//------------------------------// // Chapter 39: Monster // Story: What is a Tatzlpony? // by Skylight77 //------------------------------// 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!!!”