hasn’t forgiven X for that, and wouldn’t be forgiving her any time soon. “I saw a few things before I fainted. I saw our bodies glowing. I saw green aura flowing in the air. I saw X rushing to me while shouting. And the last thing I could feel was a stab at my back.”

“I couldn’t figure out what all happened on my own. X had to tell me. The green aura was the timberwolves coming back together. The stab that I felt was the needle used to inject me with the antidote to Sly’s venom. She was shouting because she didn’t want that happening, and had to hurry. But as much as I think about it, I still can’t figure out why our bodies glowed like that. I thought that glow had something to do with our bond, and that’s what saved me from the timberwolves, and Sly’s venom. But the only reason the timberwolves left me alone was so that they wouldn’t get poisoned themselves. After figuring that out, and hearing X explain what happened…”

Fluttershy suddenly stopped, wincing harshly as she closed the book. Rainbow could only blink as she looked closer in concern.

“And that brings us here!” Fluttershy’s voice suddenly raised, making Rainbow recoil back. “After we stopped X, she told us about her side of the story with trying to capture us. She didn’t tell us much about her Client though. And what she did say doesn’t have any relation to the spellcasting or the rescuing!”

Fluttershy started breathing rather deeply, clearly agitated right now. More concerned than ever, Rainbow picked herself up to move beside Fluttershy, who was keeping her eyes glued to the floor.

“What she DID say, I just can’t make sense of! They wanted to meet with Twilight, but not at the Client’s request. But what the Client DID request was a personal favor for X to return a book, even though Twilight wasn’t there. But why? What was that book that X returned? And why did the Client have it? X said that she couldn’t understand the book’s language, so…”

Fluttershy finished the theory through her thoughts only. If it was a language she couldn’t understand, then it probably involved something ancient or high levels of magic. But why would Twilight give them something like that?

“No…” Fluttershy thought back to her first immediate thought when X first mentioned her, immediately wanting to retract that. All of a sudden, she felt a gentle nuzzle against her cheek. With a flinch, she quickly moved away from where she was laying, leaving an already concerned Rainbow Dash even more concerned. All she was trying to do was ease Fluttershy’s worries. But maybe she didn’t understand the weight of what was going on.

“Rainbow Dash...” Fluttershy started sadly. “This is Twilight we’re talking about. Twilight Sparkle. With us included, she’s part of our six circle of closest friends. The others are Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. We trust each other more than we trust anypony else.”

Fluttershy squeezed her eyes while Rainbow cautiously inched closer. “On the day when Twilight first moved to Ponyville, a thousand year old evil returned and threatened Equestria with eternal night. Nightmare Moon. We all searched here, in the Everfree Forest, to find a way to defeat her. And it was thanks to our friendship that we were successful. You remember don’t you?” It was then that Rainbow stopped inching forward. She seemed to be deep in thought now, so Fluttershy continued.

“Ever since then, we’ve all been really close. We’ve had some difficult times. You and me even grew distant with each other sometimes. But thanks to Twilight’s help, we were able to solve our issues, and strengthen the bond that brought us so close. We owe so much to her. She owes so much to us! We owe so much to all of us as a whole! That’s why…”

A hiccup escaped Fluttershy as she looked away, on the verge of tears. “That’s why there’s no way Twilight would be involved in this! She would never want any of this to happen to us! So then why?! Why is it sounding like she is somehow involved?!”

Fluttershy kept her eyes away, waiting for Rainbow Dash to respond. But there was none she could hear. Nothing but silence followed for a few seconds. The only thing that was breaking the silence was Fluttershy’s whimpering. It shouldn’t be this silent.

“Oh, please, Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy suddenly blurted out as she forced herself to look at Rainbow, who flinched back. “Please say something!” There was another pause, and all Rainbow could do was wince. “You’re not an animal, Rainbow Dash! You’re a pony just like me! But you haven’t said anything for the longest time! Longer than I can remember right now. This isn’t you! This isn’t Rainbow Dash!”

These sudden outbursts was causing Rainbow to step back nervously, bringing more pain in Fluttershy’s eyes. In the middle of her grasping, she tried closing the distance to Rainbow, trying her best to reason with her Rainbow Dash. But Rainbow just continued to back away. “You were a pony who loved to talk! Who loved to talk about her accomplishments! Somepony who was confident, bold, used words to express herself! Super, extreme, awesome.” Her voice only got higher as tears spawned in her eyes. “Do those words mean nothing to you?!”

Rainbow was practically backed up against a tree, feeling far more scared than ever. This was worse than when she was witnessing Fluttershy’s Stare. The only thing worse than seeing Fluttershy angry, was seeing her sad because of her. But… what was she doing that was making her sad?

In the end, Fluttershy was the one who ended up backing away. She released a defeated moan as she did so, looking away. Actually… she wasn’t just looking away. Her eyes were towards the ground, but… one of her eyes was completely blocked by her mane. This look…

Rainbow gasped as a deep memory sprung. It went all the way back to her fillyhood, back to when she used to see that look all the time. This was Fluttershy… being shy. A shy look that she hadn’t seen for the longest time. The only times she could remember seeing this was back when they first met, or when she was meeting another pony for the first time.

But it wasn’t just this look she was remembering. It was also the words she used that helped bring Fluttershy out of this shell that her mane provided.

”Stick with me kid. These hayheads won’t mess with ya as long as I’m around.”

She could also hear the gibberish insults that their bullies were trying to spout at them. The more she defended Fluttershy, the less shy she got around her, until she no longer saw that look anymore.

So then why? Why was it returning now? Rainbow didn’t want to see that. Slowly, she approached Fluttershy while she was still whimpering. Opening her mouth, she moved her tongues towards Fluttershy in an attempt to move that hair out of the way.

But Fluttershy noticed too soon and gasped. “No!” she said as she turned away. “Stop licking my tears. I told you you’re not an animal… Y-You’re not!” It really pained Fluttershy to say that. If she was gonna have Rainbow stop acting like an animal, she had to say what she needed.

Rainbow felt her heart sink further at this reaction. Fluttershy just completely shut herself off to her. What was she doing wrong? After retracting her tongues, she kept her knotted one out to look at it. An image came to her, an image back from Day 5 when Fluttershy treated this tongue.

”Aww! You’re so sweet!” The image was very clear. Rainbow was licking Fluttershy along her cheeks, and Fluttershy was so happy and giggling. She even started scratching the back of Rainbow’s mane, until she let herself fall to the floor while Fluttershy continued by rubbing her belly.

“Who’s a good tatzlpony? You are, Dashie! Yes you are!" Fluttershy used to be so happy with this behavior. What happened? Why was it making her so sad now? Maybe it had something to do with her past memories. But what was more important? Her past memories, or her present memories? In the past, Fluttershy looked happy, but in the present, Fluttershy seemed happier, happier than she could ever remember in the past. She just couldn’t figure it out... and it was making feel… avoided… lonely…

In the end, Rainbow was the one to turn away. She put her tongue back in her mouth and walked to the tree she had backed herself to earlier. Fluttershy’s ears twitched when she heard Rainbow moving. Looking behind her, she witnessed Rainbow walking behind a tree, and slumping herself down depressingly with her tail curled around her.

This wasn’t what Fluttershy wanted. She wanted Rainbow to remember who she was, not feel insecure again. Now she was ridden with guilt. That last comment must’ve really crushed Rainbow’s heart. Maybe she liked acting like an animal. But that was the issue. The only reason she liked acting like an animal was because… she led Rainbow into that state. Rainbow’s memory was taken, and she led Rainbow to believing she always acted like an animal.

Another defeated sigh came from Fluttershy. She couldn’t deny that she really loved seeing Rainbow behave like an animal. And she would love nothing more than to have her as one when this was all over. But continuing to manipulate her mind like that was wrong. And now she couldn’t revert it back. If only she had realized it sooner.

Fluttershy took a glance at the journal, then back to Rainbow. What was she trying to do now, she thought. She was not only trying to get Rainbow’s memories back, but also trying to find a way to change her back into a regular pony again, a pegasus. In order to do those things, they needed answers. But it looked like they weren’t gonna get anymore answers this way. At least, for now. They just didn’t know enough yet. Continuing to stay here would only tear them apart further.

Fluttershy used her tail to wipe away her tears. It didn’t feel as nice as when Rainbow licked them away, and she hated how she was thinking like that. Closing the journal, she put it away in her bag and packed up the rest of her things as well, without Rainbow’s help. After what she said to Rainbow, she really needed to think of a way to make amends with her. All she wanted was what was best for Rainbow. And what was best was not being alone right now.

After packing up, Fluttershy walked over to the tree that Rainbow was slumped against. Without looking beyond the tree, Fluttershy began speaking.

“Rainbow. I think… we need to continue on.” Fluttershy took a deep breath. "I wanted to figure out what we could do to fix you. But… we just don’t have enough information yet. I wanted…” There was a pause. “I wanted to learn more about tatzlponies, to learn how to make it possible for us to live together, without having to worry about their toxin. But right now… the only lead we have is that garden. And I need your help to find it.”

Fluttershy took a moment to look away. “You may not remember, but believe me. Everything I said about you is true. And you were really happy with who you were. We both were. Just… stay with me. Give me enough time to show you. Tatzlpony or not, you shouldn’t be alone. Nopony… no creature, deserves to be alone.”

Rainbow listened to every word that Fluttershy was saying. She didn’t want to make Fluttershy more sad than she already has. And while she felt staying with Fluttershy was gonna make her more sad, she understood that they needed to stay together. If they didn’t, one of them would surely perish in this forest.

Besides, they still needed to find the garden for Fluttershy’s health. Rainbow picked herself up and joined Fluttershy away from the tree. Both their expressions were sad. Fluttershy's grew even more upon looking at her. Actually, she was looking down at Rainbow's neck, specifically at the collar that she was still wearing. It pained Fluttershy to look at her with that after what she just said. But she, and Rainbow, were at least comforted by the fact that they were still together.

“Whatever the Client said about you, they’re wrong. And I’ll prove it somehow. Once we find that garden, there should be an answer waiting for us.” Fluttershy looked back towards the direction they were told the garden was. “There just HAS to be. A way for you to get your memory back, a way for ponies and tatzlponies to live together, there just HAS to be an answer.”

But the biggest question that Fluttershy wanted answered was which path was right for Rainbow Dash. To stay as a tatzlpony, or to turn back into a pegasus. Because right now, leaving the decision up to Rainbow Dash wasn’t the right decision. Since her memory was lost, that would be taking advantage of her mind and cause her to make a decision she might not have chosen otherwise.

For Rainbow, the biggest question she wanted answered was what would make Fluttershy happy again? What did she have to do to see her smile again? All she could do right now is just be with her, and trust what she said.

With sadness drawn on both their faces, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash continued walking together, walking out of the clearing in search for that garden, once again.


___


Nothing was happening. They both continued walking through the forest, but nothing was happening. Nopony was saying anything, talking, making eye contact, not even so much as trying to find a way to lighten the mood. The only thing they did was listen to each other’s hoofsteps to make sure they were still together. But even so, it felt like they WERE separated, because traveling like this made them both feel like they were actually walking alone.

This had been going on for hours, and there was no sign of it ever changing. To make matters worse, there was STILL no sign of that garden. How many miles did they walk? How far in this direction did X say the garden was? A few miles? It felt like they had traveled a dozen, maybe even two. There wasn’t even the noise of critters or predators around to change the setting. It was like walking was nothing more than a trance to them now.

Fluttershy was growing quite tired from all this walking too. As for Rainbow, she was sure she still had plenty of energy to spare. Rainbow traveled these sort of distances on a daily basis. A travel like this was nothing to her. She wondered if she should ask Rainbow if she’s be willing to carry her again. But after what she said to Rainbow, that wouldn’t be appropriate. But if this kept up, she would collapse from exhaustion.

Fluttershy decided to look up to the sky, seeing what little light she could make out. Unknown to her, her mane was still covering one of her eyes, which Rainbow wanted to remove, but was too afraid to. The light in the sky could be seen clearly to Fluttershy despite her mane. Sunset was approaching. If Fluttershy did her math correctly, this was currently Day Ten. Day Seven was the first and last time she ate an Alpine Flower. While she had contact with Rainbow on that day, it was short lived, and she was unconscious for two days.

Fluttershy came to on Day Nine, and found Rainbow Dash on that same day. But she failed to save her and blacked out again. However, Rainbow managed to use that time to free herself and save both of them. Of course, that meant she was with Rainbow Dash that whole day. And she was spending the whole day with Rainbow Dash today, on Day Ten. Today would be over soon. And she only had three days to spend with each flower before the illness would take her again.

On the night of tomorrow would be the time Fluttershy would have to eat her first Alpine Flower. With only two with her, that meant after today, she would only have seven days left. Day Seventeen would be their last day. If they could find this garden, maybe they wouldn’t have to worry about that. But she promised X that she would only do what was needed with the garden. Find a way to make these flowers grow.

But they had to find the garden first. And right now, it looks like they either missed the garden, or X was lying about the garden in the first place. Fluttershy didn’t want to believe X was lying. She couldn’t afford to waste time like this. Unfortunately, that meant she had to accept that the former was true, that they missed the garden.

Sighing, Fluttershy finally stopped walking and broke the silence. “Rainb-” But before she could finish, Rainbow suddenly gasped. She was looking off into the distance, past Fluttershy. “Rainbow?” Fluttershy tried calling, but Rainbow didn’t respond. Instead, she moved next to Fluttershy, looking in different directions. First up ahead, then behind, then to the sides.

Fluttershy realized, she had witnessed this before. This was similar to how Rainbow Dash was behaving before they came across the clearing earlier. But… something was different. Her expression looked very panicked, and her breathing was rough.

“What’s going on?” Fluttershy asked, hoping Rainbow could provide an answer soon. That panicked expression was making her worry. She tried listening in for anything, but nothing came up.

Soon, Rainbow settled on one direction to look at, but her face was stunned stiff. The pupils in her eyes shrunk to pea-sizes. And her breath practically stopped. That didn’t look like good news at all.

Just as Fluttershy was gonna ask again, Rainbow suddenly dashed in its direction, a little east off the path they were following. Fluttershy followed as best she could. She still couldn’t hear anything, but it looked like there was definitely something up ahead. When they got close enough, Fluttershy gasped. It was another clearing. Was this what they were looking for?

They soon reached the clearing. Fluttershy was met with quite a few leaves berating her face just before she could look among it. And what she saw, made her breath gasp for a full three long seconds.

The clearing… underneath the rays of an otherwise beautiful sunset, there were flowers, hundreds of them. Too many to count. They decorated the entire clearing with their purple petals and yellow floral discs. On the left side, they saw a huge circle of them emptied out, the same size as the flower patch.

Fluttershy looked up. At the center of the clearing, there was a large flower, a humongous flower, more than ten times, more than twenty times, some big number of times bigger than the rest of the flowers. It looked like it could almost penetrate the forest’s height.

But… as Fluttershy looked at this clearing, harsh tears welled up in her eyes. “No…” she said. Her eyes turned to the left section of the garden. “Noo…” Then they turned to the right. “Nooo…” Finally, they went back to the center.

There was no doubt. These were the Alpines, the flowers that could cure a pony from the tatzlpony’s toxin. And everywhere she looked was met with the same result. No matter how much she looked, nothing was different.

They did it. After all that searching, they finally found it. There were hundreds of flowers. And every single one of them was the same, including the giant one at its center.

They found the garden.

…

…

…

Wilted.
> Chapter 39: Monster
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

What was up with this feeling? This feeling kept bothering Rainbow so much even before they found the garden. And it was really unnerving her.

They found the garden. Every single flower had wilted. She could see Fluttershy being crushed by the discovery of this. But for some reason, she just couldn’t figure out the source of what was causing this stress. For some reason, it wasn’t the garden. It was… something else.

Something big.

But while Rainbow was busy freaking out about this feeling, Fluttershy was agonizing over the wilted garden. She must’ve searched the entire garden three times over, only met with the same result. This last one had her reach out to grab one of the flowers with, slowly, with both hooves shaking, and tears of failure shedding.

“Why-y-y?” she asked as her hooves made contact with one of the wilted flowers. “This is the Everfree Forest… The plants grow on their own here. So why?” Her eyes squeezed tightly as her hooves clutched the wilted flower. “WHY DID THEY ALL WILT?!”

That scream echoed across the forest. Rainbow was hovering up to the giant wilted Alpine at the center of the garden, and staring at its floral disc. This feeling was at its strongest right here. Why was that? What was it about this Alpine that was causing this?

And then, her ears twitched. She could hear something coming. Something big. Rainbow gasped. Whatever it was, it was coming from underground. Not just from underground, but it was heading straight for the giant wilted Alpine, straight where Fluttershy was going next!

Finally, the earthquake started. Rainbow Dash quickly dashed to intercept Fluttershy's path. Fluttershy yelped softly in response. Before she had time to wonder, loud tunneling sounds pierced her ear drums. And a second later, the ground massively shot dirt high into the air, leaving the giant flower torn apart as it was flung as well. Something huge came out from inside that dirt, leaving Fluttershy screaming in front of Rainbow Dash. If she had not stopped her just a second sooner, Fluttershy would've been caught by...

Fluttershy looked up to see what it was that sprung out from underground. The monster was roaring out as it flew in the air. After hitting the top of the forest barrier, it started falling back down. As Fluttershy witnessed this monster falling towards them, she began hyperventilating.

The monster... it had a very long dark blue worm-like body... with a red spiky end to its tail. As it was falling down, it opened its large mouth… which split in three different directions. Before it did, Fluttershy noticed two red slithering patterns on its light blue head, similar to the pattern near Rainbow’s eyes. But if that wasn’t enough, after it opened its mouth, three large black tentacles shot out of it, looking exactly like Rainbow’s tongues. One word kept repeating in Fluttershy’s mind as the monster dove towards them.

“Tatzl…” Her eyes were shrunk and her voice was silent, yet high pitched. “T-Tatzl…” she said again. The monster got closer as her body stiffened. And then, she screamed out the next word. “WUUURRRMM!!! AAAAAAHHH!!!”

Just before the monster swiped at Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash grabbed and pulled both of them out of there. The monster missed them by a hair. And when it landed, it immediately dug itself back underground, causing more damage to the garden.

Rainbow Dash brought Fluttershy on top of one of the large branches of a nearby tree. She left her there as she went back to the center of the garden, watching the ground intensely.

Rainbow was panting intensely for some reason, sweat dripping down her forehead. She could clearly hear the monster’s digging patterns going on underground. Tatzlwurm? That’s what Fluttershy called it?

Suddenly, the tatzlwurm popped above ground again. But instead of shooting up, it shot its three tentacles out towards Rainbow. Rainbow backed her distance away before they made contact with her. The tatzlwurm slithered its massive body along the garden, chasing Rainbow Dash and attempting to catch her in its tentacles again.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy was staring at the garden from the branch she was on in utter defeat. The garden… it was getting destroyed even further. After promising X that she would have nothing bad happen to this garden, this was happening right now. How could she explain this? Everything in the garden was getting ravaged and torn apart. What were they going to do now?

While Fluttershy was fighting a mental battle with herself, Rainbow Dash was fighting a very similar one while fighting this tatzlwurm at the same time. It launched its tentacles at her in three different directions. And instead of moving away from them, Rainbow found herself flying in between them, avoiding their every contact no matter how much they swiped at her. What was going on? Why did it feel like she could tell exactly where this thing was about to move? Whether it was above ground or underground, she could recognize how its movement patterns worked, almost like it was her own instincts.

Whatever was the case, she knew one thing. This monster was trying to eat them and it had to be dealt with. When the tatzlwurm swiped at her again, she took her chance for the offense. Ducking underneath its swipe, she lunged straight to its body. Thrusting her hooves out, she made contact and kicked it hard. However, her hooves sunk in. The monster had a very squishy body. Rainbow’s kick was practically absorbed, leaving her wide eyed and stuck as the monster roared at her. She could see the flare of the setting sun behind its body, making its front darken into a silhouette kind of hue.

That roar… the silhouette… there was no doubt about it anymore. This was the monster that she kept hearing and seeing in her memories.

Before Rainbow could react, the tatzlwurm spun its body and flung Rainbow off it, causing her to go hurtling towards a tree. The sound of that massive impact snapped Fluttershy out of her trance, making her realize the other dilemma that was going on right now.

“Oh no! Rainbow Dash!” This tatzlwurm was out of control. Something had to be done about it. She rushed over to it while it was looking in Rainbow’s direction to see if she could calm it down. “Please stop! We’re sorry we-” But as soon as she laid a hoof on it, it flinched and cried out a massive roar. The flinch stumbled Fluttershy and pushed her away, making her gasp.

Suddenly the tatzlwurm turned around and dove straight at her. Yelping, Fluttershy flew the opposite direction. A shockwave was caused that pushed Fluttershy faster at uncontrollable speeds. Flailing and screaming, she found herself crash landing into a large bush as the tatzlwurm dug itself back underground.

Looking back at where the tatzlwurm created yet another hole in the garden, she could hear and feel the intense vibrations that it was causing underground. It horrified her in more ways than one at what she saw. She stayed as still as possible where she tried to settle her intense breathing.

Rainbow Dash, who found herself flattened against a tree, regained her composure enough to peel herself off. She could see the tatzlwurm creating more holes in the garden, coming up and down in multiple spots and making its pattern unpredictable.

Looking over to her side, she could see Fluttershy in her terrified position. While she had the chance, she decided to go to her to make sure that she was okay. When she got there, Fluttershy looked to her herself.

“Rainbow Dash…” she started in a quiet tone. “The tatzlwurm…” Repeated earthquake sounds made it difficult to hear, but she could understand. “It… it’s suffering.” A massive dirt cloud shot up nearby, causing them to flinch as Rainbow looked to its direction. “Suffering, reaaally badly.”

It was then that they realized that the tatzlwurm appeared to be searching for them, which was why it was moving around to frantically. With all the holes it created, soon there would be nothing left of this garden. And if they stayed here much longer, it would find them soon.

Rainbow looked back to Fluttershy as Fluttershy spoke. “We have to figure out what’s wrong. But I can’t get close enough with it moving around like this.” Nodding, Rainbow understood what she had to do. She looked away from Fluttershy and watched the pattern that the tatzlwurm was digging. All she had to do was distract it while Fluttershy looked for a way to calm it down.

“Please! Be careful, Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy said as Rainbow took off. She rushed to the center of the garden, making some noise by landing hard on the ground. The tatzlwurm took the bait and was driven away from Fluttershy.

Even now, Rainbow could feel where it was going to go. The movements of the ground allowed her to recognize its pattern. She just couldn’t understand how she understood it so well.

The moment the tatzlwurm broke the surface, Rainbow launched herself off the ground. It tried to latch onto her with its tentacles, but she managed to weave between them. Fluttershy nearly yelped at how close Rainbow was to getting caught. But she had to steel her nerves and do her part, else Rainbow’s efforts would be in vein. While Rainbow distracted it, Fluttershy flew to the tatzlwurm, scouring its body in search of what was causing it to suffer so badly.

Rainbow continued to dodge this tatzlwurm’s swipes. She weaved left, she weaved right, she weaved in between, and she even had to moved towards it. Thanks to her agility, avoiding it wasn’t an issue. However, keeping it at bay was. The more it missed, the more aggravated it got. And with Fluttershy searching its body from tip to tail, she had to keep luring its sights away from Fluttershy’s direction.

The tatzlwurm released a massive roar, ready to dig itself back underground again. Before it had the chance to, Rainbow flew towards its face, grabbing its attention back, then dove straight for the ground. She hid inside one of the holes for cover while one of the tatzlwurm’s tentacles chased after her. It came back out grabbing nothing. Rainbow popped her head out of another hole and the tatzlwurm tried snagging her, missing her again. Another pop up came, followed by another missed swipe. This went on for a while, and Rainbow couldn’t keep this up much longer. What was taking Fluttershy so long?

Fluttershy was frantically searching every section of its body, every scale that it had, and even its tail. But nothing was coming up. She continued trying, even retracing her steps. All she could find was minor damage to its body. But those were natural damages caused by all its violent digging.

“I don’t understand,” Fluttershy said beneath her breath. “I can’t find anything wrong with it. Why is it suffering?”

Another massive roar came from the tatzlwurm. It was ready to dive back down again. Time was up. Rainbow couldn’t keep it at bay any longer. Seeing this, she yelped and dug herself further down the holes. The tatzlwurm chased after her, causing Fluttershy to yelp as its tail nearly smacked her away.

Rainbow dug herself downward as fast as she could. She could hear the sounds of the tatzlwurm chasing after her. And then she yelped again. Those sounds were coming closer. Even at her fastest digging speed, that thing was digging much faster than she was.

Rainbow turned her direction. She had to get back above ground fast. Turning her head, she could see that the tatzlwurm was getting very close to her. Too close…

No… She was almost at the surface. Just a little further. Gritting her teeth with all her might, she forced her hooves to shovel through the dirt even harder, making her body strain.

Up on the surface, Fluttershy looked down the hole, worrying for Rainbow Dash. The earthquakes were getting stronger. Something big was coming up. But where was Rainbow Dash? It very suddenly changed route, causing her gasp as the dirt clouds bursted out on her left side. Rainbow was there, but so was one of the tatzlwurm’s tentacles chasing after her.

The tentacle managed to latch onto Rainbow’s right hind leg. Rainbow shrieked as her leg was snagged, causing her body to plummet towards the ground due to the tatzlwurm’s weight and strength. Moaning and whining escaped Rainbow’s mouth as she desperately dug her hooves on the ground. It was pulling her in and she couldn’t stop it. Not even digging her tail in the ground provided enough strength to stop her from being dragged.

But she couldn’t tell what was worse. While she was being dragged, it felt like that tentacle was squeezing her hoof even tighter, making her mildly uncomfortable. That tentacle was squeezing saliva all over her hoof. They were just like her own tongues, but bigger, and stronger.

“NOOO!!!” Fluttershy yelled, giving away her position. The dragging stopped momentarily while Fluttershy rushed to the top of the tatzlwurm’s head. “Why are you doing this?! I can’t find anything wrong with you!” When she landed on it, she tried whatever she could to calm it down. But even trying to pet its head was only making it more enraged.

Rainbow noticed that the dragging stopped. Using this chance, she lashed her own tongues towards the tentacles, letting her saliva get between her hoof and the tentacles so that her hoof could slide out of the tentacle’s grip. Still shrieking in displeasure, she managed to free herself and rushed straight to the bushes for cover, agonizing over her saliva covered hoof.

When the tatzlwurm lost its hold on Rainbow Dash, it brought its attention to Fluttershy, who was currently trying to keep herself held on its head. Something was causing this tatzlwurm to suffer, but she just couldn’t find its source. So she tried taming it by calming it down, but it just wouldn’t cooperate.

Now it was flailing its head around, attempting to fling Fluttershy off. Fluttershy gritted her teeth as she desperately held on. She had to calm it down, but nothing was working. The more this thing struggled, the worse her grip became.

With one final thrust, the tatzlwurm flung its head high, causing Fluttershy to scream as she was thrown high into the air. Unable to stop herself, she flailed her hooves and wings around uncontrollably. She couldn't open her eyes until her momentum slowed down enough for her to regain control. Looking down, she found that she had been taken very high, quite close to the thick forest’s barrier. The tatzlwurm looked significantly smaller from up here.

Meanwhile, Rainbow was still rapidly rubbing her hind hoof in agony. The feeling of that tentacle drenching her hind hoof in saliva like that was far worse than when that snake was licking her. And this time, she didn’t have Fluttershy’s comfort to ease her nerves.

Fluttershy! After managing to dry her hoof, Rainbow quickly picked herself up and looked outside the bushes. Just in time, she saw the tatzlwurm bending itself back and making a huge leap into the air. Looking higher, she saw its target. It was Fluttershy! Yelping, Rainbow ignited her wings to chase after it. Why wasn’t Fluttershy moving from her spot?

Fluttershy wasn’t moving… because she had to put a stop to this. There was nothing she could find wrong with this tatzlwurm. It wasn’t hungry. Nothing was wrong with its scales or stuck to it. And there wasn't anything on it to be causing it any pain. Yet it continued to attack them, continued to destroy the garden, and continued to reject her acts of kindness. With a stern face, Fluttershy opened her eyes and yelled.

“STOOOOP!!!” She had to do it. Fluttershy brought out her Stare towards this tatzlwurm as it gained altitude towards her. Rainbow was also trying to fly up to her before it could reach her. It had gained such a head start towards her, so she needed to fly fast if she was gonna reach Fluttershy before it did.

The tatzlwurm got closer and closer, but Fluttershy held her altitude. This tatzlwurm needed to learn when to stop. It got closer. Closer. Fluttershy didn’t move and intensified her Stare. Rainbow was the only one struggling, grinding her teeth as she desperately tried to go faster. Just a few meters away.

The entire world slowed down at that very moment. Fluttershy… her Stare was slowly replaced with utter fear. She noticed… this tatzlwurm wasn’t showing any signs of stopping. And now… she discovered precisely why, but too late. The tatzlwurm… this whole time that it had been attacking them… even now…

Its eyes… they never blinked.

Not once.

Fluttershy attempted to move out of the way. But to Rainbow, this was the worst direction to go. She was setting herself up in the perfect spot for the tatzlwurm to lash its tentacles at her. Squeezing her eyes, Rainbow dashed herself even harder, heading straight for the place that Fluttershy was about to be. The tatzlwurm lashed its tentacles out. Slowly, Fluttershy’s mouth opened up to scream. They were coming straight for her, and she could do nothing to change her path.

Both Rainbow and the tentacle made contact with Fluttershy at the same time. Rainbow’s momentum was halted quickly due to the tentacle, causing her to lose grip on Fluttershy. But the tentacle also lost grip. The tatzlwurm continued to rise, going above them. Fluttershy wasn’t able to right herself as her body spun from both of their grips being lost. As the tatzlwurm flipped over, Rainbow darted for Fluttershy again, succeeding in latching herself on to her.

At that very moment, the entire world flashed red as a deafening smack sounded. Fluttershy found that their momentum downward had increased tenfold times eleven. Rainbow Dash was slammed by the tail of that tatzlwurm when it spun its body.

The world’s speed returned. Fluttershy screamed as she and Rainbow were falling straight back down to the forest’s normal levels, outside of the clearing. They were heading straight for one of its trees. With the way Fluttershy was positioned, Rainbow was gonna take the full brunt of that impact.

Rainbow’s head smashed right into that tree, breaking right through it. The force caused Fluttershy to yelp. They were heading straight for another. Smashing into that one caused Rainbow to release a painful groan. A third one came into view. Not even smashing through that one provided any slow down to their momentum. All three smashes with those trees happened within the span of a single second. Only the ground was left in their path.

With her last bit of strength, Rainbow twisted her body so that her back would impact the ground, protecting Fluttershy from its force. They made contact and slid fast and fiercely along the ground, kicking up massive dust clouds in their wake. Rainbow held Fluttershy tightly as her body was smashing into all sorts of twigs and bushes from this forest’s path. Both she and Fluttershy were gritting their teeths harshly from all this sliding.

All of a sudden, another loud impact came and their momentum was thrusted again. Rainbow’s head had smashed into a solid rock, causing her grip to completely lose itself as their bodies went flying. Their bodies separated from each other as they rolled onto the ground. One, two, three, four, five, six… about seven times Fluttershy found herself rolling before her body finally came to a stop, with her back landing against a thick bush.

Silence followed after that. The dust clouds that they created covered them momentarily. Neither of them moved for a good few seconds. As the smoke clouds cleared up, Fluttershy twitched and moaned. She was able to open her eyes and found herself groaning in pain afterwards.

“O-Oww…” she said as she placed a hoof at the base of her left foreleg. All that rolling left it in so much pain. When she managed to pick herself off the bush, she looked ahead of her and gasped. “Rainbow?” Rainbow was nowhere to be found. “Rainbow?!” She looked left and called out her name. Then she looked right. There she was, lying on her stomach with her face in the dirt, motionless.

“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy saw that Rainbow was faring far worse than she was. “Please wake up! Rainbow Dash!” she pleaded as she lifted Rainbow's face off the dirt to inspect her. Her body was massively covered in the scrapes and bruises that were caused from all that sliding. But her head held a massive bump. It was a bump that looked like it could pass for a red horn that was snapped right off.

Tears were rapidly forming in Fluttershy’s eyes. In that desperate attempt to protect Fluttershy, Rainbow took the full brunt of all those impacts. Now, here she was, all banged up, not moving at all. She couldn’t even tell if Rainbow was breathing. Before she had the chance to check, a distance roar sounded.

“No…” Fluttershy said as she looked to its direction. The tatzlwurm had landed and was now heading towards their direction. Even now it was still after them. They couldn’t stay here. She had to hide her and Rainbow right now. Grabbing Rainbow Dash, she tried her best to endure her pain as she dragged Rainbow inside the thick bush that she had landed at earlier. Once concealed, she stopped and held Rainbow tightly while softening her own breathing.

It was suddenly quiet. No movement could be heard, but Fluttershy kept as still as her intense shivering body was capable of. Her heartbeat was beating faster than it ever had. She felt like a little filly desperately holding onto her mother for protection. But if that was the case, the role was technically reversed as she was desperately holding Rainbow Dash to protect her. All she could do was bury her face in Rainbow’s mane and hope for the best.

And then, a loud sound emerged in front of them. Fluttershy’s eyes opened and her world crumbled. Her hope betrayed her. The tatzlwurm found them.

Unable to do anything, Fluttershy found herself and Rainbow immediately getting snatched and wrapped by its three tentacles. She screamed, and screamed, and screamed. Her cries caused a deafening echo across the forest, which was soon silenced as the tatzlwurm closed its mouth down on them, swallowing both of them whole.

That was the last that was heard from them before the tatzlwurm dug itself back underground, still roaring in rage.


___


“No!” Scootaloo shouted at Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. She was in tears. “You’re all wrong! I know she's alive!”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were trying their best to comfort Scootaloo. “Scootaloo…” Sweetie Belle started. “I know it’s hard to accept, but you heard what they said.”

“Well they’re lying!” Scootaloo shouted. “I just know they are!” She found herself dropping down to the floor as her tears flowed out. “That wasn’t Twilight…” her voice whined. “It wasn’t…” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other with their ears drooped in concern. This denial had been going on for days now and they weren’t sure what to do, especially under these conditions.

Suddenly, a door opened. There were two ponies who stepped inside the room they were in. One of them spoke. “It’s time to go,” they said. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle nodded to each other before looking to Scootaloo. But when Apple Bloom tried to grab her hoof, she smacked it away.

“No!” she shouted. “I’m not going! You can’t make me!”

“Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom tried reasoning. But before she could continue, Scootaloo shoved both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle away and started running.

The other pony spoke. “She’s out of control! Stop her!”

The first pony tried catching Scootaloo in her magic, but Scootaloo had jumped on a shelf, knocking off its contents, causing glass to shatter and using them as shields against the magic’s hold. With a scream, Scootaloo rushed straight for a window and smashed right through it, causing a really loud shatter.

“SCOOTALOO!!!” Both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shouted. Scootaloo didn’t look back. She kept running into the darkness that Ponyville was shrouded in. There was no care in where she went, as long as it was away from there. Looking into the skies with teary eyes, she called out.

“Rainbow Dash. Where are you? Come back... Please, come back!” Closing her eyes, she gave one last shout.

“AND PROVE THEM ALL WRONG!!!”
> Chapter 40: Belly
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Darkness. That was all she could see. Moist. It was all she could feel. Sliding… was all she could do. As she held Rainbow Dash for dear life, their bodies continued to slide down this throat. Fluttershy’s screams were muffled due to the lack of space. All they could do, was slide.

Eventually, they came to open space. Fluttershy’s screams returned, but only for a moment. Their bodies splashed down in a pool of liquid, falling head first. The impact caused them to separate. With squeezed eyes, Fluttershy held her breath, reaching out with her hooves, only to find that her grip around Rainbow Dash had given away. She couldn’t figure out where she went.

Forcing her eyes open, Fluttershy looked inside this murky substance, looking for Rainbow Dash’s body. A brief look to her left allowed her to find Rainbow’s body nearby. She was still unconscious. Fluttershy had to shut her eyes quickly. The liquid was hurtful to her eyes. Reaching out, she reached a hoof towards Rainbow Dash, managing to grab one of hers. And with her other hoof, she was able to grab some very squishy walls nearby, allowing her to drag them both up to the surface.

Upon breaking it, Fluttershy gasped and panted heavily. Using both her hooves, she was able to bring Rainbow’s head out of the liquid and allowed it to lay against the squishy moist walls. Slowly, Fluttershy opened her eyes. The moment she did, her breath halted as her eyes shrunk in utter defeat.

“No-o-o…” she said, tears quickly reforming in her eyes. “No-o-o-o-o!!!”

This was it… They had been swallowed whole by a tatzlwurm. The liquid that they laid in was its stomach acids. These walls were the insides of its stomach.

“Please nooo!!!” Fluttershy screamed as she picked herself up, attempting to get out of the stomach acids. “Let us out!!!” She treaded herself to the spot where they came in, the esophagus that led to its throat above her head. It had already closed up. Flying up to it, she placed her hooves against it and tried to pry it back open, but the walls were too slippery to get any grip on it. All she could attempt was to push herself back through, trying to endure the pain that shot out on her shoulder again.

Roaring sounded, followed by a tremor. The entire stomach started vibrating. And all of a sudden, the entire place thrusted, causing Fluttershy to yelp as her body was thrown back into the pool of stomach acid. Rainbow Dash’s body was thrusted into the pool as well. Flailing her hooves, Fluttershy struggled to right herself back up. She managed to catch Rainbow’s body before it got too far, and was able to drag them both back to the surface again.

Fluttershy gasped and panted again, bringing Rainbow’s head above the pool's level again. The tremors continued. A few more roars were released. Stomach acid came dripping down the walls and ceilings of this stomach, continuing to drench them both.

There was no forcing her way back up this throat. She had to try something else. Perhaps getting it to burp or vomit. But that would require a lot of force in order to upset its stomach enough. Groaning in pain, she decided to try what she could. Lifting her wings out of the pool, she flapped her wings, leaving behind a splash to thrust herself towards the esophagus, despite the limited space.

“Nngh!” Fluttershy grunted as she made impact using her hooves. But all that successfully managed to do was cause a squish, providing no reaction to the tatzlwurm. “Let us out! Please!!!” she cried.

Fluttershy pounded her hooves against the walls and the esophagus, doing whatever she could to upset the stomach. She even tried causing a lot of splashes in the pool of stomach acid. Bubbles started forming. When she saw that, hope welled in her, but short lived.

A loud roar came from the tatzlwurm, vibrating the entire stomach again. Fluttershy could only cover her ears at the sound of that roaring. It was causing the pool to stop bubbling altogether, negating all of Fluttershy’s work.

Fluttershy groaned in defeat. Her body was sore. Rainbow was unconscious. In short, there was no escaping, no way to get out of this stomach.

Soon, the roaring stopped. And what replaced it, were the painful cries that the tatzlwurm was emitting. It was still suffering. Even now after it had swallowed its prey, it continued to suffer very badly. If Fluttershy could, she would cry for the pain that this creature was feeling. But she was in pain as well. As she braced her hooves against her shoulders, all she could do was cry at her own fate, hers and Rainbow Dash’s.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen…” she sniffed. “No…” Then hiccupped. “It’s… it’s all my fault… All my fault…”

The temperature continued to increase as she sat in the pool of stomach acid, moping. Looking up, she asked. “Why?! I should’ve noticed it sooner! Why didn’t I?!” Her voice was agonizing in her despair. “Rainbow Dash!” she cried as she turned her body around to the walls. “I’m sorry! I’m sooo so-o-or-r-ry-y-y!!!”

Fluttershy buried her face against the walls. She openly cried… and cried… and cried. Her body shook and shivered as she cried. For a moment, she picked her face up from the walls to gasp. And then, she buried her face again, crying harder, shivering harder, pouring tears out faster. This was the hardest that she had ever cried. But nopony was around to hear it. Not even Rainbow Dash could hear it right now.

Fluttershy cried, and Rainbow Dash’s body laid motionless, her eyes not even twitching from the drops of the stomach acid dripping on her face. She was peaceful, while Fluttershy was loud. If she had more room, she would be kicking her hind legs out in despair. It was as if she was a little filly who had just lost her mother. But she was a grown mare, who led them both to their demise. All she could do, was cry. Cry in utter regret, defeat, and misery.

___

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.

Fluttershy tried multiple techniques in her head to calm her crying down. It was very difficult, but eventually she managed to do it. Opening her eyes, she looked back up at the ceiling, sniffing as a few tears still dropped from her eyes. This was her fate… their fate. She had to accept it, as difficult as it was, maybe even impossible to.

Fluttershy looked back down, pausing for a second. Then she looked back to Rainbow Dash, still lying unconsciously against the walls. She stared at it. One, two, three, four, about five seconds, she slowly made her way to Rainbow, wincing over her sore body.

Once there, she stopped for a moment to catch her breath silently. One, two, three seconds passed before she gently grabbed Rainbow’s body into her hooves, getting Rainbow's front side to face her. Fluttershy looked closely at the nasty bruise that was on Rainbow's forehead. It was the size of a snapped off horn, and the marks on it clearly showed the wrinkles that represented a tree’s bark. There hadn't been a single movement from Rainbow Dash since that crash. She wasn’t even sure if Rainbow could wake up after that.

Not that it mattered. They were doomed anyway. Even if she could find a way to get out, that tatzlwurm probably brought them miles underground anyway. Fluttershy sighed depressingly and looked away. One, two, three, four seconds before she turned her eyes to her bag. She thought about the two Alpines Flowers that were in there. The cure to a tatzlpony’s toxin, and the cause of their doom. If they had just listened to X, if they had not gone out here to look for this garden, they would not be suffering this fate. Why didn’t she just listen? Because she was mad? Or was it because she couldn’t accept what X said as being true? Actually, her words hit Fluttershy far deeper now than it ever had.

"If you can change her back, why haven’t you? Why have you been hiding her instead? Do you… want to change her back?”

Fluttershy had the options to get Rainbow Dash restored. In fact, almost the first thing she did when she found Rainbow Dash as a tatzlpony, she went to Twilight to get her fixed. But as it was happening, Fluttershy hoped it wouldn’t work. Her wish came true. And ever since then, her mind had been avoiding the thoughts of turning Rainbow Dash back. Instead, all she wanted was to learn what Rainbow Dash was, what happened to her, take care of her, and enjoy her company while she had it. Now, she regretted it. She regretted all of it.

Instead of taking the time to feed Rainbow Dash and ask her what she was, she should’ve gone straight back to Twilight before Scootaloo visited. Instead of taking her back to her cottage to treat her injuries, she should’ve taken her straight to Twilight in the middle of the night. Instead of preparing a nice breakfast for Rainbow and Scootaloo the next morning, she should’ve skipped that and gone straight to Twilight. Instead of listening to Rainbow Dash’s concerns, she should’ve just said that tatzlponies were bad so that they would go straight to Twilight to fix it.

All these actions they should’ve done differently. But these actions at the time, they sounded very cruel. Fluttershy was only trying to be nice. Was all that kindness really what led to their downfall? If their predicament was any indication, then yes it was.

But what if they did go back to Twilight? They already tried it once. Would a second visit even have made a difference? Twilight was acting strange. It may have been for a short instance, but Twilight was acting strange. Fluttershy couldn’t deny that. The question was, why was she acting strange?

Maybe Twilight was involved in this. And maybe going back to her wouldn’t have solved anything. What exactly did Twilight want in this involvement? She couldn’t have possibly wanted this, could she?

Fluttershy sighed. Looks like she was never gonna get that answer now. It was only getting hotter in here, making her breath get heavy. The feathers on her wings were starting to droop. They would dissolve soon. Both of them would be reduced as a meal to this tatzlwurm. But she would probably sooner pass out from this heat before that happened.

Looking back to Rainbow’s bruise and then back to the bag again, one last thing came to mind. While they didn’t have any food left, they still had a few medical supplies in there. But there was only enough left for one. Fluttershy was still hurting from the injuries she suffered, but they were nothing compared to what Rainbow Dash had.

If this was the end, Fluttershy wanted to do one last act of kindness. Reaching into the bag, she pulled out the very few medical supplies she had left. She moved Rainbow Dash into a comfortable position. Taking some ointment, she pulled the cap off and spread it on one of her wing tips, using that to gently apply it to Rainbow’s head.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven strokes she used to apply it, all the while breathing heavily and carefully. Rainbow didn’t make any responses to the treatment. After returning the ointment to her bag, she pulled out the last of the bandages she had. She laid pressure against the bruise, wrapping the bandage around it and the back of her head.

One, two, three, four times she wrapped the bandage before it ran out. She tied the knot to the back of Rainbow’s head fimly. Normally, this would be the time where she would smile after her work was done. But there was nothing to smile about now. All she did was provide Rainbow Dash comfort before the end.

