What is a Tatzlpony?

by Skylight77

Chapter 38: Garden

Both Rainbow and Fluttershy were staring at each other in complete shock with the conclusion Fluttershy made. Fluttershy was breathing heavily while Rainbow Dash practically had her breath held. They were both probably thinking the same thing. When Rainbow Dash decided to give herself up to protect Fluttershy, this was what she was getting herself into.

Eventually, Rainbow Dash looked away and gulped, letting her ears drop flat on her head. Fluttershy wasn’t sure what she should say. All this time, she believed that nothing good could come out of Rainbow Dash giving herself up to the client. But to discover that this must’ve been the reason why was devastating to learn.

“Was this why… you wanted to know so badly?” Fluttershy asked. “If tatzlponies were bad?”

Rainbow Dash didn’t provide a response. And after Fluttershy questioned that, she began to wonder why that would be if she answered yes. After all, did she know about this already, or was it just something in her subconscious?

“Well…” Fluttershy began. “I-If we ever meet that client, t-then… somehow… s-s-s-somehow… I’m going to prove to them… convince them that tatzlponies aren’t bad! S-Somehow…” Her body was shaking heavily inside from the words she was saying. She really didn’t want to believe that tatzlponies were bad anymore. Although she didn’t have enough to go by yet, it didn’t stop her from trying. “A-A-And I’ll start… by figuring out how these Alpines grow!”

With fire in her eyes, Fluttershy went back to the journal to review the rest of the information they learned. There had to be something, somewhere.

But then, Fluttershy’s eyes widened in realization. “Wait a minute…” she said, bringing Rainbow Dash’s attention back. Fluttershy had to do a quick skim of the last page of the journal that the Journalist wrote.

“Before I left to go find you, there was one more page that I read. Up until now, I thought this would be the reason why going with the client was a bad idea. The Journalist… before they stopped writing, they said that they met somepony, somepony that they owed their life to. But it was also somepony they wished they never met. Why is that?”

Fluttershy looked to the last parts of the page. A lot of it had been scribbled out, but the beginning part was still readable. “‘I know I should keep writing, but those creatures…’. Hmm…” she hummed as she read that part again. “Is it possible that they met another tatzlpony? One that could talk?”

The only response Rainbow Dash could provide was scrunched up eyes. After saying that, Fluttershy began to wonder how would that be. Why would they want to turn Rainbow Dash into a tatzlpony if there was another one out there?

Fluttershy’s head shot up. “Hold on!” She repeated the question in her head again. Why would they want to turn Rainbow Dash into a tatzlpony? “Hold on a second. All this time, I figured out why somepony would so desperately want to capture you. But I never figured out why somepony would want to turn you into a tatzlpony in the first place.” This provided a gasp from Rainbow Dash. Even now, she had forgotten that the only reason she was a tatzlpony now was because somepony turned her into one.

“There’s no way the Journalist would want. After their experience, they would never want to be near one again. But what about this pony?” Fluttershy decided to note this next pony as ‘Unknown Pony’. “They must’ve saved the Journalist’s life, but if they wished they never met this Unknown Pony, it could only be because… because they wanted something in return, something the Journalist didn’t like, maybe.”

Rainbow Dash looked at Fluttershy with realization in her eyes. When she looked away, she looked down to her body’s form, flicking her tail around until it was positioned directly in front of her eyes. Putting two and two together, Fluttershy realized it now.

“The Journalist doesn’t like tatzlponies, but they were the one to discover them again. The Unknown Pony, what if they wanted to know about them?” Looking back to her notes again, one conclusion came to mind. “What if the Unknown Pony, is the Spellcaster?” Rainbow Dash made a single nod with her head, signaling that she was on the same page as Fluttershy with this. “How would that be though?”

