//------------------------------//
// Chapter 46: Suspect 
// Story: What is a Tatzlpony? 
// by Skylight77 
//------------------------------//

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!”