Sighing in exhaustion, Fluttershy took one last moment to take a look at Rainbow's sleeping figure. Even with her eyes closed, those red markings next to her eyes made her look adorable. Fluttershy wished she could take one last look into those eyes. As tempted as she was, she didn’t open them herself. But she did imagine them being open. And it was such a beautiful sight.

She was reminded of the last time she was looking into these eyes so deeply. That was actually back with Sly, back when he was manipulating her mind to dream about Paradise and Rainbow Dash. As she looked into these eyes, she desperately wished this had just been another dream. But she knew it wasn’t. Her body was in pain. Dreams couldn't hurt you like this.

Now that she thought about it, with all the dreams she’s been having, all of them had been ending with her getting swallowed. So… maybe this was what they were warning her about. She got lucky with the timberwolves, the snake, and the leopard. This time, she failed to avoid it.

As Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash, there was one last thing she wanted to do. It related back to the feelings that she had for Rainbow Dash. She thought it was just the way she felt with all her pets. But her pets didn’t bring a feeling like this.

Slowly, Fluttershy closed her eyes and leaned her head forward. Pursing her lips together, she placed them against the bandage, the spot where the bruise was. And then, she kissed. One, two, three, four, five. She held the kiss on the bruise for five seconds before she separated with a silent but audible smooch. There was somewhere else she wanted to kiss, but she didn’t.

There were a lot of regrets that Fluttershy had right now. This was one of them. The rest lied a lot on her friends. Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie… she would leave them too. She really wished she could apologize to them, apologize to all the friends that she made, apologize to all her animals too. If anything happened to her, she told them to go to the Sanctuary she built for them. At the very least, they could live on happily there.

But if there was anypony she wished she could apologize to the most, it would be Scootaloo. Because of her, Scootaloo was losing her sister in Rainbow Dash. They weren’t sisters by blood, but they were more than so at heart. A few tears escaped her eyes, imagining the moment when she would learn the crushing truth, when all her friends would learn the crushing truth.

Nopony was gonna find them out here. They were deeper in the Everfree Forest than they had ever been before. The only pony who knew they were out here was X. And she was currently being hypnotized by Sly. Even if by some miracle somepony else traveled this far, there’s no way they would find them both deep underground, and inside the belly of a tatzlwurm.

Right now, there was only one pony Fluttershy could apologize too, and probably the one she should apologize to the most. “I’m sorry... Rainbow Dash...” She took one more look at the ceiling, letting Rainbow’s body lay on her. The stomach acids continued to drip down on them. Her body was too sore to continue struggling. And the temperature was making it difficult to breathe now. "I'm... sorry..."

With the sounds of a gurgling stomach in her ears, Fluttershy slowly closed her eyes and laid her head back against the slimy walls of this belly, waiting for the inevitable. Eventually, she would enter the land of dreams, return to the Paradise she created in it. And this time, she would not be leaving it. If she didn’t enter it through this sleep, she would upon passing out from this heat. She exhaled one last breath, and then let herself fall to a slumber.

But just before she lost consciousness, she heard a groan.
> Chapter 41: End
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Somepony groaned. It made Fluttershy’s ear twitch just before she fell asleep. At first, she thought it was her imagination, but then it groaned again. But this time, it was longer. Not just longer, but louder. Suddenly, even louder. 

Fluttershy snapped her eyes open when the groan turned into both violent movement and a cry of pain. It was coming from Rainbow Dash. Her eyes were squeezed tightly as she was clutching her head in her hooves. She was practically trying to escape Fluttershy’s embrace flailing her body like that. But Fluttershy held her grip, using a hoof to stroke Rainbow’s mane.

“Rainbow Dash, please calm down,” Fluttershy pleaded. “I’m here, Rainbow Dash. I know it hurts, but please, stop. It’ll only hurt worse like this. Please, settle down.” She timed her brushing to be in sync with her last words. “Settle down…”

Rainbow’s wailing and flailing slowly settled as she listened to Fluttershy’s voice. She was in a lot of pain right now, but Fluttershy’s comfort was easing the pain. Tears had formed in her eyes due to the pain, but now they were stopping. All she could focus on was the warmth of Fluttershy’s embrace.

Fluttershy really felt sorry that Rainbow had to spend these last minutes suffering this intense pain. She wished she could do more to ease it. Rainbow was still sobbing a little. In an attempt to ease the pain a little more, Fluttershy leaned forward and kissed the bruise on Rainbow’s forehead again. A soft moan came from Rainbow as it was kissed again. And then, she went silent.

Fluttershy’s heart somewhat warmed when Rainbow Dash went silent again. The best she could find comfort in with this doomed fate they had was that Rainbow’s pain wouldn’t be present by the end of it. She was hopeful that this would be enough. But then, Rainbow started shifting again. Her teeth were clenched and her eyes were quivering. That was when Fluttershy’s heart raced.

”No…” Fluttershy whispered. The last thing she wanted was for Rainbow to wake up just before the end. And here she was waking up now. With silent groans, her head turned towards Fluttershy. Then, her eyes slowly opened.

Rainbow Dash was first greeted by the blur caused by her tears due to the pain. As her sight cleared up, she found herself greeted by the voice of her comforter, Fluttershy. But she wasn’t greeted by a smiling face. She was greeted by a sad and nervous one. When her vision cleared up more, she caught glance of where they were.

Rainbow blinked her eyes harshly, gasping silently as she looked again. It then registered to her what her body was feeling. It wasn’t just Fluttershy’s warm embrace. Her entire body, aside from her head, was covered in a warm pool of liquid. And behind Fluttershy, were slimy red walls dripping that liquid from above them.

Rainbow yelped and jerked violently. Fluttershy attempted to hold her, but Rainbow quickly broke out of her grasp, backing away as she looked around the place, then looked to her in stunned shock. When Fluttershy tried to reach a hoof out to her, Rainbow winced and placed a hoof near her forehead, groaning in pain. Her entire body was ringing out in pain, but her forehead was by far the worst, despite the bandage on it. 

Fluttershy sighed in defeat. It was too late now, so she just came out and said it. “I’m sorry, Rainbow. I couldn’t stop this.” Rainbow slowly turned her attention back to Fluttershy as she spoke. The sound of her voice was sad and full of defeat. “Even after… you tried so hard…” There was a pause as Fluttershy thought back to when they were launched. “You tried so hard… to make sure I was protected from the fall. I…” She looked away. “I couldn’t do the same for you. I tried to hide. But… it found us. The tatzlwurm... it found us and ate us. I’m sorry...”

All Fluttershy could do was look away with her mane over her eye again. Rainbow was breathing heavily from that. It was like Fluttershy had already accepted that it was all over. It couldn't be over... not like this. Not after everything they tried so hard for.

Rainbow Dash looked around the area, spotting the esophagus above. That was their exit out. How could they get it open? There wasn't much room in here for her to fly. But she had to try something. Flaring her wings, her body winced in pain. Trying her best to endure that, she launched herself at the esophagus, causing quite a splash in her wake.

Fluttershy gasped upon seeing Rainbow making a move. "Rainbow! No!" Rainbow collided with it, resulting her head flaring up in pain as her body squished into it, then back out. That provided no responses from the monster, or any leeway of allowing them to squeeze themselves back up.

Fluttershy worried for Rainbow as she saw her attempting it again. She knew it wouldn't work. And sure enough, colliding with it again, even at Rainbow's speed, provided no results.

"Rainbow, please stop!" Fluttershy pleaded as Rainbow fell back down to the pool. "I already tried that. You're only gonna hurt yourself more."

Fluttershy attempted to approach Rainbow, but because of what Fluttershy was saying, Rainbow held both fear and shock in her eyes as she backed away. She couldn't believe that this was happening, that Fluttershy was acting this way. There had to be something, something that they could still do!

Rainbow backed herself against the opposite walls. She flared her wings above the pool’s level and started beating them fast. "No! Stop!" Fluttershy said as she covered her face. "I already tried that too!" But Rainbow didn't listen. Continuing to beat her wings, all Fluttershy could do was back away. 

The winds were strong, and they were causing bubbles to form in the pool quite quickly. But beating her wings like this was causing Rainbow an agonizing amount of pain. Groaning and moaning, she pressed on. All she needed was enough to cause this monster to burp, or cause enough discomfort to make it vomit.

But before it could reach that point, the entire belly shook and rumbled, followed by a screeching roar. It caused Rainbow to stop as she had to cover her ears with gritting teeth. Fluttershy had to do the same. Just like last time, the roaring was causing the bubbles to stop, negating all of Rainbow's work. 

After the roaring stopped, Rainbow moved her hooves away from her ears and proceeded to brace her head. Due to the roaring, the pain in her head shot out again. It was practically unbearable. And it was causing her to pant and sweat, moreso than the heat inside this room.

Fluttershy soon recovered from her ordeal, and witnessed Rainbow’s. This was why she was hoping Rainbow wouldn’t wake up before the end. She wouldn’t have had to spend these last moments suffering like this. And the more she struggled, the more pain she would bring herself.

“Please…” Fluttershy pleaded. “Don’t hurt yourself anymore. There’s… nothing we can do…” She sat where she was, looking down to the pool at her own reflection. Even to her, the look of defeat was clear. And she had already accepted this look. It took a long moment of full out crying and wailing, but she managed to.

Rainbow Dash however still couldn’t. Something in her nature was preventing her from ever accepting this, something about her that wasn’t willing to give up like this. But if Fluttershy had already given up, what could she do? She needed Fluttershy’s help, Fluttershy’s cooperation.

Slowly, Rainbow opened her eyes, looking at Fluttershy with sadness. But at the same time, hope. Hope that Fluttershy would be able to tell her something. There was something she needed to know, the only thing left that might save them. She needed to…

“...Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy’s ears twitched. One, two, three seconds it took for her to register where it came from. That was Rainbow’s voice. It had been quite a while since she last said anything to her that she could hardly believe it. When she looked forward, Rainbow continued.

“What’s… wrong with it, Fluttershy? ...Why is it suffering?”

A strange feeling welled up in Fluttershy upon hearing that voice again. It mixed with both happiness and disappointment. One side of her wanted Rainbow’s animal side, the other didn’t. They were conflicting with each other so much.

Fluttershy sighed and looked away. Right now, her mind had to focus on the question that Rainbow asked. In that instant when this tatzlwurm lunged at her, she did notice. She knew now why it was suffering so badly. But there was nothing they could do about it now. Why would it matter?

In the end, Fluttershy looked to Rainbow. It was probably better that she answered anyway, rather than having Rainbow having to wonder on these last moments. So she began telling.

“This wasn’t a natural cause,” Fluttershy said. “Somepony did this to it. Somepony…” Thinking about it was painful. If it wasn’t for their current fate, Fluttershy would be able to express just how sorry she felt for this creature. “It’s eyes… the sands that gives it the ability to sleep… they’re gone…”

Rainbow blinked. The ability to sleep? 

“No matter how hard it tries, it can’t go to sleep anymore. It can only stay awake now. Because of that… it rampages. Rampages blindly... eating everything it can to restore its strength. It eats... even when it’s not hungry... even when it’s full… even to those friendly to it… even to those scarier than it… it eats.” A tear fell from her eye. “It won’t stop. It’ll never stop… until it can rest again. There’s nothing we can do…”

Fluttershy squeezed her eyes as she began sobbing lightly. She couldn’t cry any harder than this. All her tears seemed to have been used up during her moment of defeat.

As for Rainbow, she was devastated by the answer. It couldn’t sleep? No… Their current circumstance was an issue because this thing was currently awake and suffering. If they could’ve found a way to stop its suffering, it might’ve allowed the tatzlwurm to calm down, calmed it to the point of falling asleep. That would’ve allowed them the chance to escape without its interference.

But its suffering was because it couldn’t sleep? That was the worst case scenario. Even if they had the option, they couldn’t even stall out long enough for it to calm down and fall asleep. It would never calm down anymore.

Rainbow squeezed her eyes shut and groaned. This couldn’t be the end. It just couldn’t end like this. What could they do? Now, more than ever, she needed Fluttershy’s help on this. But… Fluttershy…

“Please…” Rainbow pleaded as she approached Fluttershy. “Don’t give up…” Slowly, she was treading the pool to get to Fluttershy. And Fluttershy was just looking at her with that same defeated expression. “There must be… something…”

It pained Fluttershy to see Rainbow pleading like this. As much as she wished there was a way, there wasn’t any that she could think of. Everything Rainbow tried, she already tried too. Even if there was something, they’d sooner dissolve before they could ever figure it out.

“I’m sorry, Rainbow,” Fluttershy answered. “There’s nothing. ...Nothing.”

Even after that answer, Rainbow just couldn’t accept it. She looked away and replied. “No…” 

Fluttershy could see the tears escaping Rainbow’s eyes. It must’ve been much harder for her to accept it. What she needed was comfort. Lifting her hoof above the pool, she responded. “Rainbow…” Her hoof was held out for Rainbow, inviting her over. But when Rainbow saw the hoof reaching out to her, she did the unexpected. 

Rainbow… smacked Fluttershy's hoof away. 

“NO!!!”

The world came crashing down on Fluttershy. Despair, depression, guilt, everything slammed into Fluttershy’s heart in that instant. Rainbow... her expression... for the first time since all of this started, Rainbow was mad at her. With that angry look, Rainbow was walking away.

“No! Please Rainbow!” Fluttershy pleaded with more despair than ever. “Please don’t do this! Don’t spend these last minutes like this! Rainbow!” New tears were spreading in Fluttershy’s eyes. She thought things couldn’t get any worse than they already had.

They have. Rainbow was walking away from her… angrily…

Rainbow was mad. She couldn’t figure out why. For the first time that she could remember, she was mad at Fluttershy. This feeling that she had just wouldn’t allow her to accept this to be the end. Fluttershy had given up. And it was because she had given up that was making her so mad. Why was it like this?

Rainbow reached the opposite side of the belly, bracing herself against the wall in such a harsh manner, wincing. She didn’t want to be mad at Fluttershy. But she just was, was so angry at her. There were so many things she wanted to blame her for. Blame her for giving up, blame her for failing to hide them, blame her for not finding the problem sooner.

But, Rainbow knew that she couldn’t blame her for any of these reasons. Fluttershy really tried her best. Yet… hearing Fluttershy give up like this was making her want to blame her so much. It was the only outlet she had. Right now, she needed Fluttershy more than ever. And Fluttershy just wasn’t cooperating. Despite her anger, she kept forming tears in her eyes.

Rainbow didn’t want to put blame on Fluttershy. She didn’t want to. But she couldn’t accept what Fluttershy was doing. Couldn’t accept accepting their fate. Was there really nothing they could do? What did they know?

Rainbow finally discovered the identity of that silhouette that she kept seeing in her memories. A lot of good that did now. What were the times she saw it? The first was when it came and attacked her and her Rescuer soon after being released. She abandoned her rescuer, yet still felt no guilt from that abandonment.

The next time Rainbow saw this silhouette was in that clearing with a destroyed cabin and a small shack. Near that place was a graved section covered by debris. Now that she thought about it, it almost looked like that used to be the place where this monster was held captive, possibly caged. It was the same monster that was there, and the same monster that attacked them.

And then there was that last time she saw it. Well… moreso heard than saw. During her time being held captive by X, she had a dream, a memory of the exact time she was transformed by the Spellcaster. The Spellcaster was a female unicorn with red eyes, along with small cracks in them that indicated a number of strains. It was also a pony who had practically no tone in her voice. This monster was around during that transformation.

Well… that answered one thing. But it still didn’t help with their predicament right now. The pony who had robbed this tatzlwurm of its ability to sleep must’ve been that Spellcaster. Why would she do it?

It didn’t matter anymore. Pursuing that was like trying to pursue why she would want to turn her into a tatzlpony in the first place. They needed to find a way to escape. And they weren’t gonna find that out by learning the reason for the Spellcaster's actions or motives.

Rainbow groaned as the pain returned to her head. But she didn’t rub it this time. Instead, she just let her head drop and bury itself against the slimy walls. Besides slimy liquid drops and the echoes of movement and gurgling, all she could hear was Fluttershy whimpering, crying. There were even a few times Fluttershy would try calling out to her.

“Please Rainbow. Please... come back. I'm sorry...”

It must’ve been painful for her to see Rainbow mad at her like this. As much as Rainbow wanted to, she just couldn’t go to Fluttershy right now, couldn’t even look at her. If she wasn’t gonna help, then Rainbow was gonna have to figure this out herself.

But… as she thought, and thought, nothing was coming up. The more she thought, the more she regretted showing that angry side of her. She never wanted to show that side towards Fluttershy, never had any reason to. Yet, it just happened out of instinct, probably from her past memories. If only her memories would help her figure out how to get out.

Rainbow shifted her wings, and it caused her body to shiver up at what they felt. Her feathers… they were starting to dissolve. They wouldn’t last much longer. It was just a matter of time before the more solid parts of their body would start to dissolve as well. Soon it would all end, end with them separated from each other. Yet, even with this fate coming closer and closer to them, she still couldn’t find it in her to accept it.

Fluttershy had gone quiet, devastated. Slowly, Rainbow closed her eyes, continuing to think. If this was how it would end, she didn’t want it to end by giving up. But her body was in too much pain for her to continue struggling. All she could do was use her mind and her memories. Her eyes were closed, leaving her only to her thoughts and memories. Still, nothing came up.

Nothing… was coming up.



___




...



___







Rainbow’s eyes snapped open.
> Chapter 42: Rest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow was practically on the verge of passing out from this heat. Regardless, her mind continued to wander on possible solutions that could get them out of this. But her mind kept going towards the tatzlwurm. Why did it matter so much?

At the last moment, her mind led her to a possible answer. It resulted in her eyes shooting open. Surprisingly, the answer didn't come from her past memories. Her answer came from something that happened after Fluttershy found her in Day 3, back with Twilight actually. There was something that Twilight told them that day. It played in Rainbow's mind.

"You see, for that spell to work, I would need a sample of the creature that I'm transforming somepony into."

What did she know about the tatzlwurm? Their names were similar. It had three long black tongues just like her, but bigger. There were squiggly patterns near its eyes just like her. And last, they could both dig fast underground.

But that was where the similarities ended. Their tails were close, but the tatzlwurm’s had a hairy end, unlike hers which had a fin. She was a pony and that thing was a giant worm-like monster. Still, why would all that matter? Twilight’s words repeated again.

”I would need a sample of the creature that I'm transforming somepony into."

Rainbow Dash sighed out in awe. What if that was the reason? Was it possible? She was a tatzlpony. Would that spell work from a sample of a tatzlwurm?

Maybe it did. How else would she have become a tatzlpony? And if that was the case, then the sample that the Spellcaster must’ve used was… what Fluttershy said. It was the sands in its eyes that allowed it to sleep. Then… that meant she must have its sands with her.

Rainbow looked at the steaming pool of stomach acid that she was enshrouded in. Twilight… it was just like Fluttershy said. She started remembering the adventures that they had together, the struggles that their friendships went through and repaired. How could she have forgotten all of this? They owed so much to Twilight. Even when she wasn’t around, she found a way to help them. 

Rainbow thought back to that visit. There was no doubt that Twilight was acting strange. But after learning this, it was no wonder that Fluttershy refused to believe that she was involved in all of this. Even if she was, she left them a simple peace of information that might just save them today. 

For some reason, the word ‘egghead’ came to her mind. There was a joke somewhere in that. She wanted to make it. And she wanted to chuckle, despite the circumstances. Actually, she did chuckle. But she couldn’t figure out what the joke was right now. It just felt like non-tatzlpony instinct for her to chuckle at it.

Rainbow only chuckled twice before getting back on track. All that mattered now was getting out of this tatzlwurm’s stomach. In order for them to escape, they needed this tatzlwurm to sleep. But without the sands in its eyes, it couldn’t. If her theory was right, then she must have the sands with her. How would she return it? Well… she had one idea.

Rainbow Dash took a look behind her, slowly lifting her tail above the pool’s level. She concentrated on her tail, watching as the liquid from the steaming stomach acids slowly dripped off from it. While she still didn’t understand why, every time she swallowed somepony and absorbed some of their energy, she felt her tail flowing with that same energy before she could use it. And every time she used that power, they would both get very sleepy after some time passed.

Maybe those sands were the reason why. With this method, perhaps she could return some of those sands back to its eyes. It was a longshot, but there was nothing else she could think to try. And giving up was still not gonna be her option. After taking a deep breath, Rainbow Dash raised her tail, then struck it down in the pool, piercing the shallow side to the tatzlwurm’s belly.

Fluttershy’s attention was brought back to Rainbow when she heard a sudden splash. Though Rainbow wasn’t looking her way. Rainbow was looking towards her tail with a nervous and sweaty look, breathing deeply. She wasn’t sure how she was gonna pull this off, but she just had to. Turning her head straight, she squeezed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and tried to activate her magic.

Fluttershy gasped upon seeing this. Rainbow was trying something again. Whatever she was trying, it looked very difficult. Her face scrunched aggressively as she released painful sounding grunts. Watching Rainbow continue to suffer was heartbreaking to Fluttershy. She wanted to say something.

But… she didn’t. That would only make things worse and she knew it. She suddenly saw Rainbow exhale harshly as her grunting turned into pants. One, two, only three pants before she took a deep breath and tried again. Fluttershy’s voice whined out as tears welled up in her eyes.

Rainbow Dash… look at her. She was giving it her all and getting nowhere, continuing to suffer. Every time Rainbow suffered, she felt pain in her heart, pain for Rainbow Dash. But what was Rainbow really doing? All Rainbow was doing was trying to save them. Save them both. And what did she say to Rainbow?

Rainbow paused her attempt again. One, two, three, four, five pants this time. And after the fifth, she could see Rainbow’s expression faltering. Whatever she was trying to do, it wasn’t working. Nothing would work.

No. She had to stop thinking like that. That was why Rainbow was mad at her. It was because she gave up. Here Rainbow was continuing to try, continuing to pain herself, and she was doing absolutely nothing to help Rainbow. But… what could she do? What was Rainbow trying to do? And more importantly, how could she possibly help? 

Rainbow tried once again to activate her magic and send her energy through her tail. But no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t. And every time she tried, her head and body flared up in pain. It was just like Fluttershy was saying. The more she tried, the more she would suffer. One more push, and then she exhaled harshly, completely stopping her attempts to gasp for breath.

Nothing. No progress. Just pain, sweat, and tears. She really tried. Really… really tried. But she just couldn’t find the strength to activate her magic. And there was no time to rest to recover her strength. A few feathers had already fallen off her wings, being dissolved in the stomach acid. Her eyes squeezed and her teeth gritted in agony. There was no time left. It was so hopeless… but…

“Don’t give up…”

Rainbow’s ears raised when she heard that voice. One, two, three, four seconds before her mind could register who it was. She lifted her head and turned it towards Fluttershy.

“Don’t give up… Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy’s eyes were pulsing while she spoke carefully. “I’m sorry," she said. "I was worried. ...And I didn’t want to see you get hurt anymore. But… all you were trying to do was save us. I shouldn’t have tried to stop you. I should’ve been supporting you. So please…” Her head lowered slowly as she took a step forward. “If there’s anything… a-a-anything I can do to help, please, tell me. Just… … Don’t... give... up...”

To hear Fluttershy saying these things lifted Rainbow’s spirits back up. It was shocking and comforting. More memories spawned in. The sight of Fluttershy’s growing confidence and will to continue, even after giving up… this wasn’t the first time. Fluttershy had given up before, but thanks to her, kept going. Would she do it again?

Rainbow flinched back when that question crossed her mind. Would Fluttershy do it again? There was one way Fluttershy could help. But… that would mean...

“Fluttershy…” Rainbow started softly and carefully. She waited until Fluttershy had her attention up before continuing. “Do you… trust me?”

Fluttershy blinked at the question. The answer was obvious. “O-Of course I do, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and shook her head. She looked at Fluttershy and asked again. “Do you trust… me…?” Her tail raised out of the pool upon the last word in her question.

Fluttershy gasped this time at the question. She understood what Rainbow meant, and she wasn’t sure how to respond this time. Tatzlponies… Rainbow Dash was a tatzlpony. There was no doubt that she trusted Rainbow Dash. Even as a tatzlpony, she would trust Rainbow Dash.

But… would she trust a tatzlpony… if it wasn’t Rainbow Dash? That was the question.

What is a tatzlpony?

Fluttershy looked down as she thought about that question. What did she know? Could she truly answer that question? 

___

”Tatzlponies… they look like ponies like us. The differences are that their eyes have little marks underneath them that look like lightning bolts. Their cutie marks are given those patterns too. And their tail is a long lizard-like limb with bumpy hairs near the end, and ending with a tail fin.”

“But that’s just the outer parts. I-Inside is a much different story. *Gulp*. T-They have… three, long, tentacle-like tongues. They’re much stronger… and much more flexible than ours. They use them to catch prey. T-They… have a big appetite… a much, much stronger stomach, and can swallow more than what their size is. They can swallow things just as big as them… e-even other ponies.”

“*Whimper*. B-But… when they swallow ponies, o-or anything else that’s alive, they can be regurgitated later, u-unharmed I think. But while they are swallowed, they are trapped, unable to do anything to escape. It’s up to the tatzlpony when they’ll be released.”

“But… tatzlponies… they don’t realize that’s wrong. The ponies that they swallow, they only swallow those they are close to. They don’t like swallowing ponies that they hate. All they need, is to be told that swallowing others is wrong.”

“But we can't just yell at them about it. Tatzlponies are lonely. They get discouraged easily, and will often run away if they’re given too much insecurity. They can learn, but they need to be told gently with kindness, and they’ll stop swallowing other ponies against their will.”

“With just that, tatzlponies really aren’t that bad. But there’s still one more thing about them… one that I still haven’t figured out the answer to. Tatzlponies are poisonous. Every breath they take spreads a small amount of their toxin in the air. Anypony exposed to it will be affected, but slowly.”

“The toxin doesn’t leave the body, and it will continue to collect the longer anypony is near a tatzlpony. It’ll take at least three days before the toxin starts affecting you. But if they ever get sick, the toxin spreads much faster. If what X said was true, then it would take only one night before it infects a whole town, like Ponyville. How far would it spread after a few days? I don’t know. The only cure to the toxin that I know of is…”

“I-I-Is… the flower that I failed to protect. A purple flower called… ‘Alpine’. Only one is needed to save somepony from the toxin. But the toxin can just affect them all over again. Without the Alpine Flowers, tatzlponies can’t stay around other ponies for very long.”

“But… that’s not their fault. Tatzlponies don’t have any control of that toxin, do they? Tatzlponies can dig very fast and bury themselves underground. If they live underground, they must not have any control over it. In fact, they probably hid themselves underground so that they don’t put anypony else in danger.”

“Tatzlponies aren’t bad. They can’t be. But… what about the one that attacked the Journalist? No… Something must’ve happened to it to make it mad. Just like this tatzlwurm that swallowed us, something made it mad enough to do bad things. Maybe that tatzlpony suffered a similar thing.”

“Tatzlponies aren’t bad. They’re just misunderstood.”

___

Fluttershy finally opened her eyes after ending her deep thought. She looked Rainbow Dash eye to eye and answered confidently. “Tatzlponies aren’t bad. They’re just misunderstood. I’m sure of it, Rainbow Dash. So… even if it wasn’t you, even if you were a tatzlpony I didn’t know, I trust you. I trust you, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash took in what Fluttershy said. A few words repeated in her mind. “Follow your instincts! Don't fight them! Your instincts will carry you through.” They were the words from her Rescuer. That’s exactly what she was about to do. The problem was, could she trust her instincts? If Fluttershy could, then she could as well. With a deep breath Rainbow nodded and responded.

“Please… try and stay awake this time…” For a second, Fluttershy was confused as to why Rainbow said that. But the next second told her why. Rainbow opened her mouth and was slowly reaching out one of her tongues towards her. Her eyes went wide while the hairs on her coat stood on end, despite being soaked. How that was possible, she would never understand.

But right now, all she could focus on was that tongue reaching out towards her. When it got close enough, she could tell it was moving to wrap around her. Whimpering, she took a step back. The tongue stopped in its place as she did so. Fluttershy looked to see that Rainbow’s face was full of concern again. She would not go through with this unless Fluttershy was okay with it.

But why would Rainbow need to do this? Fluttershy thought about everything she knew of a tatzlpony, and nothing explained this sort of behavior. Was she wrong about them? Or was it something that she still didn’t know about them? Did Rainbow know? Maybe she didn’t, and that was why Rainbow asked her if she trusted a tatzlpony that wasn’t Rainbow. Despite her fear, she still trusted that.

“D-...Don’t stop, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said hesitantly. “I-I may be scared, but… I still trust you. I still trust... tatzlponies.” The tongue started moving again, and caused Fluttershy to whimper more. She was shivering, yet she kept talking. “K-Keep going. Don’t… worry about me…” She could now feel the tongue wrapping around her neck, causing her to shiver violently as her body chilled to the core. Not even the heat of this stomach was warming her body.

Rainbow started tugging, slowly dragging Fluttershy towards her. After one step, Fluttershy tried to stop herself with a hoof. Tears were forming in her eyes. She was clearly terrified, yet she continued telling her not to stop.

“Even if I’m scared… even if I resist…” Fluttershy looked away. “E-Even if I… s-scream… don’t worry about me. Just… do what you gotta do-o-o… m-m-mph.”

So Rainbow continued. Fluttershy continued to resist still. It felt like now she was wrapped in a collar and being pulled by a leash, one that she wasn’t gonna be able to escape. At least, part of her hoped she could, but another part of her hoped she couldn’t, the part that trusted Rainbow Dash.

They started closing the distance and Rainbow reached out another tongue towards Fluttershy. This one wrapped around one of her forelegs, pulling it above the pool. She could see that the hoof had grown very soggy and soft. It wouldn’t be long before it started dissolving. The feathers on Fluttershy’s wings were already falling out on their own, being dissolved by the pool.

Fluttershy’s resistance was getting stronger. She was no longer saying anything and was whimpering louder in fear. But Rainbow remembered what Fluttershy said and continued anyway. This must’ve been really hard for her to handle.

Rainbow reached her last tongue out and placed the tip against Fluttershy’s snout. When Fluttershy felt it, she opened her eyes. It was the tongue with the knot on it. That knot reminded her of when Rainbow was dealing with such a stressful situation. She had to put so much trust on Fluttershy to get that treated. And she succeeded. 

Remembering that helped Fluttershy to collect her nerves. It slowed down her whimpering. But more importantly, it reminded her of what Rainbow asked her to do. Try to stay awake.

Fluttershy gulped and looked forwards again, seeing Rainbow’s comforting eyes looking back at her while the tongues continued to pull her in. Her stress was coming back, but she tried to stay strong. When she got close enough, Rainbow opened her mouth wide. Gritting her teeth, Fluttershy’s whimpers came back and she started resisting again.

But this time, Rainbow didn’t stop or slow down. She pulled Fluttershy closer, until her mouth wrapped around Fluttershy’s head and down to her neck. One of her tongues wrapped around both of Fluttershy’s forehooves to halt the struggling. Muffled screaming could be heard, but Rainbow continued.

Soon, Fluttershy’s forehooves found their way inside Rainbow’s mouth. Fluttershy tried to use them to push herself out, but to no avail. Remembering Rainbow’s words again, Fluttershy opened her eyes. She regretted it, but refused to close them back as the tears flushed out. All she could see was the dreaded dark presence of red squishy walls squeezing against her and swallowing her further down. 

Rainbow’s tongues lifted the rest of Fluttershy’s body out of the pool. They wrapped around her body and wings, which were locked up due to how scared Fluttershy was. One of the tongues wrapped around Fluttershy’s hind legs to stop their flailing and splashing of the pool. Taking a few more harsh swallows, Fluttershy’s wings soon disappeared in Rainbow’s mouth. 

Fluttershy could now feel her body hitting against the bottom of Rainbow’s stomach. All of Rainbow’s tongues restrained her hind legs now. She could no longer flail them uncontrollably. They soon found themselves being sucked inside Rainbow’s mouth, and sliding down her throat.

Fluttershy’s body slid and flipped along the walls of Rainbow’s stomach, forcing her to form a ball inside. With gritted teeth and eyes barely able to stay open, she barely managed to avoid passing out this time, but was whimpering her breaths very deeply. Instead of focusing on what her surroundings looked like, she desperately tried to focus on the top of her hooves so she wouldn't pass out. Whatever was going to happen next was up to Rainbow. All she could do was lie on her stomach with her head just above her hooves.

But that was a lot easier said than done. The walls... she could practically feel them closing in on her. They were squeezing her... tighter... and tighter... and tighter. Nothing but darkness...

Rainbow did one last swallow to get Fluttershy’s tail down with the rest of her. Despite the circumstances, Fluttershy’s taste was still pleasant. Actually, it was far more pleasant than ever. The drench from the stomach acid didn't manage to bother her too much. Her belly was given a noticeable expansion without causing too much issue on the weight. As relaxed as she was now, Fluttershy was the complete opposite. Not only were her whimpers clear, she was squirming and violently poking the walls of Rainbow’s stomach.

Rainbow had to put a hoof to her stomach to settle some of those rough pokes. This squirming was making it difficult for her to stay in place. At the very least, it meant Fluttershy managed to stay awake this time. She proceeded to place her tail back under the pool’s level and stick it against the walls of this tatzlwurm's stomach. The faster she could do this, the less Fluttershy would have to endure this agony.

Rainbow took a deep breath before attempting to activate her magic, hoping that this would work. No. It wasn’t a matter of hoping it would work. This had to work. Nothing else mattered now. With fierce resolve, she gritted her teeth and used her magic.

As much as Fluttershy tried not to think about where she was right now, her ears could not block out the sounds of Rainbow’s stomach churning and gurgling right now. It increased her fears drastically to the point she just wanted to give up and pass out right there. Instead, she closed her eyes and let her tears of fear pour out without resistance. For some reason, it felt like her energy was being drained, making it more difficult to stay awake.

Rainbow could feel the energy flowing through her now. Her body started glowing as the energy flowed through her tail. It seemed this power really could only be activated after swallowing somepony. She continued letting the energy flow, hoping that it could send that sample she had back to the tatzlwurm.

All of a sudden, the tatzlwurm began roaring violently again. The roar was intense enough to start shaking the entire room. Stomach acid was dripping faster and splashing around. Some of it was splashing in Rainbow’s face, and the pressure was making it difficult to stay in place.

Still, Rainbow did her best to hold her spot. She kept her tail in place and continued to pour her energy through it. The stomach started to glow with that energy, but the resistance wasn’t stopping. It was only becoming more violent and the roaring was getting louder. Even with using her wings to cover up her ears, it was still so loud. This couldn’t be happening. Was this only making things worse?

No. She couldn’t give up. This was their only option left. It had to work. Nothing else could make their situation any less dire than it already was. Not even the fact that Fluttershy’s cries and squirms were getting worse as well. Every push she made caused Rainbow’s stomach to jolt left and right, making it even more difficult to keep her position. 

Rainbow didn’t falter. Don’t give up. Those were the words that stuck with her. When she heard Fluttershy say that to her, it strengthened her resolve. She wouldn’t fail them. Strain kept growing across her body. Sweat poured from her face. The bandage on her head threatened to just slip off or even be torn off.

Yet, Rainbow pushed on. She kept pushing herself, enduring the pain that she was suffering to keep going, fighting a battle both inside and outside her pained body. The glow was getting brighter, spreading across the entire tatzlwurm’s stomach. It kept going, spreading further along the tatzlwurm’s body while it kept roaring and flailing around.

Eventually, the glow reached the tatzlwurm’s head. The tatzlwurm flailed around a few more times. And then… it started slowing down. Its roaring grew more quiet. All the splashing of stomach acid started settling down. Soon, everything settled down. No more roaring, no more flailing, no more splashing.

With gritted teeth, Rainbow settled the strain she was putting on herself to send that energy. She struggled to stay standing, panting exhaustingly. There was one last silent growl coming from the tatzlwurm before it went quiet. It was hard to believe, but it looked like her theory was right. Sending that energy allowed her to send her sample back to the tatzlwurm. The tatzlwurm had managed to fall asleep.

Rainbow winced as she tried to open her eyes and look up. That’s what happened, right? She couldn’t tell from here. And her body was in so much strain right now. What about Fluttershy? How was she holding up? All she knew right now was, it was too early to celebrate.

They still needed to get out of here.
> Chapter 43: Scream!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash focused her ears and senses on what was going on right now. She was still gritting her teeth and panting from the heat that this area was expelling. Outside, it felt calm. But inside, she could hear and feel Fluttershy quite clearly.

Fluttershy was crying in a painful sounding way. She must’ve been terrified, and  really wanted to be let out now, while unable to say so herself. Rainbow couldn’t let her out. Not yet. They still needed to get out of here.

“Even if I’m scared… even if I resist… e-even if I… s-scream… don’t worry about me. Just… do what you gotta do…”

The words that Fluttershy said repeated in Rainbow’s mind. Ignore what Fluttershy wanted. Think about what she needed. That was what Fluttershy was telling her. 

Rainbow backed herself against the wall, grunting from the pain on her body. She extended her wings and lifted them out of the pool. Bracing herself, she flapped them. Each flap was rather painful on her body. But she pressed on. Harder, and harder. There needed to be enough wind created to cause an upset stomach like this. But nothing was coming up. Nothing.

Rainbow Dash stopped her flaps for the moment with a painful groan. It was no use. She could tell what the problem was just by how her wings felt. Too many of her feathers had fallen off, dissolved by the stomach acid. They couldn’t create wind without those feathers, or even allow her to fly. 

“Come ooon…” Rainbow instinctively said. They couldn’t be out of time. Not yet… not while they were so close. She turned around, feeling just how soft her hooves had gotten. 

“Stay… awake…” she said, both to herself, and Fluttershy. Just a few more minutes. That’s all she needed. Lifting her hoof out of the pool, she groaned and struck at the walls. Her tail buried herself down in the pool again, piercing at the ground level. As much as she didn’t want to, she needed more energy.

Rainbow struck with her hoof again, aiming at both the wall and the pool at the same time. Her other hoof joined in, striking in the same way. She flapped her wings again, this time using them to splash against the pool.

Finally a response. The bubbles started forming in the pool again. Rainbow continued. For good measure, she even started thrusting her body at the wall, grunting every time she did. It was at this time that the tatzlwurm would start roaring again, negating all of her hard work.

This time, it didn’t. Rainbow kept going. More bubbles formed. Inside, Fluttershy was crying and wailing. Every time Rainbow thrusted herself at the walls, Fluttershy would whine. The bubbles were getting bigger though. She couldn’t stop now. If she stopped, both of them would be doomed. None of their cries of pain was gonna stop her. As cruel as that may have sounded, it would be more cruel to let them down.

With one final thrust, Rainbow screamed in agony as she made impact. That was enough. The bubbles were getting really big now. Panting with grinding teeth, Rainbow looked up towards the esophagus. Some of the bubbles were reaching up to it. Most of them were popping before they got through. But with this many bubbles continuing to pop and release more air, one of them was bound to go through.

With a groan, Rainbow made her way towards the center of the stomach, directly underneath the esophagus. As the bubbles popped, more bubbles formed. And now, the stomach started gurgling. One of the bubbles formed around Rainbow. These ones were much more durable. She could hear the tatzlwurm making a few gagging noises. It was going to release a burp it couldn’t hold back.

This was it. As Rainbow reached the esophagus, she closed her eyes, but kept focused enough to stay awake. Fluttershy’s squirming helped in that regard.

Outside, the tatzlwurm was squirming about underground. Its stomach was proving to be upsetting enough that it couldn’t sleep like this. Due to the lump it could feel in its throat, it felt like it was about to vomit. But due to how upset its stomach felt, it didn’t try holding it back.

After holding its breath, it closed its mouth and let out its small belch. Something came out of that belch. But it was too tired to swallow it back down. Since its stomach started feeling better after that belch, it calmed down and let itself fall back to its slumber, ignoring whatever was in its mouth now.

It was after that bubble popped that Rainbow could feel her surroundings again. Thankfully, that intense heat was no longer present. But when she opened her eyes, she could see that she was still inside the tatzlwurm. The sight made her almost panic, until she noticed the black lines on three different corners of her surroundings. They looked like the tatzlwurm’s tongues.

So… they were still in its mouth. Not ideal, but enough to finish the job. They couldn’t stay here. Even if it was sleeping, if it ever swallowed in its sleep, they would be swallowed all over again. Grunting, Rainbow crawled her way to the entrance of its mouth. Her body was getting covered in saliva, washing away the stomach acid covering her body. At the very least, her body was no longer being dissolved anymore. But it left her wings with so little feathers left that she couldn’t fly right now.

Rainbow reached the maw of this tatzlwurm and began to gently slip her hooves through its mouth. Her hooves were so soft that it ended up being easier than she was expecting. Though her grip on its body wasn’t quite so easy. She had to use her tail for extra balance. But poking her tail against its scales was risky, for if she was too harsh, it would wake up.

Rainbow climbed the outside of its mouth, grunting with every step. Her eyes could barely stay open enough to focus on what she was grabbing on. Thankfully the scales on this worm’s dark blue body made it easy enough to do without her slipping off. 

Rainbow managed to reach the flat surface of its body. With her eyes squeezed, she released an extended pant. Taking a deep breath, she released another one. One more time, she inhaled and exhaled harshly. Her body was absolutely ringing out for comfort. She might’ve overdid it a little, but hopefully it was worth it. She opened her eyes.

The outside world was nothing but dirt. How far were they underground? It didn’t matter right now. Her body was in no condition to start digging. In fact, with how soft her hooves felt, that might’ve been impossible right now. She would have to wait for them to dry up before she could.

Rainbow had to brace her head with a grunt for a moment. The pain on her forehead was still quite unbearable. There were still more pressing matters though. What about Fluttershy? How was she doing? Letting herself focus on the movements in her stomach, it felt like Fluttershy managed to stay awake in that whole process. She was subtly shivering, and it sounded like she was trying to keep her moans of fear inside. But it also sounded like there was a lot of pressure from holding back those moans. Any moment it felt like she would burst if she stayed inside Rainbow any longer.

Rainbow took a deep breath, then she started gagging out a few times. After her last breath, she reached down her throat with her tongues. It wasn't quite as difficult to do this time, but when they managed to reach her stomach, Fluttershy muffled a scream and squirmed violently. She was absolutely terrified when those tongues started coiling around her without warning.

Rainbow had to forcefully restrain Fluttershy's limbs from flailing with her tongues. Fluttershy continued to resist, but if she was gonna get out of Rainbow, she had to be restrained. After locking up Fluttershy's limbs together and covering her mouth to halt her screaming, Rainbow started pulling her out. The lump from the outside of Rainbow's belly began shrinking fast. Another lump formed in her throat, a large one. When it reached her head, Rainbow opened her mouth wide and dragged Fluttershy out of it.

Wrapped around coils and saliva, Fluttershy was forced out of Rainbow's mouth with a harsh yelp. Fluttershy was gasping her breath, while at the same time, shivering and whimpering. Rainbow was just bracing her stomach while also taking a few gasps of breath. Her stomach wasn't in pain, but even after releasing Fluttershy, it still felt like somepony was beating the insides of her stomach. It was a good thing her stomach could somehow handle all that abuse.

After being able to settle herself from all that struggling, Rainbow took a look at Fluttershy and examined her condition. It looked like being concealed in Rainbow's stomach protected Fluttershy from further damage from the stomach acid. She lost a few feathers, but not nearly as much as Rainbow did. Her hooves didn't look quite as soggy either. The only real worrying damage was the scrapes on her coat which she probably got from the battle with this tatzlwurm.

All in all, Fluttershy looked okay. Maybe she'd be a little sore, but okay nonetheless. But when Rainbow moved closer to Fluttershy, Fluttershy's eyes snapped open and her head snapped towards Rainbow in horror.

"NOOO!!!" The outburst startled Rainbow. "L-Leave me alone!" She hastily crawled backwards on her back, shivering very harshily in fear. Rainbow was looking towards her with teeth gritting in concern. Fluttershy's mouth was held open, excelling loud whimpers expressed as if she was staring at a horrifying monster. But her eyes weren't focused on the tatzlwurm. They were focused on Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow's heart practically stopped. She couldn't believe it. Fluttershy was absolutely terrified of her. When she tried to reach out for her, Fluttershy's only response was, "Ah-h-h!" while covering her face with a hoof and backing away some more.

And then, things only got worse from there. Rainbow looked behind her. The tatzlwurm started emitting a silent and low growl. Its body started moving a little. 

"Go away-y! Ah-h-h!" Fluttershy yelled again. Rainbow looked back to Fluttershy in fear. That yell caused the tatzlwurm's growl to grow a little louder. This was really bad. If Fluttershy kept panicking like this, she was gonna wake the tatzlwurm up and get them both eaten all over again. She had to get Fluttershy to stop. But how?