Fluttershy put a hoof under her chin to think about what that would imply. “If this Unknown Pony is the Spellcaster, and the Client is the Journalist… then there are two ponies trying to do completely opposite things. The Client’s trying to be rid of tatzlponies while the Journalist wants to get rid of them.” She paused to hum for a few seconds.

“And then… where does this Rescuer come in?” Fluttershy looked to Rainbow as she asked that. “If the Rescuer was trying to rescue you from that shack, then it wouldn’t make sense for her to be the Client. But what if she was the Spellcaster?” Almost immediately, Fluttershy looked away and retracted that thought. “Wait... the Spellcaster was the one who captured you in the first place. Why would she suddenly want to rescue you after capturing you? Is it because of something that the Client did?”

Fluttershy went through a number of possibilities in her head, but none of them were providing a clear result. If the Client knew that the Spellcaster was planning to bring the tatzlponies back, then they would’ve tried to stop her a long time ago, right? They didn’t know much about the Spellcaster or the Rescuer. Rainbow could confirm that the Rescuer was indeed a female unicorn, and it sounded very possible that the Spellcaster could be a unicorn too. But the reasons for everything else just wasn’t coming together clearly.

Rainbow tried to think on the matter as well. But every time she did, all she could think about was that giant silhouette of a monster towering over her. She could still hear its roars, but she couldn’t make out what it was. Why was this monster so important to her?

In the end, Fluttershy sighed. “Maybe there’s some sort of clue ahead. Where did we leave off?” It took a moment, but she managed to remember where. The part she left off was after waking up from her illness. “I went off to find you. It was difficult because I was still sore from the illness that I was suffering. But thanks to some help from the animals, I was able to catch up. I found you already giving yourself up to Strike and X, with all the timberwolves broken up with their parts in their bag.”

Rainbow frowned in regret. After everything that happened, she regretted ever thinking that was a good choice to make. “Strike told us the reason why his Client wanted to keep me away from you. It makes sense now. If tatzlponies like you are lonely, they’ll want to stay close to a pony they can trust. Any insecurities will discourage them. But as long as tatzlponies remain close to somepony, their toxin will continue to affect them. And that’s what they’re trying to prevent, even by force…”

Fluttershy sighed. “Even after telling us, he attacked me anyway, believing that I still wouldn’t give up, that I would still try and convince you to come back. He wasn’t wrong, but…” She couldn’t finish what she was about to say. And when she thought about the next part, she winced. “After we drove him away, X attacked. You gave yourself up again, but this time it was so that I could be spared. But I moved anyway when I saw you get zapped, making X fire that Snake Cannon, causing Sly to bite me.”

Fluttershy could hear Rainbow growling from that. Sounds like she still hasn’t forgiven X for that, and wouldn’t be forgiving her any time soon. “I saw a few things before I fainted. I saw our bodies glowing. I saw green aura flowing in the air. I saw X rushing to me while shouting. And the last thing I could feel was a stab at my back.”

“I couldn’t figure out what all happened on my own. X had to tell me. The green aura was the timberwolves coming back together. The stab that I felt was the needle used to inject me with the antidote to Sly’s venom. She was shouting because she didn’t want that happening, and had to hurry. But as much as I think about it, I still can’t figure out why our bodies glowed like that. I thought that glow had something to do with our bond, and that’s what saved me from the timberwolves, and Sly’s venom. But the only reason the timberwolves left me alone was so that they wouldn’t get poisoned themselves. After figuring that out, and hearing X explain what happened…”

Fluttershy suddenly stopped, wincing harshly as she closed the book. Rainbow could only blink as she looked closer in concern.

“And that brings us here!” Fluttershy’s voice suddenly raised, making Rainbow recoil back. “After we stopped X, she told us about her side of the story with trying to capture us. She didn’t tell us much about her Client though. And what she did say doesn’t have any relation to the spellcasting or the rescuing!”

Fluttershy started breathing rather deeply, clearly agitated right now. More concerned than ever, Rainbow picked herself up to move beside Fluttershy, who was keeping her eyes glued to the floor.

