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// Chapter 31: Persevere 
// Story: What is a Tatzlpony? 
// by Skylight77 
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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.


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”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.


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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.