“Even if I’m scared… even if I resist… e-even if I… s-scream… don’t worry about me. Just… do what you gotta do…”

Rainbow's breath got heavy as those words repeated in her mind once again. Fluttershy knew she would be scared. And now, she was beyond scared, practically blinded by her fear. But if Rainbow didn't do something, then all that was for nothing. She had to do something.

She had to silence Fluttershy, even if it would terrify her more than it already has.

Without warning, Rainbow lunged herself towards Fluttershy. It caused Fluttershy to scream and then yelp when Rainbow landed on top of her, preventing her from being able to move away any further. Fluttershy turned her head away and covered her face in her hooves. Rainbow first tried to calm her whimpering in a gentle approach. Despite Fluttershy covering her face, Rainbow tried licking across her face with her knotted tongue. Of course, she only succeeded in licking Fluttershy’s hooves, but maybe it would be a start.

It wasn’t. Despite the licks, Fluttershy was only getting more scared. Rainbow had to deepen her approach. With her other two tongues, she forcefully removed Fluttershy’s hooves from covering her face. There was strong resistance, but Fluttershy could not prevent her hooves from being restrained and forced flat on the surface she was laying on. She squeezed her eyes shut and screamed as her face started getting licked by a long black tongue. Tears were being dripped from her eyes in response. Not even the movement from the surface she was laying on, nor the low growl was snapping her out of this uncontrollable fear.

Rainbow was at her limit with options. That tatzlwurm would wake up at any second if Fluttershy wasn’t silenced right now. Without thinking, she did the only option she had left. Using her hooves to restrain Fluttershy instead, she moved her two tongues to twist Fluttershy’s face towards her. 

Then, while Fluttershy was still screaming, Rainbow sent her knotted tongue inside Fluttershy’s mouth. Fluttershy’s eyes went wide open in response, and her screaming became muffled. The tongue went straight down her throat, going as far down towards her stomach area so that the knotted portion of the tongue could be positioned within the throat walls.

Despite the clogged position, Fluttershy’s screams were still coming out, but more silent now. Her eyes were shrunk to pea-size, finding it difficult to breathe. Stronger resistances were coming from Fluttershy. Rainbow was using her front hooves to restrain Fluttershy’s forehooves and her back legs to restrain Fluttershy’s hind legs. If she had to, she would’ve even had her wings join in, but Fluttershy’s were locked up to her sides due to the fear alone.

Rainbow could see the fear in Fluttershy’s eyes. As difficult as it was to bear seeing that fear, she had to silence Fluttershy just a little more. It was for the safety of both of them. The words Fluttershy said continued to repeat in Rainbow’s mind, and that’s what kept her going. Through those eyes, she could see a Fluttershy who was constantly afraid of being out of her element. But after being successful, Fluttershy’s fear would be replaced with a boundless amount of happiness. Right now, all there was was fear and resistance, but the memories kept flooding her mind.

With one more tongue, Rainbow reached it inside Fluttershy’s mouth and grabbed Fluttershy’s tongue. She pulled it out further, making Fluttershy’s eyes somehow shrink further and allowing her knotted tongue with more room to work. By scrunching her knotted tongue, she expanded the knot on it to clog up just a little more space within Fluttershy’s windpipe, without preventing all of Fluttershy’s ability to breathe.

Fluttershy’s whimpers were now reduced to just mere whispers. All she could do now was breathe silently and carefully. She no longer found the strength to resist anymore. And now, her eyes were starting to droop.

It was a similar case for Rainbow Dash. She was losing the strength to restrain Fluttershy and her ability to stay awake. The after effects of her power were starting to take its toll. Thankfully, it seemed that the tatzlwurm had also calmed down from all the noise and was now sleeping peacefully. They would soon enter that stage as well.

Fluttershy was the first one. Soon after, Rainbow’s body fell on top of Fluttershy’s as she too entered her slumber. Her lips fell wrapped in Fluttershy’s while her knotted tongue slid further down Fluttershy’s throat, removing her knot’s clog from Fluttershy’s windpipe. The other two tongues had retracted back to her mouth. She didn’t have time to think about what would happen once they wake up. What would happen if the tatzlwurm was the first to wake up? Would all their efforts be for nothing?

Only time would tell now.
> Chapter 44: Remember
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Breathing. Heavy breathing. The kind of breathing that could only be described as a giant monster, a giant, hungry monster that was gonna eat her. But there was no sign of that monster. All she could see was the black abyss surrounding her. It felt as if the entire abyss were walls, and those walls were surrounding her, making her unable to move from where she stood.

Fluttershy’s breath was heavy and her heart was beating fast. Her whines of terror were getting louder. No matter how hard she searched, she could see no signs of where that breathing was coming from. But it felt so close. The longer it breathed, the louder and more disturbed it got.

“Where is it?!” she said through her panicked breathing. “W-Where is it?!” The breathing turned into an angry, yet low growl. When she heard it, she closed her eyes and screamed.

Suddenly, she felt something entangle her. Her yelp was short lived as whatever entangled her wrapped around her mouth and silenced her scream. She found herself getting turned around where she would see the source of what had grabbed her. When she saw its silhouette, she squeezed her eyes and screamed through whatever was covering her mouth. Whatever grabbed her pulled her in quickly.

All of a sudden, it stopped.

“Shh…” she heard. Something was pressing against her body. She tried to push herself away, but something else wrapped around her body to keep her from leaving. They felt like hooves though. When she realized that, she slowly opened her eyes. And upon doing so, all she felt was fear. The silhouette was Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash was the one holding her, yet seeing Rainbow terrified her. All she could do was squirm in her attempt to push herself away while she whimpered louder.

“Shh…” Rainbow said again. She moved one hoof to Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Be quiet, Fluttershy. I need you to stay quiet.” When Fluttershy heard that voice, her panic began to calm down. The fear left her enough to focus her eyes on Rainbow without cowering away. It looked like Rainbow was pointing her head towards something, something below them. Fluttershy turned her eyes to it.

The abyss had faded away enough for her to see that they weren’t standing on ground. They were standing on something that was alive. Big, blue, and scaley. When she felt its body rumbling, she squirmed and tried to scream again. But all she could muster was a muffled squeak. Rainbow put in a stronger grip, even wrapping her wings around Fluttershy to prevent her from moving even further. Using her tongues, she stopped Fluttershy from screaming and turned her head to bring her attention back up.

“Shh…” Rainbow said one more time. “Please, Fluttershy. Stay quiet. Or else it’ll wake up.” Somehow, Rainbow was able to speak so perfectly, despite the fact that she was using her tongues to wrap around Fluttershy’s mouth. But Fluttershy paid no attention to that. All she could focus on were Rainbow's eyes, and the warmth that her body was providing. Looking into those eyes were scaring away her fear and calming her down.

The tongues suddenly unwrapped from her mouth, causing her to gasp. That was when Rainbow’s knotted tongue entered mouth and slithered down her throat, silencing her gasp.

“Stay quiet.” Rainbow repeated softly. “Stay quiet.” The more Rainbow repeated that, the more Fluttershy’s fear left her. It left her to the point she was no longer whimpering or squirming anymore. She no longer heard the breathing of the giant monster threatening to eat them. Everything was silent, except for their own breathing.

Watching Rainbow’s deep magenta eyes was now a peaceful sensation to her. It was like they held a blissful abyss that she wanted herself to get lost in. She suddenly found herself being pulled closer to those eyes. Rainbow’s tongues were pulling her closer. And when her mouth opened, Fluttershy’s fear returned.

But just as quickly as they returned, they left her. Rainbow’s lips didn’t wrap around her head. They wrapped around her own lips. Her eyes shrunk and her heart started beating a dozen times each second. Not out of fear, but excitement. The taste of Rainbow’s lips and Rainbow’s tongue registered in her mind. It was a wonderful and blissful taste. Something that was like candy, but didn’t taste like candy. And in the midst of that taste, she realized what was going on.

Rainbow Dash was kissing her… and she was kissing back.

”Am… Am I dreaming?” Fluttershy asked in her mind. ”Why does this feel so… wonderful?" There was no sign of Rainbow removing them from this position. It was silent, and the signs of monsters had all but evaporated. 

”Please… don’t let this be a dream." Tears of bliss poured through her eyes as she closed them. With Rainbow’s wings wrapped so tightly around her, she was trapped. But she didn’t feel trapped at all. This trapped position felt more like a lovely safety blanket. A very warm and pleasant safety blanket that she was happy to be trapped in. 

But by far the best part was the taste of that kiss. She found herself sucking on the tongue inside her mouth as she let her mind lose itself in it. Nothing else mattered to her anymore.

Nothing else mattered but the warmth and taste she was feeling right now.

___

Fluttershy opened her eyes to the sound of a low growl that sounded above her. She might’ve panicked if that growl was the first thing that came to her mind. But when she woke up, the first thing she saw was a sleeping Rainbow Dash. And it wasn’t just a sleeping Rainbow Dash. It was a sleeping Rainbow Dash that was not only laying on top of her, but also had her knotted tongue still lodged down her throat. The tongue wasn’t suffocating her, but it was making it a little difficult to breathe. As long as she breathed carefully, it wasn’t a problem.

”Was… Was I dreaming?" Fluttershy asked in her mind again. Before she could think on it further, the growling that woke her up earlier sounded again. Looking up with her eyes, they shrunk as they caught sight of what it was. It was the tatzlwurm that ate them earlier.

Fluttershy screamed inside as she hastily slid herself out from under Rainbow. It caused Rainbow’s tongue to roughly slide out of her throat and be pulled from her mouth with a pop. Rainbow was stirred awake in the process with a yelp. She too caught sight of the tatzlwurm.

As Fluttershy backed herself against Rainbow, she ended up groaning and holding her stomach in discomfort. Rainbow’s tongue had been lodged so far down that it felt like it had actually entered her stomach. Even after it was removed, it still felt like it was in her stomach. She could even feel the taste in her mouth.

As much as she wanted to focus on that, she couldn’t. The tatzlwurm in front of her was striking fear in both her, and Rainbow’s hearts.

”No…” Fluttershy whispered. She remembered what her dream told her. 

“Please, Fluttershy. Stay quiet. Or else it’ll wake up.”

“No-o-o. Please don’t...” Fluttershy could only back up further into Rainbow as the tatzlwurm’s head drew closer. When Rainbow wrapped her hooves around Fluttershy, she felt that warmth again just like in that dream. This warmth brought her both comfort and regret at the same time.

”It’s my fault again…” Fluttershy said. ”My fault that Rainbow Dash got hurt. My fault that we got eaten. ...My fault that it woke up. It’s always… always..." She could feel Rainbow holding her tighter, feeling how tense her heartbeat was. It then clicked to Fluttershy how Rainbow was feeling too. Rainbow was feeling the same type of hopelessness that she was feeling. The type of hopelessness that led her to giving up. But when she was feeling that, Rainbow got mad at her.

What about now? It felt like Rainbow Dash was giving up too this time. She was just holding her tightly like they were both about to meet their demise. Why was that?

Fluttershy opened her eyes. She understood why. It was because of her. Rainbow told her to stay quiet so that the tatzlwurm wouldn’t wake up. But she failed to do even that. Now the tatzlwurm was staring them down, ready to pounce them at any second. And this time, they wouldn’t come back out.

But it wasn’t over yet. Fluttershy looked up at the tatzlwurm, fear filling deeply in her heart. She was the reason they were in this situation. And now she knew that she was the only one who could get them out of this.

Fluttershy placed her hooves on Rainbow’s. The moment she did that, the tatzlwurm’s growl got louder, loud enough for its breath to blow Fluttershy and Rainbow’s mane back softly. Despite the terror, Fluttershy didn’t remove her hooves from where they were. She endured the growl until it was over while Rainbow continued to hold her tightly.

It was then that Rainbow felt Fluttershy attempting to pry her hooves off. She looked at Fluttershy in concern, but saw just how confident her eyes were. They didn’t tear away from the tatzlwurm despite that growl. Fluttershy continued pulling at Rainbow’s hooves, until Rainbow decided to let her go willingly. To see that Fluttershy wasn’t scared anymore really surprised her.

But that wasn’t true. Fluttershy was beyond scared. Her heart threatened to break out of her chest as she took a step closer towards the tatzlwurm. Rainbow did everything she could to get them this far. Now it was her turn to finish it. And the only way was to face her fear and confront this tatzlwurm.

The tatzlwurm followed Fluttershy’s movements as she continued to walk along its body. Rainbow was holding her stance, ready to step forward if she ever needed to. But the more she watched Fluttershy’s movements, the more it felt like she didn’t have to. Fluttershy’s movements weren’t normal. Each step she made seemed to move in a very specific pattern. And the closer she was getting, the less aggravated the tatzlwurm seemed to get. It was almost like each step Fluttershy made was calming the tatzlwurm.

In fact, that’s exactly what Fluttershy was doing. Every time she took a step, she applied a different amount of pressure on its body. Some steps were made in between the blue scales covering its body, and reaching inside the soft and sensitive parts to its skin. She even used her tail to brush along and in between the sides of its scales. All these motions calmed the tatzlwurm to the point it was no longer growling.

Fluttershy eventually stopped moving. The growling didn’t return. Both her and Rainbow’s hearts were beating roughly. They could practically hear their own beatings from their ears. Despite her fear, Rainbow believed that Fluttershy knew what she was doing. It was like the roles were now reversed from when they were inside this tatzlwurm. She had to trust that Fluttershy could do this. Her memories told her she could. But her heart wouldn’t stop beating until she saw it.

Fluttershy started flapping her wings. Due to some of her feathers being lost, it was a little bit of a struggle. But applying more pressure allowed her to gain flight. The tatzlwurm followed to watch her as her altitude met them face to face. She kept a stern and confident expression as she closed her distance. One of her hooves reached out.

“There, there,” Fluttershy said as her hoof came into contact. “You can go back to sleep now, right?” The tatzlwurm just stared, unresponsive. “Something was wrong with your eyes. I think we were able to fix them. It must’ve been so hard to go so long without sleep. I’m sorry that happened to you. And I’m sorry that I disturbed your sleep. If you go back to sleep, I’ll try not to disturb you again. Is that okay?”

As Fluttershy was talking, she was gently rubbing her hoof along the top of the tatzlwurm’s face. Rainbow’s tension began to break as she saw the response from the tatzlwurm. It’s eyes were slowly closing while it’s growl… turned into a low purr? That’s what it sounded like.

All of a sudden, the tatzlwurm’s mouth opened. Rainbow nearly gasped when it shot its tongue out at Fluttershy. But all it did was lick Fluttershy. Fluttershy was caught by surprise from the response. With its tongue being so big, the lick splatted a lot of saliva on her face and caused her to fall down. When her fall was broken by Rainbow catching her, she began giggling. The tatzlwurm looked happy.

“Oh, thank you for understanding!” Fluttershy responded. The tatzlwurm turned its head back forwards and laid it down, no longer agitated with the two on its body.

“Awesome. Way to go, Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy closed her eyes. “I just said what needed to be said. Sometimes…” She cut herself off. Her eyes flung open in surprise as it now dawned on her who used those words. Removing herself from Rainbow’s embrace, Fluttershy turned around to look Rainbow face to face. “What… did you just say?”

Rainbow blinked. “Way to go?” she responded.

Fluttershy looked away slightly. That wasn’t quite the response she wanted. But hearing those words, maybe she could get it again, or at least a similar one. “H-How do you feel right now?” 

Rainbow put a hoof to the bandage on her head. “Well… except for my head, not too bad. A little sore, but nothing I can’t handle.”

Fluttershy gasped internally as her whole body warmed from Rainbow’s tongue… or tongues... from Rainbow's words. The way she was talking, the way she was expressing her words, it was as if…

No. It was.

“R-Rainbow…” Fluttershy said as tears started escaping her eyes. She then threw herself at Rainbow, who held her hooves up in surprise. “Your memory. You remember!” Rainbow was looking down at Fluttershy both in embarrassment, and realization.

“Yeah… yeah, you’re right.” Fluttershy continued to pour her tears at her in utter joy. Rainbow slowly moved her hooves down to Fluttershy. “Come on Fluttershy. No more tears, please.” But those words only made Fluttershy cry harder and squeeze harder. Now her hugging was starting to hurt. “Gah… F-Fluttershy, still sore… that hurts!”

That was when Fluttershy hastily removed herself and gasped. “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry!” 

Rainbow was wincing slightly. “I said ‘nothing that I can’t handle’, but it still hurts you know,” she said.

“Sorry,” Fluttershy responded.

“It’s okay.” Rainbow turned and looked upwards. “Right now we have to think about how to get out of here.”

As much as Fluttershy wanted to agree with Rainbow, one look at her wings told her otherwise. “Rainbow, your wings,” she said concerned.

Also concerned, Rainbow spread her left wing out and examined it. The sight wasn’t exactly pretty to say the least. “Oh…” was all Rainbow could say. A lot of feathers had fallen off. There were very visible gaps in the center of her wing. Only two of her wing tips survived. She remembered just how much air was blowing through her wings when she flapped them earlier.

“Does it hurt?” Fluttershy asked.

“No,” Rainbow said.

“Can you still fly?”

Rainbow folded her wing back. “Worth a try.” She looked straight ahead and took a deep breath. And then, she began flapping. The amount of air that blew right through her wings was very apparent to her. Her body wasn’t going anywhere at normal speeds, so she flapped faster, and harder. Letting her front legs hold her balance, she lifted her hind legs and flapped as hard as she could. 

Fluttershy was shocked and hurt in disbelief. To her, all she could see was a blur in Rainbow’s wings. When ever she saw Rainbow doing that motion, tons of wind would be blowing. She would struggle to even stay near Rainbow when she was flapping her wings that fast. But now... she was barely feeling anything. The wind she was feeling wouldn't even be enough to fan her.

In the end, Rainbow’s front legs left the ground and her body was starting to ascend slowly. She was hovering, but it looked like she was tiring herself quickly. Her eyes were squeezing while she was panting heavily. After hovering a good amount, she managed to open her eyes.

“*Pant*... y-yes, *pant*... I got it!” After saying that, Rainbow’s body dropped back down, landing on her legs and panting. “Kinda…” she finished.

Fluttershy put a hoof to her mouth in concern. “Oh dear…” she said. “You’ll have to wait until your feathers grow back then.”

“Yeah… I know…” Rainbow responded with a grunt. “I hate being grounded…” She then looked back up towards the ceilings of however far underground they were. Fluttershy noticed and too looked up, her ears dropping as she did.

“How will we get out of here?” Fluttershy asked. Rainbow lifted her front hooves and looked down at them. It looked like they had dried enough to become hard again. To test this, she clapped her hooves together, which resonated an audible clop.

“Now that I’m dry, I should be able to dig my way back up again. But…” Rainbow paused as she looked towards Fluttershy.

“But?” Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow sighed before responding. “See the thing is, if I were to dig right now, everything behind me would cave in. The only way I can get anywhere is if I move fast. Which means…”

Fluttershy gasped softly as she realized what that meant. “Which means I won’t be able to follow you…”

Rainbow nodded. “That’s right.” She then put some hesitation in her next words. “Buuut… there is one way I’d be able to take ya with me.”

Fluttershy’s ears perked up at this. She looked at Rainbow Dash, who looked back at her. Neither pony said anything. Rainbow was trying to keep her expression steady and calm while Fluttershy was trying to figure her out. This lasted for a good few seconds. Eventually, Fluttershy did.

Fluttershy gasped so loud and harshly. “NOOO!!!” she screamed as she quickly backed away. Rainbow could only flinch from that response. “No! Please, Rainbow Dash! No!”

“But Fluttershy-”

“I can’t go through with that again, Rainbow!” Fluttershy interrupted in terror. “I ca-an’t! Please! We have to find another way!”

Rainbow sighed. “I understand, Fluttershy. But what if there is no other way?”

Fluttershy didn’t respond immediately. She just kept taking deep breaths to settle her fear again. All she could feel was guilt. Rainbow managed to get them this far, and now they were stuck purely because of her own fear. But despite that, she couldn’t bring herself to face it again. So much did she want for there to be another way.

Fluttershy gasped as she uncovered her hooves from her face. Looking down, she realized there was another way. This other way also struck fear on her, but in a completely different way. Slowly, she looked towards the head of the tatzlwurm that they were still standing on, and was still sleeping. Rainbow followed Fluttershy’s vision and gasped as well. And when Fluttershy turned back to look at Rainbow Dash, the situation was very clear to both of them. It was either risk this, or go through with Rainbow’s idea.

Fluttershy gulped and looked down with her heart shuttering in both fear and guilt. If this didn’t work, everything they worked for would end in failure, and it would be all her fault. Could she really risk this? As much as she didn’t want to, she didn’t want to go through with Rainbow’s idea even more.

“Fluttershy…” Rainbow said softly. It sounded like Rainbow knew what she was planning to do. With all her hope, she slowly approached the head of the sleeping tatzlwurm again. No more words came from Rainbow. At this point, she wasn’t sure which was more selfish. Going through a route that was more risky, or a route that would traumatize Fluttershy even further. So, she let Fluttershy decide, and took a stance to keep her guard up in case things got nasty. She wouldn't admit it, but if things DID get nasty, nothing she could do right now would save them. But it was better than doing nothing.

When Fluttershy reached the tatzlwurm’s head, she lightly tapped on it. Once it started stirring, she started rubbing it to try and keep it calm. That’s when it opened its eyes, but slowly and calmly.

“Excuse me, mr. tatzlwurm,” Fluttershy started. “I’m sorry for disturbing your sleep, but… we’re stuck down here. And we really need to get back to the surface. Do you think you can help us get back up there? Pretty please?”

Rainbow watched anxiously for the tatzlwurm’s response at Fluttershy’s request. She wasn’t gonna question Fluttershy’s methods. But if anything happened, she would do whatever she had to do, no matter how futile it was.

Fortunately, it didn’t come to that. The first response that came from the tatzlwurm was a low but gentle growl, followed by its eyes closing. From the response that Fluttershy was making, it sounded like good news.

“Really?” Fluttershy asked with a smile. “Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!” Hearing that, Rainbow sighed in relief and withdrew her stance. When the tatzlwurm turned its head back forwards, Fluttershy walked down its body back to Rainbow.

“So it’ll help us?” Rainbow asked. 

Fluttershy nodded. “He’s very grateful that we were able to help it sleep again. He would love nothing more than to help us.”

Rainbow’s eyes went wide. “Really?”

Fluttershy nodded again. Then her expression went nervous. “A-And… we should probably hold on to something... very tightly.”

Rainbow blinked. “Huh?” Almost immediately, she got her answer. The tatzlwurm, which, according to Fluttershy’s words was a male tatzlwurm, began squirming and stretching his body. Just from those movements, his body became very unstable to stand on. “Oh…” was Rainbpw’s response. She and Fluttershy quickly dropped down and grabbed on a set of the tatzlwurm’s scales. They then shut their eyes to ready themselves for what was next.

The tatzlwurm released a mighty roar, loud enough to shake the cavern they were in. It looked like it was getting ready to collapse. But that didn’t matter because the tatzlwurm looked ready to start burrowing out of there. 

Rainbow and Fluttershy yelped when the tatzlwurm suddenly took off with a swift jolt. They heard nothing but intense crumbling as they held onto the scales as tight as they could. A lot of dirt was hitting their manes, but was otherwise not causing too much issue.

Rainbow soon managed to open her eyes to see how things were progressing. The first thing she wanted to make sure was if Fluttershy was hanging in there. She saw that Fluttershy’s eyes were staying shut tightly while she was gritting her teeth. It looked like she was okay otherwise, but this was going on for a while. They must’ve been really deep underground. But something told Rainbow they were getting close to the surface.

Once they broke the surface, the tatzlwurm let out a loud roar as dirt flew high in the air. The sounds of many animals nearby were heard. Some yelped in fear while running away. Others roared at the tatzlwurm as a sign of hostility. They even tried attacking it. Fluttershy was able to open her eyes in time to see this attack along with Rainbow Dash. She yelped as the tatzlwurm swiped its body around to knock them away. One got by. A tiger. It dug its claws into the tatzlwurms body and bore its fangs into the scales. But it was too thick to get to its flesh and skin. Next thing it knew, giant coils wrapped around and restrained it and pulled it quickly towards the tatzlwurm’s mouth. Resistance was futile as it roared and tried to flail away. Its roaring drowned out after the tatzlwurm swallowed it whole. That was when the tatzlwurm roared again, scaring away the rest of the tigers and their prey of bears. Rainbow was able to witness the whole thing, amazed at the sight of these dangerous predators running away in fear.

“Haha! Awesome!” Rainbow yelled as the tatzlwurm halted its rampage to a stop. “With this bad boy on our side, nothing’s gonna dare mess with us! Yeah!” Her celebration was finished with the tatzlwurm giving a growl of triumph. Besides the sounds of scared animals, all was quiet now. Looking up in the skies, Rainbow noticed something else that surprised her. “Whoa… The sun is setting already? How long were we asleep down there?” She turned around. “Hey, Fluttershy?” And then Rainbow stopped herself, noticing that Fluttershy was looking off somewhere in the distance with a sad expression. “Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy looked towards her. “Rainbow…” was all she said. She then pointed to where she was looking. When Rainbow looked, she understood why, sighing depressingly. The area she was looking was what used to be the garden of Alpine Flowers. All that was left wasn’t just wilted flowers, but an entire clearing destroyed and covered in a complete mess of dirt and branches.

After everything they went through to survive, now what were they gonna do?
> Chapter 45: Return
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seconds passed by as both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy stared at the now wilted garden. All Fluttershy could feel was regret and worry that they might’ve just lost their only chance to figure out how the Alpine Flowers grow. But Rainbow Dash was feeling very different. Although they promised X that they wouldn’t have anything happen to this garden, she didn’t feel much regret at all.

All she felt was suspicion. And for some reason, all that suspicion was being driven towards X. She wasn’t entirely sure why yet, but she knew what they needed to do.

“Fluttershy,” Rainbow started. “First thing we’re gonna do is go back to X.”

Fluttershy looked at her sadly. “I know…” she said. “We have to break the news to her about what happened to the garden.”

Rainbow shook her head. "Not for that. I've got a few things I wanna ask her myself." She looked down at the tatzlwurm in a glaring way as she said that. Fluttershy noticed this. The way Rainbow was expressing herself made Fluttershy worry.

"T-That you want to ask?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow answered. “It’s like you said. This tatzlwurm didn’t suffer from a natural cause. Somepony did this to him.”

Fluttershy gasp. “Are you saying X had something to do with this?”

“No,” Rainbow answered with a shake of her head. “But she might’ve known something about it and didn’t tell us. I’m gonna find out what that is.”

The way that Rainbow was talking astonished Fluttershy. It made her really believe that Rainbow really did have her memory back. Fluttershy couldn’t decide whether she was truly happy about that or not. After all, she loved seeing Rainbow act like an animal. With her memory back, that little behavior was probably gone now. 

But... Rainbow was still wearing that collar. She didn’t even give mention or notice at all about her wearing it. If she was no longer like an animal, why did she give no notice to it? Did it have something to do with her still being a tatzlpony?

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow’s yell made Fluttershy gasp as she was snapped out of her train of thought. “We don’t have time to waste! Let’s start heading back to X now!”

“Okay!” Fluttershy hastily responded. “X… um… let’s see.” She suddenly gasped. “X! We left her back at the clearing with Sly and the butterflies.” Her ears dropped. “Oh but that was so far away. It took us hours of walking to reach this garden after we left. By the time we make it back, the sun will set.”

Rainbow nodded. “Which is why we’re gonna need a little transportation.” She tilted her head towards the head of the tatzlwurm, getting her point across as to what she was suggesting. Fluttershy grew nervous after understanding what Rainbow wanted. “Normally this would be no problem. But until my feathers grow back, we’re stuck to just walking unless we have a little help. Whaddya say? After all, this was your idea in the first place.”

Seeing Rainbow finish with a grin made Fluttershy giggle nervously. “I-I suppose you’re right.” 

“Good!” Rainbow responded. She took one look towards the sun, then a quick look at her surroundings. After a short moment, she pointed at one direction that was about seventy degrees to the left of where the tatzlwurm was facing. “That way. Think you can handle that?” 

Fluttershy didn’t respond. Instead, she looked towards the head of the tatzlwurm, slowly approaching it to talk to him again. It’s not like she was afraid of this thing.

Okay, that wasn’t true. Her shaky body told her otherwise, but she didn’t want to admit it. Just like Rainbow Dash was with flying, Fluttershy had a pride of being able to handle all types of animals. She didn’t like admitting that there was an animal she couldn’t tame. And she was sure she tamed this one. But at the same time, she was still quite jumpy from the fact that they were nearly reduced to being lunch for this tatzlwurm.

One step at a time, she approached its head, being careful to apply the same massage pressure in her hooves. “E-Excuse me, mr. tatzlwurm,” she started. The tatzlwurm slowly turned its head to her. Fluttershy took a deep breath. “If you’re willing to help us more, I know just what you can do.”

Fluttershy flapped her wings. Although she fell back down when she tried jumping into the air. Quickly, she jumped again and flapped harder, still not used to how many feathers her wings had lost. She blushed in embarrassment because she knew Rainbow must’ve witnessed that embarrassing display. In fact, she was probably shaking her head in disappointment right now.

But in reality, Rainbow wasn’t doing that at all. Seeing that display made Rainbow look at her own wings, grateful that Fluttershy got off lucky compared to her. Even if flying was her life, she wouldn’t wish this on Fluttershy as opposed to herself.

Rainbow watched as Fluttershy started speaking something to the tatzlwurm. Whatever it was, it seemed short. The tatzlwurm turned his head back forwards. Then Fluttershy landed at the top of his head and started speaking again.

“Okay, let’s see what you can do. To the left!” Fluttershy tugged on the tatzlwurm’s scales on the left side of his head. The moment she did that, the tatzlwurm’s head flung upwards while its body turned. 

“Whaaa!” Both Rainbow and Fluttershy yelped as their bodies fell to the tatzlwurm’s scales due to the momentum. The tatzlwurm faced ninety degrees to the left before it darted forwards.

“Aaahhh!” They screamed again. Rainbow’s body nearly took off as the momentum forced her onto her hind hooves. She was able to stop herself using her tail while her front hooves flailed about. Using her tail, she pushed her body back forwards so that her front hooves could grab back onto the tatzlwurm’s scales.

“Fluttershy! We’re going the wrong way!” Rainbow shouted. Fluttershy was currently holding onto the scales with her front hooves while her hind hooves were flailing in the air. From that angle, it looked like she was practically hanging for her life.

Rainbow launched two of her tongues towards Fluttershy’s hind legs, wrapping around them and forcing them to stay attached to the tatzlwurm. Thanks to the help, Fluttershy was able crawl her way back to the top of the tatzlwurm’s head and heave it to slow down. She sighed in relief after that.

“Okay, *pant* let’s go a little to the right.” Fluttershy tugged the scales to the right this time and the tatzlwurm complied. They were going about sixty degrees now. One more tug to the left allowed her to get to seventy degrees. 

“That’s good, Fluttershy!” Rainbow said after returning her tongues back. Fluttershy soon came down to join Rainbow Dash, but breathing rather heavily.

“I *pant*, hope we didn’t get too off track,” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah. But we’re making good pace.” Rainbow took a look down towards the ground. “This is faster than even I can run on hoof. Ride’s a little rough, but at least there’s no dirt being kicked in our faces.”

Fluttershy released two pants before she responded. “I can tell it to slow down a little more if you want.”

“Nah.” Rainbow jumped towards the head and looked off into the distance. “The sooner we get to X, the better.”

Fluttershy wasn’t gonna deny that. She was finding it difficult to get her breath back. And she was worried that she knew why. This would be the second day that she’s been around Rainbow after eating her first Alpine Flower. On the third day, she would suffer that terrible illness again. It was currently the night of the second day.

Fluttershy put a hoof to her chest and took a deep breath. Hopefully they’ll get to X soon.

___

The clearing was silent. Night time had fallen. Peace. A perfect setting for a calm and peaceful slumber. This is where four such creatures were having their peaceful sleep. Even if one of them was put to sleep against their will. It had been just them four for about thirty-six hours now.

X was still tied with her back against a tree, sleeping without any fears to drive her awake. What had her tied was a snake named Sly, who willingly allowed himself to be tied around X as a favor to Fluttershy. The two butterflies who were watching over them were snuggled inside X’s mane, providing her whatever she needed. She still had the Alpine Flower in her mouth that Fluttershy left. And her bandaged hoof had healed considerably after the encounter. It was still delicate, but the pain was no longer present on its own. 

And now it was time for them to be presented with a shocking wake up call. A tremor stirred up. Sly’s eye peeled open. The tremors were growing. Blinking, Sly lifted his head up quickly from the ground. Both butterflies in X’s mane peaked outside. X, who was currently released from her sleep spell, hummed questioningly as she too opened her eyes.

The tremors only grew louder and shook harder. All four of them suddenly gasped in surprise, X still keeping the flower stem in her mouth. They all knew that something was coming towards them, and it was something big.

“What’s coming?! Whe-ere’s it coming from?!” X panicked as the butterflies flew up to the edge of the clearing, very afraid to find out. The tremors got so loud that before it reached them, the butterflies flew away from it in fear, going straight towards X. 

A massive crash, followed by a screeching roar presented itself. The roaring blew the butterflies straight towards the ground near X while the clearing walls were torn to shreds as a giant creature emerged.

“AAAHHH!!!” X shut her eyes, turned her head away, and screamed. Sly was flailing around in a panic, trying his best to untie himself and get away from X and that monster. In their panic, the butterflies tried and stumbled their way to the back of X where they would untie Sly and free X from this danger. But before they could, a familiar voice spoke out.

“Whoa, big boy! Whoa!” It was Rainbow Dash. She kept hold of the tatzlwurm with her tail as Fluttershy was pulling back on his scales to halt his advance.

“Phew…” Fluttershy panted. “Okay little guy. We need to do a little talking, so rest here for now.”

Rainbow hopped off the tatzlwurm, ignoring the fact that Fluttershy just called this thing ‘little’. Their presence made the butterflies stop themselves from trying to untie X. But due to the tatzlwurm’s presence, they were too scared to stick around. As Rainbow landed, the butterflies left the clearing in the opposite direction from the tatzlwurm.

“Alright X, we need-”

*Pomph!*

As Rainbow tried to speak, she heard something crash on the floor pretty hard. When she took a look behind her, she saw that it was Fluttershy. She was on the ground, trying to pick herself up, and struggling.

“Uh… You okay, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy panted heavily as she picked herself up. “I-I’m okay, *pant*. I… I just dropped a little too hard.” A few more pants followed after she spoke. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at that. It sounded a little odd, but she decided to chalk that up on Fluttershy’s missing feathers again.

“X, we need to talk,” Rainbow said as she turned to face her. But X wasn’t looking at her. She was staring at the massive beast behind them, hyperventilating at the sight of it. The tatzlwurm had laid himself down into a docile state, showing no signs that it would be aggravated into attacking again.

Yet, X was looking at him like she was seeing something she couldn't believe. No yelling was coming from her. Just stunned silence with very deep gasps, somehow keeping the flower in her mouth while her mouth stayed open so wide.

“X,” Rainbow called. But there was no response. “X!” she tried again, raising her voice.

“What…” X started. “W-What… Where did… Nnngh…” Her voice could barely come out from looking at it.

Rainbow turned only her eyes to it for a brief moment before responding. “We found it at the garden that you told us about. It tried to eat us.” She stepped closer to bring her face very close to X’s. As she glared, X’s head pulled back while shivering. “It did, eat us.”

Rainbow’s tone was so cold. X could barely even let out her whimpers, until Rainbow pulled her head back. It left X nearly out of breath, panting and moaning. Her eyes slowly turned towards the tatzlwurm just as Fluttershy was able to join them.

“What… W-What happened to the garde-en?” X asked. Talking with the flower in her mouth seemed to cause no issue.

“Gone,” Rainbow stated bluntly. It caused X to flinch as her ears dropped.

“We didn’t do anything though,” Fluttershy interjected. “By the time we got there, the garden was already wilted.” A light gasp came from X as she turned her attention to Fluttershy. 

“Before we knew it, we were attacked,” Rainbow continued as she pointed. “That tatzlwurm took whatever was left of it. None of it survived.”

Strong exhales escaped X’s breaths. Her eyes turned to Rainbow, then to Fluttershy, then back to Rainbow. “No… N-N-No… T-That can’t be right. T-They were wilted?!” Rainbow just blinked at that while Fluttershy responded.

“Yes,” she said.

“But… t-t-that can’t be right. The garden…” X looked to the left as her body jerked. “I-If the garden was…” She looked to the right, full of panic. “The flowers! The Alpines! T-Then that means-” A sudden gasp escaped X. And then a yelp as she suddenly tried struggling to break free of Sly’s grip again. 

Meanwhile, Sly was busy trying to hide his face from that terrifying tatzlwurm, despite the fact that it was just sleeping. With the butterflies fleeing the clearing, nothing was gonna be setting him free anymore. Nothing but either Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash anyway. Watching this struggle caused Fluttershy to put a hoof to her mouth in concern. As much as she wanted to release Sly, they couldn’t release X just yet. And Rainbow was just raising her eyes, wondering what X was babbling about.

“Do you know something?” Rainbow demanded. X excessively panted as she stopped struggling. 

“Our… O-Our client…” A painful sounding moan came from X. “We have to go to her! Go to her now! P-Please!”

Fluttershy blinked, moving a little closer to X. What she said, did she really mean to let that out all of a sudden? Rainbow certainly noticed.

“‘She’ huh?” Rainbow said. Up until now, X and her gang had been keeping the gender of their client vague. Now she just let it out like it wasn’t an issue anymore.

“Without those flowers… s-s-she’s the only one who can put a stop to this!” 

Rainbow snorted and lifted her head back. “If going to your client is so important to ya, why don’t you tell us where she is?” she responded more in demand than asking.

“I… c-c-can’t do tha-at!” X replied while squeezing her eyes. 

“And why not!” Rainbow yelled with a stomp of a hoof.

“M-M-My cli-ient's order-r-rs!” X stammered. “She said you ha-a-ad to be restrained!” A loud growl started from Rainbow Dash. “Restrained so that you... *Gasp*!”

X ducked and shut her eyes tightly as she found Rainbow’s hind legs suddenly kicking straight for her head. Fluttershy also winced. Rainbow's hooves smashed harshly against the tree, causing dirt to violently thrust in the air. A visible crack was left against the trunk. Any harder and Rainbow might’ve just smashed right through it. The distance between her hooves and X’s head was just mere inches. But Rainbow intentionally missed.

“I’VE HAD IT WITH YOUR EXCUSES!” The sound of Rainbow’s yelling boomed in Fluttershy’s ears. She could only keep one eye open while she covered her ears with her hooves. “It’s always this and that for you isn’t it?! You’re always saying that I have to go with you or something bad will happen, but all I see is you trying to capture me by force! Are you sure your client’s not trying to do something else?!”

X was just keeping her eyes closed, cowering in fear like she was always doing. She wasn’t giving an answer, and it didn’t look like she was gonna give one. Rainbow snorted. To think that she actually believed what they were saying at one point. But when that thought crossed her mind, another thought suddenly popped up. After taking a deep breath without closing her eyes or opening her mouth, she continued her questions at a different angle.

“Why do you even trust your client?” When Rainbow asked that question, X’s shivering suddenly stopped. Her eyes flung open, and she slowly looked directly towards Rainbow Dash. No answer came still, so Rainbow continued. “More importantly, why do you even trust your team? Huh?!” A wince came from X. Fluttershy’s wasn’t sure what to make of this topic yet, but she was carefully listening. “The way I see it, they don’t seem to care about you at all. If you really are their leader, they sure aren’t treating ya like one.”

X just continued shivering. She wasn’t responding at all. If she was going to deny how she was being treated, there didn’t seem to be any signs of that. Fluttershy however was on the same page as Rainbow. Thinking back to X’s stories, both Clang and Strike really didn’t treat her like their leader, despite Clang claiming that she was indeed their leader.

Still no signs of a response. Rainbow decided to continue. “If you really are their leader, then how come they wouldn’t hesitate to throw you at the wolves?!” The only response this got from X was wincing and looking away with her teeth clenched. Fluttershy however was confused.

“Rainbow, you really think they would do that?” Fluttershy asked as she stepped forward.

“I don’t think,” Rainbow responded. “I saw it.” A questioning hum escaped Fluttershy. “You weren’t there for that because it was after I left when you got sick because of me.” She turned back to X and glared. “When you and Strike were being chased by timberwolves, they had you cornered. And then your so called partner thought it was a good idea to throw you at them, because then he could save his own tail while they were distracted by you!”

After hearing that, Fluttershy placed both hooves over her mouth and gasped loudly. "That really happened?!" she asked. Rainbow nodded. Fluttershy was about to look off in horror, but then something else crossed her mind. “But wait... If that happened when you said you did, how do you still remember that?”

Rainbow blinked in an unamused fashion. “Fluttershy… my memories may have been lost at the time, but I still remember everything that went on, and everything we’ve been through since then.”

Fluttershy stumbled back and gulped. “E… E-Everything?” she asked very hesitantly. Her stomach felt like it just evaporated into thin air. The look on Rainbow’s face was the only confirmation she needed. “E-Even…” A certain memory just came up. It was an image of herself quickly and happily rubbing Rainbow’s belly while Rainbow was kicking, panting happily, and just letting it happen without a care at all.

“Who’s a good tatzlpony? You are Dashie! Yes you are!”

The words she used echoed in her mind. Another image came. It was when they were at Fluttershy's house, and she was tossing food in the air for Rainbow Dash to catch and eat. Then there was an image with Scootaloo, an image of their first encounter in the forest, many moments of how she treated Rainbow. Her face ended up turning red as she shivered. Thinking about all those activities that they did together, she really remembered all of that?

“Can we talk about this later?!” Rainbow shouted, snapping Fluttershy out of those embarrassing thoughts. She turned back to X. “As I was saying, Strike couldn’t do anything about those timberwolves, so he decided to throw you at them so he could make his escape. But he didn’t get that chance because that was when I caught up and saved you both. Right?!”

X’s shivering came with heavy breathing through her nose and clenched teeth. Her eyes weren’t turning away though. It seemed like she wasn’t gonna deny Rainbow’s claim. In fact, she finally responded.

“H-He…” No more came after that for quite a while. Rainbow was starting to think she wasn’t gonna say anymore. But then she did. “He’s always… done that.”

A strange silence filled the air. Rainbow wasn’t sure how to follow up with that, not sure if she should feel angry, or be feeling something else right now.

“It wasn’t the first time he did something like that. A-And I know… it wasn’t gonna be the last…”

Now Rainbow knew how she should be feeling. Angry. But who exactly was she angry at? And Fluttershy, who was still embarrassed by those previous thoughts, was now more concerned about X's answer. She stepped in to ask.

“But why? If you know he’s trying to get rid of you, why do you allow him to? Why won’t you say anything to him about it?”

Was it really that simple? Was X just allowing them to use her like a puppet?

“M-My… client…” X answered. “E-Everything I do… is for the-em…”

Rainbow snorted harshly. “You mean your client told you to let yourself get bullied by your partners and let yourself get left behind just so you can succeed in your mission?!”

X gasped. “No-o-o!” It was quite a fast response. “No! She knows nothi-ing about what they do to me!” As much as Rainbow wanted to deny that, she decided to let it go so long as X continued to talk. It seemed like it was getting more and more difficult to get responses out of her. “All she wanted was for us to capture you… s-s-so that nopony could fall to your toxin. Restrained… bu-ut alive. A-A-And nopony else must be hurt if po-ossible. That was all she wa-anted from us.”

“And the bullying?” Rainbow decided to interrupt. “The forced sacrifice?!”

X hesitated to respond. “T-They…” A long pause followed. She turned her head down. “Didn’t want to do this mission…”

Fluttershy gasped, and Rainbow’s tension suddenly dropped considerably. Of all the responses she was expecting to hear, that certainly wasn’t one of them. For Fluttershy, it pretty much confirmed her thought that X and the Client did communicate on a more personal level. So… she just had to ask.

“But… if they didn’t want to do this mission, why did they?”

Once again, no answer came. X just turned her head away with her fearful frown. For some reason, she just refused to give a clear answer as to whether she really was their group’s leader or not. Rainbow snorted. 

“Why did you want to do this mission then?” she asked. X turned forward. But before she could answer, Rainbow continued. “I know it’s because you think you’re doing good by making sure nopony else gets affected by my toxin.” Rainbow started shoving her face very close to X, who was cowering in fear again. “And you believe your Client is the only one who can stop it from spreading. But how do you know what she's saying is true?! What if she’s just lying to you and plans to do something else?!”