“What she DID say, I just can’t make sense of! They wanted to meet with Twilight, but not at the Client’s request. But what the Client DID request was a personal favor for X to return a book, even though Twilight wasn’t there. But why? What was that book that X returned? And why did the Client have it? X said that she couldn’t understand the book’s language, so…”

Fluttershy finished the theory through her thoughts only. If it was a language she couldn’t understand, then it probably involved something ancient or high levels of magic. But why would Twilight give them something like that?

“No…” Fluttershy thought back to her first immediate thought when X first mentioned her, immediately wanting to retract that. All of a sudden, she felt a gentle nuzzle against her cheek. With a flinch, she quickly moved away from where she was laying, leaving an already concerned Rainbow Dash even more concerned. All she was trying to do was ease Fluttershy’s worries. But maybe she didn’t understand the weight of what was going on.

“Rainbow Dash...” Fluttershy started sadly. “This is Twilight we’re talking about. Twilight Sparkle. With us included, she’s part of our six circle of closest friends. The others are Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. We trust each other more than we trust anypony else.”

Fluttershy squeezed her eyes while Rainbow cautiously inched closer. “On the day when Twilight first moved to Ponyville, a thousand year old evil returned and threatened Equestria with eternal night. Nightmare Moon. We all searched here, in the Everfree Forest, to find a way to defeat her. And it was thanks to our friendship that we were successful. You remember don’t you?” It was then that Rainbow stopped inching forward. She seemed to be deep in thought now, so Fluttershy continued.

“Ever since then, we’ve all been really close. We’ve had some difficult times. You and me even grew distant with each other sometimes. But thanks to Twilight’s help, we were able to solve our issues, and strengthen the bond that brought us so close. We owe so much to her. She owes so much to us! We owe so much to all of us as a whole! That’s why…”

A hiccup escaped Fluttershy as she looked away, on the verge of tears. “That’s why there’s no way Twilight would be involved in this! She would never want any of this to happen to us! So then why?! Why is it sounding like she is somehow involved?!”

Fluttershy kept her eyes away, waiting for Rainbow Dash to respond. But there was none she could hear. Nothing but silence followed for a few seconds. The only thing that was breaking the silence was Fluttershy’s whimpering. It shouldn’t be this silent.

“Oh, please, Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy suddenly blurted out as she forced herself to look at Rainbow, who flinched back. “Please say something!” There was another pause, and all Rainbow could do was wince. “You’re not an animal, Rainbow Dash! You’re a pony just like me! But you haven’t said anything for the longest time! Longer than I can remember right now. This isn’t you! This isn’t Rainbow Dash!”

These sudden outbursts was causing Rainbow to step back nervously, bringing more pain in Fluttershy’s eyes. In the middle of her grasping, she tried closing the distance to Rainbow, trying her best to reason with her Rainbow Dash. But Rainbow just continued to back away. “You were a pony who loved to talk! Who loved to talk about her accomplishments! Somepony who was confident, bold, used words to express herself! Super, extreme, awesome.” Her voice only got higher as tears spawned in her eyes. “Do those words mean nothing to you?!”

Rainbow was practically backed up against a tree, feeling far more scared than ever. This was worse than when she was witnessing Fluttershy’s Stare. The only thing worse than seeing Fluttershy angry, was seeing her sad because of her. But… what was she doing that was making her sad?

In the end, Fluttershy was the one who ended up backing away. She released a defeated moan as she did so, looking away. Actually… she wasn’t just looking away. Her eyes were towards the ground, but… one of her eyes was completely blocked by her mane. This look…

Rainbow gasped as a deep memory sprung. It went all the way back to her fillyhood, back to when she used to see that look all the time. This was Fluttershy… being shy. A shy look that she hadn’t seen for the longest time. The only times she could remember seeing this was back when they first met, or when she was meeting another pony for the first time.

