//------------------------------// // Chapter 30: Endurance // Story: What is a Tatzlpony? // by Skylight77 //------------------------------// 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.