The more loud Rainbow’s voice got, the more desperate X’s breathing became. It turned into hyperventilation just before she started shaking her head. “N-No… No s-she isn-n’t…”

“TELL ME THE TRUTH!!!” Rainbow yelled directly in her face. Such a sight made Fluttershy wince. “Do you really think she has nothing else planned?!”

More desperate breaths came from X. If she wasn’t always shaking, it would seem like Rainbow backed her into a corner she couldn’t escape from. But no. All that was gonna happen was just her being silent again and refusing to talk. Rainbow couldn’t have that happen. Not this time. She took a glance behind her. What she said next made Fluttershy’s heart drop to in a bottomless pit.

“Fluttershy, look away.”

___

Meanwhile, somewhere miles away from the clearing in the Everfree Forest, a lone twittermite glowed its zapping lights in the darkness, flying whichever way the path led it. Twittermites usually never travel alone, but this one somehow found itself doing so. But before it could get far, something snatched it. Suddenly, it was trapped.

The twittermite tried to zap its way free. But it proved futile in this glass. Something was breathing harshly behind it. It sounded angry. Turning its light to the one that captured it, all it saw was the face of something disheveled and beyond angry. There was something it was holding, which shined a far brighter light that the twittermite was shining. But that was because, the object it was holding had many, many other twittermites held captive.

Whatever it was, this twittermite was joining that cage as well, a cage formed by this angry, angry beast.
> Chapter 46: Suspect
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy almost couldn’t believe what Rainbow requested, so she had to ask. “W-What?”

“Turn… away…” Rainbow repeated herself. Her face wasn’t even directed toward Fluttershy, yet Fluttershy felt so much fear from that request.

“O-Oka-ay…” Fluttershy could barely respond. Slowly, she took one hoof at a time to turn herself in the other direction. She knew why Rainbow was telling her to do this. Yet despite that, after turning away, she asked. “What… are you gonna do to her?”

“Do you really wanna know?” Rainbow asked. The answer was obvious.

“N-No… No I don’t…” Fluttershy finished turning her head away and let her ears drop. Before, it was her who offered to turn away so that she wouldn’t have to see what Rainbow would do to X. When it never came to that back then, she was somewhat relieved that that was the case. But now it came back, and this time, Rainbow demanded that she turn away. Which meant, whatever Rainbow was about to do…

Fluttershy’s thoughts were interrupted by X’s squealing. Whatever Rainbow was about to do, she was about to unleash it.

“N-No!!! Please! Nnn-aaa-” X’s squealing was suddenly muffled. Her body could be heard thrashing violently, but it sounded like her screams of agony could not be released. The pressure on that agony was very clear though.

Fluttershy tried as much as she could to cover her ears so that she couldn’t even hear what was going on. Her eyes squeezed and she screamed internally to herself. But try as she might, nothing was drowning out those muffled cries of agony. It was unbearable. Don’t look back. She tried so hard not to look back, so hard to take her mind off the agonizing cries.

Fluttershy opened her eyes in her attempt to find something that would take her mind off of it. It was a fatal mistake. The first thing her head did was turn. And then… she caught a glimpse of what Rainbow was doing to X. Her eyes went wide, quickly shutting them and burying her face in the ground. But it was too late. What she saw burned into her mind like a nail being drilled into her brain.

Rainbow had her tongues… inside of X. Two of them were lodging down her throat while the third one wrapped tightly around her neck. Her knotted tongue had her knot expanded to keep X’s mouth forced open. A lot of saliva was squirting out of X’s mouth, yet Rainbow was completely unphased by it. And the other tongue that was inside X’s mouth, lodged very deep inside, all the way down to her stomach. Fluttershy saw it poking very deep, like spikes were trying to punch a hole through her stomach from the inside out.

All of a sudden, Fluttershy felt like those tongues had found their way inside her own stomach. She felt her intestines shift around, creating gassy bubbles that made her want to hurl. Her hooves clutched tightly against her stomach to prevent her from doing that. The sound drowned out, only to be replaced by her own torturous agony.

Rainbow quickly released her tongues from X’s mouth, flicking away large amounts of her saliva, as well as some of X’s. X was releasing painful sounding coughs, causing the flower in her mouth to be spat out, along with more saliva. None of it bothered Rainbow. All she cared about was getting answers from X, once she stopped coughing and gasping for breath. It looked like she was trying so hard to pull her hind legs towards her stomach as a way to brace the uncomforting agony that Rainbow left it in.

“Now are you gonna answer me?! Or do you need a round 2?!”

X’s head shot up. “Aaahhh!!! No! Please, not again!” Her breath suffocated quickly like she was about to meet her doom.

“Does your client have something else planned?!” Rainbow yelled at her face. X cried out before responding.

“I-I don’t… I-I-I mean, I think! Ye-e-es!” X looked as far away from Rainbow as she could as Rainbow just pushed her head closer.

“And just what does she have planned for me, huh?! Tell me!”

"P-Please! I-I can't say!"

"Why?!" Rainbow yelled. "Because your Client told you not to?!"

"No-o-o!"

A startled gasp escaped Rainbow Dash from that answer. "Then why won't you tell us?!"

“Because... B-Because I don’t, kn-n-now what it i-i-is!”

When that answer came, Rainbow shouted and launched her tongues towards X again. X screamed and flailed in agony as they came towards her.

“RAINBOW! NO!!!” Rainbow’s tongues froze on spot at the sound of that voice, leaving X wincing and shivering. The voice came from Fluttershy. Turning her eyes, Rainbow saw that Fluttershy was still looking away. But her body was shivering, her ears were flattened, and her hooves were bracing her head like a monster was towering over her and scaring the life out of her.

Rainbow looked back at her tongues for a moment, then retracted them. She realized, even with Fluttershy turned away, she could still hear all the torment that was going on, and didn’t want to experience anymore of it.

“Why don’t you know what it is, X?” Rainbow continued more calmly. X held her winced pose for a few seconds. Slowly, she opened her eyes, still shivering, and not responding. "Your Client said that she wanted me captured to stop me from spreading my toxin, right?" A moment of pause, but X nodded. "But now you're saying there's another reason, but you don't know what that reason is."

X only responded by lowering her head. Rainbow continued. "So why?" She forced X to look up at her by placing a hoof under her chin. “You said it yourself that Clang and Strike didn’t want to take this mission. If they didn't want to do it, that means you wanted to. Right?” There was a nervous gulp that escaped X. She still wasn’t responding though. “There had to be a reason you wanted to accept, right? But if you don’t even know the real reason why she wants to capture me, then why did you accept a mission that your so called partners didn’t want to do?”

Once again, no response came from X. All she did was shut her eyes and whimper, fearing that another torture session was about to come. Rainbow snorted and removed herself from X. This wasn’t getting them anywhere. She took a glance at Fluttershy to see how she was holding up. No good. Fluttershy was still looking away and shivering with her hooves over her head and ears. If she did anymore torturing, Fluttershy was only gonna get traumatized further. Maybe she could ask Fluttershy to leave the clearing, but that would put Fluttershy in dangerous territory.

Rainbow took a glance at the tatzlwurm. It was still sleeping despite all the shouting. If Fluttershy left the clearing with that thing, she would surely be safe. But would Fluttershy even listen to reason with that idea? Looking back to X, Rainbow noticed the snake, Sly’s predicament. Despite all the struggling X was doing earlier, the only thing Sly seemed to care about was watching that tatzlwurm out of fear. She remembered how Fluttershy got Sly to hypnotize X and put her in a blissful sleep. Maybe X could be hypnotized in a different way?

No… Rainbow just closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She dug her tail in the ground. And then she just... sat down... saying nothing. All she did was stare at X, doing absolutely nothing. Seconds had passed, then minutes. Nothing was happening. Both Fluttershy and X began to notice this, and both of them were confused. Fluttershy peaked an eye out to see what Rainbow was doing. Where did this come from all of a sudden? This wasn’t like Rainbow. It was like she suddenly just gave up out of nowhere.

Rainbow kept a close eye on X’s expressions. It almost seemed like she was more confused than Fluttershy was. Her eyes kept shifting to Fluttershy for a second before they went back to Rainbow. And every time they did, her fear would less’n more and more. She looked to the ground, her shivering halted, and then looked back to Rainbow, keeping her eyes there.

Silence. Nothing but silence. Everything was silent. Only breathing wasn’t silent. It was way too silent. Until finally, Fluttershy broke the silence.

“Rainbow?” she asked. “What are you doing?”

Rainbow didn’t turn her head. She simply responded. “We’re done.”

Fluttershy blinked. “Done?”

A few more seconds of silence followed. “If X isn’t gonna tell us anymore, there’s nothing else we can do.” Finally, she turned her head to Fluttershy. “We’re leaving.”

Fluttershy gasped in disbelief. “B-But… you mean you’re giving up?!” Her voice of surprise went much higher than she thought it would. She just couldn’t believe what Rainbow was saying. “But what about your toxin? We don’t have any way to stop it. And without the Alpines…”

Fluttershy went silent when Rainbow looked at her. “What else can we do here?” she asked. And this question left Fluttershy speechless. Back at the garden, she already didn’t know what to do. It was Rainbow who suggested they go back to X for more questioning. That was their last lead. But X was refusing to tell them anymore.

X was looking them over. The way they looked at each other made her own ears drop while her heart ached. She tried to shut her eyes tightly, but found herself unable to do so. Their sadness was very clear to her.

Rainbow began walking away from Fluttershy, moving towards the sleeping tatzlwurm. With heavy breaths, Fluttershy watched her go. She looked down towards her chest as she put a hoof to it. It was a grim reminder that her time with Rainbow Dash wasn’t gonna last much longer like this. Why was she giving up?

Fluttershy looked back to X. And then she noticed the Alpine Flower lying there on the ground, the same one X had in her mouth. Although she didn’t see it being coughed out earlier, she concluded that it was because of the torture session that it was now lying on the ground.

Fluttershy walked up to that flower. X winced as she approached. But all Fluttershy did was lift the flower on the ground, using her wing. After taking a long look at it, she turned her attention to X, who looked away fearfully in response. 

Taking a deep breath, Fluttershy approached X again. She didn’t say anything to X. All she did was softly place a hoof under X’s chin and gently turned her head forwards. X’s shivering stopped. The look on her face was filled with confusion and conflict. Fluttershy could tell so much from X’s eyes. Something about X was lost, very lost a long time ago. But it looked like they weren’t gonna find out what that was anymore. Maybe just one more question. A question that probably wouldn't help them, but she still wanted to know.

"Is X really your name?" Fluttershy asked. X just looked at her, eyes occasionally switching between the flower and her. Silence. Nothing but silence came. Even a question like that provided no response.

Fluttershy sadly sighed. But she still moved the flower toward X’s mouth. X was hesitant, but she allowed herself to grab the flower back. After the flower was returned, Fluttershy took one last long look at X, who looked back both confused and curious. And then, Fluttershy turned away, walking over to join Rainbow. They were gonna board their tatzlwurm friend again. Once they did, they would take X… somewhere. She didn’t know where. Maybe they would figure that out once they…

“W-Wait!” Both Rainbow and Fluttershy lifted their heads and stopped in their tracks. It was X who said that. “I-I’ll tell you…” It felt like the tension had both left the air, and came back at the same time. Rainbow slowly walked back to X with Fluttershy next to her.

“You’ll tell us?” Rainbow asked. A few heavy and shivering breaths escaped X. It took her a moment, but she responded.

“There… i-i-is a reason… why I took the job.” X turned her head down. “I just… I-I…” A lot of hesitation was present. Both ponies didn’t dare interrupt her though. “I’m just… not sure how to expla-ain it.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. She almost wanted to say something, but for some reason, she didn’t.

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy responded instead. Another pause came from X before she responded again.

“It’s been alm-most… two months since that day.” X looked down. “In that time… I-I’ve noticed it. The way she talks… the wa-ay she tells me everything… she…” A long moment of silence followed as X tried to use her words. “I-It’s hard to explain. B-But I know that... what she re-eally wants… i-isn’t what she’s telling me-e.”

Fluttershy hummed questioningly at that. What could that have meant? She was about to ask, but all of a sudden, Rainbow shouted.

“Wait a minute!” Fluttershy and X both flinched from that shout. Rainbow stepped forward. “Two months?! You mean you’ve been on this mission for that long?!”

“Ahh! N-No-o-o!” X responded with tightly shut eyes. “No! T-That was the day we f-first met!”

“First met?!” Rainbow continued. “The day she contacted you then?!” 

“No! S-She wasn’t the one who found me. I-I found her-r-r!” X said.

“Where?!” Rainbow stepped forward again. “Where did you find her?!”

Fluttershy had to put a hoof to her mouth in concern. Rainbow was back to going all out on interrogating X again. And now, X was back to her whimpering state, not responding again.

“How about this? What was she doing? What was happening to her when you said you ‘found’ her?”

X started shaking her head. “I… I-I-I…” Her eyes shut tightly. “No. N-Nothing was going on. W-When I fo-ound her, she was… she was just… s-sitting on a bench… a-alone and… a-a-and…”

All of a sudden, X’s shivering froze on the spot as she released an in-audible gasp. Her eyes looked shocked. “O-Oh…” was all she said.

Rainbow and Fluttershy blinked. “‘Oh’?” they both asked. Slowly, X brought her attention back up.

“I never t-thought about that,” X said.

Another blink from Rainbow Dash. “Thought about what?”

“M-My client. When I first met her, s-she was reading something.”

“She was sitting on a bench, reading something?” Rainbow asked. X responded with just a nod. 

“What was she reading?” Fluttershy decided to ask. It made X go silent for a moment. She looked down with a frown.

“That’s just it. I-I never thought about it until now. B-But it’s the same. I-I-It’s the same thing tha-at I told you yesterda-ay!” She was looking specifically at Fluttershy when she said that.

Fluttershy thought. Yesterday? Has it really only been one day so far since she told them about the garden? It has. For some reason it felt so much longer than that. But what was that thing that X told her yesterday? Something about reading?

Fluttershy gasped loudly. Her heart stopped. “Oh no...” she said. X began shivering again while Rainbow took a slight glance back at Fluttershy, wondering what she realized. “Was she reading… that book?” X winced in response. “The same one that you said you couldn’t understand the language to?!”

“Ye-e-e-es-s-s!!!” X responded with a huge stutter. That was when Rainbow gasped as her eyes went wide, realizing what that meant. Now she remembered. The book that X was talking about. It was…  “T-The same book she go-ot from the Princess of Friendship!”

Heavy breaths came out through Rainbow Dash’s clenched teeth, and her eyes were pulsating in utter shock. No. What X just said… that couldn’t have meant what she was thinking, right? But her thoughts only went back to that visit they had on Day Three. And she knew just as much as Fluttershy that something about that visit seemed odd.

Rainbow was staring at X with intense fire in her eyes. Why…? That was all she could ask was why. Well no more questioning why. It was time they act.

Rainbow Dash suddenly jumped backwards, making both Fluttershy and X gasp. Her landing spot was so close to Fluttershy. She landed harshly with anger, along with her tail digging into the ground with a slam. Fluttershy yelped and flinched from the impact as dust kicked in the air. And then, Rainbow launched her tongues straight for X.

“Ahh! No, wait! AHH!!!” Two of Rainbow’s tongues wrapped around X, but her third tongue reached behind the tree, specifically at the knot of Sly’s tied up body. With the combination of her tongue and its saliva, she swiftly slipped the knot undone and pulled Sly’s body away with a snap. Sly was released quickly. Through the shock, he quickly slithered away. X screamed and squirmed harshly in the tongues’ grips as her body was thrust upwards. Her hooves and wings managed to slip through a few times, until Rainbow’s third tongue joined back and caught her by one of her hind hooves. "HELP!!! NO!!! WAAAAHHHH!!!”

Fluttershy’s eyes opened wide as she started witnessing what was going on. “Rainbow!” she screamed. X desperately buzzed her wings in an attempt to escape the grips. But it was futile. With both her hind hooves wrapped, and her waist now wrapped, she was quickly pulled in.

As X screamed, Rainbow opened her mouth wider while her tongues pulled. She quickly clamped them down as X’s body reached her. The lower half of X’s body quickly disappeared in Rainbow’s mouth. X continued to scream while trying to push her front hooves against Rainbow’s mouth. Her body was being sucked inside. It wasn’t until two of Rainbow’s tongues reached back out of her mouth and wrapped around X's face. One of them, her knotted tongue, wrapped around X’s mouth, muffling her screams.

“Wait! Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy tried calling, but it didn’t make Rainbow stop. All Fluttershy could do was wince as she watched X get swallowed.

Rainbow continued swallowing hard. Her other tongue wrapped around X’s neck. X quickly got pulled inside. First, only her head was visible for a moment. And then, her head disappeared, slurped swiftly in Rainbow’s mouth. Rainbow put a hoof to her chest as she gave one last harsh swallow, making the last of the large lump in her throat get forced down to her stomach. She finished with a large exhale of her breath.

Despite the fact Rainbow was the one doing all the swallowing, Fluttershy was the one who found herself out of breath over what she just witnessed. This was the third time she had witnessed this and it still shocked her. She quickly moved in front of Rainbow to face her.

“Rainbow! What are you doing?!” she asked.

“Something we should’ve done a long time ago,” Rainbow answered. She placed a hoof against her stomach. Then, as it rumbled, she pressed her hoof against it, and the lump in her stomach shrunk. Fluttershy shrieked.

“AHH!!! RAINBOW! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!”

“Relax, Fluttershy,” Rainbow responded. “All I did was make some room. Have a listen. You can still hear her.”

Fluttershy’s panic attack halted for a moment. She hesitated for a moment, but she did what Rainbow told her. With nervously gritted teeth, she placed an ear close to Rainbow’s stomach and listened in. There was nothing for a moment. But after listening closer, Fluttershy heard the faint whimpers escaping X’s voice. 

X was indeed okay, if not terrified. But X was always terrified, so how bad was this? Actually, Fluttershy didn’t want to think about that. She retracted her head back and shook her thoughts away.

“But still,” Fluttershy continued. “Why did you have to swallow her?”

Rainbow looked at her with a glare. “Because we need her where we’re going.” Fluttershy was about to ask where, but Rainbow cut her off as soon as she opened her mouth. “We’re going back to the one pony we should’ve gone back to since Day Four!” Her glare intensified. A gasp escaped Fluttershy. She knew who Rainbow was talking about, and Rainbow answered to clarify. But the way she said it was a way Fluttershy thought she would never hear from Rainbow Dash.

“Twilight Sparkle!”
> Chapter 47: Move!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy’s breath stopped working for a moment. What Rainbow just said, how she said it just left her jaw agape. Nopony, none of her friends, ever spoke Twilight’s full name like that. And Rainbow Dash, even when she was mad, never addressed her like that. Why did she choose now to address her full name like...

Fluttershy gasped as it occurred to her. “Wait a minute!” Rainbow started walking off as Fluttershy spoke. “Do you… really think she’s involved with this?!”

Rainbow took a few more steps before stopping to answer. “As much as I hate to, yes,” she answered. Fluttershy’s ears dropped at that.

“B-But Rainbow, she’s our friend. S-She would never-”

“I know,” Rainbow interrupted. “And that’s why we’re going to her. She must have a really good reason for why she is.”

Fluttershy gulped as she took a step toward Rainbow. “But… what reason could she have?”

Another pause. Rainbow looked back to her. “I don’t know. But when we get there, the first thing we’re gonna do is have X show us what that book was. She said she didn’t understand the language. But if it came from Twilight, I’m sure she’ll know.” She turned back to the tatzlwurm. “And then… we’ll ask why she gave that book to X’s Client…”

Fluttershy was shivering at those words. She really didn’t want to believe that Twilight was involved. As much as she didn’t want to believe it, Rainbow was right about one thing. The only way to clear this up was to return to Twilight. 

Fluttershy walked with Rainbow back to the tatzlwurm. Heavy breaths escaped her, unsure if this was the result of the toxin, or her own fears. All she knew was that her stomach felt a little painful now. As she put a hoof to it, she looked up towards the sky, noticing the position of the moon. It was clear that midnight was just a few hours away.

As much as she wanted to suggest they wait here and rest for the night, she knew they couldn’t do that. They were out of food. And from how her stomach felt, she knew she was getting really hungry. So they had to get back to Ponyville as soon as possible.

___

Fluttershy gently woke the tatzlwurm up, and they began their journey back to Ponyville riding on its back. It wasn’t a smooth ride, but it was the fastest way to get back home. Fortunately, the tatzlwurm was being very cooperative. Being able to sleep again must’ve really made it happy. 

Unfortunately, Fluttershy just couldn’t feel the same way. As they traveled, the thoughts of Twilight’s involvement kept swimming in her mind. It was just like Rainbow said. What they should’ve done since Day Four was go back to Twilight. How many days have passed since then?

This was… Day Eleven... Day Twelve once the sun rises. They’ve had more than a week of time to go back to Twilight, but so many things kept interfering since Day Four. Scootaloo getting swallowed, Rainbow getting injured, somepony confronting them, something Rainbow wanted to show her that might help return her memories... It never gave her a chance to think about going back to Twilight until Day Ten when they first heard of Twilight’s possible involvement.

Or maybe… the real reason why Fluttershy didn’t think about it was what X said. Fluttershy looked to Rainbow, who was lying next to her as they were holding their bodies down against the tatzlwurm’s scales. Despite the debris flicking about, the glare that Rainbow held was very clear. It was like Rainbow was already convinced that Twilight was involved.

But that’s not what Fluttershy was focusing on. It was the rest of her body. Her tail, her eyes, her cutie mark, and especially that collar. Everything that represented her tatzlpony form was what was on Fluttershy’s mind right now. Ever since Rainbow got her memory back, her animal-like behavior no longer became present. She was taking charge and leading their actions now.

Fluttershy frowned. Because that behavior was no longer present, that wonderful feeling she was having was starting to halt. For some reason, she didn’t want that feeling to halt. She wanted to feel it again. Maybe it was for the best that she didn’t. But as she stared at that collar, her breath got really heavy as these conflicts continued to sway in her mind.

Despite having her memory back, Rainbow never acknowledged nor seemed to notice that she was still wearing that collar. There’s no way she couldn’t have noticed, right? If she was no longer acting like an animal, why would she still be so okay with it? 

Fluttershy began to wonder. When she tried asking Rainbow about all the things that she remembered, she was about to ask if that included those times she treated Rainbow like a defenseless animal. But Rainbow cut her off and asked her to talk about it later. She wondered if she should bring it up now. After all, with the way that collar was designed, she knew Rainbow couldn’t remove it herself. Still, she had to wonder why Rainbow wasn't...

“Fluttershy!” Fluttershy’s thoughts were interrupted by Rainbow yelling out to her. “Are ya feeling okay?!” Rainbow continued to yell. With the tatzlwurm’s rough movements, that was the only way they could hear each other.

“Um… Y-Yes?!” Fluttershy responded.

“Are you sure?! Because you’ve been breathing rather hard ever since we started moving!”

Fluttershy took a few breaths before responding. “Well… I suppose it’s been getting difficult to hang on.”

Rainbow’s faced turned unamused. “That’s what I was thinking at first, but one of your hooves is on your chest.”

Fluttershy’s eyes went wide in shock. She looked down, and sure enough, her left hoof had been locked against her chest while her right hoof was doing all the work hanging on. All that time she was thinking, she didn’t even notice.

“Slow this thing down!” Rainbow ordered. Fluttershy hesitated for a few seconds, but obliged. She braced both hooves against the scales and heaved, signaling the tatzlwurm to slow down. It slowed into a very comfortable pace, comfortable enough for both of them to sit still without having to hold on.

“Fluttershy, how long has it been?” Rainbow asked. “How long ago was it since the first time you were cured from my toxin?”

Fluttershy thought on that for a moment, taking a few breaths before responding. “That was… Day Seven. A-And we technically didn’t reunite until Day Nine. Today is Day Eleven until the sun comes up, so... two days.”

Rainbow nodded. “Which means if you don’t eat one of those flowers soon, you’re gonna start getting sick all over again. I don’t know how it felt, but I don’t think you’d wanna go through that again.” Fluttershy hung her head low and shook her head. “So what are you waiting for?”

Fluttershy stayed silent for a few seconds. She didn’t want to say her real answer, but maybe she could answer it in a different way. A way that was similar to what she wanted, without giving out her real reason.

“W-Well I… I wanted to wait until one of either two things happened. The sun rising, or us going to sleep for the night.” Rainbow blinked. “I wanted to ask if we could rest for the night after we talked to X. But then Twilight came up, and well… I… wasn’t sure how to say it anymore.” While most of that was true, she didn’t exactly want to rest here, in this forest. 

Rainbow kept looking at her for a few more seconds with an unchanged expression. And then, she smiled, seeming satisfied with that answer. “I get it.” She began rubbing the back of her head with her hoof and turned her head down. “I guess we have been wandering around the Everfree Forest for quite a few days now, huh?”

Fluttershy nodded. “Since Day Five,” she said.

“Uh huh…” Rainbow responded. She then brought her attention back up. “Tell ya what? Change of plans. Go ahead and eat one of those flowers right now. And once we get to Ponyville, we’ll sleep for the night at one of our places.” A chuckle escaped Rainbow. “Besides, it looks like by the time we get there, it’ll be past midnight. Even Twilight’s gotta be sleeping by then. So tomorrow, we’ll go see her. How about that?”

Fluttershy gasped. Did she hear that right? Rainbow’s words said, ‘we’ll sleep for the night at one of our places’. That meant that they were gonna have another sleepover, right? She hoped that’s what Rainbow meant. Maybe she could get another chance to feel that feeling again.

“Fluttershy?” Fluttershy lightly gasped as Rainbow snapped her out of her thoughts again.

“Sorry!” Fluttershy said, quickly shaking her head. “I-I mean, yes! That would be wonder-... oh…” She trailed off when she took a look at the small bulge in Rainbow’s stomach. It was certainly a lot smaller than it was at the time she saw Rainbow swallowing Clang. But now it just looked like Rainbow was a little overweight. “Um… But what about her?”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow for a moment, but looked down, realizing who Fluttershy was referring to. “Oh, yeah.” She gave a light tap to her stomach. “She’ll be staying like this until we meet Twilight.”

“Will she be okay?” Fluttershy asked.

“Of course she will. You’re still okay, right?” Fluttershy wasn’t exactly sure how to answer that. “Um… besides the whole toxin thing of course, yeah?” Rainbow clarified.

Not quite what Fluttershy was thinking about. But she also didn't want to bring it up again, so she just shook her head. “Nevermind.”

Rainbow shrugged, guessing that Fluttershy was probably still shaken up from being swallowed earlier. She gave a short rub to her stomach, lightly pressing against the bodily figure inside. There wasn't anymore shivering, coming from X, but she could still feel gentle breathing. It felt like X had fallen asleep already, despite how cramped it probably was right now. But given the circumstances, that was fine.

“Anyway… we should be reaching Ponyville in just a few hours," Rainbow continued after finishing her quick check up.  "First chance we get, we’re resting for the night. So go ahead and eat one of those flowers right now, okay?”

Fluttershy smiled and nodded. “Okay!”

With that, Fluttershy lifted her wings to reveal the two bags she had tucked underneath them. One was hers while the other belonged to X. Until X was released, Fluttershy would hang onto it for her. Putting X’s bag aside, Fluttershy dug through her own to pull out the miniature flower vase that contained the two Alpines they still had. The third one was still with X even after being swallowed.

Rainbow watched as Fluttershy pulled out the vase. Around that time, Rainbow’s ears raised up. Something caught her ears. Her eyes turned away for about a second before they went back to Fluttershy. Fluttershy pulled a flower out and was just about to eat it when...

“*RRRAAAAWWWWWRRR!!!*”

Rainbow and Fluttershy yelped when their ride suddenly became very unstable. A loud explosion was heard, followed by their tatzlwurm ride roaring out in pain. Fluttershy nearly dropped the flower as both ponies suddenly had to brace themselves on the scales to keep themselves from falling.

“Gaah! What was-” Rainbow’s question was interrupted by another explosion, followed by the tatzlwurm roaring out in pain again. Something was attacking the tatzlwurm! The tatzlwurm’s body thrusted after the second hit, causing both Rainbow and Fluttershy to be flung off.

Both ponies screamed. Rainbow’s scream was cut short as her body quickly impacted against one of the trees. Her body bounced off it and started falling straight for the ground. As she was falling, she heard that noise again. It sounded like a beam firing at something. She fell to the ground with a solid thud, lying against her stomach now. Before she could get a chance to respond, something big landed very close by.

“AAAAAAAHHHH!!!” Rainbow screamed at the top of her lungs. That thing that landed very close by was a huge tree branch, that got shot off. It was about the size of some of the smaller trees in this forest. And it landed on her right hind leg.

The tatzlwurm’s movements had halted when it too collided against one of the trees. Fluttershy was now starting to fall after launched off the tatzlwurm like that, still screaming. She dropped both bags along with the flowers due to that launch. Nothing but the ground stopped her. It sounded like another beam fired as she rolled uncontrollably to a stop, stopping on her back. Something huge landed right next to her, causing her to flinch as she pulled her left hoof away.

Fluttershy was shivering. A large branch almost landed on her left forehoof. It might’ve ended up landing on her wing if they didn’t always lock up every time she was scared. Whimpering, she quickly looked around to figure out what was causing all of that. Smoke was filling the air. It looked like those explosion had already started a fire. She saw the tatzlwurm smashed against a tree looking dazed, and Rainbow Dash who…

Fluttershy gasped in horror. Unlike her, it looked like Rainbow’s right hind leg was caught from the impact of one of the tree branches falling. She looked like she was in a lot of pain.

“DARN IT! HOW COULD I HAVE MISSED?!” A new angry voice shouted out. Fluttershy’s breath stopped working. No… She recognized that voice. It couldn’t be…

Somewhere in the smoke that had been kicking up from all the blasts, Fluttershy saw the silhouette of their attacker. Their attacker seemed to be sparking out electric or magical waves that looked very unstable. Whoever it was, they looked steamed, beyond angry as they growled out their frustration. As the smoke started clearing away, the pony-figure’s form started becoming clear.

Fluttershy was… speechless. Her eyes were quivering in uncontrollable shock. What she saw was not what she was expecting at all. But who it was was definitely clear. 

Unicorn stallion, light brown coat, orange eyes, and now sporting long grey hair that was no longer tied back. It was Strike. No doubt about it.

But his body… What… happened to it?
> Chapter 48: Strike
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The little fires that sparked started to spread. Pretty soon they were essentially gonna be trapped in a forest fire. That was bad news. If they didn’t leave right now, they would all be toast.

But Rainbow couldn’t move. She was gritting her teeth harshly from the pain of her right hind leg being crushed under a large tree branch. It’s width and length was too large for Rainbow to move herself in her condition.

And to think, that was the least of their worries. The pony who started these fires was nearby, glaring at them with intense rage. Fluttershy was staring at him, practically paralyzed by fear. Rainbow was able to recover enough to see him too.

They recognized him as Strike. But his body was an absolute mess of wonder on how he was even standing right now. What happened to him? There were claw marks, burns, scars, and ripped coatings decorating his body from head to tail. Actually, almost his entire tail was missing and ripped off. His Cutie Mark was no longer visible. And it looked like one of his ears had been bitten off.

He was also wearing something. It looked like braces that strapped around him from head to his torn off tail. Some of the lines of the brace spread around in a way that looked like it was supporting his chest area. The brace that went down the fetlock portion of his front hooves had something else connected to them. They almost looked like see-through claws, but very short claws that barely reached halfway to the rims of his hooves. One more brace went up the back of his neck to connect all the way up to his horn.

What was shocking though, was that each portion of the brace’s lines that wrapped around his hooves and body had a line that appeared to be piercing inside his coat. Even a spot around the back of his neck had one of these. 

All the while, his magic appeared to be enveloping all around these braces, enveloping his body like electricity in a very dangerous and unstable looking way. He didn’t seem to care. His brace started… flickering. It was flickering quite fast, until it started to full on glow. 

“Ah!” Fluttershy yelped. Strike was charging up his horn for another blast. His brace seemed to be fueling up energy for it, and it only took about a second before his horn flashed, then fired like a laser cannon. Without thinking, Fluttershy dived toward whatever cover she could find. She managed to avoid contact with the blast as it flew right above her. The blast exploded behind her, causing more fires to spread.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow yelled. That was when Strike brought his attention to Rainbow. “Oh no...” She attempted to remove the branch on her leg. But all that accomplished was a sharp pain, causing her to grit her teeth harshly. “I can’t even get it to budge. Nnngh…”

Strike’s horn started flickering again. Rainbow was the target this time. She tried searching around the area for any way to stop herself from getting hit. But there was nothing around. Nothing she could use to escape, nor stop this blast. Sweat began dripping down her face.

“Stop it!” Fluttershy yelled. “Why are you doing this?!” At the last moment, Strike turned his head, and his horn fired. The new target was in Fluttershy’s direction. Rainbow gasped. Fluttershy screamed as she tried to move away from her position. She managed to avoid contact with the beam, but not far enough away from its impact sight. It exploded, catching Fluttershy in the blast radius. 

“Aaahhh!!!” Fluttershy screamed as her body was blown forwards. She landed with a bounce on her stomach, limbs spread forward and back.

“Fluttershy! Are you okay?! Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy was twitching from the pain she felt from the blast. It only just barely nicked her, but it didn’t make it any easier to endure. She attempted to pick herself up from the ground. But when she was able to lift her face up, Strike stomped a hoof down close by in front of her. It made her flinch, then freeze. Strike was looking down at her with malice. With the fires in the background, and Strike towering over her, she was more terrified than when she was swallowed by that tatzlwurm. What she would give to be back in there instead of right here right now. One small move, and Strike would probably finish it.

“Why, am I doing this?!” Strike responded menacingly. “Because I NEVER WANTED THIS JOB IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!” He turned his attention to Rainbow Dash. “It was all because of X that I got stuck in this stupid job! Because of her that I've been stranded here for the past four days, fending off the most dangerous of monsters just to survive! All for a stupid job to capture a stupid tatzlpony that I know next to nothing about!”

Strike took a few stomps toward Rainbow Dash as he yelled out his anger. The heat was rising quickly in this burning forest. “None of this would've happened if I had taken charge! Our Client claimed that she had told us all that we needed to know! That anything else we’d need to know was already told to X! But what she failed to understand was that X, DOESN’T TELL US ANYTHING!!! SHE NEVER SAYS ANYTHING TO US!!! EVER!!!”

While Strike was looking away, Fluttershy risked trying to pick herself back up again. Unfortunately, Strike looked back the moment she tried it, like he was expecting it. He sparked his horn again. Rainbow gritted her teeth out of fear. Fluttershy was about to get hit directly by one of his blasts. 

Upon instinct Rainbow immediately lashed a tongue out towards him. He looked back in surprise, jumping out of the way of the grab. Fluttershy immediately took this opportunity to bolt in the opposite direction. Rainbow’s eyes went wide when she realized the new target for that blast was actually her tongue now. 

“SHE STOLE MY LIFE FROM ME!!!” Strike yelled as he fired. Rainbow retracted her tongue as quick as she could. It barely missed, causing the blast to explode on the ground. When her tongue managed to return to her, she closed her mouth with her tongue cringing and quivering inside. Fluttershy continued running and went to hide in closest source of cover she could find.

“It was all because of her…” Strike continued after he landed. His tone was deep, and he seemed to be wincing from the unstable magical waves that was surrounding his body from the braces. “All because of her! I worked my life for that position! But one day, Clang brought her in out of nowhere and stole it from me! She made a mockery of my comrades and set me with a permanent stain on my record that will never go away!”

Strike looked towards the direction Fluttershy went, then started stomping his way. Rainbow noticed this. He was probably looking for Fluttershy again. She struggled again to remove the branch off her hoof. But it was no use. And at this distance, Strike would be too far for her tongues to reach.

“And now, I’ll finally get back at her. By destroying BOTH of you! Because I, don’t, care, anymore!”

Rainbow gasped, then grunted as she looked down toward her stomach. That was his plan to get back at X? She grunted angirly.

“What are you talking about?!” Rainbow yelled. “How does destroying us make you get back at her?” Although, with X still in her stomach, Rainbow knew that answer was obvious in one way. But there was no way Strike would know that, right? Thanks to the space and compression she made, her stomach wasn’t bulgy enough to tell that a pony was captive inside it.

“Because sheeee’s the leader of our little operation!” Strike said with venom. “Any misconduct that happens is her responsibility.” Fluttershy was shaking behind one of the few trees that weren’t burning yet. Sweat dripped down from her feared face as she listened with gritted teeth. “Once I eliminate you both, all I have to do is report the tragic fate that happened to two unfortunate ponies caused by X’s poor leadership. It will be her record that’ll be tarnished and destroyed. And she’ll be out of my mane forever!”

Comrades? Record? Operation? Strike was speaking like there was more than just them three in their group. As much as they wanted to, there was too much going on right now to focus on that. Fluttershy was shaking even more now and started whimpering audibly. Rainbow winced. She could hear Fluttershy’s whimpering from where she was. But more importantly, Strike could hear her. He was now marching toward her position.

“Oh no…” Rainbow said to herself, then blurted loudly. “Fluttershy! He knows where you are!”

But Fluttershy didn’t move from where she was. What could she do? If she moved, she would have nothing to cover her. And if she stayed, Strike would just get to her anyway. There was no way out!

Strike sparked up his horn one more time. “Say goodbye! AAACK!!!” Just before he fired, something huge roared and shook the ground, causing his blast to go completely astray. It was the tatzlwurm! Before Strike could respond, the tatzlwurm slithered quickly up to him and rammed him with its head, shoving Strike clear away from Fluttershy. Both Rainbow and Fluttershy gasped. And Strike was just growling fiercely. 

“What?! No! That’s impossible!” Strike managed to slip away from the tatzlwurm’s shove. It stopped in its tracks and faced Strike, with Strike staring back. “That blast should’ve put you out of commission! You should NOT be moving right now!” 

The tatzlwurm just roared again and thrusted its face down towards Strike. He jumped out of the way to avoid contact. It just kept going and dug itself back underground. Strike kept running in the direction he jumped, but found himself quickly stopped when the tatzlwurm suddenly emerge from the ground in front of his path.

Fluttershy, still startled by this sudden event, peaked out of her cover to see Strike’s struggle with the tatzlwurm’s attack. She worried for the tatzlwurm for a moment, then looked around the area. Their surroundings were already covered in fires without any clear paths out. It was very hot, causing her to breathe harshly. With all the light that these fires were causing, one couldn’t even tell that it was past midnight. More branches were starting to fall off the trees. They had to get out of here before they were engulfed in the flames.

Fluttershy noticed Rainbow Dash and rushed to her as fast as she could. “Rainbow! Are you okay?!”

Rainbow grunted as she tried to move her hind leg again, only to wince. “I don’t know. Ah… Ooh, that smarts…”

“We have to get you out,” Fluttershy said. She proceeded to try and lift the branch up with her hooves. 

Meanwhile, Strike was trying desperately to fend this tatzlwurm back with blasts from his horn. Some were missing, some were hitting. But somehow the blasts just weren’t doing enough damage to stop this thing.

“Gah! I will NOT be stopped by this oversized worm!” As he was running, the claw portions of his braces located at the fetlock portions of his hooves began to flash. They then seemed to start generate bright blue electricity. There seemed to be tons of twittermites buzzing around in them. It was then that the tatzlwurm chasing behind him spread its mouth open to launch its tongues towards him. Those tentacles would reach Strike fast, so he stopped running, turned a one-eighty, and swiped with one of his hooves. 

The swiped caused electric surges to fling out, which he then captured in his horn’s magic. They formed as a barrier between him and the tatzlwurm. When the tatzlwurm’s tentacles made contact with it, a flash sprung, causing it to hoist back as a quick electric surge conducted along its tongues and surrounded its body. It retreated its tongues back, roaring just before it closed its mouth. And then it lunged towards the barrier again. Touching it caused the electric surge again, which it endured. About a second later, it broke through the barrier. Strike gasped and yelled as the tatzlwurm managed to ram him.

“Nnngh! Uhn!” Fluttershy huffed as she promptly gave up on trying to move the branch with her bare hooves. “I can’t do it! It’s too heavy!”

Rainbow grunted painfully. “If only we could reduce its weight. Is there any way you can chip it off?”

Fluttershy quickly looked around. It took a bit of a moment, but a quick, yet cringey answer came to her. “Fire!” She quickly picked up one of the smaller branches then ran towards one of the surrounding fires, letting the stick get fed to it. When the branch got lit, she quickly rushed back to the large branch and rubbed the flames against the opposite end of where Rainbow’s leg was stuck under. 

Strike slammed his hooves against the tatzlwurm’s face as he was being pushed along. Large amounts of electricity shot out from it, zapping the tatzlwurm. The amount of electricity that was spouting out was causing a little shock from him too. But he didn’t stop until the tatzlwurm was starting to slow down. 

Strike began climbing the tatzlwurm, digging his hooves into the scales to zap at deeper parts to its body. The tatzlwurm tried to shake him off, but the zaps were paralyzing most of its movements while Strike braced himself tightly. After getting to the top, his horn flared up again. He began firing a less concentrated beam on the top of the tatzlwurm's head. It didn’t explode on impact this time. But it kept firing on the tatzlwurm, causing the tatzlwurm to wail.

Fluttershy set fire to a few more spots of the branch to speed up the burning process in areas that were furthest away from Rainbow Dash. After that, she threw the stick away towards an area that was already engulfed in flames.

At this point, Fluttershy could hear the tatzlwurm’s painful cries. The tatzlwurm was roaring and wailing as Strike continued to fire that beam on its head. Strike continued to hold his ground as Fluttershy watched the scene in horror.

“Hurry up, Fluttershy!” she heard Rainbow shout. “I don’t think that tatzlwurm can take much more!”

Fluttershy, wanting desperately to help their tatzlwurm friend, knew that she wouldn’t be able to do anything alone. She needed Rainbow’s help. So she turned away with a cringe and went back to the branch, trying her very best to lift it off Rainbow Dash. Rainbow tried moving it as well. It took a while, but it only just now started to budge, not nearly enough to get Rainbow freed. 

They kept trying though. Rainbow started to dig her tail underneath the branch as a way to help lift the branch. But she couldn’t seem to find the space to allow it to slip through. Trying something else, she looked for a spot where her tail could dig around her trapped hoof.

The tatzlwurm continued to roar and squirm. It didn’t show any signs of stopping. A few more seconds of struggling, and Strike pulled out one last trick up his sleeve. Removing his left fore hoof from his grip on the scales, he moved it up to his horn. With the fetlock claws concentrated to target his horn, he yelled.

“I did NOT spend the last four days being lost here in a desperate battle against harsh climates and predators to kick the bucket now!” The claw shot electricity directly towards his horn, fueling the braces and sending what looked like quite a massive surge all over his body. He was screaming at the top of his lunges while his braces were fuming with magical radiation. But the beam he was shooting became huge. It was like alicorn levels of magic was being forcibly casted from Strike's horn, and causing drastic results to his body.

Strike’s head was barely able to stay stable enough to keep his magic’s beam to stay concentrated on the tatzlwurm. The tatzlwurm’s pain became unbearable. With its last strength, it fought through the electricity paralyzing its body. Its head vibrated instently as it fought. A few more seconds of struggling, and all of a sudden, the beam exploded massively.

Strike yelled as the explosion caused to tatzlwurm to thrust its head violently, making Strike fly in the air. Rainbow and Fluttershy halted their struggles as they heard it happen, now gazing at the results. They saw their tatzlwurm friend collapse while Strike flew and plummeted to the ground with smoke tailing behind him.

Rainbow and Fluttershy continued watching in wide eyed shock. Both Strike and the tatzlwurm weren’t moving. But an electric current was still resonating on both their bodies. The tatzlwurm’s died out first while Strike’s kept going. It showed no signs of stopping.

As a branch snapped off in the background, Strike’s body twitched. Rainbow and Fluttershy released a shuddered breath. Another branch snapped off in the background while Strike struggled to stand. The electric current around his body wasn’t helping that matter at all.

Snapping out of her fear, Fluttershy hurriedly went back to the branch that held Rainbow in place, attempting once again to lift it. She groaned and gritted her teeth so hard. The branch was budging a little more, but still not enough to get Rainbow out. Rainbow was gritting her teeth in pain from trying to free her hoof. Her tail still couldn’t find a spot to start digging. After learning they weren’t gonna make any progress fast, Rainbow started saying something in a desperate whisper.

“Fluttershy… you’ve… got to get outta here…” Fluttershy suddenly stopped her struggles as she gasped in surprise,

“What?! Rainbow!” Fluttershy responded in a much louder whisper. She knew full well that the fire on the branch would reach Rainbow way before the branch would be light enough for her to lift alone. If she was saying that, then…

Fluttershy flinched when a small explosion sounded. Rainbow saw that Strike managed to stand. But the brace on his left hind leg seemed to burst in smoke. He cringed and yelped in pain while his hind leg suddenly lost all balance and fell to the ground. The rest of his body stopped him from falling and continued to force himself to stand. All the while, Rainbow could see the menacing glare on his face.