But it wasn’t just this look she was remembering. It was also the words she used that helped bring Fluttershy out of this shell that her mane provided.

”Stick with me kid. These hayheads won’t mess with ya as long as I’m around.”

She could also hear the gibberish insults that their bullies were trying to spout at them. The more she defended Fluttershy, the less shy she got around her, until she no longer saw that look anymore.

So then why? Why was it returning now? Rainbow didn’t want to see that. Slowly, she approached Fluttershy while she was still whimpering. Opening her mouth, she moved her tongues towards Fluttershy in an attempt to move that hair out of the way.

But Fluttershy noticed too soon and gasped. “No!” she said as she turned away. “Stop licking my tears. I told you you’re not an animal… Y-You’re not!” It really pained Fluttershy to say that. If she was gonna have Rainbow stop acting like an animal, she had to say what she needed.

Rainbow felt her heart sink further at this reaction. Fluttershy just completely shut herself off to her. What was she doing wrong? After retracting her tongues, she kept her knotted one out to look at it. An image came to her, an image back from Day 5 when Fluttershy treated this tongue.

”Aww! You’re so sweet!” The image was very clear. Rainbow was licking Fluttershy along her cheeks, and Fluttershy was so happy and giggling. She even started scratching the back of Rainbow’s mane, until she let herself fall to the floor while Fluttershy continued by rubbing her belly.

“Who’s a good tatzlpony? You are, Dashie! Yes you are!" Fluttershy used to be so happy with this behavior. What happened? Why was it making her so sad now? Maybe it had something to do with her past memories. But what was more important? Her past memories, or her present memories? In the past, Fluttershy looked happy, but in the present, Fluttershy seemed happier, happier than she could ever remember in the past. She just couldn’t figure it out... and it was making feel… avoided… lonely…

In the end, Rainbow was the one to turn away. She put her tongue back in her mouth and walked to the tree she had backed herself to earlier. Fluttershy’s ears twitched when she heard Rainbow moving. Looking behind her, she witnessed Rainbow walking behind a tree, and slumping herself down depressingly with her tail curled around her.

This wasn’t what Fluttershy wanted. She wanted Rainbow to remember who she was, not feel insecure again. Now she was ridden with guilt. That last comment must’ve really crushed Rainbow’s heart. Maybe she liked acting like an animal. But that was the issue. The only reason she liked acting like an animal was because… she led Rainbow into that state. Rainbow’s memory was taken, and she led Rainbow to believing she always acted like an animal.

Another defeated sigh came from Fluttershy. She couldn’t deny that she really loved seeing Rainbow behave like an animal. And she would love nothing more than to have her as one when this was all over. But continuing to manipulate her mind like that was wrong. And now she couldn’t revert it back. If only she had realized it sooner.

Fluttershy took a glance at the journal, then back to Rainbow. What was she trying to do now, she thought. She was not only trying to get Rainbow’s memories back, but also trying to find a way to change her back into a regular pony again, a pegasus. In order to do those things, they needed answers. But it looked like they weren’t gonna get anymore answers this way. At least, for now. They just didn’t know enough yet. Continuing to stay here would only tear them apart further.

Fluttershy used her tail to wipe away her tears. It didn’t feel as nice as when Rainbow licked them away, and she hated how she was thinking like that. Closing the journal, she put it away in her bag and packed up the rest of her things as well, without Rainbow’s help. After what she said to Rainbow, she really needed to think of a way to make amends with her. All she wanted was what was best for Rainbow. And what was best was not being alone right now.

After packing up, Fluttershy walked over to the tree that Rainbow was slumped against. Without looking beyond the tree, Fluttershy began speaking.

“Rainbow. I think… we need to continue on.” Fluttershy took a deep breath. "I wanted to figure out what we could do to fix you. But… we just don’t have enough information yet. I wanted…” There was a pause. “I wanted to learn more about tatzlponies, to learn how to make it possible for us to live together, without having to worry about their toxin. But right now… the only lead we have is that garden. And I need your help to find it.”

