//------------------------------// // Chapter 47: Move! // Story: What is a Tatzlpony? // by Skylight77 //------------------------------// 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?