“You gotta go before it’s too late,” Rainbow said. She could hear Strike commenting under his breath.

“Come on… stupid machine! Nnngh!”

Fluttershy moved closer to Rainbow and pleaded. “No Rainbow! I can't leave without you! I can't!"

It was then that Rainbow finally found a spot for her tail to dig through with her tail. All she needed was one last thing, for Fluttershy to leave.

“If you don’t leave, none of us will make it out alive!” The argument halted when Strike stomped his hoof down. His left hind hoof looked struggling to stand, but stable enough for him to light his horn up again. 

“Look at you miserable worms. You act as if you’re backed into a corner. But I know you’re not.” Rainbow gasped and her tail froze. Did he know what she was planning? “All that fear you’re trying to hide behind… Nngh… It’s no different from what X uses. If there was ever anything Clang couldn't be more wrong about, it is that! He claims that fear being as real as it shows. But no. I know... just like the display you two are making..." Strike’s horn glowed very bright. It looked ready to fire. 

“GOOO!!!” Rainbow yelled one more time, a lot louder than she wanted.

Fluttershy flinched back, looked in Strike’s direction then back to Rainbow. She was absolutely shaking, completely unsure of what to do. 

“THAT. FEAR. IS. FAKE!!!” Strike yelled one more time. 

And then... he fired. The color left Fluttershy’s world at that point. It was being aimed towards Rainbow Dash, not her. Rainbow couldn’t defend herself like this. What could she do? The beam was only getting closer and closer, and if she didn’t do something…

She had to save Rainbow. After everything Rainbow did to protect her, she couldn’t let it end like this. It was her turn to protect Rainbow. Without hesitating, Fluttershy jumped in front of Rainbow, directly in the path of the blast.

An echoed gasp sounded from Rainbow. Fluttershy snapped her eyes closed as the beam closed in. Just as Fluttershy spread her hooves…

Now the color in Rainbow’s world left her. The blast made contact with Fluttershy. It exploded around her facial area, leaving a smoke trail behind as her body flung over Rainbow.

“FLUTTERSHY-SHY-SHY!!!” Rainbow’s shout echoed many times as Fluttershy’s body flew over her in such slow motion to her. She had been spared, but Fluttershy had taken the full blow. It wasn’t possible for her to see where Fluttershy landed, but she could tell that Fluttershy landed somewhere far, far away. Slowly, the color started coming back when the smoke trails vanished. All she could hear, was huffing and puffing from Strike.

“Idiot!” Strike shouted. “What was she thinking? If she thought that little stunt would save you, she couldn’t be farther from correct!”

Rainbow felt as if a scream far louder than a Sonic Rainboom had gone off in her head. She looked back at Strike with fire in her eyes that burned brighter than the flames currently burning this forest. Her anger was far greater than Strike’s could ever be. It was as if the flames in this forest were being used to fuel the fires in her eyes right now. With her tail, she rapidly dug around the area where her hoof was trapped. The fires from the branch was starting to get close to her coat, but she didn’t care.

“Time for you to join her!” Strike said as he charged his horn back up. Rainbow wasn’t phased. She kept pulling on her leg, despite the pain.

Just as Strike fired another blast, the brace on his left hind leg burst again, knocking his leg to the ground and interrupting his focus on the blast. The blast went a little astray. Rainbow ducked as it came close to her, slightly grazing the branch that kept her hoof trapped. She continued digging.

“Gah! Come on!” Strike tried to lift his left hind leg up, but it stayed limp, as if he lost all movement in it when the brace burst. He went back to flaring up his horn for another blast, but his horn quickly fizzled out. His braces were downright pouring out with magical radiation. If it continued, who knows what could end up happening to his body. But he didn’t care. With both hooves, he sent a flow of electricity to fuel his horn, giving him a massive shock. From that view, it looked like even the twittermites inside were suffering. This jolt quickly made his horn ready for another blast.

At the same time that Strike fired, Rainbow screamed at the top of her lungs while jabbing at the ground one last time with her tail. Pop! Her leg was free! Enduring the immense pain that followed, she leaped out of the way from the blast, buzzing her wings to increase her distance. The beam’s only target became the branch that kept Rainbow in place. It burst into multiple pieces.

“No! I won’t let you get away!” Strike shouted as he chased his horn after Rainbow. Rainbow had absolutely no intention of running away. Using her left hind leg, she kicked off the ground to change her direction, dodging another blast from his horn. Due to all the feathers lost on her wings, she couldn’t exactly fly reliably. But that didn’t stop her from gliding. She continued to buzz them and gain massive distance with her jumps.

“Gaah!” The last beam Strike released caused another one of the braces on his limbs to burst. It was his left forehoof. Rainbow used her tongues to grab a branch and pull her body towards it to avoid that beam he fired. She was closing in on Strike fast, yelling like a wild predator. 

Strike was now two hooves in the grave, his right hind leg, and now his left forehoof. Grinding his teeth, he desperately lifted his head and tried to charge one more blast. Too late. Rainbow reached Strike, tackling her whole body against his and shoved him against a tree. Only her left hind leg was being used to stand. 

“Get off me! Argh! Get off!” Strike’s right forehoof claw charged more electricity into it. He jabbed Rainbow with it in the chest, giving her quite a shock. But Rainbow endured it. She used her left forehoof to remove Strike’s, halting the shock, then slammed it against the tree, restraining it. As Strike struggled to free it, Rainbow jabbed him square in the face.

Strike retaliated with a quick charge from his horn. But when he fired, Rainbow just jerked her head away to avoid being hit. Rainbow lashed her tongues out on Strike. One of them wrapped around Strike’s neck, squeezing it tightly. With no hooves free to remove the tongue, Strike couldn’t do much but endure. 

Strike’s mouth slightly opened as he tried gasping for breath. That gave Rainbow her chance. For extra measure, she sent her knotted tongue right inside that mouth, using the knot to block his wind pipes. His eyes shrunk. No breath was coming in, or out of Strike. There was no mercy coming from Rainbow.

Strike’s last ditch effort was his horn. He tried charging it one last time. But when Rainbow saw this, she used her third tongue wrap around it, blocking his magic. Or so she thought. The electricity that was resonating along Strike’s body was extra concentrated on his horn. When Rainbow wrapped her tongue around it, intense shocks surged out, causing massive blinding flashes across the forest.

Rainbow kept her tongue on Strike’s horn, squeezing her eyes shut as electricity flew from their bodies. It seemed to be far more concentrated on Strike’s entire body whereas Rainbow was only feeling the brunt of it from her tongues. She wasn’t letting go though, no matter how much it hurt, no matter how much Strike tried to pry her off.

Rainbow could feel Strike’s breath desperately trying to go through her knotted tongue. One last nail was all Rainbow needed to hit. With her right forehoof, Rainbow fought through all the shock and jabbed at Strike’s stomach. For that moment, Rainbow could feel the breath pushing harder as Strike’s body jolted from the punch. Pulling her hoof back, she threw her hoof harder and punched again.

The same result occurred, and Rainbow could swear her tongue slipped back at the force this time. It wasn’t enough for Rainbow. She pushed her body away and jumped, but keeping her tongues attached to Strike. When she got far enough, she buzzed her wings to propel her forwards. For a moment, Strike was able to move his left forehoof again, but was unable to respond in time. Rainbow used the momentum from her wings and the pull from her tongues to make one final kick, right into Strike’s stomach as hard as she could.

That did it. Strike’s limbs thrusted as his breath was forced out so hard, it released Rainbow’s knotted tongue from his mouth, as well as some of his own spit. All four braces on Strike's limbs burst and flung off his body. Then, all his struggles stopped. His brace's claws stopped glowing, as if they shut off. The electricity that was flowing from his horn stopped surging. And finally, all the magical waves surrounding his body dispersed.

Rainbow held her left hind leg pressed deep against Strike’s stomach. Strike just stared widely, unable to suck his breath in, unable to move his limbs, and unable to use his magic. Steam was emanating from his body like fire had just been put out. It was unclear just how much pain Strike was feeling. But it was very clear that he was finished. With his last breath, Strike spoke.

“C-Curse… Y-oo-uu…” A long pause. “...Jenkal…” With that last word, his eyes closed, and his head dropped. The brace on his neck slowly peeled itself off.

At that moment, Rainbow felt as if she suddenly just woke up from her internal instincts. The rage inside her quickly left. Slowly, she let go of her grip from Strike, letting her wings carry and gently drop her to the floor, keeping her right hind hoof off it. As her tongues unwrapped around Strike, Strike’s body just limply fell forwards, straight to the floor with an audible pomph with dust kicking up. He landed right in between the two brace claws that his forehooves were previously wearing. They had snapped open at some point, allowing the twittermites inside freedom. But they looked exhausted right now and weren’t flying away yet.

Rainbow panted carefully, out of exhaustion, out of pain, and with her tongues just dangling down from her mouth. Besides her right hind hoof, that was where most of her pain was coming from. If it wasn't for the fact that her tongues were already black, she'd probably be seeing a few burn scars on one of them. 

Rainbow was in complete disbelief over what had just transpired with her. She didn’t regret what she did. Strike deserved it. But it still surprised her that it escalated like this. Words didn’t even want to escape her mouth when it happened. There was a lot of things that Strike said during this whole encounter. A lot of it had to do with X. Maybe this all could've been avoided had she released X. 

But they needed X for a different reason. And even if they didn't need her, Rainbow wasn't just gonna let somepony else get forcibly sacrificed like this just for a chance to save themselves. That wouldn't be right. Right now what she was trying to wrap her head around, was that last thing Strike said.

”Curse you, Jenkal.”

Jenkal. Who was Strike referring to? It sounded like a stallion's name. But it certainly wasn’t any name she knew. What about Fluttershy? Rainbow gasped. 

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow hastily turned around as she suddenly remembered what happened to her. “Fluttershy?! Where are you?!” she called out. No response came from Fluttershy. Instead, Rainbow was responded by a branch snapping off. It landed directly in front of her, making her flinch.

Rainbow then winced as her right hind hoof suddenly screamed out in pain. No way was she gonna be able to walk on it for a while, not without any sort of bandages. She had no idea where their bags landed. And with all this fire around…

“Fluttershy?! Can you hear me?!” Still no response. She could only hear the fires that just kept roaring all around them.  Even with their light, all Rainbow could find was their tatzlwurm friend still unmoved from its spot. Fluttershy was nowhere near there either.

Rainbow closed her eyes, deciding to try one last thing. She lifted her tail then gently stuck it in the ground, lowering her body as best she could with just three legs. Breathing carefully, she felt for any sudden movements she could feel across the field. It wasn't gonna be easy with some of these branches dropping down, but she just needed one little sign. The first thing she felt was X, still breathing silently inside her stomach. Somehow, X had been able to sleep through all that chaos that just happened. X wasn’t harmed and still curled up comfortably inside. Well… other than the usual shivering X was also doing. Was all the things Strike said about her true? As much as she wanted to know, she needed to concentrate on one thing at a time.

“Come on, Fluttershy. Where are you?” Rainbow continued searching, ignoring Strike, X, the tatzlwurm’s locations, and any hard thuds she felt from fallen branches. “Give me some sort of sign. Anything…” She raised her ears for extra effect, breathing as silently as she could. “You’ve got to be out there. Just… give me it. Whatever sign you can.” 

Silence followed. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven.

Rainbow gasped and opened her eyes, turning her head negative thirty degrees from where she was facing. “There,” she said. “I can feel you somewhere over there. You’re breathing. Just barely... but you're breathing. That’s good. Nnngh.” Her teeth gritted. "Just hang in there. I'll come... get you."

And when Rainbow took her first, she heard a bang.
> Chapter 49: Recover
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

All of Rainbow’s muscles had frozen on the spot. She just found Fluttershy’s location, but was then interrupted by a loud bang. It sounded like thunder shooting out very close by. Very hesitantly, she looked behind herself where Strike was. The moment she did, she gasped.

The twittermites… they had forcefully removed themselves from Strike’s devices. They hovered above his body, looking towards Rainbow Dash while sparking out small jolts of electricity in multiple directions.

Rainbow gulped nervously, wondering what they were about to do. In her condition, there wasn’t much she could do except try and not agitate them. But it looked too late for that already. Once they all gathered together, they all began flying towards Rainbow. Her eyes went wide. She quickly shut them and looked away in a wince when they reached her.

But… she didn’t feel them zapping her. Instead, she felt them circle her body, once, then suddenly started flying upwards. When she felt that, she opened her eyes and looked up. Every single twiitermite flew between the roaring flames, not a single one getting caught in them. They managed to break through the forest’s burning barrier.

Silence followed, but only for a moment. And then, Rainbow saw blue flashes behind the flames, along with hearing multiple thunder crashes. Rainbow gasped. Thunder clouds began forming, producing their own thunders. She couldn’t see those twittermites anymore, but now she understood what they were doing. They were creating rain by using the clouds above the forest.

Rainbow sighed in relief. She desperately needed some good news for a change. Now for her part.

“Come on, Fluttershy. Please still be there.” Rainbow turned around and started heading towards the location where she felt Fluttershy’s presence. Along the way, it started raining. If it weren’t for her injured leg, she’d have already reached Fluttershy before that happened. She wished that had been the case, because now with the rain pouring down, not only was it getting harder to see and hear, it was also harder to move.

“Nngh… Fluttershy! Can you hear me?!” Rainbow called out when she was getting close to her destination. “Where are you?” she asked again, desperately hoping Fluttershy was close by. With all this rain, she didn’t think she could listen in for her movements again.

About a second later, Rainbow heard a sniffle… behind her? A gasp escaped her as she quickly checked behind her. “Fluttershy?” she called again. The sniffling continued. It sounded like the sniffling was just barely able to let itself out. That had to be Fluttershy.

Rainbow moved closer to the sound. A sudden flash of lightning emitted from the storm. For that moment, Rainbow saw where Fluttershy’s body was. She quickly moved to that location. In moments, she found herself by Fluttershy’s side, her sniffling very clear.

“There you are…” Rainbow said softly. “Are you okay?” With all the fires put out, Rainbow could barely see Fluttershy’s body in this midnight sky. All she could tell was that Fluttershy was currently lying on her back, with her head against a bush. It sounded like she was having a very difficult time breathing while holding back sobs. Her eyes looked closed though, and she wasn’t responding.

“Fluttershy?” Rainbow looked closer, holding a hoof out to Fluttershy. Rain continued pouring down on their bodies, making it difficult to hear and see. But after that last response, Fluttershy looked up, and Rainbow could see one of her eyes open. Why wasn’t she saying anything though?

All of a sudden, lightning flashed once again, revealing Fluttershy’s entire figure. That flash… it was as if Rainbow’s life had flashed before her eyes from what she just witnessed. Fluttershy was holding both her hooves over her left eye. Her right eye was practically drenched in tears, tears that she seemed to be trying to hold back desperately, and failing.

But… there were no tears coming out of her left eye at all. And to make matters worse, Rainbow barely noticed the clear signs of magical burn scars just below the hooves covering her eye. The last beam that Strike fired… this was where it hit.

Rainbow unconsciously stepped back from the shock of witnessing such a sight. She stumbled on her injured hoof and fell onto her rump. But it didn’t phase her out of the shock.

“Oh… Oh no…” was all Rainbow could say. She wanted to scream, scream as loud as she could, louder than the storms were being right now. But the shock left her just unable to do so, like all the life in her body drained out of her. Nopony said anything for a long while. All they did was look at each other while the rain continued pouring on their bodies.

Seconds passed. Minutes passed. It felt like hours were passing by with none of them responding. In the distance, Rainbow could see Strike and the tatzlwurm’s body twitching from the rain. But not even that snapped her out of her trance. Only one thing managed to snap her out of it.

“R-R-Rain...bo-ow…” Fluttershy barely managed to speak. A gasp escaped Rainbow and her attention was quickly brought back to Fluttershy. She saw Fluttershy holding out a hoof to her, her left still holding onto her eye. Slowly, Rainbow grabbed onto Fluttershy’s hoof, gently pulling her up to stand, then brought over her shoulders until Fluttershy was comfortably lying on her back.

“Come on. We’ve gotta find a safe place for you,” Rainbow said. She glanced around for a moment, wondering how she was even gonna find a safe place. It was so dark. With all the rain pouring down, it would be so cold too. The few flashes of lightning was the only source of light she had. Every flash allowed her to see Strike and the tatzlwurm briefly.

Rainbow groaned. It looked like near the tatzlwurm was the only good spot she was gonna find. But it was too close to Strike to calm her nerves. Strike’s body continued to twitch, but no further responses were being made. After the damage she saw his body suffer, there’d be no way he’d be moving anytime soon, but…

Rainbow froze on the spot when a low growl made itself present. The tatzlwurm slowly began shifting its body slowly. She was relieved a little to recognize that the low growl came from the tatzlwurm. But what happened next, she wasn’t quite prepared for. A single flash of lightning illuminated the area long enough for her to see the whole scene.

That tatzlwurm… after it shifted enough, it opened its mouth and lashed out its three tongues at Strike’s twitching body. They wrapped swiftly around him, dragged him swiftly along the floor with water splashing about, then easily carried his body straight into the tatzlwurm’s mouth. The tatzlwurm clamped down instantly and swallowed Strike whole. It finished with a low cry of pain as its body went limp again.

Rainbow was gritting her teeth with her eyes stunned wide. She was unable to muster up a response. For that moment, she felt as if she felt the exact same fear that Fluttershy always felt whenever she witnessed Rainbow swallowing somepony. No wonder Fluttershy was so afraid of it even after how many times she witnessed it.

“R-Rainbow?” Fluttershy’s call snapped Rainbow out of her stunned shock. “What’s... wrong?” Rainbow took a deep breath, figuring Fluttershy must’ve noticed that she suddenly stopped walking.

“Nothing,” Rainbow answered as she continued limping towards the tatzlwurm. “I just found a safe place for us to rest.” It was sort of true. With Strike out of the picture, the only danger currently present was all this rain pouring down. When she reached the tatzlwurm, she very hesitantly and very carefully lowered her body down so that Fluttershy could slide off her back. Fluttershy was keeping both eyes closed, so Rainbow had to lead her to lay the back of her head against the tatzlwurm.

Fluttershy groaned, still holding a hoof over her damaged eye. Despite the conditions, the warmth allowed her to tell what her head was laying against. But when she opened her good eye, all she could see was Rainbow’s worried face staring back at her in deep darkness. When she tried to speak, all she could do was groan in pain.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow gasped as she gently placed her hooves on Fluttershy’s shoulders. 

“It… It huuurts…” Fluttershy sniffled.

“Just hang in there. I’ll help you get that treated.” When Rainbow said that, Fluttershy gasped painfully. Rainbow didn’t like the sound of that response. “What?” she asked, bracing for the worst. 

“We… don’t have... a-anymore bandages.” Rainbow’s eyes widened at that. “The last I used… is on your head…” Looking up, Rainbow reached a hoof to the bandage that was still wrapped around her forehead. That wasn’t gonna be helpful at all.

“No…” Rainbow said. “Oh no. W-What about X’s bag. Did she have any?”

Fluttershy was in too much pain to respond much. But the look in her eye told Rainbow that a devastating realization came to her. A bad feeling came to Rainbow. She took a quick look around.

“W-Wait a minute. Where is her bag?” More glancing around and her anxiety increased tenfold. “Where is our bag?! Fluttershy?!” Fluttershy didn’t say anything. All she could do was return that frown of deep regret. A flashback came to Rainbow. The last time she saw those bags was after they were violently thrusted off their tatzlwurm friend through Strike’s attack. She must’ve dropped them and lost them both. And after that forest fire, there was a good chance that they were…

“AAHHH!!!” Rainbow shrieked. “What about the Alpines?! What happened to them?!” Fluttershy only responded in a painful whimper. The color and sounds left Rainbow’s world in that moment. “Oh… no…” she shuddered. Words could not describe how defeated she was feeling right now. They were alone in the Everfree Forest, injured beyond able to defend themselves, past midnight hours, in a heavy rainstorm, and with absolutely no supplies left for them.

Rainbow collapsed to her haunches. She could no longer hold it back anymore. This desperate feeling of hopelessness made her shut her eyes tightly as she began to sob. But the sobbing was inaudible due to the storm. Her tears were getting quickly wiped away from the rain. Nopony was around to hear how defeated she was feeling. Not even Fluttershy could hear it.

But, Fluttershy could definitely see it. She didn’t need the help of the flashes of lightning to see just how crushed Rainbow’s hopes were. Despite all they had tried, nothing was going to stop this toxin from spreading anymore. So she had to say.

“Rainbow… leave me.” It was like the words Rainbow tried giving to her earlier when Strike was attacking. Now she was giving them back. The words made Rainbow stutter.

“N-No Fluttershy. I-I can’t.”

Hearing Rainbow speak like that was heart wrenching, even more so than the pain she was currently feeling. “Rainbow, please…”

“I can’t leave you like this,” Rainbow continued. “Ponyville is still too far away. And the tatzlwurm is too hurt to move. If I leave you now…” There was a sudden pause. She squeezed her eyes, grunted and continued. “You’re too hurt for me to leave you alone right now. Even if we don’t have bandages, there has to be something that I can do to help you. Anything!”

Despite the darkness, the look that Fluttershy was seeing Rainbow give to her reminded her so much of that experience when they were swallowed by the tatzlwurm. Even after she had given up, Rainbow refused to do so. It was happening again. Only this time, Fluttershy decided not to go against it. Just like last time, Rainbow was only trying to help, regardless of how helpless the situation felt.

Fluttershy knew one thing Rainbow could do. So she began speaking. “There is… one thing. But…” A pause. “It won’t help with the toxin at all.”

“Forget about my toxin for now. Just tell me what I need to do.” Rainbow said. 

Fluttershy thought about it for a while, then responded. “Okay. But when you’re done... you have to leave.” Rainbow didn’t answer. It was then that Fluttershy began to think about what she was saying. The more she thought about saying it again, the more guilt she felt about it. So she decided not to wait for an answer anymore. "Here's what you need to do."

___

Time seemed to be moving so much slower than usual. It felt like it had been a few hours since Rainbow started. With both forehooves, she kept firmly rubbing the stick she held against a leaf that was being held with the flat end part of her tail. Each rub was expelling more of that sap that Fluttershy was talking about. The motions were practically hypnotic to her. Fluttershy’s instructions kept repeating in her mind as she continued to work.

”Find the smoothest stick you can find, and a leaf large enough to cover my eye. After soaking the leaf with water, rub the stick firmly and slowly against the leaf on a flat surface to scrape up its sap. Keep doing that until you gather enough that you would apply like a bandaid. You’ll have to keep it out of the rain while you do this.”

The process was painstakingly slow. But Rainbow was able to power through it for Fluttershy’s sake. Keeping the rain out was the most difficult part though. There wasn’t any shelter to keep the rain out, so the best she could do was be positioned underneath the largest branch she could find from a tree that was still standing. She also had her wings above her body to cover herself from the stray drops. Normally, that would’ve been all she needed, but with all her missing feathers, she needed extra insurance. 

Rainbow sighed a deep breath once she noticed that her task was finally done. She carefully picked herself up, being sure to stay off her injured hind leg, and began walking with it to Fluttershy. Her tail was able to keep hold of the leaf no problem, but she had to keep it balanced under her body so that the sap wouldn’t spill or be washed away by the rain.

“Fluttershy…” Rainbow said quietly when she reached her. Fluttershy was still breathing carefully. And her breathing became heavier when Rainbow appeared before her. The next part of the task made her and Rainbow really nervous. Despite how much time had passed, it was still fresh in Rainbow’s memory.

”Once you’re finished, you’ll have to place it on me as carefully, but as firmly as you can. The thing about this treatment is that it stings really badly. So you’ll probably hear me scream or cry. That’s why I need you to do it."

Fluttershy took a deep breath before saying her final instructions. “I’m… gonna count to three. When I say three, place it on me quickly, okay?”

Rainbow didn’t say anything and just simply nodded. It felt so much like that moment when they were swallowed by the tatzlwurm. But back then, Fluttershy was facing fear. Now, she was about to face pain. How much pain? She was probably about to find out.

Fluttershy began counting.

“One…” Deep breath.

“Two…” Sweat dripped from both their faces.

“Three!” As soon as Fluttershy removed her hoof from her eye, Rainbow covered it with the leaf, using the sap’s end.

Rainbow’s ears smacked themselves closed upon Fluttershy’s cringey, yet muffled scream. Fluttershy looked as if she clenched her teeth so hard, they nearly shattered. Her body was shuddering, but as she requested, Rainbow did not pull the leaf away. It took quite a few seconds, but she managed to settle down and place her hoof against the leaf. When she did that, Rainbow removed hers. 

Fluttershy began breathing calmly again, There was a huge sigh of relief from Rainbow. She could only imagine how that felt. It’s no wonder no pony would ever think to use this method when far less painful types of medicine exist. 

After taking a few moments to breathe, Fluttershy opened her good eye and looked at Rainbow again. There was something she wanted to say, but couldn’t. She didn’t need to say it. Rainbow already knew what it was. And yet, she still didn’t want to leave Fluttershy. There had to be more she could do for her. Looking up, Rainbow took notice of the creature Fluttershy was laying on, noticing the giant mark that Strike left on its head.

“It looks like you could use one too big fella,” Rainbow said, referring to the tatzlwurm that had protected them during Strike’s attack. She figured it was time to return the favor. Looking to Fluttershy, she simply closed her eyes and nodded in approval. Without another thought, Rainbow started walking away, but cringed when she took the first step. Her damaged hoof shot out in pain. “...It looks like I could use one…” It looked like she was gonna feel that sting Fluttershy felt after all.

___

A few hours had passed since the leaf bandage was placed on Fluttershy. The storm had been calming down significantly, making it a little easier for Rainbow to see and move, as well as easier to get these bandages ready for both her and the tatzlwurm. Hers was done without any trouble. But getting one ready for the tatzlwurm was a lot more time consuming. Not only did she need to find a leaf that was big enough for the tatzlwurm’s bruise, but it took that much longer to gather enough sap to spread on the entire leaf.

But after hours of work, Rainbow released a sigh and put down the giant stick she was using to spread it. She took a look up at the sky, trying to figure out what time it was. The moon was no longer in sight from where she was. Based on that, she could only guess that the sun would be rising soon. Seems that they had stayed awake throughout the entire night. Not a thought she was very comfortable with. 

Rainbow looked down, turning to the leaf that she had ready to apply to herself. Her body heated up anxiously. Judging by Fluttershy’s reaction, she was not gonna be looking forward to this.

“Well… It’s now or never…” Rainbow took a deep breath. She picked up another stick she hadn’t used yet and placed it between her teeth. Next, she picked up the leaf and put her injured hind hoof out. As much as she wanted to close her eyes at this, she couldn’t. The sap had to be applied firmly on where the bruise was. Clenching firmly on the stick, she jabbed the leaf onto her hoof.

Rainbow’s groan was heavily muffled due to the stick. And biting down on it really helped her endure the pain. Actually, the sting wasn’t quite as bad as she was expecting it to be. Now that she thought about it, that was probably because for Fluttershy, her injury was on her eye. That was a huge difference compared to a hoof injury.

The sting was still really bad however. It felt about as bad as having coat hair being ripped off with duct tape. With the initial pain over, Rainbow calmly released her breath and reached for the vines she had found. She tied the vine around her hind hoof to keep the leaf in place. When it was tied, she stood up and tested her weight against it. Still a little painful, but manageable now. As long as she didn’t keep walking on it that is.

“Phew… Now for the big guy.” Rainbow took the giant leaf with her teeth and started dragging it out of her cover. Now that the rain stopped, she didn’t have to worry about the sap being washed away. She did have to start walking on her injured hoof though to get it moving. It took some time, but she managed.

Rainbow now reached Fluttershy and the tatzlwurm. All that was left was to apply it to the big guy. Thankfully, she had enough time to think about how she was gonna do just that. First, she left the leaf down and climbed the tatzlwurm’s scales until she was on its head. Next, using her three long tongues, she scooped the leaf up and brought it to herself, being careful not to spill any of its sap. She let it lie down on the tatzlwurm’s scales to take a moment to breathe. The tatzlwurm was still breathing, which was a good sign. But now for the moment she dreaded.

“Okay big guy. I have to warn ya that this is gonna sting big time. But please, try to keep cool.” Rainbow took one last look at the giant burn mark on the tatzlwurm’s head. With a heave, she lifted the giant leaf and splatted the sap’s end down on it.

As expected, the tatzlwurm began growling in pain. Its body shook massively, causing Rainbow to lose her balance and fall down, almost falling off the tatzlwurm. Fortunately, that was the worst of it. The tatzlwurm slowly calmed down, and Rainbow sighed in relief. Looks like it was gonna be okay after all. She slid herself off the tatzlwurm to check on Fluttershy again. Her ears fell.

“No…” Rainbow said. Fluttershy’s face had gone red and she was breathing rather heavily and painfully. This was how she looked when she fell ill the first time. Upon seeing this, Rainbow turned and began to walk away quickly in panic. “No no no…” 

Rainbow looked frantically around the area. They were out of time. At this point, even if she left, she was sure that Fluttershy was not gonna survive on her own like this. The only thing that could save her now was one of the Alpine Flowers. But no matter how hard she looked, she just couldn’t find them anywhere. Not even when she was looking for the leaves and vines earlier did she see them. Maybe they did burn up in the blazing fire. All she could think to do was put some distance between herself and Fluttershy.

“I’m sorry, Fluttershy,” Rainbow said with one last look back. All she could was hope that maybe, just maybe she was wrong, and that Fluttershy wasn’t too infected yet. But that felt like a very desperate cling to hope. The only real reason she wanted to believe that was because she knew staying around any longer was only gonna make it worse. Regardless of how small that hope was, she clung onto it, and took her first step.

*Crunch…*

Rainbow’s eyes widened. She stepped on something that didn’t feel like a branch or a rock. At that split moment, her hope skyrocketed to the skies that the thing she stepped on was the flower vase jar containing the Alpine Flowers. But when she looked down, her hope plummeted and buried itself deep underground again. It wasn’t the flower vase she stepped on. 

Actually… what she stepped on looked like one of the broken pieces of the brace that Strike was wearing. Rainbow picked it up with anger and hatred in her face. 

“Stupid Strike,” Rainbow began. “It’s all because of you that we’re in this mess right now.” She wondered where he even got such a device. Looking back towards the tatzlwurm, she knew they weren’t gonna get that answer from him anymore. After tucking the device under her wing, she continued. “Hope you enjoy your new home, Strike. You’re never leaving it now. All because you wanted to get back at X, by taking it out on us?! Why? What did she ever-”

Rainbow’s train of thought suddenly stopped like another train had crashed into it at one hundred miles per hour. A huge, HUGE realization dawned upon her. The realization was the big answer to her hope, but at the same time, a huge answer to a guilty choosing. Something replayed in her memory.

“The only thing worse than feeling so much pain… is knowing that you’re unwillingly spreading it to others.” That was the voice of the Spellcaster, the one who turned her into a tatzlpony. More of it replayed to her. ”Am I wrong? Would you really feel worse that way? Maybe some ponies would. Maybe some ponies would gladly see others in pain. Relieved to be freed from their pain. Sacrifice other lives to save themselves.”

Those words were hitting her hard now. Rainbow just finally realized how she could save Fluttershy. But it came with a choice she did not think she would have to make, especially when they just dealt with Strike. After all, if Rainbow had just released X from her stomach during that battle, Strike might’ve stopped his assault in exchange for X. And now, it felt like that decision was being sprung on her all over again.

...Because X was still holding one Alpine Flower in her mouth.
> Chapter 50: Choice
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow stood there staring at her gut like she was a statue. The way to save Fluttershy was right in front of her face. But at what cost? How long had X been exposed to her toxin? As much as she just wanted to ask X, that wasn’t an option. They weren’t on speaking terms right now. And in her current condition, she was too injured to stop X if she tried to escape after being released.

The only option Rainbow Dash had was taking the flower while X was still asleep inside. But then, how long would X last? Probably longer than Fluttershy. She had to think. Assuming the toxin would have the same effect on X, how long had X been around her?

Rainbow was in the process of reaching down her throat with one of her tongues, but hesitated as she thought. Day Six was the first day they even encountered X. But it wasn’t until Day Seven when she had long exposures to the toxin. In fact, unlike Fluttershy, X had spent days Seven and Eight with her the whole time. That was already two days. Unless X ate an Alpine Flower in between those days…

Rainbow’s tongue froze once it made contact with the flower in X’s mouth. “No… I, c-can’t take it…” She wanted to take it, but every fiber in her stomach was telling her not to. “X could be just as infected as Fluttershy is right now. But if I don’t take it, then…”

Rainbow Dash squeezed her eyes and shook her head. “Ahh!” she grunted when a sharp pain returned to her forehead due to the bump that was still bandaged. “Why should I care about X? She’s the reason we are in this mess in the first place! If she didn’t accept that job-” Her head shook again, softer this time. “What am I saying?! She didn’t want this! She only wanted to bring us back unharmed. It was Strike who-”

“R-Rainbow?” Fluttershy’s pained voice could be heard from the distance. “Rainbow… What’s h-happening?” It sounded like she was hearing the dilemma Rainbow was going through. And she sounded very worried. But Rainbow was too caught up in her anxiety to notice.

“Gah! Come on Rainbow! Fluttershy needs this!” Rainbow tried reaching for it again. “But we need X! Without her, we’ll never figure out who the Client is!” She turned her head. “This isn’t about needing her! We took her flowers and she needs one to survive!” Her head turned again. “But Fluttershy needs it right now! What do I do?! Gah!”

Rainbow smacked her hooves to her head, making her scream in pain and squeeze her eyes harshly. “Don’t make me choose like this! Please! There has to be another way!”

Fluttershy could hear Rainbow’s continuous cries of pain and agony. The more she listened, the more it pained her. And the pain was not something she could handle right now. Every beat her heart was making felt like something was punching it. Her face felt as if the fires in the forest were still going. She tried saying something, anything that would make Rainbow stop hurting herself. But she could only make out painful moans.

Those moans fell deaf to Rainbow’s ears over her own pain and agony. She calmed her breathing, praying that there was a way out of this decision she had to make. Sweat dripped along her face as her head throbbed. The Client’s words continued to torment her mind, taunting her that she would make the decision she would regret.

”Some ponies would gladly see others in pain.”

“No…” Rainbow said softly. But the words kept coming.

”Some ponies would gladly sacrifice others just to save themselves. Are you one of them?”

Rainbow slowly removed her hooves from the bandages and stood herself up, opening her eyes to the distant skies. Her vision was a little blurry, but she could see something rising off in the distance. It was a light, the brightest light in all of Equestria. In that moment, the pain on her head went away. She felt calm.

“Celestia…” she said out loud. Fluttershy could hear her clearly that time. It made her gasp despite the pain. And she managed to ask.

“Cel-estia…? S-She’s here?”

Rainbow heard Fluttershy, but she didn’t respond right away. The light that Rainbow saw was the morning sun rising. A light that repelled the darkness shrouding this forest. Thanks to this light, she saw the one thing that would answer her prayers. When it all processed, she finally responded to Fluttershy.

“Yeah… You could say that.” Rainbow started walking towards said item. The item was located underneath a rock formation that appeared to be carved out, outside of the sections that were burned in the fire. Lots of thorns were covering the entrance to the carved out rock. Behind the thorns, there was an opened bag. It didn’t look like their bag, but the item next to it was all she cared about.

Fluttershy was focusing on breathing carefully to endure the pain she was feeling. She wanted so much to ask what Rainbow meant. Fortunately, she didn’t have to. Rainbow walked up to her and held something out to her. Slowly, she opened her eyes. And at that moment, she could see why Rainbow said that. The morning light allowed her to see exactly what Rainbow was holding out to her.

It was the flower vase, with both Alpines still stored inside. The sun’s light must’ve been what allowed her to find it. Tears of happiness welled up in Fluttershy’s good eye as she smiled, extremely grateful that Rainbow stayed. She no longer cared about the pain she was feeling. When Rainbow motioned the vase forwards, Fluttershy gladly took one of them in her mouth, immediately eating it. This torment could’ve been avoided had she eaten one before this attack occurred. But at least they could breathe now.

After some chewing, Fluttershy swallowed and released a pleasant sigh. Rainbow sighed in relief as well. She returned the flower vase back into the bag. Nothing else mattered now. Fluttershy could now find the comfort to rest. It was gonna be odd sleeping right after the morning sun rose. But after what they just went through, it was the best thing they could do right now.

Rainbow decided to lay right next to Fluttershy, also against the tatzlwurm. As she lied down, she no longer needed to compress X’s weight inside her stomach. So her stomach re-expanded herself, giving X more space inside. It was more comfortable this way for both of them.

Rainbow took one last look at the rising sun. It was hard to believe that after everything they went through, Equestria was still at peace. But it was thanks to that peace that they were able to get the help they needed. Glancing to Fluttershy, she extended a wing out and scooped it underneath Fluttershy’s head. Due to all her lost feathers, her wing probably wouldn’t provide as much comfort as it could, but it was better than nothing. With that, she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

Fluttershy felt the wing and noticed Rainbow lying right next to her. At first, she felt flushed, but then took notice of the large bulge in Rainbow’s stomach. She wasn’t able to make out exactly why Rainbow was in so much agony earlier. But she did understand that it had to have something to do with herself and X. Whatever it was, she knew that Rainbow must’ve solved it herself.

Now if only she could solve the worries she keeps having with other ponies being inside Rainbow’s stomach. With all the issues they’ve been running into, she could only imagine just how outcasted the tatzlponies must’ve been treated if they were around earlier. The fear of being swallowed whole was bad enough. But the toxin that they spread would continue to keep them outcasted unless they found a way to grow the Alpines. To think that trying to ration them out as long as she could would lead to this much trouble. She really thought at the time that rationing them out was the best thing to do. Now... she just wasn't sure anymore.

Fluttershy moved closer to Rainbow Dash. It didn’t matter whether Rainbow was a tatzlpony or not. She didn’t like to make Rainbow feel outcasted just because of her toxin, or even because of her ability to swallow ponies whole. So she did what she had to do to help her get used to that fear.

Fluttershy laid her head against Rainbow’s stomach, listening in to the squirming and slish-sloshy sounds of X’s movements inside. It made her whimper silently. But soon after she moved, Rainbow’s wing re-adjusted itself and wrapped around her. The wing felt so warm around her and comforted her nerves. She could also feel the pain in her heart easing up, though that was probably because of the Alpine. With her ears against Rainbow’s stomach, she tried falling asleep. Holding one hoof to her eye wasn’t very comfortable, but she had to keep it there so that her leaf bandage wouldn’t fall off. 

“Please sister. Don’t.” X’s muffled muttering could be heard inside Rainbow’s stomach. Fluttershy listened in as she tried to fall asleep. “I’m not worth it. I’m too scared, sister.” The words were desperate. "It's not too late. Go back, please."

“Don’t… save… me…”
> Chapter 51: Talk
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Silence. The afternoon sun shined high in the Equestrian skies. Nothing but the wind blowing across the fields could be heard. As long as that sun kept moving, it was a sign that Equestria was still at peace. 

But just because Equestria was at peace, that did not mean that there was no storm somewhere in it. To this pony, when it was this quiet, he expected that storm to come at any time. In fact, the storm was already happening.

Actually, it was because it was so quiet that this storm was happening to him already. After escaping from Ponyville, he traveled far to get here. The journey wasn’t his storm, but rather, his destination. A single building which seemed to be stationed in the middle of nowhere. No towns or cities nearby. Just a couple trees and a lake.

After opening the door and inviting himself inside, a single pony was somewhere inside to greet him. He didn’t see them, but he knew they’d be here. And it wasn’t until the door slowly closed behind him that he was greeted. 

“Almond Clang…” they said. “What happened to the others?” Pause. “Renard Strike... and X?”

Clang looked back and snorted in frustration. “I’d like to know myself. It’s been a week and I haven’t heard from either of them.” 

The pony Clang was talking to stepped out in the open. When they did, Clang spoke their name.

“Jenkel…”

___

The day had come and gone. If the roles were reversed, this would be considered their morning call. Rainbow Dash was the first to twitch under the light of the sunset. Feeling very sore and groggy, she opened her eyes to it. She lightly gasped and sat up as she witnessed what time it was.

“Whoa! Sunset already?” Rainbow could feel Fluttershy’s head against her stomach after sitting up. Fluttershy twitched in response and opened her eye as well.

“W-What? Sunset?” Fluttershy asked. With the help of her wing, Rainbow gently pushed Fluttershy’s head to lay back against the tatzlwurm behind them. 

“Yeah…” Rainbow responded. Groaning, she placed both hooves against her stomach to compress it and stand up. X was still asleep inside. “Looks like our sleep schedule’s gonna be pretty out of whack for a while.” She took a quick look around to examine her surroundings. After confirming there were no current threats in the area, she looked to Fluttershy. “How ya feeling?”

Fluttershy took in a deep breath before responding. “Better. I still feel weak, but no longer in pain from the toxin.”

“That’s good,” Rainbow said with a smile. “And your eye?”

Fluttershy's ears fell. "I don't know. It hurts a lot when I try to move. But... I can't feel it otherwise..."

Rainbow sighed sadly. “Here. Let me get a vine to tie that with so you don’t hafta keep holding it like that.” She turned to look for the closest vine she could find. Thankfully, there was still enough light to see, so it didn’t take her long to find one. Although she cringed harshly as a sharp sting shot up on her injured hind hoof. Taking that first step was a bit more painful than she expected. But after adjusting herself, she was able to handle it.

Rainbow pulled the vine and cut it with her teeth before bringing it to Fluttershy. “Here,” she said. “This outta make things easier.” Fluttershy lifted her head so that Rainbow could wrap the vine around the back of her head and over her eye. Her foreleg was finally able to drop and relax itself. But then, her stomach growled harshly. It was quite a painful one that made her groan.

“Whoa… You sure you’re okay?” Rainbow asked. “Sounded like you could really use something to eat.”

Fluttershy frowned. “We ran out of food two days ago. The only thing I’ve had to eat since then was the Alpine.”

“Well don’t worry. I’ll find ya something to eat right now. I’m sure there’s gotta be something around here.”

Concern filled Fluttershy’s good eye. “But what about you?”

Rainbow looked back at her questioningly. “What about me?” For some reason, Fluttershy couldn’t find herself to say what she wanted to say. When Rainbow realized Fluttershy wasn’t gonna answer, she continued. “Just sit tight okay? I shouldn’t be too long.”

Although when Rainbow looked ahead, she wasn’t exactly confident in her words of not taking long. That fire burned away most of their surrounding areas. If there was any food nearby, they were probably lost in the fire. A quick whiff in the air told her none of those berries were nearby either. She had to move further, far enough to where Fluttershy could no longer see her.

At least there was still light outside, but it wasn’t gonna last much longer. She looked around for even signs that some of these trees had some type of food growing. Berries, mushrooms, flowers, anything.

Rainbow blinked. Something caught her attention, but it wasn’t any of the above. From one of the bushes, she could see a bird nest that had fallen onto it. The bird that was using this nest was nowhere in sight. But looking closer caused Rainbow to gasp lightly. She saw three eggs scattered along the bush. Some inside, some underneath. None of them were broken though.

“Maybe…” Rainbow decided to gather these eggs to feel them. All three of them were hard, cold, and still a little damp from the rain. “It looks like this will have to do. But I’m gonna need a fire.” She decided to use the nest to make them easier to carry. After that, she looked around to find a way to start a fire. If the twiitermites were still around, she probably could’ve used their help.

As Rainbow was looking around, she suddenly stopped and blinked. Something about this area felt strange to her. It was strange because for some reason, it felt familiar. But why? Her instincts took her to a scorched up graving on the floor. When she looked at it closer, she realized, those weren’t fire burns. They were…

Rainbow’s mouth dropped, making her drop the nest with the eggs rolling off. Looking up, she now recognized where this area was. A silhouette of something huge replayed in her memory. This wasn't the first time this memory replayed for her, so she knew what it was this time. It was the tatzlwurm. And who was it holding? The Rescuer from the first day she was turned into a tatzlpony.

Rainbow could see the image of the tatzlwurm clearing up. The scales were dark blue, its head was light blue, and its tail was red. But for some reason, the image of the rescuer was still coming out as a silhouette. She tried to remember, but something snapped in her mind.

Rainbow suddenly had to squeeze her eyes hard. “A-Ahh…” And then, her head screamed out in pain. “AAAHHH!!!” She dropped to the floor and placed both hooves on the sides of her head. The pain was harsh, but quickly faded away and left her gasping for breath. It felt like a sudden serious case of a headache. Yet the source didn’t seem to come from her bruise.