Fluttershy took a moment to look away. “You may not remember, but believe me. Everything I said about you is true. And you were really happy with who you were. We both were. Just… stay with me. Give me enough time to show you. Tatzlpony or not, you shouldn’t be alone. Nopony… no creature, deserves to be alone.”

Rainbow listened to every word that Fluttershy was saying. She didn’t want to make Fluttershy more sad than she already has. And while she felt staying with Fluttershy was gonna make her more sad, she understood that they needed to stay together. If they didn’t, one of them would surely perish in this forest.

Besides, they still needed to find the garden for Fluttershy’s health. Rainbow picked herself up and joined Fluttershy away from the tree. Both their expressions were sad. Fluttershy's grew even more upon looking at her. Actually, she was looking down at Rainbow's neck, specifically at the collar that she was still wearing. It pained Fluttershy to look at her with that after what she just said. But she, and Rainbow, were at least comforted by the fact that they were still together.

“Whatever the Client said about you, they’re wrong. And I’ll prove it somehow. Once we find that garden, there should be an answer waiting for us.” Fluttershy looked back towards the direction they were told the garden was. “There just HAS to be. A way for you to get your memory back, a way for ponies and tatzlponies to live together, there just HAS to be an answer.”

But the biggest question that Fluttershy wanted answered was which path was right for Rainbow Dash. To stay as a tatzlpony, or to turn back into a pegasus. Because right now, leaving the decision up to Rainbow Dash wasn’t the right decision. Since her memory was lost, that would be taking advantage of her mind and cause her to make a decision she might not have chosen otherwise.

For Rainbow, the biggest question she wanted answered was what would make Fluttershy happy again? What did she have to do to see her smile again? All she could do right now is just be with her, and trust what she said.

With sadness drawn on both their faces, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash continued walking together, walking out of the clearing in search for that garden, once again.

___

Nothing was happening. They both continued walking through the forest, but nothing was happening. Nopony was saying anything, talking, making eye contact, not even so much as trying to find a way to lighten the mood. The only thing they did was listen to each other’s hoofsteps to make sure they were still together. But even so, it felt like they WERE separated, because traveling like this made them both feel like they were actually walking alone.

This had been going on for hours, and there was no sign of it ever changing. To make matters worse, there was STILL no sign of that garden. How many miles did they walk? How far in this direction did X say the garden was? A few miles? It felt like they had traveled a dozen, maybe even two. There wasn’t even the noise of critters or predators around to change the setting. It was like walking was nothing more than a trance to them now.

Fluttershy was growing quite tired from all this walking too. As for Rainbow, she was sure she still had plenty of energy to spare. Rainbow traveled these sort of distances on a daily basis. A travel like this was nothing to her. She wondered if she should ask Rainbow if she’s be willing to carry her again. But after what she said to Rainbow, that wouldn’t be appropriate. But if this kept up, she would collapse from exhaustion.

Fluttershy decided to look up to the sky, seeing what little light she could make out. Unknown to her, her mane was still covering one of her eyes, which Rainbow wanted to remove, but was too afraid to. The light in the sky could be seen clearly to Fluttershy despite her mane. Sunset was approaching. If Fluttershy did her math correctly, this was currently Day Ten. Day Seven was the first and last time she ate an Alpine Flower. While she had contact with Rainbow on that day, it was short lived, and she was unconscious for two days.

Fluttershy came to on Day Nine, and found Rainbow Dash on that same day. But she failed to save her and blacked out again. However, Rainbow managed to use that time to free herself and save both of them. Of course, that meant she was with Rainbow Dash that whole day. And she was spending the whole day with Rainbow Dash today, on Day Ten. Today would be over soon. And she only had three days to spend with each flower before the illness would take her again.