When Rainbow was able to open her eyes again, she looked back up, thinking of the image that she saw. Nothing changed. Her Rescuer still appeared as a silhouette to her. For some reason, she just couldn’t remember what she looked like at all. 

“Rainbow Dash!” Rainbow heard Fluttershy cry out from the distance. ”Where are you?! What happened?!” She figured Fluttershy must’ve heard her screams of pain earlier. Before she went back, she took one more look at where the image was again. It was probably a better idea not to try that again, else she’d suffer another migraine, probably even worse. After picking the nest back up and gathering the dropped eggs, she walked back to Fluttershy. 

Apparently the sun had set at some point. Rainbow didn’t even notice until now. So it was too dark to see again. But Fluttershy’s voice led her in the right direction, so getting back wasn’t an issue. When she came within view, Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh thank goodness. I heard you screaming earlier, and I thought…” Fluttershy suddenly paused when she took notice of what Rainbow was carrying and bringing to her. When Rainbow reached her and started placing them down, she asked. “Is that…” When she saw that they were eggs, she gasped. “Rainbow! You didn’t-” That was when Rainbow yelped and cut her off at the implication.

“Gack! No Fluttershy! That wasn’t why I was screaming earlier.” When it looked like Fluttershy was okay with that answer, she continued. “I found the nest dropped on a bush. All of its eggs fell out. I think they’ve been there for a while.”

Fluttershy took a look down at the eggs Rainbow presented. After a little grunt, she reached over to feel them. Sure enough, they were cold and damp. If eggs like these weren’t kept warm, they would never hatch on their own. And at this state, they already had no chance, even if they were warmed up again.

“Oh…” Fluttershy said as she closed her eye. If this had been a few years ago, she’d probably be crying right now. It was just another part of the cycle of life that she accepted. She only hoped that it wasn’t because of the fire earlier that this happened.

“I’ll get a fire ready,” Rainbow said. But Fluttershy stopped her.

“Wait. What were you screaming about earlier?” As if on cue, Fluttershy’s stomach rumbled again, causing her to groan.

“I’ll tell you later. You need food now.” Fluttershy wasn’t able to reply. So Rainbow went into looking on how she was gonna start a small campfire.

___

At this point, Rainbow was really surprising herself with what she could do with her tatzlpony body. After gathering some sticks, she was able to press her tail into them, which she then twisted and twirled fast enough to heat up the sticks and start a fire. Although, she did end up getting her tail burned for a little while because she wasn’t expecting that to work. It was just another idea that came from her instincts.

It wasn’t gonna be the most pleasant thing, but Fluttershy suggested using a flat rock to place the eggs on for them to cook. When they were done, Rainbow used a leaf to scoop them, then walked to Fluttershy and set them down.

“Let me help you up,” Rainbow said. Fluttershy held out her hoof for Rainbow to grab to help her sit up straight and see the eggs in front of her. They weren’t the most pleasant looking eggs, but given the conditions, not too bad looking. “You better start eating. It might not be much, but it’s better than nothing.”

Fluttershy looked up at her with worry. “But what about you?”

Rainbow sighed in frustration. “Come on, Fluttershy! You asked that already! Just eat!”

Fluttershy’s ears drooped. “But…”

“Look, if I tell you why I was screaming earlier, will you start eating?”

In her mind, Fluttershy asked why there had to be so many complications right now. That wasn’t the point she was trying to get at, but it would answer another confusion in her mind. Defeated, she just nodded. 

Rainbow closed her eyes for a few seconds and took a deep breath. She then started. “You know, there’s actually something else that I haven’t been telling you yet. It’s about the Spellcaster and I think you should know.” Fluttershy’s curiosity suddenly peaked. “Do you remember when X shot that rattlesnake at you before taking me away.” 

A nervous gulp and nod came from Fluttershy. "You mean, Sly?"

"Um... yeah," Rainbow responded. “Well after that happened, I had a dream about the Spellcaster that felt more like a memory. Something that I didn’t remember before. I was in her cabin with a chain to my leg and tape on my mouth. Before she came to me, she seemed to be talking with somepony else. I didn’t see who it was, but she told them to leave before she came to talk to me.”

Fluttershy interrupted to ask. “Did you see what she looked like?” Then she took her first bite out of the eggs.

“Sorry, no. The room was dark. But I did see her eyes though. They were red. ...Not... monster-like red, just a normal pony’s red. I did see cracks in them like she was stressed out. And when she was talking to me, it… sounded like she had no tone, but at the same time, didn’t sound normal.”

Fluttershy took another bite out of the eggs as she listened. “Anyway, when she was done talking to me, she started casting that spell on me that seemed to be what turned me into a tatzlpony. But just before she did that, she gave me a shot.”

Fluttershy harshly swallowed and that and almost started choking. After clearing her throat, she asked. “A s-shot?! What kind of shot?”

“No idea." Rainbow tilted her head. "It was on my neck, and she gave me it just before casting that spell. It might have something to do with that.”

Fluttershy pondered back to when she took Rainbow to Twilight during Day Three. “Maybe it had something to prevent you from turning back…” she said. “It looked like Twilight’s counter-spell worked that day. But the next day you changed back.”

For some reason, Rainbow just snorted before continuing. It didn’t go unnoticed by Fluttershy and concerned her. “So when she was casting that spell on me, she looked shocked. I could hear a heartbeat. And then… she just started screaming.”

Fluttershy’s mouth dropped at that. She unconsciously took another bite out of the eggs. 

“It looked like she suddenly couldn’t control her magic. It just burst and sent her flying back. I felt my body changing after that. It looked like I was in pain, but I can’t remember. The last thing I remember seeing… and hearing was...” Rainbow just pointed to the tatzlwurm as her answer, which Fluttershy glanced at. “Sounded like it was also suffering.”

Fluttershy frowned at that. As she was looking at it, there was something else that came to mind. “You said you saw her talking to somepony else before talking to you. Do you remember them saying anything before they left?”

“They didn’t say anything, but…” Rainbow started. “It did look like they were hesitant to leave though.”

That made Fluttershy realize something. “Maybe whoever that was, could’ve been the Rescuer?”

Rainbow seemed to go into deep thought for a moment. “I’m not sure. There’s something about her that I just don’t understand…”

Fluttershy blinked in confusion. “‘Her’?” She wasn’t sure who Rainbow was referring to.

Rainbow turned around to look in the direction she saw that image. “My Rescuer... the place where I last saw her was over there. When I realized that, I tried to remember how she looked, and…” A long pause happened. When Fluttershy tried taking another bite of the eggs, she noticed that there was none left. A gasp of guilt escaped her. She didn’t want to eat all of them herself.

“Well… that was why I was screaming earlier,” Rainbow finished. This distracted Fluttershy’s guilt of eating the eggs herself.

“Huh?” Fluttershy asked.

“My Rescuer. I tried to remember how she looked. But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t. My head just hurt so much when I tried to remember. I can remember clearly what it was that attacked her. I just can’t remember how she looked.” Rainbow turned around to Fluttershy’s direction. 

“But the weirdest thing is... when I try and think about both of them… I don’t feel anything…”

Fluttershy glanced down at the empty leaf she had in her hooves. She didn’t want to change the topic, so she set it aside and asked. “What do you mean?”

Rainbow scrunched her face, trying to figure out how to explain it. “I feel… nothing. Like the Spellcaster’s tone. Um…” She cleared her throat. “Like when I left my Rescuer to face that monster alone, I didn’t feel guilty for leaving her. I wasn’t worried for her, happy that she came to my rescue.” Her attention turned elsewhere. “And it’s the same thing with the Spellcaster. When I saw her during that dream, I wasn’t mad, scared, sad…” A pause. “Just… nothing…”

A longer pause came from Fluttershy before she could respond. “Oh my. But why would you be feeling that way for both the Spellcaster and the Rescuer?” Rainbow just closed her eyes and shook her head, a quick answer saying she had no idea. “Is there anything else you can remember about them?”

“Just their voice. The Spellcaster had no tone. And the Rescuer… well… her voice was full of panic and worry. Kinda like the way X sounds. But it can’t be her. She’s a pegasus and the Rescuer was a unicorn.”

“I see,” Fluttershy finished. She slowly rolled herself over so that she could try and stand up. After seeing her grunting, Rainbow quickly came over and used her head to ease Fluttershy up.

“You think you’ll be able to walk by yourself?’ Rainbow asked. Fluttershy was squeezing her eye when she was standing on her own weight. But after a short moment, she settled down.

“I should be able to. *Huff*...” After getting her balance down, Fluttershy checked her surroundings with her one eye. It was difficult to do thanks to the night sky, but there was something she was curious about. “Rainbow? What happened to Strike?”

Rainbow wasn't sure how to answer that. She was still quite surprised over witnessing what happened to him. "Um..." Her head turned to look at the tatzlwurm a little sheepishly. Fluttershy noticed and looked as well. That was all she needed for her question to be answered.

“Oh…” Fluttershy said as she shrunk a little from that. Then she looked to the giant leaf on its head. She wasn’t gonna say she got off lucky compared to it, because she probably didn’t. But she could say one thing. “If it wasn’t for you, we probably wouldn’t still be here.”

And then Fluttershy placed her hooves on its scales and tried to climb it. With her current state, that was a pretty futile effort, at least until Rainbow let her tongues out. She wrapped them around Fluttershy’s body to reduce her weight. When Fluttershy got to the top, she had to brace a hoof against her bandage for a moment to settle the pain. Rainbow removed her tongues and came up to join Fluttershy, making sure to bring the bag with their last Alpine secured inside. Fluttershy was currently examining the tatzlwurm’s head.

“It looks like he’ll still need to rest a little more before he’ll start moving. Hmm…” Fluttershy seemed to ponder something for a moment. And then she looked to Rainbow with a smile. “You know, after everything that’s happened, I think we should give this little guy a name. What do you think?”

Rainbow, ignoring the comment of this tatzlwurm being little, smiled in response. “Yeah. I’d be down for that. But what should we call it? Err… him?”

Fluttershy tapped her mouth with a hoof a few times. “Well… how about Squiggles?”

Rainbow’s smile faded as her eyebrow raised. “Squiggles? Really?’

“Sure! After all, he’s pretty squiggly and it’s cute sounding.”

“Cute?! This thing’s a giant-” Rainbow stopped herself before she said something she’d probably regret. It may have been a monster that nearly ate them earlier. But right now, she considered it a helpful friend. “You know what? Nah. If you like it, and he likes it, then it works for me.”

Fluttershy closed her eye with a smile. “Squiggles it is then!” She bent down and started petting the now named tatzlwurm, Squiggles. “You hear that? Your name’s now gonna be Squiggles. Do you like it?” 

All Rainbow could hear from it was a low and tame growl. She didn’t need to understand him to know that he probably already liked it. When it came to Fluttershy, even the most ferocious animals can appear cute. At least Fluttershy was happy. That was good enough for her.

But as much as she wanted to see Fluttershy continue to smile, she had to break up the mood. “Fluttershy.” Her tone was serious, which made Fluttershy stop petting Squiggles and looked at her. “There’s something else I have to talk to you about. It’s about Strike.” Fluttershy’s full attention was caught now. She and Rainbow sat down to converse. “Did you notice the things that Strike was saying when he was attacking us? Why he was attacking us?”

Fluttershy nodded. “Yes…” She looked to Rainbow’s stomach. “He never wanted to do this job. And he was blaming X for everything that happened to him, and took it out on us.”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah. But the things he was saying… it sounded like he was part of something much bigger than just a group of three. He said Clang was the one who brought X in, and made a mockery of him and his comrades.”

Fluttershy’s ears dropped. “Then… does that mean there are more ponies out there like Strike out to get us?”

“Well, to get me,” Rainbow corrected with a wave of a hoof. Then she placed the hoof to her chin. “I don’t know. But there is something else. The last thing I heard Strike say. It sounded like he called out somepony else, and by name.” She looked at Fluttershy directly. “That name he called, was Jenkel.” Fluttershy’s breath stopped. “And even though he was attacking us to get back at X, it sounded like whoever this pony was, he hated more than even her.”

Rainbow now notice that Fluttershy had practically frozen on the spot. It looked like she was holding her breath out of utter shock. Shortly after, Fluttershy asked. “D-Did you say... Jenkel?”

With a confused look, Rainbow simply responded. “Yeah…?” Fluttershy’s eye shrunk to pea-size in a surprised state. She fell on her rump, shaking very subtly. “Fluttershy?” Rainbow called, wondering why she was acting like this. After a long moment of silence, Fluttershy was able to answer.

“I… know that name.”

Rainbow blinked in shock. “What?”

Fluttershy’s single pupil was pulsating. She looked scared. Rainbow leaned in slightly, waiting for an answer, and shortly got it. “Jenkel… he’s an animal hunter. A-A-A pretty infamous one.” There was a pause as Fluttershy had to take a few deep breaths.

“He traveled to many different parts of Equestria’s hunting grounds, hunting as many animals as he could. The reasons for why he would hunt for them isn’t clear. Most times when ponies hunt, it’s to feed their pets. But nopony knew of any that he had. All they knew was that when he hunts for them, he keeps their hides. Big, small, it didn’t seem to matter to him.”

Rainbow decided to ask. “Do you know what he looks like?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “Sorry. I only heard about him through articles when I was still just a filly. It’s been a long time since I heard about him. The reason he was infamous to me was because, he’s been hunting more animals than anypony else has been at the time. But nopony can do anything about it because, he never goes above the limit that a single pony can hunt for a season. But he always seemed to go to the maximum limit.” She paused to sigh. “And whenever he reached that limit, he would move to another part of Equestria, and sometimes even go outside of it, just to find more hunting grounds, until the next hunting season when he can do it all over again.”

Fluttershy finished by closing her eye in calm sadness. It was just another one of those things she’s learned to accept about wild animals outside her reach. “In short, a lot of animals all over Equestria have suffered because of him. It’s been so long since I read that last article. I haven’t heard about him since. And you said Strike said his name?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said with a nod. “And like I said, it sounded like he hated Jenkel more than X. Why?” She asked that last ‘why’ in a way like she already knew the answer, and wanted to know if Fluttershy knew. Fluttershy put a hoof to her chin.

“If they’re a part of something bigger than just their group of three, it’s possible that Jenkel could be X’s boss?” Rainbow nodded. Fluttershy however wasn’t so sure of that answer. “I don’t know. Their current job sounds like the opposite of what Jenkel would do. One thing that they kept saying was that they wanted to capture you alive, and not to harm anypony if possible. But Strike wanted to go against that, and blame it on X. Why would he hate Jenkel for that?”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes and answered. “Probably because he’s the reason Strike’s in the same group as X."

Fluttershy’s eye widened for a moment. “Oh yeah. X wanted to do a job that Strike and Clang didn’t want to do…”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes towards her stomach. “He also said something about X's fear not being real. Thinking we were trying to do the same thing to throw him off.”

Fluttershy closed her eye and responded. “But I know that’s not true.” Hearing that made Rainbow blink as she looked up. “I know that X’s fear is very real.”

“How?” Rainbow asked. “I mean, usually when you’re as scared as we’ve seen her be, you run away from what’s scaring you. But X? She… kinda does the exact opposite… or something.”

Fluttershy slowly opened her eye, not very confident looking. “I’m not sure what it means, but… have you been hearing X talking in her sleep?” No response. “She’s been talking about her sister. She was begging her sister not to do something, because she was scared.” Her eye turned down towards Squiggles. “I don’t know what it was, but hearing how she talks about it, and the look that I see in her eyes, I know… that her fear is very real. And it has something to do with her sister.” 

A long pause followed. There was one other thing she remembered from last night. But it was something she didn't want to repeat. The words, 'Don't save me' really terrified her at what it implied about X. With that thought, Fluttershy finished with... “I hope I can ask her what happened.”

A low and gentle growl came from Squiggles. Fluttershy looked towards his bandage and started petting his head. From the looks of it, he was ready to start moving again. But before she could say anything about that, Rainbow responded, releasing a slow breath before doing so.

“One thing at a time, Fluttershy. Before we do anything else, we’re taking X straight to Twilight for questions.”

Fluttershy’s ears dropped. Hesitantly, she asked. “Do you still think Twilight is involved in all of this?”

Rainbow slowly turned her head away, then stared at the ground off the side of Squiggles. She answered with a not so happy, “Yes. I still do.”

Fluttershy frowned. “But why? After everything we talked about, I still don’t see why she would want any of this.”

Silence followed for a long moment. Rainbow didn’t turn her head as she answered. “Nopony came looking for us..." Fluttershy released a questioning hum after Rainbow said that. More silence followed. "That fire yesterday, it was really big. Big enough to see from Ponyville. And nopony came looking for us." She then looked at Fluttershy sternly, to which Fluttershy stumbled back. "It’s like you said. Twilight didn’t check up on us after she tried turning me back to normal. Twilight didn't come here and check on the fire. There's no way she couldn't have seen that. Why hasn't she come to us?" Nothing but stutters could escape from Fluttershy's mouth. There wasn't an explanation she could think of. "Just like you, she had plenty of time to check on either one of us, and didn’t."

Fluttershy felt like her bandaged eye just got poked from the inside. Just when she thought there was no reason to suspect Twilight anymore, Rainbow just pummeled her with a huge reason as to why. And what's worse, the guilt of hearing 'just like you' from Rainbow Dash was unbearable. It was like she was no better than Twilight. 

“I-I’m sorry," Fluttershy started. "There was just so many things happening, and… I was more worried about you at the time. You took Scootaloo and ran away into the Everfree Forest. I had to find you. Then you were hurt, so I had to get you treated.” Her ears fell. “And most importantly, you looked very sad and lost. All I could focus on was cheering you up, and finding a way to get your memory back.”

Rainbow closed her eyes and sighed. “I know…” She then looked to Fluttershy. “Thanks to you, I do have my memory back. And I can’t thank you enough. You really had my back there.” Her eyes tilted to the side. “Eeeven if the methods were uncool and embarrassing.”

Fluttershy gasped, then shrunk her head backwards and blushed deeply. She already learned that Rainbow still remembered all of their moments clearly. Now Rainbow was bringing it up and she really didn’t know what to say. If there was a time to change the subject, she wanted it now. But before she could find that chance, she felt Rainbow place a hoof gently on her shoulder. When she looked, Rainbow asked.

“Hey? Nopony else knows about those times, right?” It took Fluttershy a moment to think. And as she thought, her embarrassment settled down. Every time Rainbow was taken outside, she was covered up to hide not only her look, but also her animal-like behavior. And any of those times she really acted like an adorable pet, they had been alone.

“No.” Fluttershy answered with a confident shake of her head. Rainbow smiled.

“Then everything’s okay.” Rainbow then openly hugged Fluttershy. Fluttershy was hugging back with a bright smile. She could feel X jiggling inside Rainbow’s stomach. For a moment, this hug felt really nice. But then her face started flushing red again. Did this mean Rainbow was okay with everything they did as long as it was kept private? Would she be okay with being treated like a pet again? They soon broke the hug. Fluttershy wanted to ask, but then noticed the collar Rainbow was still wearing. Before she could ask, Rainbow continued with a different subject.

“So is Squiggles ready to start moving again?” As much as Fluttershy wanted to answer ‘no’ so that they could keep talking, they had talked long enough. There were more important matters right now. More than ever, she wanted to get back to Twilight and clear up these reasons for why Rainbow was suspecting her.

“Yes,” Fluttershy answered with a nodded. She turned to Squiggles’ direction and lowered herself to pat his head.

“Good,” Rainbow responded. “Ponyville should be a few hours that way.” She was pointing a hoof to the right of where Squiggles was facing. Fluttershy lightly tugged on his scales and directed him to said direction. “No more delays. We’ve put this off for way too long.” With a roar, Squiggles began squirming in said direction with Rainbow and Fluttershy in tow, giving a much smoother ride this time. “Once we get to Ponyville, we are going straight to the castle for Twilight. No ‘if’s’, ‘and’s’, or ‘but’s’ about it!”

And then… Fluttershy’s stomach growled.
> Chapter 52: Twilight?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was about an hour left till midnight. Rainbow and Fluttershy still didn’t feel very sleepy since waking up during sunset. It was just like Rainbow said. Their sleep schedule was gonna be out of whack for a while. They hoped to get that fixed soon.

But they were currently busy with something else. Well, it wasn’t just the fact that they were traveling on Squiggles to get back to Ponyville. While they were traveling, Fluttershy requested something odd. Rainbow had one of her tongues extended out of her mouth. It was wrapped around one of Fluttershy’s forelegs, who was lightly tugging on it. The more she tried tugging, the more nervous she looked, and the less Rainbow wanted to go through with this. In the end, she spoke up.

“Listen Fluttershy, I don’t think you should be doing this.”

“Ooh…” Fluttershy whined. “Please Rainbow. I won’t be scared.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” Rainbow responded while Fluttershy was still holding her tongue. “I know I said I’d let you study my body, but I don’t think you should be doing anything strenuous right now.” Her eyes were focusing on the leaf and vines covering Fluttershy's left eye.

Fluttershy sighed with her ears drooping. “Okay…” she said defeated. What she wanted to do was test how much strength each of Rainbow’s individual tongues had. But the part that Rainbow was worried about was Fluttershy unnecessarily straining herself after the serious injury she had. So instead, Fluttershy just let it go so it could return to Rainbow’s mouth.

Fluttershy carefully walked closer to Rainbow and said. “Keep your mouth open and settled.” Rainbow did as requested. Although it was night, the moon was casting enough light for Fluttershy to see what she needed. But when she looked, her ears fell flat at the fear of being swallowed. It was hard to believe that an entire pony could fit through this, and that X was still currently down there. Biting her nerves, Fluttershy pressed on.

She saw that two of Rainbow’s tongues were sticking to the upper-left and upper-right corners of her mouth, behind her teeth. Her last tongue, the one with the knot, stuck to the bottom like a regular pony’s tongue. But that knot was nearly blocking her throat.

“Oh my… Do you ever almost choke on that knot?”

Rainbow just hummed, “Mmm, mmm,” and shook her head.

“Hmm… Stick it out again?” Rainbow did so. Carefully, Fluttershy poked at the knot. It squished, but no wince came from Rainbow. “It doesn’t hurt any-...” Her voice suddenly trailed off for a second. Then she repeated herself. “It doesn’t hurt anymore, does it?” And then she let it go.

“No,” Rainbow answered. Then she looked down and thought. “But I remember how bad it hurt that first day. Clang can really punch.”

Fluttershy nearly blanked with her thoughts, then asked. “Does that knot… ever get in the way?”

“At first it did, but I got used to it. So no. Not anymore.” Rainbow then noticed that Fluttershy wasn’t exactly paying attention to her half the time.

“Aaand… does it ever feel uncomfortable?”

At this point, it felt like some very pointless questions, especially if Fluttershy wasn’t paying attention. “Fluttershy? Are you okay?”

Fluttershy didn’t notice the question. She was currently thinking about the time when Rainbow stuck her tongues in a lake. When she first saw that, she was thinking Rainbow could drink through her tongues or something, until she saw that Rainbow was just cupping her tongues together for the water.

But when Fluttershy had a better look at Rainbow’s knotted tongue, she was thinking that could’ve been a possibility again. At least, that’s what she was hoping for. For some reason, there were multiple nerve-looking lines near the tip of Rainbow’s tongue, not visible from a distance. This could've been the result of Rainbow's tongue being in a knot for so long. And if that was the case, this worried her. After all, it was only the knotted tongue that she saw the hole in.

“Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked again. This time, Fluttershy heard.

“Huh?”

“Are you okay? You kinda zoned out there.”

“Oh…” Fluttershy wanted to shake her head, but didn’t want to cause more injury to her eye. So she just blinked. “Does that knot ever feel uncomfortable?”

“You asked that already, and I said no.”

Fluttershy frowned. “S-Sorry… There’s just so many things that I’ve been wondering and want to know. And I just don’t know when, or how to ask them.”

Rainbow didn’t respond to that. It looked like she was okay with that answer, but she just went silent and still. This wasn’t the response Fluttershy expected. With Rainbow just looking at her, Fluttershy nervously thought about what to ask next. Again, she almost asked about the tongue again. But if Rainbow said it didn't feel uncomfortable or painful, then she didn't have to worry about it.

It was then that their ride suddenly started getting very rough. Rainbow and Fluttershy had to brace their hooves against Squiggles’ scales while Fluttershy settled him down with gentle taps. Ponyville would soon be in view. Whatever Fluttershy was gonna ask, it would probably be the last thing she could ask right now.

“Um… H-How is X right now?” she asked.

“Still asleep,” Rainbow answered.

“Still?” Fluttershy asked a little surprised. “But it’s already been over twenty-four hours. Has she ever woken up?”

Rainbow shook her head. “But I was thinking, if what you said about her fear is true, then I’d say she probably has a lot of trouble sleeping. So she was probably very tired, and we didn’t know.” She looked down to her stomach as well. “Come to think of it, I wonder if she had any chance to sleep at all during the two days she had me caged.”

Fluttershy cringed at that. It was definitely a possibility. “And…” She hesitated as she thought about this next question. “What about how she… tasted?” Confusion filled Rainbow’s eyes as she looked up. “I-I mean… I remember that one of the reasons tatzlponies are more attracted to those they see as friendly... is because they taste better. And I remember when you swallowed Clang… he tasted awful to you. What about X?”

A light gasp escaped Rainbow. After placing a hoof under her chin, she responded. “Huh… I never thought about that.”

Fluttershy blinked. “Thought?”

“Well…” Rainbow took a moment to explain. “You’re right. When it comes to ponies I like, they did taste better. Ponies I hated tasted terrible. But X?” There was a pause. “She just tasted… normal…”

Another puzzled look from Fluttershy. “Normal? What do you mean?”

Rainbow tapped her chin a few times. “Normal like… like when you bite your own because you’re nervous. What you taste there, that’s how X tasted.”

Fluttershy understood what Rainbow meant. But the answer itself still made no sense to her. “But… why would that be? When you swallowed her yesterday, you sounded really… really…” Her question halted as she saw that it was suddenly getting harder to see. It looked like Rainbow noticed it too because she turned her attention to the direction Squiggles was going.

“Mist?” Fluttershy asked. That’s what it looked like to her. And it was getting thicker the more they traveled. She signaled Squiggles to move a little slower, and so he did. The mist was getting thick enough to the point they could barely see the trees in their path.

“Ponyville’s just up ahead though…” Rainbow said softly. They both looked to each other with worried expressions. Squiggles didn’t seem too affected by this. He was still able to navigate around the trees like normal. It didn’t take long until no more trees were visible. But that was because they had reached the end of the forest. When they realized this, Fluttershy had Squiggles come to a complete stop. Squiggles raised his head up high, allowing him, along with Rainbow and Fluttershy to get a good look off in the distance.

“What happened to Ponyville?” Fluttershy asked. All of Ponyville appeared to be shrouded in a thick mist. Almost nothing was visible from this distance. They could barely see the silhouettes of its buildings.

“How long has it been since I was turned into a tatzlpony?” Rainbow asked as she looked to Fluttershy.

“Um…” Fluttershy looked down and thought. “Twelve days.”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes then looked to Ponyville. “Fog…” she answered.

“Hmm?” Fluttershy questioned.

“This is what happens when the clouds in the skies are left alone. They get too heavy and fall to the ground, spreading all this fog.” Rainbow turned to Fluttershy. “I was scheduled to clear those clouds out about twelve days ago, like you said. I could never do that.”

Fluttershy’s mouth and ears dropped in regret. She remembered that during Rainbow’s memory loss and before they went to the Everfree Forest, she wanted to see if Rainbow remembered how to clear the skies. But just like returning to Twilight, there were other priorities at the time.

“But I don’t understand,” Fluttershy started as she looked to Rainbow Dash. “What about the rest of the weather team? Couldn’t they have cleared them out before they fell?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow answered. “If they were instructed to.” She then looked down towards Ponyville. “I wasn’t around. So I couldn’t tell them that I wouldn’t be taking care of it. Usually if I can’t, Twilight can lead those who can.”

Fluttershy looked around for a moment, looking to the left, then right, only seeing fog every which way. “How come she didn’t?” Rainbow didn’t turn around. She just kept her stern expression directed at Ponyville, more specifically towards the castle. That was when Fluttershy realized, making her heart sink.

“Let’s go ask her ourselves.” Rainbow spoke in a low and commanding tone. Fluttershy shuddered while Rainbow pointed a hoof out towards Ponyville. She then looked to Fluttershy. “The castle is over there. Let’s get going.”

With a heavy heart, Fluttershy nodded. Looking down, she gave Squiggles a signal with a tap of her hoof. Squiggles responded by raising his headed higher, releasing a mighty roar before he went to move again.

”AHH!!! MONSTER!!!” Fluttershy gasped and pulled Squiggles’ scales to signal him to halt. He obliged quickly. ”EVERYPONY RUN!!!” In the distance, they heard only a few quick movements being silenced by doors shutting. It was then they realized they might’ve just made a mistake.

“Oh…” Rainbow spoke up as she looked to Fluttershy with concern. “Maaaybe we shouldn’t bring Squiggles down there. He’ll scare the daylights out of everypony.”

Fluttershy’s ears fell. “Oh dear…” Squiggles had tilted his eyes towards her with a concerning growl. She went and signaled him to slowly lower his head down to the ground so that they could jump off him safely. Rainbow was able to jump off him without a hassle, being sure to keep her right hind hoof off the ground when landing. As for Fluttershy, she started off by gently sliding down Squiggles’ scales. But when she got to the ground, Rainbow used her body to halt her fall.

Fluttershy blushed sheepishly at the sight of her suddenly looking like she was riding Rainbow Dash again. Almost quickly, she looked away and hopped off. She looked to the ground with a quick and silent sigh of relief, then took notice of Squiggles looking down at them. He was looking at them with confusion and concern which made Fluttershy a little sad. When she reached a hoof out to him, he lowered his head a little more, allowing Fluttershy to pet his maw, slowly reaching further to his head. The sound of his gleeful purrs made Fluttershy smile for a moment.

“Come on, Fluttershy,” Rainbow said, breaking the mood. Fluttershy’s smile faded as she saw Rainbow taking a step towards Ponyville, waiting for Fluttershy to join her. But for some reason, Fluttershy didn’t want to join her yet. Looking off in the distance was very unsettling for her. They were going to go straight to Twilight, and they were gonna get their questions answered. Why was this so unsettling for her?

Fluttershy just didn’t know why. But the more she looked towards Ponyville in this deep mist, the more frightening it felt to her. She began visibly shivering to the point Rainbow could even hear it.

“Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked as she looked to Fluttershy. “What’s wrong?” More shivering continued, even with Squiggles gently nuzzling her mane. She even stepped back and sat down, letting her mane hide one of her eyes. Or in this case, her mane hid the eye that was bandaged up.

“Oh Rainbow…” Fluttershy began. The fear in her voice was very clear. “I don’t know about this…” It was like the day she first moved into Ponyville, back when she could barely get two words said to ponies she didn’t know.

“Come on, Fluttershy,” Rainbow said. “We have to go down there. We need to get to Twilight for answers.”

“I know Rainbow. I know…” Fluttershy responded. “It’s just… Rainbow… this is Twilight we’re talking about.” She looked to Rainbow as sternly as she could. “She’s our friend, but ever since she’s been brought up, you’ve been very convinced that she’s involved in a bad way. And no matter what, I don’t want to believe that.”

Fluttershy stood up and continued. “I know once we get to her, we’ll have our answers. But… it’s just…” Her shivering continued. “I have a really bad feeling about this. And I’m really scared to find out. On one hoof, if you are right, and Twilight really is involved in all of this, I just don’t know what I’ll say or do. It… it would be too heartbreaking for me to hear that she’s the reason why all of this has happened to us. Why you're a tatzlpony now. Why we've been attacked like this. Why my eye is now...”

Rainbow’s face went concerned as Fluttershy looked down and continued. “I’m really hoping you’re wrong about that. But on the other hoof, if you are wrong and Twilight isn’t involved in this at all, then…” Her train of thought was lost and she went silent for a moment. She shook her head and grunted. “No matter which one it is, I just get the feeling that something really, really bad is going to happen. Something even worse than what’s happened to us already.” Hearing that made Rainbow take a moment’s glance towards Ponyville, eyes quivering, yet determined.

“But Fluttershy,” Rainbow started. “We can’t keep waiting around. If we don't go down there now, we'll just waste more time that we can stay together."

Fluttershy slowly looked down and closed her eye. “I know…” 

Rainbow saw that she was trying to be strong, but her shivering made it clear that she wasn’t very confident in what they were getting themselves into. Looking back to Squiggles, Rainbow asked. “You think we should bring Squiggles with us anyway?”

Fluttershy lightly gasped and opened her eye, looking to Squiggles as well. He was just sitting there, patiently waiting for whatever Fluttershy would tell him to do. “Hmm…” she pondered. “Maybe. But not like this.” Confusion sat on Rainbow’s mind as Fluttershy walked up to him. When Fluttershy raised her hoof, he lowered his maw again for Fluttershy to pat. “We should go without him. But we should have a way to call him in case either of us get into trouble. Not just me, but both of us should have a way to call him.”

Rainbow smiled at the idea and walked to Fluttershy. “Gotcha. But what sort of signal should we use?”

“Well… can you whistle?” Fluttershy asked.

A chuckle escaped Rainbow. “Yeah!”

“How loud?”

When Fluttershy asked that, Rainbow’s smile turned into a confident smirk. She extended her wings and moved both of her wing tips in front of her. Fluttershy gasped when she saw Rainbow taking a massively deep breath. Just before she blew into her wingtips, Fluttershy quickly placed a hoof into Rainbow’s mouth, squeezing her eye in the process.

What was probably about to be an ear piercing screech of a whistle suddenly turned into a massive fart sound covered in a lot of spit and saliva, all which drenched Fluttershy’s hoof. Some of it splattered into her face, or at least her mane covering her face. With her teeth gritting, she held on until Rainbow stopped blowing, then looked at her sheepishly.

“Um… I-I’ll take that as… really really really loud.”

Rainbow just scrunched her eyes, completely unamused. Fluttershy removed her hoof from Rainbow's mouth with an audible pop. A quick examine of her hoof told her practically how loud that whistle would’ve been. Squiggles would definitely hear that even a mile away.

As Fluttershy brought her attention back to Squiggles, Rainbow just looked back off towards Ponyville. She decided to test out her wings again with some flaps. If her feathers were restored, she’d be able to blow away this mist. But as they were, she could barely blow what was directly in front of her. And she could forget about flying. It was too much effort keeping herself airborne, let alone focusing on where she was flying combined with her injured leg crying out for pain.

A loud crash sounded behind Rainbow which she noticed was Squiggles burying himself underground. Fluttershy came up to her. “He’ll stay nearby for now. I also told him not to eat anypony here if we ever have to call him.”

Rainbow nodded. “That's good. We don't need what happened to Strike to happen to everypony else.”

Fluttershy gulped nervously at that. She took a few more seconds to breathe before taking that first step towards Ponyville. Once she did, Rainbow joined her and stuck very close to her side.

___

A few minutes had passed and neither of them had really said anything since they started walking. Nopony else in Ponyville seemed to be outside either. Not even the sounds of other hoofsteps or voices could be heard. That was probably due to the fact that it was midnight, and that roar earlier scared the rest to hide themselves in their homes. Needless to say, it was very quiet.

This alone time left Fluttershy back to her own thoughts again. There were still many things she wanted to ask Rainbow, especially when it came to her tatzlpony body. But the main thing that was sticking to Fluttershy’s mind right now was from her continuous rumbling stomach. Even after she ate those eggs, she was really hungry. But as hungry as she was, her own hunger wasn’t what was on her mind right now.

Rainbow Dash had gone longer than her without eating anything. If she was remembering correctly, the last food that Rainbow ate were those giant onions. But that was two days ago. Yet, every time food was brought up, Rainbow was far more concerned for Fluttershy’s hunger. And even stranger, Rainbow never showed any signs of being hungry at all, not even hearing a stomach rumble.

This really confused Fluttershy. Didn’t she conclude that tatzlponies had very big appetites? She witnessed it first hoof on multiple occasions that Rainbow could eat a lot as a tatzlpony. Although Rainbow was always a pretty big eater, she never saw Rainbow, or anypony capable of eating like a tatzlpony could. So why didn’t Rainbow look hungry yet?

Fluttershy looked down. Maybe this just meant that while tatzlponies could indeed eat a lot at once, they could also go for days without needing to eat. Either that, or maybe it had something to do with X being in her stomach right now. This made Fluttershy squeeze her eye and make her ears drop. If it was that, the implication would not sit well with her. She really hoped it was her former theory. 

Fluttershy then felt something warm and comforting wrap around her. It was Rainbow’s wing, who was giving her a concerned look, but not saying anything. This made Fluttershy blush in embarrassment, but it was also doing a great job at calming her nerves. She had to remember that Rainbow had her memories back and knew what she was doing. If there was anything bad happening to X, Rainbow would know.

That was when the other question stumbled upon Fluttershy. If Rainbow had her memories back, then why was she continuing to suspect Twilight as much as she had? And then, Fluttershy gasped.

“Twilight…” she said, then looked her surroundings over.

“Hmm?” Rainbow questioned. Fluttershy seemed to be looking behind them as they walked. But when Rainbow looked, she didn’t see anything. All she saw was the mist.

“Rainbow,” Fluttershy asked as she looked to her with wide eyes. “When that fire was happening in the Everfree Forest, didn’t you say it was big enough for anypony to see in Ponyville?” 

When Fluttershy said that, Rainbow’s eyes slowly widened in shock as she realized where Fluttershy was getting at. She looked her surroundings over again, noticing that the best she could see was the occasional silhouette of buildings they were passing by. Nopony could’ve seen that fire through this mist.

Rainbow’s breath sighed out in shock. That was one of the reasons that convinced her of Twilight being involved in this. Twilight… She repeated her name in her mind. What was she doing? Did something happen to Ponyville while they were gone?

The silhouette of the castle soon came into view. Both Rainbow and Fluttershy looked up to it as they approached. Fluttershy was quivering more frantically than ever. She felt Rainbow’s wing hold her tighter the closer they got. When they reached the door, they stopped.

From what they could see so far, there was nothing unusual of note yet. They looked to each other for a second, then back at the door, each taking a deep breath. Fluttershy continued to hold onto hope that there was some kind of misunderstanding. And Rainbow Dash, just wanted answers. Without hesitation, she opened the door.

“Twilight!” Rainbow called out as they entered. Fluttershy followed closely behind, leaving behind the mist that shrouded their vision. As they entered, they closed the door behind them, and everything was visible again. “Twilight? Where are you?!” Silence. Only silence followed. They looked at each other again questioningly before moving again.

“Hello?!” Fluttershy called out. “Is anypony here?!” Nothing. They continued traveling the halls. Despite being midnight, the crystal walls shimmered with the light they needed to see as they approached. So it wasn’t dark, but it was definitely ominously silent. “This is just like when X and Strike tried coming here in X's story. They couldn’t find her either.”

Rainbow snorted in frustration. She was really tired of things not going their way. If she could still fly, she would be searching all of Ponyville right now just to find Twilight if she had to. But right now, this was all they could search. And then, a light bulb turned on in her mind as they approached one of the doors in the hall.

“In there,” Rainbow said. Fluttershy looked to see that it was a door leading to the kitchen.

“You think Twilight’s in there?” Fluttershy asked.

“No,” Rainbow answered as she looked to Fluttershy, focusing on the bandage on her left eye. “But while we’re here, we should at least replace our bandages with more comfortable ones.”

Fluttershy looked to the vine wrapped around Rainbow’s right hind hoof, then placed a hoof to the leaf that was over her left eye. She nodded. So together, they entered the kitchen.

___

Home sweet home. That was the best way they could describe this feeling right now after being in the Everfree Forest for so long. At least, that’s how Fluttershy felt. The first aid kits that they had in the kitchen held all of the supplies they needed and more to treat their injuries. She continued spraying the smaller scrapes and bruises that decorated her body, along with wiping off all the dirt. They didn’t realize how dirty they were before coming in.

“Ahh. Here we go.” Fluttershy’s attention was brought to Rainbow after hearing her speak. She was holding something in her hoof, but Fluttershy was more curious on something else.

“What are you wearing?” Fluttershy asked. Rainbow hummed for a second, then looked to her wings and spread them. There was something black covering them whole.

“Oh these? They’re wing latexes. Weather pegasi sometimes use them to protect their wings during heavy thunderstorms.”

“Really?” Fluttershy asked. “But I thought pegasi used a suit for that for their whole body. And… I don’t think I’ve ever seen you use one of those.”

Rainbow spat her chuckle out. “Yeah. That’s because wearing them makes it harder to fly. The only reason I’m using them now is because... until my feathers grow back, I can't fly without them.” It didn't answer why the latex Rainbow had were wings only, but it was all she got.

Fluttershy noticed that Rainbow already replaced on her right hind hoof with gauze. Looks like she was already able to put weight on it again. And it was nice to hear that Rainbow found a solution to her current inability to fly. Of course, like she said, her feathers would eventually grow back, so this was just something she’d use until then.

But when Fluttershy noticed what Rainbow was carrying, her heart sank. It was a black eye patch. The sight of it felt crushing to her very soul. Hesitantly, she reached her hooves to the vines that were tied to the back of her head and slowly untied them. Rainbow moved closer to her to help her remove that leaf carefully. As it was taken off, Rainbow slid the eye patch over it, making sure the strap wrapped firmly behind Fluttershy’s head.

During the whole process, Fluttershy didn’t feel anything with her eye at all. But that’s what made the feeling so devastating. She kept her hoof on the eye patch for a while, trying to get some sort of feeling on her damaged eye. But not even pain registered. Only the soreness on her face surrounding it registered.

Fluttershy turned to a mirror to look at herself, slowly removing her hoof from the eye patch in the process. The sight was downright depressing to her. Her lips quivered and tears began welling up in her right eye. No tears were coming out of her left eye at all. She had to cope with the fact that she was probably never gonna see out of that eye again. All she could do was close her right eye and sob while her tears freely dropped to the floor. Rainbow came up behind her and gently wrapped a hoof around her back.

“Sorry Fluttershy,” Rainbow said softly. “If I had just been faster, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

“N-No…” Fluttershy shook her head and sniffed. “It was my fault. You… You told me to leave. The only reason I got hurt was because I didn’t listen.”

Rainbow turned her eyes to the side. “Well… yeah, but I would’ve been a goner had you left.”

Fluttershy sniffed again. “You’re just saying that…” A blink of confusion came from Rainbow Dash, followed by a short moment of silence. Before she could respond, Fluttershy continued. “If I could survive that blast, there’s no reason why you wouldn’t have.”

“I still would’ve been hurt pretty bad,” Rainbow responded. But it didn’t seem to convince Fluttershy. She looked to Rainbow with her tear-filled eye.

“You had a plan to avoid that, didn’t you?” Fluttershy asked, but her tone sounded convinced that it was true. “That was why you told me to leave. And because I didn’t trust you...” She paused and turned her eye back towards the ground. Her heart became heavier as her regret continued to grow. “If I had just trusted you, this wouldn’t have happened. A lot of things that have happened to us wouldn’t have happened. Including you being trapped under that tree in the first place…”

Rainbow snorted in frustration, unable to think of a proper response. Fluttershy was doing it again, filling her mind with all sorts of regrets that made her believe everything was her fault. Nothing was her fault. The only one at fault was…

Rainbow suddenly picked Fluttershy up and started flying. “Twilight!” she yelled. The sudden flight caught Fluttershy by surprise and made her yelp. “Twilight! Where are you?!” They were taken out of the kitchen and flew through the halls. It wasn’t as fast as Rainbow normally moved even while carrying Fluttershy around, but it was definitely flying. Those latex wings were already proving useful.

It took a moment to recover from her shock, but Fluttershy noticed that Rainbow was taking them both to the room where the map was. She was hoping to find Twilight there, or at least a note of some kind. But when she slammed the door open… “Twi-” Her voice halted and she stopped just inside, hovering in the air with Fluttershy still in her hooves. When Fluttershy looked, she was just as confused.

“Oh my… It’s so dark in here,” Fluttershy said as Rainbow was placing her down.

“Yeah…” Rainbow responded. They walked together looking around the room. The crystal walls weren’t casting much light like they did with the rest of the castle. “And what happened to the map? It’s usually glowing bright enough to light up the whole room.”

“Oh dear… Nothing happened to it, did it?” Fluttershy asked. From here, they couldn’t really tell.

“Come on. Let’s take a closer look.”

Rainbow and Fluttershy walked up to their Cutie Marked seats, which was convenient for them as they were right next to each other. No walls seemed to be broken, nor any sort of debris near the map. So they had no clue as to why it wasn’t glowing. When they reached their seats, Rainbow hovered up to hers and plopped herself down. Then, Fluttershy carefully took her seat. 

All of a sudden, Fluttershy's seat began to glow.

“Wha-?!” Fluttershy yelped as it glowed very brightly.

“What the?” Rainbow yelped too. Shortly hers began glowing just as brightly. Then their bodies began to glow. And finally, all the other seats along with the map glowed. The light was so bright that it was practically blinding. They both had to squeeze their eyes shut and cry out from all this sudden light. After some time, the light started dimming. It dimmed enough for Rainbow and Fluttershy to re-open their eyes. Both of them responded in kind.

“Huh?”

The map was now glowing like normal, and the rest of the room had regained its light. That was odd. But not as odd as what they were seeing on the map right now.

“Our… Cutie Marks?” Rainbow responded in disbelief.

“B-But that means the map is calling us,” Fluttershy responded in just as much disbelief. “It’s calling us now?!” 

“Wait…” Rainbow held out her hoof. “If it is, look at where it’s calling us to.” They took a closer look at where exactly their floating Cutie Marks were hovering. “It’s Ponyville… at the castle…”

They looked at each other for a moment then back at the map. “But we’re already here…" Fluttershy commented.  "And there doesn’t seem to be anypony around. Why would it be calling us?”

Rainbow’s eyes glanced around and caught attention of something else unusual. In the corner of her eyes, she saw something she didn’t notice earlier. It was faint, but the ground looked like it was resonating a light mist. She took a more thorough look around, trying to see if she could find the source of where it was coming from. Fluttershy noticed Rainbow looking along the ground, making her curious as she looked down and saw the mist.

“Over there,” Rainbow said. Fluttershy looked to where Rainbow was looking towards. There was another door behind them. And from the looks of its bottom gaps, the mist seemed to be coming from whatever was behind that door. They walked up to it together and proceeded to open it. 

As soon as the door opened, large puffs of mist blew out of it. Rainbow had to cover her face with her wings while Fluttershy used her hooves. That amount caught them by surprise.

“Help me blow this fog away.” Rainbow said as she started flapping her wings.  Fluttershy complied. Each flap of their wings pushed back more and more of that mist. Overtime, the room became clearer to see, but only in nearby areas. It was a pretty big room though. And whatever was causing that mist was surely in here somewhere. So all they could do was remove whatever was near them as they moved. They began seeing some odd things. There was some broken debris near the center of them room.

“Oh my…” Fluttershy said. “Did something break? What happened here?”

As Fluttershy inspected the debris, Rainbow looked up, trying to see if she could find where the debris came from. She decided to fly up towards the ceiling for a better look. Meanwhile, Fluttershy noticed something ahead of the debris. The floor further up had a very odd pattern of dust all going in one direction. She slowly followed that trail, halting the flap of her wings as she did so that the dust wouldn’t blow away yet. For some reason, her heart ached even more, giving her a terrible feeling. 

Rainbow found what she was looking for, but found more than she thought she would. There were pieces on the ceiling that were chipped off. But they were in multiple areas, and no signs for what chipped them off. Before she could check how wide it spread, a very loud gasp sounded.

“Fluttershy?!” Rainbow immediately turned her attention to where she heard it. No response came from Fluttershy. The mist made it too difficult to see, so Rainbow decided to move to Fluttershy’s location. When she got closer, she heard Fluttershy’s stuttering breaths.

“Did you find something, Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked again, but still no response. Eventually, Fluttershy did come into view, but something else also came into view which made Rainbow’s eyes go wide in response. She landed next to Fluttershy as they examined it together. 

The grounds in this area was filled with huge magical burn scars. It felt like there was a faint wind blowing from the scar’s source. They took a short glance at each other, both exchanging concerned faces, then looked back to the source and started fanning the area with their wings. As the source became more visible, their shock heightened. It heightened to levels they didn’t even know it was capable of rising without them fainting on the spot. What they saw was indeed the source of where that mist was coming from. No doubt about it. Many, many questions filled their minds, but there was only one that Fluttershy wanted to know immediately.

“R-Rainbow…” she started carefully. “D-Do you s-still think that Twilight is involved in all of this?” There was silence for a moment. Rainbow had to take a moment to process what she was seeing. She managed to answer.

“No… Not anymore.” Rainbow looked to Fluttershy, no longer sporting that convinced expression. Now it was a terrifyingly worried one. “I think… she’s a victim just like us…”

In front of them was a hole in the wall, a giant, massive hole with deep magical burn scars decorating its entire circle. The hole led outside the castle, which was how all that mist was getting inside. Whatever caused this hole was definitely some kind of powerful magical blast, like the ones they saw from Strike when he was attacking them. But this one was a lot bigger, and probably a lot more powerful. 

They both stared at this hole for about a full minute, pondering and worrying about what this all meant. For Fluttershy, it was terrifying. But for Rainbow, it was her last straw, the last nail she needed. Twilight wasn't here, but she was still gonna get her answers right now. With a new serious look, Rainbow turned to Fluttershy, and spoke.

“Fluttershy, get this collar off me.”
> Chapter 53: Jenkal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“...”

“...”

“...”

“And that’s all?” Clang finally responded. Without waiting for a response, he turned away and faced towards the door in the opposite direction. “No problem. But since I haven’t heard from X or Strike in a while, I’m gonna have to take some time to prepare backup.”

Silence followed for a while. It lasted until Strike took a few steps towards the door. Another voice spoke out slowly, keeping pressure on each word. “Before you go... tell me.” There was a pause. “Tell me... what you know about her.” Clang stopped in his tracks. “About X...”

Clang decided not to leave just yet and responded. “Now why are you asking me that, Jenkel? Before this operation started, you’ve been talking with her for weeks. Possibly even months by now.”

Jenkel responded with the same slow tone. “Which is exactly why I’m asking you.” Clang turned his head and raised an eyebrow at that. “You know better than anypony that she doesn’t talk much. After all. You are the reason she’s in your group in the first place.”

Clang released a deep chuckle. “If you’re implying I’ve got shackles chained to her, you’re wrong. Despite how hard this may seem to understand, she was the leader of our group. Everything she did was of her own free will. Including meeting you, and all those weeks you two talked. We have no control over what she does. She does her own thing."

Jenkal’s eyes closed slowly, staying silent for a long moment. A deep breath could be heard before the next words were spoken. “On the day I first met her, I saw deep scars covering her body. Very. Deep. Scars.”

Clang turned around as he released a gasp inside. “What…?” He responded quietly.

“These scars that I saw? I can only describe them as fatal. Something that she shouldn’t have survived. Yet, she was still alive and breathing. Do you know why she had them?”

Clang’s eyes shifted to the side in shock. “No. That’s not possible. Nopony has ever been able to…” He interrupted himself. Something else came to his mind. “When was the first day that you saw her?”

The question was ignored. Only Jenkal’s response came with the same serious pressure in each word. “I want to know her past.”

___

“Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy yelped when she heard her name shouted. “Wha?”

“I said get this collar off me!” Rainbow shouted again.

“S-Sorry!” Fluttershy said with a frantic shake of her head, then quickly walked over to get to Rainbow’s neck. Rainbow tilted her head up so Fluttershy could undo its lock. Once it was released, the collar split open, allowing Fluttershy to hold it in her hoof until Rainbow took it in hers.

“Okay. Do we have a leash for this thing?”

Fluttershy was about to say ‘yes’, but remembered their bag was lost. However… “No. But I did keep one in one of the rooms here. I can run and get it.”

“Do it,” Rainbow answered. Fluttershy quickly left to fetch one. After Fluttershy left, Rainbow proceeded to take a glance at the hole in the wall, then the rest of the room. She started flapping her wings to start clearing this fog out.

Fluttershy continued rushing to one of the guest rooms, feeling some of that soreness that her body still had. So much for not doing anything strenuous for a while. But she knew exactly why Rainbow wanted her to get a leash. What surprised her was Rainbow’s sudden acknowledgement of the collar. It confirmed that she knew she was wearing it the whole time and was completely fine with it.

No time to think on that now. Fluttershy made it to one of the guest rooms. It held most things relating to animal care, such as basket beds, feeders, and of course, leashes in one of the closets, which she went to. She grabbed a black one from the closet, locked the collar onto it, then grabbed it with her mouth and started running back.

By the time she got back, Rainbow had blown away a good portion of the fog that was covering the hole in the room. More fog would eventually come back to cover it up again, but for the time being, things were clearly visible near it.

“Okay, Fluttershy, stand-” Rainbow paused as she was looking to Fluttershy. It was a strange and awkward silence which Fluttershy could only respond to with a questioning expression.

Rainbow noticed that Fluttershy was covering her eye with her mane again. Or at least, her eye patch. She wondered if Fluttershy even noticed she was doing that. But before getting too distracted over it, Rainbow shook her head and continued. “Stand over there,” she said and pointed to the wall. Fluttershy moved to where she needed to be. “Ready?” After wrapping the leash around her hoof with the collar held tightly in both her hooves, Fluttershy nodded. And then she gulped nervously, knowing what she was about to witness.

Rainbow began. First, she began hacking and exhaling her breaths very forcefully out of her. Then she sucked in her breath deeply, and reached down her throat with her three tongues. Fluttershy gritted her teeth as she saw the tongues poke along the insides of Rainbow’s stomach. The sight made her have cringey flashbacks from when she saw that happening to X’s stomach. Her eye wanted to squeeze itself shut so badly. Her own stomach started getting very upset again.

Rainbow’s stomach began shrinking quickly while the bulge started getting forced up her throat. The panicked muffles came quick, along with the thrashing. Now all the pokes were running along Rainbow’s neck, terrifying Fluttershy even more. At that point, she decided it would be better to keep her gaze to her side rather than in Rainbow’s direction. Although, it didn’t help that she could still hear everything. Once Rainbow opened her mouth, the muffling turned to cries of fear. 

X’s head was the first to be released. Her eyes were squeezed shut. The rest of her body was mostly wrapped around Rainbow’s tongues, completely binding her wings while she was being pulled out. When she was about halfway released, her whole body popped out instantly, causing saliva to splash out. 

Fluttershy was only able to pay attention just enough to see X get shoved to the wall. Rainbow’s tongue immediately unwrapped itself. The stun from the impact was the time Fluttershy needed to quickly slip the collar around X’s neck the moment Rainbow unwrapped her tongues. As soon as she snapped the lock on, X tried to bolt. With the leash wrapped around her hoof, Fluttershy’s body thrusted in X’s direction, but she was able to hold her ground, causing X to stop quickly and fall with her back to the ground. Her saliva covered body soaked her surroundings.

With a shrill panic in her voice, X tried to get up, but found her head with no room to move due to the leash. That was when her struggles settled for a moment. Her eyes looked down while her hooves reached for her neck, feeling the collar that was keeping her trapped in place. A cyan hoof stepped in her vision. Slowly looking up while shivering intensely, she saw that it was Rainbow Dash with a mean scowl on her face.

Rainbow noticed that X still had the bandage on her right forehoof, soaked, but still holding firm. After that scene just now, it looked like her hoof was no longer in pain. She also still had the Alpine Flower in her mouth. And there was nothing showing her health having concerns. It made Rainbow realize that all that concern she had earlier was practically for nothing. Irritated, but she decided to start with what she was really here about.

“Spill it, X,” Rainbow began. “When I dragged you here, I was gonna use you to find out how the princess was involved in all this. But when we got here…” She paused as she pointed behind X. “Take a look.”

X stared with gritted teeth for a moment before following her gaze to Rainbow’s direction. Behind her, she saw Fluttershy gripping the leash that was keeping her in place. But her eyes shrunk when she saw the huge hole behind Fluttershy. The deep mist outside and the burnt marks surrounding the hole only deepened her surprise.

“T-This is the… c-castle?” X asked as she slowly rolled herself over to her stomach.

“You told us you tried finding her here before,” Rainbow continued. “But you couldn’t find her. When you were looking, you didn’t find anything like this?!”

As X looked up at the massive hole, her head constantly shivered as she answered. “N-N-Nooo…” She was gasping for breath at the sight. And then, Rainbow stepped closer towards her ear.

“Was anypony else coming to visit her that day?” Rainbow said harshly. X jumped in fright, causing saliva to spray off her body. She turned her head while gasping as she tried putting some distance away from Rainbow, but her neck was caught by the leash. Her struggles to pull away was stopped by Fluttershy’s struggles to hold her ground while keeping hold of the leash.

“W-What?” X said during the struggles.

Rainbow just watched X’s struggles and continued. “Before we made it back, we ran into Strike.” She reached under her wing and pulled out something that she was carrying. “When we found him, he was banged up. A huge wreck that I’ve never seen before in my life. And just as much, he was furious.”

X was squeezing her eyes tightly during her struggle. Fluttershy had some difficulties, but was able to keep her ground. Every so often, X would manage an inch or two, but Fluttershy would bring her back into place. During the struggle, Rainbow dropped the broken piece of a brace in front of them, the same one she stepped on earlier. 

“He was wearing something around his body, something that looked like it was powering his horn, but hurting his body. He tried to do away with us using this, and then blame it on you!” X opened her eyes and then suddenly stopped struggling when she saw the device. Fluttershy sighed in relief.

“We barely got outta there alive. He was saying a lot of things while he was attacking us. He said that he was supposed to be the leader of your group, but you stole it away from him. And what’s more? It sounded like he was talking about a group that was more than just you three. A group that you’re all a part of.”

X shakily moved closer to the brace that Rainbow set down in front of them. The sight of it made her eyes shrink further. “S-Strike?” she asked. Then she looked up to Rainbow. “W-W-What happened to him…?”

Fluttershy gasped softly at the question. Rainbow wasn’t answering right away. And every second of silence that came made her stomach churn very uncomfortably.

“Like I said,” Rainbow finally began answering. “He tried to do away with us and we barely made it out alive. Remember that tatzlwurm we were riding on?” X’s ears fell at the pause. “Let's just say, it decided to have a little snack after saving us.” And right on cue, Fluttershy’s stomach rumbled harshly enough to make her audibly groan. She had to lie down and hold her stomach for a moment. It didn’t go unnoticed by Rainbow Dash.

“O-Oh…” X responded. Her eyes turned back down to the brace. She repeated in a more drawn out tone. “O-O-Oohhh…” As she drew that out, her shivering slowed to a stop.

Rainbow looked to X. She then looked to Fluttershy, then back to X again. There was then another stomach growl. This one sounded like it came from X, who was too absorbed in the revelation to respond to it. With a sigh, Rainbow started walking to Fluttershy. The fog was starting to shroud the area again, so this wasn’t too big a deal.

“We’ll continue this in the kitchen. We can all grab a bite there.” Fluttershy looked up when Rainbow reached her and was holding a hoof out to her. She grabbed it and allowed Rainbow to help her up. At the same time, Rainbow took the leash out of her hoof, leaving her free to keep pressure on her stomach as she stood. 

Rainbow began walking out. When X felt the tug on her collar, she resisted for a moment. Before she was taken too far, X reached out and managed to grab the brace. Fluttershy noticed this and saw her tuck it underneath her wing while she was being dragged.

___

Rainbow had to drag X the whole way to the kitchen. Even now, her body was still dripping with saliva, leaving quite the trail along the floor for the entire way. When they got there, Rainbow went to one of the cabinets in the kitchen after X was forced to a corner. X whimpered at her predicament. She tried to find a way to remove the collar off her neck. But nothing worked, not even trying to split it open. And with Rainbow holding the leash firmly, there was no way to escape this corner without being dragged back to it.

X’s attempts to remove the collar was halted when a towel was dropped in front of her. “Dry yourself off if you want,” Rainbow said. Normally, she just used her own tongues to scrape off the excess saliva that covered her victims. She didn’t feel like doing that this time. While waiting, Fluttershy walked over to Rainbow.

“I can take care of the cooking myself,” Fluttershy said.

“You sure?” Rainbow said while turning her eyes. Fluttershy just nodded and got started. The last thing Rainbow saw was Fluttershy turning on one of the stoves before redirecting her attention to X. X was just staring at the towel, not even making an attempt to grab it. Not bothering to wait, Rainbow decided to start.

“Alright, X. Here’s the deal. The princess here? Her name is Twilight. Twilight Sparkle.” Rainbow pointed a hoof towards the kitchen exit. “As you saw earlier, she isn’t here. Instead, we found a hole that could’ve only been caused by some powerful magic. And I’d say the magic that Strike threw at us? Thanks to that weird brace thing he was wearing, he showed us a magic that was-”

“C-Cylinder…” X interrupted hesitantly. When Rainbow stopped speaking, X winced back. Rainbow stepped forward.

“What?” she asked. X looked away and continued.

“T-That’s what he ca-alled it. A cylinder.” Her eyes turned down to her wing. “I’ve… never seen him use it… because he said it could do too much damage to his body. B-But he always to-ok it with him… i-if things ever took a de-esperate turn.”

X went silent and continued trying to pull off her collar again. As they listened, Fluttershy continued preparing the kitchen for what they were gonna eat. She was placing some ingredients in a mixing bowl while Rainbow continued with the interrogation.

“As I was saying, that power he showed us was just the kind of power that could create a hole like that. I don’t think it was him, but what he said makes me believe this.” Rainbow jabbed a hoof in X’s direction, making her flinch. “Somepony from your group came here and attacked Twilight while we were gone. And they probably wanted to catch her for the same reason you guys have been trying to catch me.” She stomped forward. “Now unless you want us to come to that conclusion, I suggest you start talking now. Who… are you guys?!”

To say X was backed into a corner would be too literal. In the end, she gave up trying to pull the collar off and stared at the leash, eyes pulsating. Her eyes turned to Rainbow Dash, then Fluttershy, who was now mixing something, and then the towel on the floor. She released a sad sigh then stepped forward.

“O-kay…” X said. She slowly walked on top of the towel. As she was laying herself down on it, she continued. “The princesses… t-they watch over Equestri-ia to keep order and peace for u-us all. They are powerful… but Equestria is a bi-ig place. Not even their eyes... can find its smaller problems.”

Rainbow was narrowing her eyes. This was just sounding like everything they already knew. She was more interested in hearing Fluttershy cutting up some food behind her right now. X started rubbing the side of her face along the towel before continuing.

“I-If too many small problems are left u-unchecked… Equestria could collapse one by one. T-To stop this… Princess Celestia… put together a group of agents from her su-ubjects… not from her Royal Guards. They watch over diffe-erent towns… solve their issues… or a-alert the princesses if needed…”

Rainbow was getting irritated. She had a feeling she knew exactly what X was about to say, and was sure it was nothing but lies. X continued.

“We…” Rainbow was sure she felt a pause there. “...a-are not those agents…” When X finished that sentence, Rainbow’s fury halted in her tracks. Her own body felt as if it just stopped itself right in front of a finish line.

“...What?” was all Rainbow could ask. X was burying her face in the towel, not even picking it up to dry her face off. When she was done, she looked back up and continued.

“We are the ones that they rejected…” That was when Fluttershy was taken aback. She nearly dropped the plates she was carrying to place on the tables. “The ones w-who passed their tests better than expected… but were rejected by Princess Ce-elestia herself…”

After that response, X’s story didn’t sound so far-fetched anymore. Rainbow was curious now. “Why?” she asked. Although, she might’ve had a good feeling as to why. Except X answered with this.

“This was… before my t-time…” X looked up and continued. “A-After we were rejected… we formed our own group and s-spread ourselves across Eque-estria… to solve the smaller problems that arise in our own way. We look for ponies who n-need help… and offer our service to the-em.” Her eyes began wandering at her surroundings. It looked like she was breathing frantically at the sight of the place.

“B-But as much as we don’t like how we were reje-ected… we don’t want to cause her a-any trouble. We don’t want to o-oppose her. So any job that involves causing trouble for her... o-or any of the princesses… we avoid.” X’s eyes caught sight of Fluttershy flipping something constantly with a spatula. At this point, she became curious as to what Fluttershy was cooking. But her view was blocked when Rainbow Dash stepped in front of her.

“So what you’re saying is, nopony from your little group would’ve caused that hole, huh?” 

X’s head shifted back, then turned towards the door that led back to the halls. “T-They don’t even have that kind of power…”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed. “What about with that cylinder you were just talking about? You said you never saw him use it, but if he was desperate enough to, surely somepony else would be too. Especially if they were going after Twilight.”

X’s eyes went back to the ground. “He was t-the only who had something like that. Everypony believed that i-if he was ever going to use it… it would be on me…”

Rainbow Dash thought for a moment. It seemed like X was fully aware of just how much Strike hated her. Yet despite that, she put up with it all. Maybe because of the fear that X was always expressing? Fluttershy still believed it was very real. Speaking of which, Rainbow Dash stepped closer to reveal a very important question. She asked it in a very dark tone.

“What about Jenkel?”

Fluttershy was in the middle of chopping something into multiple pieces when she stopped after hearing that question. It gave her chills hearing that name again, but she had to know what X had to say about him.

X’s eyes went deeply wide. Her attention shifted straight to Rainbow Dash before she started hyperventilating very frantically while backing further away into her corner. Every breath she took made it sound like she was suffocating while her eyes nearly went all white from how tiny her pupils shrunk. She was backing herself away so hard, it was like she was attempting to go through the wall.

Rainbow and Fluttershy were taken aback by this response. The amount of fear X was expressing was more intense than anything they've seen from her before. It was like if all those other fears that X was expressing turned out to be fake like Strike claimed, this one had to be real. In the middle of all that shaking, X asked.

“W-W-Wher-re… d-did you h-h-hear tha-at na-a-a-ame…?!” Her eyes stayed focused on Rainbow Dash the whole time. Rainbow just wondered why she would react so hugely to that name. This had to be important.

“It was the last thing we heard from Strike,” Rainbow responded. “The last thing I heard him say before he got eaten. And even though he attacked us to get back at you, it sounded like he hated this Jenkel more than you. Any idea why?”

X was still breathing heavily. Her eyes glanced over towards Fluttershy for a moment, who was currently filling up some cups. That was when she finally noticed what was underneath that mane lock. “T-That eye patch… h-h-how did that happe-en?” she asked.

Rainbow blinked in confusion. Why was this important now? “It happened because of Strike when he attacked us. Didn’t you hear?”

X was continuing to take a few glances towards Fluttershy as she held her shocked gaze on Rainbow. “I-It really was… because of him?” She asked that as if there was another possibility.

“Yes, it was…” Rainbow responded. After that, X’s tension seemed to settle down a little. This was really confusing for Rainbow Dash. She wondered what that was all about. All she knew was that it had to have something to do with Jenkel. So she pushed the question, flaring her wings as she continued.

“Tell us! Jenkel was the last name he managed to get out. He clearly hated you, But whoever this Jenkal is, it sounded like he hated him, more than he hated you. If you ask me? It’s probably because he’s the reason Strike got stuck with you.”

Rainbow walked closer and got within inches to X’s face with a glare. “Strike and Clang were saying you were the leader of their group. But if Strike could ruin your position with the way he acted out, that must mean there’s somepony above your position. That somepony must be your boss, Jenkel. Am I right?”

X was backing her face away with her eyes closed due to how close Rainbow was. A few seconds passed with no response. She eventually opened her eyes to see that Rainbow hadn’t backed off. While still shivering, she noticed Fluttershy halting with her rolling pin to listen to X’s answer. After releasing a sad sigh, X finally answered.

“Y-Yes… it’s true…” A long pause passed as X slowly opened her eyes while staring at the floor. “Jenkal… is the reason why we-e’re on this job in the first place… because… she’s not just our boss…”

Fluttershy gasped at what X’s just described. “S-She?” she asked. And Rainbow’s eyes just went wide from the realization. X finished the question.

“She’s… our Client…”

Fluttershy dropped the rolling pin she was using, gasping for breath. This sudden revelation made Rainbow back away from X as her eyes turned to Fluttershy.

“Jenkal is…” Rainbow stammered. “But I thought… Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy wasn’t sure how to respond. She was sure those articles referred to Jenkal as a stallion, not a mare. How was this possible? Was the Client really the same Jenkal that she read about?

“N-Not only that…” X suddenly continued. “But it’s also possible… t-that she was the cause of that g-giant hole…” Now Rainbow gasped and quickly turned back to X. “E-Ever since we messed up our fi-irst plan… we haven’t heard a w-word from her. Our job was supposed to be simple… and not cause a scene for a-anypony in Ponyville.”

X paused to take a few desperate breaths. “I remember… there was an e-explosion we heard… soon after we followed you in the forest. I t-think I now know where it came from. It must’ve been here in the castle…”

Rainbow opened her mouth to stop X there, but then stopped herself from saying anything. If she remembered what X told them earlier, she knew exactly what that explosion actually was. She decided not to say anything about it yet to see what X had to say about her theory.

“I don’t understa-and why it sounded like it came from inside the forest. But… we lost contact with Clang ri-ight after it sounded. So that must’ve been what ha-appened…” X’s ears fell flat. “But why though?” She looked down and away. “I thought she didn’t want a-anything to do with the princess. She asked me to return that book so they wouldn’t have to meet…”

Rainbow blinked. There was the mention of that book again. Before she could say anything, X continued some more. “Something must’ve happened a-after we lost contact. S-She must’ve went to meet the princess. And then…” 

X squeezed her eyes and her shivering intensified. Rainbow hummed in thought. While X’s theory did have a gaping hole in it, there was one thing she needed to know. “So you believe that giant hole was caused by your Client. But how? Does she really have that kind of magic?”

At this point, Fluttershy realized she stopped paying attention to her cooking. She yelped and rushed back to the ovens, microwaves, and whatever else before X’s vision was blocked by Rainbow Dash again. X winced then continued.

“I was… almost at the rece-eiving end of it.”

Rainbow had to contemplate that for a moment. “Receiving end of…” she whispered, then spoke up. “You mean she attacked you?”

X didn’t answer and instead responded with something else. “It… goes back to the day we first met…” She closed her eyes and kept them closed. While they were still closed, she continued. “A-And the reason… why I took the job… when Clang and Strike didn’t want to…”

With her eyes still closed, X looked up like she was in deep thought. Rainbow didn’t say anything. It looked like X was about to tell the story of her first meeting with this Client. This, she had to hear. So she sat down and listened, while X retold her meeting.

___

It was a pretty hot day today. The sun was currently set at its peak by this time. There were still a few clouds left in the skies, as well as many pegasi who were behind their schedules of clearing them out. X… was not one of those pegasi. She was instead a pegasus who awkwardly tried to fly in between the paths they were working.

X turned one way and yelped as a group of pegasi flew past her. She turned another way, only to find a cloud in her path. One pegasus was in the middle of flying over to remove it. Before they did, X yelped and immediately flew towards the ground. The cloud had a short fuse upon being hit. All she heard was a loud zap followed by some yelling.

X was sweating and panting, not because of what just happened or because she was currently shaking in fright, but rather because she was exhausted after all her flying today. This wasn’t her destination, but she needed some rest before continuing. When she landed, she practically collapsed on the floor and panted heavily for a few seconds, slapping her wings to her sides.

As much as X wanted to just rest where she laid, the sun was too hot on her coat. She stood herself up with wobbly legs. The weight of the bag she was carrying felt like it increased ten times. Her eyes scanned the area for any type of shade she could find. Unfortunately, with all the clouds being removed, there weren’t many options.

The closest option X found was a park bench with a single tree covering it. Somepony else was sitting there and reading something, but there was more than enough space for a second pony. Although her body was exhausted, she practically rushed frantically towards that bench, looking every which direction her surroundings covered. She was there within seconds and plopped herself down on her stomach. If anypony had been watching, they wouldn’t have been able to tell she was exhausted. Even the sweat made it look like she was just sweating out of fear.

But after reaching the bench, X’s frightful manner started to calm down. She hesitantly sat herself up and was able to set her bag down. Reaching inside, she pulled out a water container which had a straw in it. With all her shivering, even when she was calm, she practically needed a straw to drink anything without making a mess. 

“You’re awfully frightened. Are you late for something?” X’s drinking froze on the spot. The pony next to her suddenly spoke up. She didn’t know it at the time, but this pony would be her future Client, Jenkal. What made X freeze like that wasn’t because of her speaking, but rather her tone, or lack thereof. Jenkal didn’t even react when X rushed and plopped herself on the bench the way she did.

“No… that can’t be it. You wouldn’t be taking your time right now if you were…” Jenkal wasn’t even looking at X. Her eyes were still on the book as she continued talking. “But the fear you’re expressing… is very strong… and very active.” That was when she closed the book she was reading. For some reason, her horn had been glowing the whole time, and it still didn’t stop. 

“What could be ailing you so?” Before X could have a chance to respond, Jenkal suddenly looked to her direction. She winced and scooted back a little. “Your fear seems directed at me, but your eyes say otherwise. They’re so active… so focused on its surroundings. Most ponies who express the fear you do would be too scared to even move. But you… don’t look that at all…”

Jenkal closed her eyes as she started putting her book away using only her magic. She also had a bag with her. Even after the book was put away, her horn still glowed. Despite the fear, X was very curious about that. 

“Is it just a show?” Jenkal took a closer look at X after asking that. X went back to sipping her water container, easing some of her shaking. “Not much of a talker I see. But that’s fine.” She looked away from X and continued talking. “The emotions I’m feeling from you seem very real. But unlike everypony else, there’s no attempt to hide it. There’s nothing holding that fear back.”

The more Jenkal talked, the more curious X got. She hadn’t spoken a word yet, but Jenkal already understood her more than anypony else ever did. After getting her fill, X put away her water container and continued listening.

“However… I can’t tell what is causing all that fear. Perhaps…” Jenkal turned back to X with her horn glowing brighter. X gasped silently. “Perhaps I can learn with a little glimpse. All I need is just a few seconds of your time…”

Jenkal’s horn was directed at X. X started shaking more. As Jenkal closed in with her horn, X winced back further and turned her head away. Her eyes kept focus on Jenkal’s horn. She saw occasional small flashes coming from it. Nothing seemed to be coming out of it though. Just some flashes.

But suddenly, the last flash audibly sparked and caused her horn to dim tremendously. X noticed a suppressed gasp coming from Jenkal. Her horn violently sparked again causing her to wince and back away. She was suddenly breathing very heavily, looking just as scared as X did now. And X could swear she was hearing Jenkal’s heartbeat somehow.

“Ahh! Aaahhh! AAAAHHH!” Jenkal harshly cried out as her horn suddenly glowed very brightly. X’s eyes went wide at this sudden display. It looked like Jenkal was in a lot of pain. She tried reaching into her own bag. But just as it was unzipped, her horn sparked more violently than before, causing her to yelp as her body and bag collapsed to the floor.

“St-Stay-y-y… C-C-CALM! A-AHHH!” Jenkal screamed out. This was the first time her voice showed any emotion. Her bag dropped a few of its contents as it fell, and Jenkal was trying to reach for them. But it was in X’s direction. The sight of X caused her horn to glow further. It glowed so brightly Jenkal could almost no longer be seen from it. X shook harder from this display. Whatever Jenkal was trying to supress, it looked like it was something big. Something huge and powerful. And it would be released at any second.

Without a moment’s notice, X dived for one of the contents that was dropped out of Jenkal’s bag. The one she picked up looked like a syringe. She took that, quickly uncapped it, and struck it on the side of Jenkal’s neck, squeezing her eyes in the process.

From the point of Jenkal’s screaming, all this happened in no more than twelve seconds. Whatever was inside that syringe, the injection could be audibly heard. But it wasn’t as audible as Jenkal’s groan through gritting teeth while she was being injected. The glow from her horn dimmed as the contents emptied. 

When the injection sound stopped, it was replaced by heavy panting from Jenkal. A small peak from X’s eye revealed that Jenkal had a lot of sweat coming from her forehead. After Jenkal reached for the syringe, X quickly let it go and backed away to avoid contact. Jenkal kept the syringe in place as she looked to X with a surprised expression, or at least as much of a surprise as she could muster.

“How…” Jenkal asked. Her voice was back to its toneless tone. “You don’t even know anything about me, yet you were able to guess what I needed with no time to even think.” In the middle of her shaking, X just turned away with a frown. After a moment of silence, she slowly moved back to the bench, not wanting to say anything. She didn’t know how, but she had a feeling that she was somehow responsible for Jenkal’s sudden response there. Yet despite this, Jenkal joined X back at the opposite end of the bench after putting away her syringe with her magic.

“My body…” Jenkal continued. “It suffers from a terrible illness that continuous to tear itself apart. It is an illness that I have suffered ever since I was born. What you just witnessed was one of the terrible effects that I could cause if I don’t keep it in check.”

X’s ear twitched. She looked back to Jenkal in curiosity while Jenkal continued. “If you had waited even a second longer, you would’ve been on the receiving end of all that magic…” Jenkal took a deep breath and looked down. “Stay calm. Stay calm. That’s all I have to do to keep that magic in check. But the pain that my body suffers makes it difficult.”

Jenkal’s eyes turned to her bag. “There's no telling what could've happened if that was released. The last time I couldn’t keep my magic in check…” She went silent for quite a moment. X could swear there was a sudden glint of emotion Jenkal couldn’t suppress. “I’ve spent all my life searching for a way to cure this illness I have. What you just gave me was only a temporary treatment. The only thing that has allowed me to keep going for all this time.” Her eyes turned to X again. “How much longer can I hold this up? I don’t know. But I have to keep going. No matter what…”

X had been watching and listening to Jenkal closely despite the fear she was showing. Every word that Jenkal spoke had been toneless, and her expression completely emotionless. It was like there was no soul in her at all. But to X, it was also clear just how much she was suppressing those emotions. She could tell how difficult it was. If she could, Jenkal would allow herself to show exactly how she was feeling at all times. 

The thing X couldn’t tell was what Jenkal would do if she could express those emotions so freely. But it sounded like it was what she wanted more than anything else. X reached into her bag to pull something out for Jenkal to see. It was a flier that listed a few details about who X was and what her job was, as well as a location for contact. From this, Jenkal could see that X was asking if she needed the type of help that involved dangerous tasks, even if it involved detainment.

Jenkal read through it carefully before responding. “So your name is X? Is that your real name? Or just a nickname or something?” X just looked away, not answering. Seeing that she wasn’t gonna answer, Jenkal continued. “After all this time, I may have finally found a way to end this suffering. But I wasn’t sure how I would manage it. With this help… maybe I can.”

More silence followed after this with just Jenkal and X looking at each other. Nothing more was being said. With how long this interaction was, X had been able to rest long enough to continue on to where she was going. Although, she did think about staying for a little longer. At the time, she still didn't even get Jenkal's name. But in the end, she decided to hesitantly remove herself from the bench. Jenkal put the flier away in her bag with her magic. As she brought her book back out, she spoke once more in her toneless voice.

“It was nice talking with you, X. I do hope I can talk with you again.”

___

X finished her tale of the first time she ever met her Client. Rainbow was quite shocked from what X said about the Client's condition and unstable magic. It sounded just like what she remembered from the Spellcaster and the Journalist. Could it really be that the Journalist, the Spellcaster, and the Client were all the same pony? She also noticed that X never described how her Client looked like, but that was probably on purpose. There was also one other thing odd that she noticed about X's tale. So she decided to ask.

“Okay. But you never mentioned where you were trying to go before you met your Client. Something else you’re trying to hide?”

X gasped a little. “Oh… N-No, um…” She paused for a moment to go over her words. “W-We were… I-I wasn’t really going a-anywhere…” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at this, causing X to continue. “The whole p-point of my travel… was to look for potential Clients who could use our s-service. Once I tra-aveled enough, I would go back, w-whether I found one or not.”

It was then that a loud rumble sounded from X’s stomach. She visibly cringed from it too. Rainbow was satisfied with the answer X gave, and X told them quite a lot now. This would be a better time than any for a little break.

“Alright. We’ll stop right now so we can eat.” As Rainbow said that, one last dish was heard being set down on the table. “Is our food ready, Fluttershy?” She asked as she turned around. But when she did, her eyes went wide in complete silence. X’s view was no longer being blocked by Rainbow Dash, so she was able to get a look at the spread that Fluttershy made.

X's surprised yelp was so loud, it could be heard echoing throughout the entire castle several of times.
> Chapter 54: Nora
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was like a Gong Bell sound had resonated across the atmosphere after the revelation of the food Fluttershy prepared. Rainbow wasn’t expecting what she saw, but could believe it. X however couldn’t fathom how this was possible. She swore both the table and the room just grew twice or possibly three times the size in order to fit this spread.

The spread that Fluttershy prepared consisted of tomato soup, salads, diced fruit mixes, apple fritters with apple cinnamon crisps with a basket of apples to the side, four oat burgers and hay burgers each with a mountain of horseshoe shaped fries to the side, a strawberry gelatin that was in the shape of the Crystal Castle, onions on a stick, a cupcake tower, two giant pizzas with one having mushroom and tomato toppings while the other had broccoli and cupcakes, chili peppers with hot sauce dippings, sandwiches varying with cheese, cucumbers, or daisies in them, chocolate donuts connected together like a necklace, and in the center of it all was a giant four layer cake with pony shaped chocolate candy bars surrounding each layer like candles, the very top being a crown shape.

The entire table was laid out like a buffet at a party in Canterlot’s Castle. X couldn’t begin to question how this was possible. And she wanted to know. Fortunately, Rainbow started speaking after what felt like a two minute silence in the room.

“Whoa. Nice going, Fluttershy. I didn’t even know Twilight had this much food on her.”

Fluttershy smiled and looked away. “Well… she didn’t actually.”

“Then how did-” 

“Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy interrupted.

“Ahh.”

X blinked and looked towards the duo in confusion. Nothing they said answered how Fluttershy managed to make all this in such a short time. She wanted to ask, but the words just wouldn’t form in her mouth.

“I never learned what X liked, so I thought I’d make a few choices.” It looked like X wanted so badly to scream, ‘A few?!’, but all that came out was a squeak. “It’s a good thing Pinkie loves to keep a lot of emergency supplies everywhere.”

“You’re telling me,” Rainbow replied. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she knew we’d be here looking for food.” She and Fluttershy glanced over at X, witnessing just how desperately her eyes were scanning the food. They knew that she probably hadn’t eaten for days, but she looked like she was practically trying to stop her mouth from salivating. The Alpine in her mouth dropped without her registering it. Looking back to each other, they nodded and turned back to X.

“So X? You get to pick first,” Rainbow started. “Choose whichever you like.” She then dropped the leash she was holding. X’s eyes darted to it in shock as it hit the ground. They turned to Rainbow, then to Fluttershy, then to the door leading outside the kitchen. At least, she tried to, but all that food sitting in the table was blocking the view.

Instead of trying to escape, X walked towards the food. She literally had to jump on the table and walk around it to scan which one she would try first. Maybe it was hunger, but it looked like X hadn’t seen food like this in forever… maybe even never…

The more X looked around, the more her eyes lit up. Eventually, she stopped in front of the two pizzas that were laid out, switching her eyes between them both. Her eyes turned to the door, then back towards the pizza. They could see her eyes close as she visibly tried to stop shaking, taking in the scent of the pizza. All she could do was sweat as her hooves took her towards the one with mushroom and tomato toppings. Sweat formed on her face the moment her snout took a whiff of the steam coming out of it. She bent down and took her first bite, pupils slowly enlarging in delight. Her body even stopped shaking entirely. Cheese stretched out even from the crust as she pulled back to enjoy her first bite. But the moment it disappeared in her mouth, reality bashed its presence to her.

Rainbow and Fluttershy had swiftly begun digging into the spread, causing food to fly everywhere. X could barely see the blurs when Rainbow suddenly landed next to her. “Better dig in before it’s all gone!” she said as she chomped through the pizza that X barely took a bite of, cutting it in half with a noticeable amount just gone in a flash. Whether surprised or noticing how fast the food was fading, X swallowed and quickly joined in.

Fluttershy was taking quick and large bites out of one of the hay burgers while Rainbow swept by and crammed the other three in her mouth, munching them fast before swallowing them. Rainbow darted into the cupcake tower and sent them flying. Both Fluttershy and X had to catch the falling cupcakes to have their share and ate them. They both then jumped into the Crystal Castle shaped gelatin and bit through as much as they could before Rainbow used her tongues to pry the castle from off the table, knocking X and Fluttershy off, and ate the whole thing like it was a monster attacking the city.

At this point, it was practically a race to eat as much as they could before Rainbow got to it. Everything she went to was disappearing quickly, but there were many options to choose from. And then the options were sometimes flung towards them. X had every opportunity to escape right now in the middle of this chaos. But she didn’t. She ate. Fluttershy ate. And Rainbow was cleaning up.

___

The kitchen had transformed into a massive party’s mess when it was over. But instead of confetti everywhere, it was crumbs of food. Food that Rainbow was wiping up with her tongues. Fluttershy and X found themselves both near the center of the table, on their backs, groaning over how full their bellies were. When they both opened their eyes, they found that the giant four layer cake just behind them was still untouched. It was also the only thing left.

Despite how full she was, Fluttershy desperately wanted to reach out for it. She noticed X already trying to do just that. The look in X’s eyes were practically saying that she’s never had food that tasted this good before. It’s no wonder she didn’t try to escape when she had the chance. But it made Fluttershy wonder just what had she gone through in the past.

Before X could make another attempt to reach out for the cake, Rainbow landed in front of it. “You two really let yourselves go. Guess I’ll be taking this!” Rainbow leaped in the air and dove straight to the top of the cake. One bite and an entire layer was gone. Another one caused the next to disappear. And another. There wasn’t even a bulge forming in her mouth. It was like the cake was disappearing the moment it was entering her mouth.

As Rainbow got to the bottom layer, pieces of the cake splatter on to Fluttershy’s and X’s face. Fluttershy wasn’t sure if she could handle another bite. But she thought, maybe one last lick couldn’t hurt. So as she watched what X did, she licked it off her face using only her tongue. X wiped the piece off with a hoof. After taking a small lick, her eyes bulged at the taste. And then she started sucking on her hoof to slurp up the rest, not caring about how full she already was.

Fluttershy could only giggle at their display. Here they were, sprawled on the floor with very full bellies, yet even combined, they only ate a fraction of what Rainbow feasted on. Despite that, Rainbow was-

Fluttershy’s thoughts were interrupted by multiple tongues quickly lathering her body. The mess of food that was covering her body disappeared in seconds. They left her body shivering with her eye stunned and shrunk. It wasn't that she was afraid of them or cold, but rather for that brief moment, those feelings she had for Rainbow Dash returned, then left so quickly. After a moment, one of the tongues came back to her like it was offering itself to help her up. Ignoring the thoughts in her mind, she held a hoof to it and allowed it to lift her up.

“Come on, X,” Rainbow said. “Now that we’re done eating, we’re going to the library.” At some point, Rainbow had already re-attached the collar and its leash to X’s neck. X was already attempting to take it off, but didn’t get much time as Rainbow already began dragging her. It was just as Fluttershy was thinking before her thoughts were interrupted. She and X were sluggish from all the food they ate, yet Rainbow looked no fuller than before they ate.

Fluttershy was trying to ignore her feelings for Rainbow Dash right now. There were much more important matters. One thing was certain on her mind though. When this was all over, she wanted to do whatever it took to figure out just how much a tatzlpony could really eat before they got full, even if she had to bring Pinkie Pie into this. 

And by that, not just use her emergency stash.

___

The group reached the library without much struggle from X this time. But Fluttershy did notice X slowing down upon entering, gazing around the room with her ears down. It seemed this room unsettled X more than the others. Or maybe it was something else.

After coming to the center of the room, Rainbow turned around and began speaking sternly to X. “When you first met your client, you said that she was reading a book. You couldn’t tell us about it because you didn't understand the language. But did your client say anything?” X answered with a shake of her head. “You also said that when you came here to return the book, Clang and Strike didn’t know about it. Did she not want them to know about it?”

X looked down, taking a moment to answer. “I-I don’t know. She-e… just wa-anted me to return i-it.” Looking up, she continued. “I just thought… t-the reason why she asked me-e to do it was because… she… di-idn’t want to be seen… by the princess.”

Rainbow’s eyes tilted to the side, thinking back to that hole in the wall. She didn’t want to think too much on this yet, so her thoughts went back to that book. “So you don’t know anything about it, and you couldn’t understand its language. But you still remember what it looks like, right?”

X’s eyes turned back to Rainbow curiously at that. “You’re… g-going to try and de-ecipher it?”

That was when Fluttershy came up next to X to chime in. “Well, not exactly. If it really is in a different language, we would need Twilight to tell us what it says. But if we have a look at it, maybe we can figure it out in a different way.”

X’s attention shifted to Fluttershy, then Rainbow, then Fluttershy again before turning towards the bookcases. There were hundreds, maybe even thousands of books in this very room. They expected that it would take a while before X could remember exactly where it was that she returned the book. But it didn’t take that long at all. In fact, when she walked towards one section of the bookcases, her eyes scanned the books briefly, then only focused on one. For some reason, her hooves didn’t move to grab the book, so Rainbow had to grab it for her.