On the night of tomorrow would be the time Fluttershy would have to eat her first Alpine Flower. With only two with her, that meant after today, she would only have seven days left. Day Seventeen would be their last day. If they could find this garden, maybe they wouldn’t have to worry about that. But she promised X that she would only do what was needed with the garden. Find a way to make these flowers grow.

But they had to find the garden first. And right now, it looks like they either missed the garden, or X was lying about the garden in the first place. Fluttershy didn’t want to believe X was lying. She couldn’t afford to waste time like this. Unfortunately, that meant she had to accept that the former was true, that they missed the garden.

Sighing, Fluttershy finally stopped walking and broke the silence. “Rainb-” But before she could finish, Rainbow suddenly gasped. She was looking off into the distance, past Fluttershy. “Rainbow?” Fluttershy tried calling, but Rainbow didn’t respond. Instead, she moved next to Fluttershy, looking in different directions. First up ahead, then behind, then to the sides.

Fluttershy realized, she had witnessed this before. This was similar to how Rainbow Dash was behaving before they came across the clearing earlier. But… something was different. Her expression looked very panicked, and her breathing was rough.

“What’s going on?” Fluttershy asked, hoping Rainbow could provide an answer soon. That panicked expression was making her worry. She tried listening in for anything, but nothing came up.

Soon, Rainbow settled on one direction to look at, but her face was stunned stiff. The pupils in her eyes shrunk to pea-sizes. And her breath practically stopped. That didn’t look like good news at all.

Just as Fluttershy was gonna ask again, Rainbow suddenly dashed in its direction, a little east off the path they were following. Fluttershy followed as best she could. She still couldn’t hear anything, but it looked like there was definitely something up ahead. When they got close enough, Fluttershy gasped. It was another clearing. Was this what they were looking for?

They soon reached the clearing. Fluttershy was met with quite a few leaves berating her face just before she could look among it. And what she saw, made her breath gasp for a full three long seconds.

The clearing… underneath the rays of an otherwise beautiful sunset, there were flowers, hundreds of them. Too many to count. They decorated the entire clearing with their purple petals and yellow floral discs. On the left side, they saw a huge circle of them emptied out, the same size as the flower patch.

Fluttershy looked up. At the center of the clearing, there was a large flower, a humongous flower, more than ten times, more than twenty times, some big number of times bigger than the rest of the flowers. It looked like it could almost penetrate the forest’s height.

But… as Fluttershy looked at this clearing, harsh tears welled up in her eyes. “No…” she said. Her eyes turned to the left section of the garden. “Noo…” Then they turned to the right. “Nooo…” Finally, they went back to the center.

There was no doubt. These were the Alpines, the flowers that could cure a pony from the tatzlpony’s toxin. And everywhere she looked was met with the same result. No matter how much she looked, nothing was different.

They did it. After all that searching, they finally found it. There were hundreds of flowers. And every single one of them was the same, including the giant one at its center.

They found the garden.

…

…

…

Wilted.

Author's Note:

Sorry for that huge delay. I was gonna blame Finals for the delay this one took, but there was a lot more than just that going on. Hopefully the next chapter won't have a delay like this.

You probably would've thought that I would end the chapter after Rainbow and Fluttershy finally decided to continue searching for this garden, but no. I really wanted to end the chapter right there, especially with what I have planned for it. I REALLY want to get this out which is why I hope I won't delay this!

--
Find any errors? Please notify.

Feed back and criticism are appreciated.

Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoy.

Comments

[Marine Delight]

No! The flowers! They wilted?! But how?!

... Wait... I have a theory. The toxin tatzlponies emit is harmful to ponies. But what if it's good for the Alpine flowers? Like carbon dioxide!

[treegrowth]

..... shit...

[Skylight77]

8952255
But I can't sing...

[BerryOSkribble]

Oh shit dude there's a new chapter! I'm pretty fckin excited ^_^