“Is this the one?” Fluttershy asked as Rainbow showed it. X nodded her head. So they all looked closely at the book they found. The cover was mostly green with a wavy yet circular pattern. Inside that circle were the words which seemed to title the book. But it was just like X said. It was using a language that was different from what most ponies understood.

Rainbow and Fluttershy looked at each other and nodded. While they couldn’t understand the language either, they still recognized it from somewhere else. They opened the book and turned its pages a few times. The language was something only those who were studying high levels of magic could understand. Twilight knew the language. If she were around, she could tell them what this book was instantly.

But thankfully, most of Twilight’s books also came with picture references. As long as they could understand what these pictures were about, then learning what this book was would be simple.

It took some time though. As they flipped through the pages, they didn’t find many pictures. Most of the ones they did find just seemed to be detailing the unicorn’s horn. Others just showed a full body display in different poses. Their poses sometimes showed different colors of aura surrounding their body. 

However, they eventually started seeing different types of animals which showed these ponies in a similar pose, and an arrow pointing from the ponies to the animals. And once they got to the last few pages, they started showing a single picture of a unicorn per page. They would always be on the right side of the page, while the words were on the left. For the first page, the unicorn held its head down while its horn was glowing. The second page, its tail disappeared. Third page took away its legs. And then its ears. Then body. Every page had its eyes closed with its horn being completely unchanged.

Eventually, even the horn disappeared, and all that was left was the aura. The picture was the exact same for three pages, until the fourth page, where the body came back entirely. But it was not the same. There were now wings on its body, but not pegasus or alicorn wings. In fact, they practically looked like the wings of a dragonfly. Its legs, or rather its hooves have turned into paws. The ears were longer and hairy while its horns had been replaced with antennas, which is where the aura now came from. And the tail… actually looked exactly like Rainbow’s tail right now. A long lizard-like limb with hair standing on its end side, finishing with a fish-like tail with a pointed end.

Rainbow and Fluttershy both looked at each other when they saw this. Their eyes told each other that they were thinking the same thing. “I knew it.” Rainbow said as they turned to X. “This book…” She slid the book towards X for her to see.

Fluttershy finished Rainbow’s line in a regretful tone. “It seems to be a book on transformation spells.” They turned the pages to show more sources of spells being casted and other creatures being displayed afterward. X’s shaking intensified from the sight.

“This… c-can’t be right.” X said. “She t-told me… she to-old us all… she didn’t want a-anything to do with the pri-incess.” She placed a hoof on the book, then said in a softer tone. “Has she... h-has she really been working with her-r from the start?”

With the way X was speaking, it made Fluttershy wonder. “X. You told us that Clang and Strike didn’t want to take this job, but you did. Would you have taken the job if you knew she was working with Twilight?”

X didn’t look away from the book. But she answered with a shake of her head. “We never di-id tell her… but…” There was a pause. She turned towards Rainbow and Fluttershy, then continued. “The last day we saw h-her… she sounded like she-e didn’t want to meet the princess.” Her head turned down. “I-I was so sure…”

It was then that X began telling her tale of the last day she and her team ever saw Jenkal. Fluttershy had questions about why they were so keen on not wanting to be involved with Twilight, but she and Rainbow remained quiet to listen.

“The last thing she-e said that day…”

___

Their meeting with the Client was to be held in a specified location deep in the Everfree Forest. Only X knew where it was at the time. As she was leading, Clang and Strike were arguing. 

“I’m telling you, all of my research describes this forest as being unnatural, packing with predators, and harsh climates far worse than being in the presence of any beast we’ve seen.” Strike said.

“And this is the third time I’ve had to listen to your silly description.” Clang responded. “Yet some ponies are still crazy enough to come here, even if most of them are still scared stiff about it.” He chuckled.

“I don’t care for your amusement. What I DO care is WHY she wants us to meet HERE of all places?!”

“Hey I don’t want to be here either you know.”

“Then why are we continuing with this charade? We should leave now and tell her to meet us on stable grounds.”

“You’re not the one leading this group.” Strike gave off a silent but deep growl. In response, Clang gave a daring smug. “You’re always welcome to prove us wrong though.”

Strike glared daggers at Clang, then at X. The whole time, X had her head held low with her ears dropped, shivering with every step. He wanted to make a remark so bad that his face shook. In the end, he changed the topic. “So you said you’ve met the princess here before?” Clang released a chuckle. “Shut up!”

Clang held back the rest of his chuckle out of pity, He answered. “I have seen her from time to time. Though I’ve never actually talked to her. Wasn’t interested. I can tell you what I know about her.”

“No. I’d rather hear it straight from her. It’s about the only thing I’m looking forward to while waiting for this mission to start.”

“If you’re so interested in learning about our newest princess, why’d you wait until now to meet her?”

Strike glared at Clang. “You know as well as I do why. Our policy. Even though they rejected us, we still vowed to never get involved with their business. Under no obligations are we to make them our enemies.” He paused to smirk. “Which leaves me with the perfect excuse as to why I should meet with her in the first place. Not just because I want to, but if I hear anything about our Client from the princess, working, or being a threat at the current time, I’m stepping out of this mission regardless of what anypony tells me.”

“That’s all well and good,” Clang responded. “But remember. You can’t let her know about what we’re hunting. If you want to see if she knows anything about that creature, she has to be the one to bring it up first. Not you.”

“I know…” Strike grumbled. “But if there is any connection, I’ll find it. Better than trying to listen to HER. Speaking of which, what do you think our Client’s gonna look like?”

Clang grinned. “Well if she’s brave enough to come to a place like this, she’s gotta be hardcore and well built.”

“Are you kidding me?” Strike responded. “If she was that, there’d be no need for our help. And given that she’s asked us in such a discreet location, I think she’ll look like the fragile type who can’t even say her words correctly.”

“You know,” Clang responded. “I wouldn’t be surprised if-”

(”We’re here.”) X said through her mind. Thanks to the power of the ring on Strike’s horn, they both heard it and immediately stopped their conversation. Up ahead, they saw a small patch of flowers. Purple petals, yellow floral disks. They were the Alpine. And standing before them was their client, Jenkal.

Both Clang and Strike sighed. “Nevermind,” they both said disappointingly before they approached. Jenkal wasn’t looking at them. Her attention remained on the flowers.

“Alpines,” Jenkal said softly. “They’re practically my only haven. If-”

“Enough of your babbling,” Strike interrupted with a wave of his hoof. “We came here for a reason, so we’re gonna start with that first.”

Jenkal was displeased, but she responded. “Very well.”

The four of them gathered around the patch of flowers. They bowed their heads close to each other so that Strike could activate the ring on his horn. There was already a link created with him, Clang, and X. And with Jenkal here, they could now add her to the link. With a flash of the ring, the link was created, and the four brought their heads back up.

“Hmm… Not a very subtle line. I can feel its magical presence surrounding me.” Jenkal mentioned.

“Nothing to be concerned about,” Strike responded. “Only those with experience in magic would be able to notice its presence. And even then, they’d have to have very powerful magic to track each source. Of course, breaking the link will remove the trail, but then we’d have to meet up again to recreate the link. So don’t let that happen.” He turned towards the others. “That goes the same for you two as well.”

Clang nodded and added something else. “Not to mention if just one of us breaks the link, they’d have to meet with the rest of us just to reconnect.”

“Exactly.” Strike turned back to Jenkal. “Now, unless you have anything else for us, besides talking, we’ll be leaving. The rest, you can tell us through the ring.” He pointed at his horn as he said that.

There was silence for a few seconds from Jenkal. Then, she closed her eyes and pulled out six flowers from the patch with her magic, giving two to each of them.

“And this is for?” Clang asked.

Jenkal turned away from them and responded. “My only source of comfort. It could be yours as well.”

“Sure, whatever,” Clang said as he turned around to leave, Strike doing the same.

“When you run into trouble, return here,” Jenkal said as she began walking too.

X was in the middle, watching both party’s exchanges. Neither side had been cooperative. And all she was left with was whether to leave with Clang and Strike, or follow Jenkal and listen to her babble. Although that’s what it was to Clang and Strike, X was curious about all the things Jenkal said. She decided to follow Jenkal to listen to more.

“Every day, it’s always the same,” Jenkal started. “I tell my story. It falls on deaf ears. My words can never express the emotions I want to convey.”

The two kept traveling deeper in the forest together. X stayed silent while Jenkal kept speaking. “The illness that I suffer prevents me from being able to share what I feel. The more I feel, the deeper the pain. A pain that I’ve felt for as long as I can remember. Regardless of how long it has been, it has never been any easier to bear.”

Jenkal glanced towards X. “This creature, the one that you’ll be going after, if it is left alone, others will suffer the same illness. Others will feel… will begin to feel the suffering that I have felt for so long. The only difference is, for them exists a cure. A cure that I hoped I had already found. But no. My luck is not so grand. It is a curse that sticks with me even to this day.”

“If the fortune I seek comes true, then this mission will grant it. This creature will be the key that ends my suffering. This is why no harm must come to it once it arrives. And if word gets out, others may either deal with it or get to it before I do. I can’t let that happen. Surely you must understand. The others must too.”

Jenkal’s speech went on and on about the creature she was seeking, about herself, and how her suffering could come to an end if this mission was successful without incident. X never interrupted. She would listen for as long as the words continued, and as far as their walk would take them. The fear of the predators and hostile nature of this forest still remained in her mind, yet neither ever made itself present during this journey. It was like Jenkal knew a path that would hold none of these dangerous elements, despite how deep they were going. Maybe the path they followed to get to the meeting point was the same.

“This creature… perhaps a name is in order for it. I should think about that later.” Hours had passed and the words still came, with none of them coming from X. Clang and Strike probably tried reaching her a few times, but she muted her side of the connection so that she wouldn’t miss any words that Jenkal spoke. When this speech was over, she would unmute the connection and let them know only what they needed to know like they wanted.

“I never thought you’d listen for as long as you have, and without a word to give out yourself. It’s soothing, because I know you’ve been listening. The more you listen, the easier it is to keep myself contained. But you know, it’s strange. When it comes to other ponies, I always wonder how it feels to live like them, to live without having to suffer this illness. But you…”

Jenkal turned around and faced X. “That first day that I met you, I’m sure you remember what happened. What I saw in you was something that really surprised me. It probably surprised me more than anything else I’ve ever experienced. The reaction I had was not a pleasant one. And you prevented what could've been a disaster." She looked away only for a moment, then continued. "I guess the point I'm making is... X... there's something I want to ask-”

Jenkal stopped speaking all of a sudden. The silence lasted for a while, like she was in deep thought. Her eyes turned to the side, and then they closed. “No, I shouldn’t. You probably wouldn’t be able to tell me anyway. And besides, once this mission is over, we won’t ever see each other again.”

This statement made X gasp. What did she mean by that? Although her tone didn’t give any hints to it, X could tell that Jenkal said that like she was convinced that would happen. Why would she be so confident about it?

“Before you go, I have one small favor to ask. Whenever you get the chance, return this book back to the library for me.” When receiving the book, X took a look at its cover. She couldn’t understand the language though, so there wasn’t much to take from it. “The library is in the princess’s castle. Strike wishes to go there if I heard correctly.” Another gasp from X. Did she actually hear their bickering earlier? “I would return it myself, but it’s best that she and I don’t meet. If you show her this, she’ll understand why.”

Those were the last words that came from Jenkal that day. She wouldn’t say anymore, and X wasn’t sure what she could say. All she could wonder was why Jenkal was so sure they wouldn’t meet again. Her goal was to get cured right? Maybe what she really wanted was something else. And she really didn’t like what it could imply.

___

X finished her story with a sad sigh. “'It's be-est that she and I-I don't meet'," she repeated. "W-When she said that… I tho-ought she wanted nothing to do-o with the princess. Thought she was like u-us. “I… Was I wrong…?” Those were the last words she could get out.

That answered quite a few questions Rainbow and Fluttershy had, such as why they didn’t seem to know much about a tatzlpony, or why they struggled so hard to learn about them. Their client wasn’t very cooperative with telling them, but at the same time, Clang and Strike weren’t very cooperative with listening. Only X listened, and she wasn’t very talkative.

The story raised back a question they thought was answered. Was Twilight really working with Jenkal before all this? If she was, and if Clang and Strike knew about that, they never would’ve worked with her. Not just them, but X too. Did that mean X would now be willing to tell them everything she knew?

Before all that, there was something Fluttershy was curious about. “X, you said your Client gave you each two Alpines. But when we found them in your bag, there were three. Where did the third one come from? Did Clang and Strike give you theirs?”

X shook her head. “Clang did. But Stri-ike kept his…”

Fluttershy nodded. “Did he have them with him when you two followed us in the Everfree Forest.”

X nodded. “The-ey were kept in his ba-ag.”

A spark of hope flashed in Fluttershy’s eye. “Rainbow? Were you ever able to find Strike’s bag before we left?”

“Well, I found a bag,” Rainbow said as she dragged the bag in question from across the room. “It wasn’t ours, so I assumed it was X’s.” She unzipped the bag and proceeded to slide all of its contents on to the ground, and in front of everypony for them to see.

The contents of the bag was completely bare of anything either Rainbow or Fluttershy could recognize. If they had to guess, some of them looked like parts for machinery, or empty containers. The only pony who could tell them what they were was X. As X rummaged through them, they noticed that both the syringe and snake cannon weren’t in this pile. But most importantly, no flowers.

“T-This was Strike’s stu-uff…” X answered. That small hope that Fluttershy had was gone. Rainbow groaned. It now dawned on her that the Alpines that she found after Strike’s attack, weren't the ones they got from X. They were the ones Strike had. Unless Jenkal had more with her, this meant that the two Aplines they had right now, one with Fluttershy, and the other in X’s mouth, were the only ones left in Equestria.

A long quiet gasp suddenly came from X. She pulled something out from the pile. Whatever it was, it was shaped like a half spherical cube with a flat bottom It was completely black, and the top of it seemed to have a small green glass.

“What is that, X?” Fluttershy asked. X’s eyes were pulsating at the sight of this device. What could this be that made her so interested?

“Strike’s… jou-urnal…”

Rainbow blinked hard and bobbed her head. “A journal?!”

Fluttershy was confused as well. “That’s… a journal?”

“He speaks to i-it and it rec-cords his voice. He uses it a-a lot.” X answered.

“Oh,” Fluttershy responded, now understanding what she meant.

“Can you make it play?” Rainbow asked.

X looked up from the device. She first looked to Rainbow, then to Fluttershy, then her eyes briefly looked around the room, and last to the pile. Her teeth gritted in despair as her eyes looked back up. For some reason, she was looking even more nervous than before. The Alpine in her mouth dropped and her shivering got worse.

X slowly started flaring her wings. One of them bent towards her face while she moved her head closer to it. The closer it got, the worse her shivering became. They could even start to hear her whimper. Rainbow and Fluttershy both lightly gasped when they saw what X was doing. She hesitantly bit down on one of the feathers on her wing. Then… she yanked. 

A painful sounding moan came from X while tears practically poured from her eyes. Rainbow and Fluttershy winced. They were no strangers to having their feathers plucked, but that looked extremely unpleasant for X.

“I guess X really doesn’t like having her feathers plucked,” Rainbow said quietly to Fluttershy.

“Even I don’t think they’re that bad,” Fluttershy responded back. “But why did she do that?”

“I think we’re about to find out,” Rainbow answered.

With the feather still in her mouth, X moved the pin of the feather towards the bottom of that device. There was a small hole underneath it, which X inserted the feather into. She began to fiddle with it.

Rainbow and Fluttershy watched as X fiddled with the feather. She fiddled, and fiddled… and fiddled…

One. Two. Three. The atmosphere started spiking up their coat just watching X continue to fiddle with that thing. Rainbow scratched her neck, Fluttershy looked away and laid down. They were beginning to wonder if X even knew what she was doing. X’s shivering was settling down as the time passed, but this was taking forever.

Rainbow finally decided that this wasn’t even worth waiting for. She opened her mouth to speak.

“There…” X said followed by a click in the device. All Rainbow could do was sigh. Although it was probably only five minutes, it felt like a half hour passed waiting for that. Maybe her heavy shivering was interfering with her work.

After the click, the device left X’s hooves and floated just above the ground in front of them. A green light came from the top of it, displaying what looked like a hologram of an audio line. It moved the moment a voice started speaking from it.

“This is Renard Strike. I didn’t think I’d have to do this, but from now on, I’m creating a separate log of the details that I’ll be encountering from here on. We just received our latest mission, though not a lot of info's come to us yet. All we know now is that our mission is to capture a certain creature that’ll appear from this forest called Everfree, which is near a town called Ponyville.”

“Ponyville huh? I hear that the newest princess resides there. I think I’ll take my chance to learn more about her before this mission starts. Who knows? If this creature has our client so worried she requests our help, we may even be helping out a princess without them knowing. Sounds like a good job. But the more I dig into this, the more skeptical it all seems.”

“First, the Everfree Forest. My research has shown me that that forest is very unnatural in more ways than I ever imagined. Usually forests are dangerous for the predators that lurk about. But this forest? The predators seem to be the least of your concern. Clouds move and activate on their own, making the skies hostile. There are beasts that could turn you into stone if you so much as just look at them. The plants there contain carnivorous monsters in disguise, or even some that could change your very shape. And then this part I can’t even believe. They say some of the trees in the forest are actually ponies who never found their way out of it. You could end up as one of those trees!”

“According to our client, this creature we’re hunting will appear from this forest and enter Ponyville. Tomorrow we’ll be meeting with her to get more details. But I have a better idea. We’ll meet, but I want them to let me make a connection with them through this ring I made. That way we can stay in contact at any time, and get all the information we need no matter where we are.”

“But here’s the problem.” Strike’s voices started to sound angry from here on. “Our client wants us to meet inside the forest. If they have no trouble being inside the forest, why do they need our help dealing with this creature?! I’m starting to wonder about this client, but I don’t know much about them yet. I don’t even know if they’re a mare, stallion, or even a pony at all yet. X met them though. And according to the client’s letter, they said that X was given a safe path that would allow us to meet where they want.”

Strike’s voice made a sigh. “I could be making guesses too soon. They probably thought X would explain to us everything we’d want to know before going through with this. But just in case, I’m making this right now while I have the chance. I’ll keep this updated as I gain more information.”

It sounded like the recordings were gonna be very long and take forever to get through. Impatient, Rainbow decided to ask. “X, is there any way you can fast forward through that?” X nodded. The Alpine was back in her mouth. “Skip to where you guys started following us in the forest.”

X went back to the feather underneath the device and fiddled with it. This time, the device responded instantly and started going through all sorts of audio waves that couldn’t be heard. It went by very quickly. And just like Rainbow asked, X stopped at a part of the log that seemed to involve them inside the forest.

“This is the first day that’s passed since our mission finally started. So far, everything’s been going wrong. Our client told us that this tatzlpony we were looking for would emerge from the forest alone. But somepony else got to it first and is now not only taking care of it, but protecting it. We were supposed to capture the tatzlpony without causing harm to anypony else, but the way things are looking, that’s not an option anymore.”

“Clang already attempted to capture it by force, but was overpowered by the tatzlpony, and even swallowed. I didn’t think it was possible for a creature that size, but he said that’s exactly what happened. He also said the pony who was taking care of the tatzlpony was named Fluttershy. And now they’ve gone into the Everfree Forest.”

“I’ve come up with a pretty risky plan to get her to give up the tatzlpony willingly. While we were following them, X managed to knock out and capture a rattlesnake. We’re gonna use that snake to threaten them into giving up. If they don’t comply, we’ll make it bite Fluttershy. That will show them how serious we are.”

“We’re preparing an anti-venom right now if it ever comes to that. Our client still doesn’t want us to cause harm to anypony else involved.” Strike’s voice suddenly drew a darker tone. “And that’s exactly what I intend to do. After all. Our client, who doesn't want her name known, also doesn’t even want anypony to know the real reason why these tatzlponies are so dangerous. And the way things are going, Fluttershy’s gonna find that out the hard way. That’s gonna be our client’s fault, not us.”

Strike’s voice returned to normal. “Speaking of which, ever since Clang’s failed attempt, we haven’t been able to get in contact with our client anyway. I’m starting to get the feeling that she broke the link with my ring. If that’s the case, she should’ve told us everything we needed to know from the start. So I’ll assume there really is nothing else we need to know.”

The log ended there. Rainbow and Fluttershy pondered if continuing to listen to these logs would be worth it. So far, they didn’t seem to hear anything useful that they didn’t already know. If anything, these logs were lining up to the things that X told them, and that Strike didn’t know much about the tatzlponies either.

“Play one more,” Rainbow decided. If this one didn’t tell them anything useful, then they would stop. X played the next log.

“THIS IS A LOAD OF HORSE-BUCKING HAY-”

Everypony yelped at the sudden blast in volume that the device was making. The audio waves cranked so high, no silent waves could be seen at all while it was speaking.

“OF ALL THE FRIVOLOUS FEATHERING NINCOM-”

Fluttershy had her hooves buried in her ears. “I can’t take all this foul language!” she cried. In the middle of her saying that, X managed to silence the device. Her teeth were gritting nervously as she attempted to skip all the yelling that was recorded.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have played one more,” Rainbow said as she removed her wing tips from her ears. But it didn’t take long for X to find the spot where Strike’s shouting stopped. Even when muted, the audio waves would still show the volume of Strike’s voice while it played. X unmuted the device.

“It’s like all of Equestria has turned against me!” The rage in Strike’s voice was still clear. “Ever since Clang brought X into our organization, everything has gone downhill! I was supposed to be the leader in this group! Me! But Clang found her, brought her in, and tested her abilities against us. It should’ve been no contest. But no. Somehow she made a mockery of me, of all of us, dethroned my talents, and stole everything that I worked up for! And the worst part is, ever since that day. Clang stopped listening to my orders unless it met his criteria.”

“Well no more. This mission is the last straw. This was supposed to be a simple and easy mission, but everything continues to grow worse and worse. And it’s all her fault for choosing this mission. But even worse, it’s all our client’s fault. Jenkal, I don't care anymore. Mark my words, when I get out of this forest, I’ll make sure you wish you never met X. All that information you kept from us. I bet you did that on purpose. You told X everything we needed to know. And you knew that X would never tell us, yet you could use her to hide your excuse.”

“I can’t believe I’ve had to resort to using my cylinder just to survive in this forest. My body is still shaking after having to obliterate that bug bear. I’ve tried everything I can to find my way out of here. But it’s like this forest is purposely leading me away from the exits every chance it gets, like these trees really are alive.”

“No! I refuse to end up as one of these trees. I don’t care if it even is true that they were once other ponies. If I have to burn every single one of these trees to find my way out of this forest, then so be it. Without my ring, I can’t contact any of the others. There’s no other choice I have.”

“Wait a minute… the ground’s rumbling. Not another beast already. Fine. I have no choice but to end the log here. Whatever’s coming this way is history.”

Rainbow and Fluttershy sighed in awe at this one. It sounded like this was taken just before they ran into him that day. The hairs on Fluttershy’s coat spiked up. She’ll never forget the power that Strike’s wrath unleashed on them. Even now, she could still feel the pain in her eye. And it was unbearable.

Rainbow wasn’t sure what to make of this log. She remembered that Strike was yelling about this during his assault, but it wasn’t very clear what he meant. Even now, it wasn’t that much clearer. It sounded like Strike was supposed to be the leader in their group instead of X. But when Clang found X, he brought her in and tested her abilities against Strike. Something happened then that made Strike lose his position as leader, and gave X that position instead. What was it that happened?

“T-There’s… one more log…” X said, causing Rainbow and Fluttershy to gasp lightly.

“What?” Fluttershy whispered.

“How could there be one more log?” Rainbow asked. “That last one was just before we ran into him, and then he was swallowed by-” she stopped mid-sentence, noticing Fluttershy wincing at the memory. Obviously, X didn’t know the answer. There was only one way to find out, as much as it goes against what she said earlier. “Play it.” X let the final log play.

“This is Renard Strike.” His tone had changed considerably from the previous log. It was completely calm and collected. “Stallion unicorn. Light-brown coat. Grey-hair. I was born in a city known as Horizon Coral.”

Rainbow and Fluttershy looked at each other awkwardly. Why did it sound like Strike was speaking like he knew he was about to receive a grim fate? While they were listening, they noticed X’s shivering was settling down from listening to this log.

“This journal is my creation. I have designed its features and functions. I leave this message at the very end to ensure that this information doesn’t get lost or mixed up with the rest of the logs that it contains. I can’t afford to lose it. And now I will begin the purpose of this log.”

There was a long moment of silence. It was like the journal was about to play another log within the same log. The next word was spoken in a much deeper tone.

“X…” X’s eyes widened from her name being called. “I know you’ve been listening to this journal. I designed this journal so that only magic could be used to activate it. Yet somehow, you’ve figured out how to do so. I won't ask how. But since you’re that desperate to learn what I know, let’s take you through memory lane.” A chill was spreading through the atmosphere, being its coldest around X. She breathed slowly, but heavily.

“Nora…”

A huge gasp escaped X and she hastily removed the feather from the journal, shutting down the device.

“What the… hey!” Rainbow shouted. “Play that!” X shook her head and squealed, clutching the device closely. “Play it!” She squeezed her eyes shut while her shaking intensified, and her voice was practically crying out hoping for mercy. Getting her to play the rest of that wasn’t gonna be possible now. Did it matter though?

“Fine,” Rainbow said as she stepped back. “If you won’t play it, then at least tell us. That last thing Strike said. Nora. What does that mean to you?” X looked up briefly, then went back to clutching the device. There was heavy breathing coming from her.

It was strange. X was always showcasing fear at every opportunity. But in some cases, she would have moments where her reactions were much more drastic than the others. If the tamer moments were just fakes like Strike claims, then these were the real ones. When Jenkal’s name was mentioned, X displayed that same drastic behavior. Which means whatever Nora was, must've been very important.

“I think I might know,” Fluttershy suddenly stated. Rainbow’s eyes turned to Fluttershy who was walking closer to X. “X… I know Strike was trying to tell us that this fear that you show isn’t real. But I don’t believe that. When I look at you, I see somepony who’s been through something tragic. Somepony who’s lost something that can never be replaced. I think this is where it’s all coming from.”

Fluttershy paused once she closed the distance from X, who was still breathing heavily. Her expression hadn’t changed, but it was clear she was listening. “You’ve been talking in your sleep, X” X’s breathing froze. “You haven’t said much about what happened to you in the past. But one thing you have mentioned, was your sister.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened slightly, now understanding where Fluttershy was going with this. “When you mentioned your sister, you said you were scared. And you never called her by name. Strike mentioned Nora. That sounds like a name. And from what he said, it sounded like that name has something to do with you, X.”

X’s breathing slowed down as her eyes lowered to the device. They looked like they were in awe. “Could that name be your sister?” Fluttershy finished. If this was true, then the rest of that journal was probably gonna talk about what Strike learned about her sister. But X was too afraid to relive that experience.

Or at least, that’s what it looked like when X heard that name. But after Fluttershy’s explanation, X’s fears seemed to soften. She was just looking at the device with her shaking settling down more and more. But her eyes kept that expression of awe, like the device she was holding was now the most important thing in all of Equestria to her right now.

“No…” Somepony spoke. Rainbow and Fluttershy’s ears twitched at that voice. They looked around, Fluttershy having trouble trying to process what she just heard. That tone, it didn’t sound like X. Yet, with how close it was, she knew it couldn’t have come from anypony else, but X.

“No…” X repeated, looking up from the device. “I don’t have a sister.” Fluttershy’s eye widened in a gasp. It was X’s voice, but the tone was so calm and collected all of a sudden, like all her fears were gone. “I don’t…” Her eyes dropped back to the device. “...have a sister.” Not even shaking or sputtering in her words. But more surprising than that were her words alone.

“What?” Fluttershy asked in shock.

“But we’ve heard you talking about your sister multiple times,” Rainbow declared. She stepped forward and stood next to Fluttershy. “How can you say you don’t have a sister after all the times you mentioned her?”

X didn’t answer. She just kept her eyes on that device with that same expression. If X had told any lies to them, this would probably be the one. But with how serious her tone was this time, it was hard to believe that she would lie right now. Maybe there was something she learned that she didn’t realize until now?

Rainbow shook her head. “Forget it,” she said. “That’s not important right now. Let’s get back to talking about your client, X.” At the mention of the client, X’s fear seemed to return. She was looking up at Rainbow while shivering. Fluttershy was looking at Rainbow as well. 

“In your story, your client said that she was sick. And she’s been sick ever since she was born. She’s been looking for a cure all her life. And then she discovered me, a tatzlpony. Maybe through Twilight, maybe through that book, or maybe from something else. Either way, it sounds like she needs me for that cure. She captured me, turned me into one, and hired you guys to capture me if I ever escaped.”

Rainbow’s eyes glared. “She needs me to get herself cured. Am I close?”

Fluttershy started backing away. While Rainbow was asking X this, she couldn’t stop pondering over X’s earlier response about her sister. She tried listening to what Rainbow was saying. As important as her questions were, she just couldn’t focus on them right now.

“I… d-don’t know…” X replied. Even her sputtering returned.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Rainbow asked. “You just told us your story of what she said.”

X looked down, holding a moment of silence before replying. “In her wor-rds… ‘If the fortune tha-at I seek comes true, then this mi-ission will grant it. This cre-eature will be the key that ends my su-uffering.’” A few heavy breaths escaped X. “It sounds like i-it. But… I don’t know. The-ere’s something… she’s not telling me. S-something…” Her words fell silent after that.

Those words sounded familiar. Rainbow remembered X saying something about that. It wasn’t clear what it was, but there was only one way to find out.

“Where is she,” Rainbow asked. The question snapped Fluttershy out of her thoughts and she gasped, along with X. “Where is your client?”
“Wha…” X stammered. “But d-does that mean you-u’re…” Rainbow just answered with a nod. “B-But…” Before X could continue, Rainbow replied with more.

“Your client ordered you to capture me and take me to her, and that I had to be restrained when you do so. But if the reason why she wants me is for her cure, Why does she need that?” Rainbow waited for like a second before giving her own answer. “It must be because of something that I’m not gonna like. Or at least, that’s what she believes. Which is why I want to see her now. I need to hear from her what she needs from me first. She never told anypony else. And it sounds like that’s what she’s not telling you.”

Rainbow stepped closer. “So tell me where she is. I’ll listen to her, then I’ll decide.”

X stammered further. “B-B-But… U-U-Uh…” Rainbow just sharpened her glare further. It was like X was trying to find a reason why she couldn’t let Rainbow know. But if that was the case, wouldn’t she just say she didn’t know where the client was right now? At least, that’s what Fluttershy thought. But X didn’t do that. Instead, X looked to Fluttershy, then Rainbow, and finally answered.

“S-She’s in… or she’ll be-e in Arkwood Forest.”

“Arkwood Forest?!” Fluttershy asked. There was surprise in her tone. “But, but that’s…” She went silent. Rainbow looked back to X.

“Are you sure she’s there?”

X nodded. “She told u-us to meet there… in a shack... if we e-ever lost contact with her. But… I don’t know how long she’ll wait…”

Rainbow smiled. “Then we’d better get going right aw-”

“Nooo!” Somepony shouted. That sounded like…

“Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked as she looked at her. Fluttershy was trembling.

“We can’t go there! Please, we can’t!” Her eye was tearing up.

“What’s wrong with going to Arkwood?” Rainbow asked. “Is it really that bad a forest?” Fluttershy didn’t answer. She just shook her head and closed her eye while she continued to tear up. What was up with her all of a sudden? Seeing this, Rainbow walked over to her and gently placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“Hey. What’s up, Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked in a soft tone. Slowly, Fluttershy opened her eye, but she didn’t look up. She began speaking.

“Day Five, Rainbow. That was the day we entered the Everfree Forest. Day Twelve, technically Day Thirteen if midnight’s passed already… that’s when we finally came back. We’ve been away from Ponyville for more than a week. When we finally came back, I was really hoping we could finally put an end to all this, finally have time to rest. But no! We have to leave already? We have to go away from Ponyville again? All this adventuring… I hate it! I wanted to rest... I wanted for us to stop... I wanted...”

Fluttershy ended her speech by crying. Looking at her figure, Rainbow could understand why Fluttershy was so upset by this. Even though they recently ate and cleaned up, that wasn’t enough to cover the rest of the damages, especially that eye patch. That’s probably what was hurting Fluttershy the most. Not just physically, but mentally too.

“Okay,” Rainbow answered. “You can stay here, Fluttershy.” It took a moment for Fluttershy to process what she heard. When it did, she looked up and gasped. “It might be better that way. After all, the client never wanted anything to do with you. She’s wanted me from the start. If I go alone, you won’t have to go through anymore trouble. Matter of fact, it might be a good idea in case I’m wrong.”

“Wrong?” Fluttershy questioned. Rainbow waved her hoof upward.

“The whole reason we came here? To find Twilight. She’s obviously not here right now, or we would’ve found her already. It’s also like when Strike and X tried to look for her too. She wasn’t here back then either. Why isn’t she here, and where has she been all this time?”

Rainbow paused and narrowed her eyes “I think I know now. She’s with the client. And she must’ve been with her since Day Four.”

Fluttershy gasped. “S-Since Day Four?! But Rainbow Dash… does that mean… do you really think that…”

Rainbow gave a sad sigh. “I really thought Twilight was a victim just like me. But what we just learned from X, I believe she really was involved. The difference is, I think I understand why now. She wanted to help the client just like how I want to now. I want to know how I can help her. But I also want to know why Twilight didn’t say any of this to us back in Day Three. That’s where you come in. If I’m wrong, and Twilight’s not with the client, you can stay here and find out where she really is.”

Fluttershy’s heart ached at this. Rainbow decided that she would meet with the client alone. Was this really okay? “And X?” she asked out loud as she looked behind Rainbow and towards X. Surprisingly, X hadn’t moved from her spot and stayed where she was, listening the whole time. Nopony was holding her leash, yet she never made an attempt to flee at all.

“She’ll be coming with me,” Rainbow answered. “She can show me where the client is when we reach Arkwood Forest. All I need is for you to tell me where it is. It sounded like you already knew about it.” Fluttershy stammered from that. “So where is it?”

Fluttershy moaned sadly. She wasn’t sure if this was what she wanted. But at the same time, everything sounded like a good idea, especially if she was getting a chance to rest. But…

“Are you going now?” Fluttershy asked. “You’re not gonna rest?”

Rainbow shook her head. “I’ve rested long enough here. And if we wait too long, we might miss our chance to meet with the client. Not to mention…” She tilted her head towards X. “Those might be the only Alpines left. Once we use those up, we’ll be out of time anyway.”

Fluttershy released a depressing sigh. That last remark was too good to deny. She turned around and started speaking. “Go back to where we last exited the Everfree Forest. From there while facing Ponyville, go west. It’s almost at the edge of Equestria, but you should be able to make it there in about half a day.”

With that, Fluttershy decided to start leaving. If Rainbow had any more questions, she would ask them. But she didn’t. Upon reaching the door out of this room, Fluttershy took one last look towards them. Rainbow said nothing. The one who looked like they were trying to say something was X. Her lips were moving around, trying to form words, maybe even whispering them. It almost looked like she was trying to say, 'don't go', or, 'you can't go', but that didn't sound right. If there was something she wanted to say, it was too late. Fluttershy turned away and exited the room.

___

Fluttershy looked out the window from the room she was in. The mist outside was so thick, even the building’s silhouettes were barely visible. However, she knew where her cottage was from here. She turned back to look around. Where she was was one of the guest rooms in the castle. There wasn’t anything wrong with it, and Fluttershy could sleep here. But right now, what she wanted more was to go back to her cottage.

Fluttershy exited through the window. She wasn’t sure if Rainbow left with X yet. If they did, she didn’t hear them. As she walked, she continued wondering if this really was a good idea, or if it was just another selfish thing that she wanted. Rainbow made it sound like it was a good idea, but what about everything they learned?

One of the things that kept going through Fluttershy’s mind was X’s sister. There was no doubt that X kept talking about having one while she was dreaming. But now she was saying that she didn’t have one. Not just that, but her tone changed so drastically at the mention of her sister. Why was that?

Fluttershy’s ear twitched, causing her to gasp. She stopped walking and took a look at her surroundings. For some reason, she felt like she was being followed. But in this fog, she couldn’t see anything. And there were no sounds of hoofsteps or any of the sort.

Fluttershy sighed and continued walking. She decided to drop her thoughts on X’s sister. It didn’t even matter right now. What mattered was what was going on right now. Rainbow was still a tatzlpony. And the client, Jenkal, wanted to capture her. According to X, only a tatzlpony could put an end to her illness. Rainbow was going to her to find out how, so Fluttershy’s job now was to figure out if and why Twilight-

Fluttershy moaned. Twilight. Back in Day Three, Fluttershy had taken Rainbow to Twilight to transform her back into a pegasus. She did. But then the next day, Rainbow turned back into a tatzlpony for some unknown reason. The thought that Twilight botched the spell on purpose really pained at her mind. Or maybe it did work, yet Twilight changed her back while they were both sleeping.

Fluttershy shook her head. All these thoughts kept tormenting her mind. She didn’t want to believe any of this. Up ahead, she saw that her cottage was close. Finally. Maybe she could let her mind rest and clear her head. But as she walked, more thoughts kept swimming in her mind. How much did they learn, and how many of them were connected? Her mind listed out all the ponies she’s heard about since this started, and who they were. First, the Spellcaster, the one who turned Rainbow into a tatzlpony. Today, they learned that it was Jenkal, who was also the Client who hired Clang, Strike, and X. They were tasked to capture the tatzlpony, Rainbow Dash, if she escaped after being transformed.

And then there were the ones they still haven’t learned much about. The Rescuer, the one who sacrificed herself to help Rainbow Dash escape after being transformed, X’s sister, which she now says she doesn’t have, an Unnamed pony, who Jenkal was very vaguely talking about through her journal, and now Nora. Whoever Nora was, hearing that name gave X a very similar reaction to when they spoke Jenkal’s name. If Nora wasn’t X’s sister, then why did she react that way?

Fluttershy’s thoughts were cut short when she realized she had reached the door to her cottage. How did that happen? She glanced around and called out. “H-Hello? Anypony?” Only silence followed. That wasn’t right. Where were all her animals? If it wasn’t for the mist, she could see if there were any around.

Fluttershy turned back to her door and opened it. It was dark inside, and covered in the same fog. She tried turning on the lights. They didn’t work. She called out again. “I’m home.” Nothing. Not a single sound from any of the animals.

Fluttershy released a sad moan. She knew where they were. All her animals must’ve gone to the sanctuary due to her being gone for so long. Which means she would have to spend the night all alone. It went completely against the reason why she didn’t want to settle for the guest room in the castle. Too late now as she was already here.

Fluttershy went inside and closed the door. Without her animals, this place was stuck in darkness. Not only was it dark, but it was completely silent. So silent, she could only hear the wind sounds coming from this fog. She closed her eye in sadness. Home sweet home, but she was alone.

An image of Rainbow Dash flashed in her mind, causing her to gasp and open her eye. She looked around the room, then towards the ground. Images of the first day Rainbow came to her house as a tatzlpony came to her mind. Fluttershy moved away from the door and looked towards it. The images became clear. Rainbow was sitting there, looking like a lost and confused animal.
Fluttershy turned away from the image. The thoughts were spiking up her coat. She made her way to one of the desks in her living room. Despite the darkness and mist, she knew where it was. Inside the desk, she pulled out some of her night candles and lit one on. It wasn’t much, but it would bring some light to her cottage. Not just that, but expel some of the fog too.

Fluttershy left one candle on that desk, lit another, and took that with her. As she was heading towards the kitchen though, she caught a glimpse of the source of where all this fog was coming from. There was a giant hole in her wall. Planks were covering it, but the fog could still get in through it. Images of what caused that hole popped in her mind.

Clang had been trapped in a cage at the time. Rainbow Dash was so angry and kicked the cage, which sent it hurtling towards the wall and smashed through it. Fluttershy shook her head. Why were these images thumping her mind right now? She wanted to think about something else. But all she could think of was wanting to be with her animals right now.

As Fluttershy came to the kitchen, more images flashed in her mind. This time, they were images of all the times she saw Rainbow eating food. First, the image of Rainbow eating strawberries at the front of the cottage flashed. Next was Fluttershy tossing berries towards Rainbow at her Cloudominium. Then there was the scene here, where Rainbow chomped down a large pancake stack. These images were bringing back the feelings that Fluttershy had for Rainbow before her memories came back.

Fluttershy moaned, finding her hooves heavy as she continued walking. She set the candle in the middle of her kitchen as she went to one of the cabinets. It was so quiet here. All she wanted was for the silence to stop so that her mind wouldn’t go through anymore thoughts. After reaching the cabinet, she opened it.

Nothing happened. Of course nothing happened, but it felt like she wanted something to happen when she did. When she opened that cabinet, she expected, and hoped, that spiders would come crawling out. For some reason, the thought of spiders crawling out of this cabinet would’ve comforted her better than this torturous silence. So instead, the images continued flashing.

Fluttershy was petting Rainbow and comforting her. She saw herself placing a collar around Rainbow’s neck, and Rainbow accepting it while smiling. These images warmed her out. And that’s what was so painful, especially when the images started showing Rainbow licking Fluttershy’s cheek, and Fluttershy laughing in response.

Fluttershy squeezed her eye. These images were bringing back these feelings for Rainbow quite harshly. Ever since Rainbow got her memories back, she couldn’t feel these feelings anymore. Was this why?

The images halted long enough for Fluttershy to see what was inside the cabinet she opened. She took out the object that was inside and set it down on the counter where the candle was. Her eye took a long look at the object as she contemplated on what she really wanted. The object she was looking at was a small container. It’s contents? Sleeping Pills.

Fluttershy allowed the images to swirl in her mind one more time. There were two things all these images had in common. They were all images of Rainbow Dash as a tatzlpony, and they were all before Rainbow got her memory back. These feelings for Rainbow… did they disappear because Rainbow got her memory back. Did she really prefer Rainbow’s memories being gone?

No, that wasn’t it. It was her behavior because her memory was gone. Rainbow behaved like an animal, a lost animal who needed Fluttershy’s care. That’s what kept sparking these feelings for Fluttershy. And now that Rainbow had her memories, that behavior was no longer present.

Or was it, and Fluttershy didn’t notice? Rainbow remembered all those moments they had, yet didn’t seem offended or embarrassed by any of them. She didn’t even say anything about the collar she was still wearing at the time. Those feelings were gone, but Fluttershy felt like she really wanted those feelings to return, or at least, feel it one more time. But the only way that was going to happen was if she talked with Rainbow Dash about them. Would she be angry, embarrassed, deny it even? It was a scary thought, but Fluttershy knew that she would have to eventually. Maybe when this was all over, she would. Until then, Fluttershy reached towards the Sleeping Pills so that she could get the rest that she needed.

…

Fluttershy’s hoof froze before it reached it. What if it was already too late to talk to Rainbow about it? Rainbow was about to meet with the Client, the one who turned her into a tatzlpony in the first place. If there was anypony who could turn her back, it was the client. And when this was all over, no doubt that would happen. 

Did she want that? If Rainbow turned back into a pegasus, would Fluttershy ever feel those feelings for her again? Fluttershy suddenly found it very hard to breathe as these thoughts pounded in her mind. This could be her last chance to figure out if those feelings are true.

Fluttershy let out a whined moan. The thing she wished the most was to get some rest over this. And the answer to her rest was in the grasp of her hoof right now. She could take them right now. But then her decision would be final. Why did it turn out like this?

“Why is it so quiet?!” She shouted, moreso to eliminate the silence rather than questioning it. 

But… it sounded like something thumped right after Fluttershy shouted. The sound made her gasp and freeze. Looking around, the rooms had mostly been expelled of all the fog. Nopony was there. Suddenly, an ominous wind sounded. It was brief, and silence followed after. 

“H-Hello?” Fluttershy whispered, suddenly feeling terrified. She walked away from the sleeping pills and hesitantly looked around. Very silent winds, followed by rustling kept coming to her ears, it almost felt like she was just imagining them.

Then for some reason, very subtle shadow movements became apparent. It was like the movements of clouds, but Fluttershy didn’t believe it was that. She backed away from those movements, shaking. Her thoughts went back to a few minutes earlier, when she believed something was following her.

Fluttershy really wished she hadn’t shouted now. She wished she was alone again. Whatever was out there, if there was something out there, it was creeping up on her very eerily. It was silent again, and she began wondering if it was all just in her mind. But she took steps back from the last direction she thought she heard it, breathing very carefully. All she could do was try and focus her ears and eye for those sounds or movements again, and wait. And the wait agonized her.

Suddenly, she heard it again. It was very close, definitely real, and directly behind her. Fluttershy’s scream echoed around the cottage.