What is a Tatzlpony?

by Skylight77

Chapter 42: Rest

Rainbow was practically on the verge of passing out from this heat. Regardless, her mind continued to wander on possible solutions that could get them out of this. But her mind kept going towards the tatzlwurm. Why did it matter so much?

At the last moment, her mind led her to a possible answer. It resulted in her eyes shooting open. Surprisingly, the answer didn't come from her past memories. Her answer came from something that happened after Fluttershy found her in Day 3, back with Twilight actually. There was something that Twilight told them that day. It played in Rainbow's mind.

"You see, for that spell to work, I would need a sample of the creature that I'm transforming somepony into."

What did she know about the tatzlwurm? Their names were similar. It had three long black tongues just like her, but bigger. There were squiggly patterns near its eyes just like her. And last, they could both dig fast underground.

But that was where the similarities ended. Their tails were close, but the tatzlwurm’s had a hairy end, unlike hers which had a fin. She was a pony and that thing was a giant worm-like monster. Still, why would all that matter? Twilight’s words repeated again.

”I would need a sample of the creature that I'm transforming somepony into."

Rainbow Dash sighed out in awe. What if that was the reason? Was it possible? She was a tatzlpony. Would that spell work from a sample of a tatzlwurm?

Maybe it did. How else would she have become a tatzlpony? And if that was the case, then the sample that the Spellcaster must’ve used was… what Fluttershy said. It was the sands in its eyes that allowed it to sleep. Then… that meant she must have its sands with her.

Rainbow looked at the steaming pool of stomach acid that she was enshrouded in. Twilight… it was just like Fluttershy said. She started remembering the adventures that they had together, the struggles that their friendships went through and repaired. How could she have forgotten all of this? They owed so much to Twilight. Even when she wasn’t around, she found a way to help them.

Rainbow thought back to that visit. There was no doubt that Twilight was acting strange. But after learning this, it was no wonder that Fluttershy refused to believe that she was involved in all of this. Even if she was, she left them a simple peace of information that might just save them today.

For some reason, the word ‘egghead’ came to her mind. There was a joke somewhere in that. She wanted to make it. And she wanted to chuckle, despite the circumstances. Actually, she did chuckle. But she couldn’t figure out what the joke was right now. It just felt like non-tatzlpony instinct for her to chuckle at it.

Rainbow only chuckled twice before getting back on track. All that mattered now was getting out of this tatzlwurm’s stomach. In order for them to escape, they needed this tatzlwurm to sleep. But without the sands in its eyes, it couldn’t. If her theory was right, then she must have the sands with her. How would she return it? Well… she had one idea.

Rainbow Dash took a look behind her, slowly lifting her tail above the pool’s level. She concentrated on her tail, watching as the liquid from the steaming stomach acids slowly dripped off from it. While she still didn’t understand why, every time she swallowed somepony and absorbed some of their energy, she felt her tail flowing with that same energy before she could use it. And every time she used that power, they would both get very sleepy after some time passed.

Maybe those sands were the reason why. With this method, perhaps she could return some of those sands back to its eyes. It was a longshot, but there was nothing else she could think to try. And giving up was still not gonna be her option. After taking a deep breath, Rainbow Dash raised her tail, then struck it down in the pool, piercing the shallow side to the tatzlwurm’s belly.

Fluttershy’s attention was brought back to Rainbow when she heard a sudden splash. Though Rainbow wasn’t looking her way. Rainbow was looking towards her tail with a nervous and sweaty look, breathing deeply. She wasn’t sure how she was gonna pull this off, but she just had to. Turning her head straight, she squeezed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and tried to activate her magic.

Fluttershy gasped upon seeing this. Rainbow was trying something again. Whatever she was trying, it looked very difficult. Her face scrunched aggressively as she released painful sounding grunts. Watching Rainbow continue to suffer was heartbreaking to Fluttershy. She wanted to say something.

But… she didn’t. That would only make things worse and she knew it. She suddenly saw Rainbow exhale harshly as her grunting turned into pants. One, two, only three pants before she took a deep breath and tried again. Fluttershy’s voice whined out as tears welled up in her eyes.

Rainbow Dash… look at her. She was giving it her all and getting nowhere, continuing to suffer. Every time Rainbow suffered, she felt pain in her heart, pain for Rainbow Dash. But what was Rainbow really doing? All Rainbow was doing was trying to save them. Save them both. And what did she say to Rainbow?

Rainbow paused her attempt again. One, two, three, four, five pants this time. And after the fifth, she could see Rainbow’s expression faltering. Whatever she was trying to do, it wasn’t working. Nothing would work.

No. She had to stop thinking like that. That was why Rainbow was mad at her. It was because she gave up. Here Rainbow was continuing to try, continuing to pain herself, and she was doing absolutely nothing to help Rainbow. But… what could she do? What was Rainbow trying to do? And more importantly, how could she possibly help?

Rainbow tried once again to activate her magic and send her energy through her tail. But no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t. And every time she tried, her head and body flared up in pain. It was just like Fluttershy was saying. The more she tried, the more she would suffer. One more push, and then she exhaled harshly, completely stopping her attempts to gasp for breath.

Nothing. No progress. Just pain, sweat, and tears. She really tried. Really… really tried. But she just couldn’t find the strength to activate her magic. And there was no time to rest to recover her strength. A few feathers had already fallen off her wings, being dissolved in the stomach acid. Her eyes squeezed and her teeth gritted in agony. There was no time left. It was so hopeless… but…

“Don’t give up…”

Rainbow’s ears raised when she heard that voice. One, two, three, four seconds before her mind could register who it was. She lifted her head and turned it towards Fluttershy.

“Don’t give up… Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy’s eyes were pulsing while she spoke carefully. “I’m sorry," she said. "I was worried. ...And I didn’t want to see you get hurt anymore. But… all you were trying to do was save us. I shouldn’t have tried to stop you. I should’ve been supporting you. So please…” Her head lowered slowly as she took a step forward. “If there’s anything… a-a-anything I can do to help, please, tell me. Just… … Don’t... give... up...”

To hear Fluttershy saying these things lifted Rainbow’s spirits back up. It was shocking and comforting. More memories spawned in. The sight of Fluttershy’s growing confidence and will to continue, even after giving up… this wasn’t the first time. Fluttershy had given up before, but thanks to her, kept going. Would she do it again?

Rainbow flinched back when that question crossed her mind. Would Fluttershy do it again? There was one way Fluttershy could help. But… that would mean...

“Fluttershy…” Rainbow started softly and carefully. She waited until Fluttershy had her attention up before continuing. “Do you… trust me?”

Fluttershy blinked at the question. The answer was obvious. “O-Of course I do, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and shook her head. She looked at Fluttershy and asked again. “Do you trust… me…?” Her tail raised out of the pool upon the last word in her question.

Fluttershy gasped this time at the question. She understood what Rainbow meant, and she wasn’t sure how to respond this time. Tatzlponies… Rainbow Dash was a tatzlpony. There was no doubt that she trusted Rainbow Dash. Even as a tatzlpony, she would trust Rainbow Dash.

But… would she trust a tatzlpony… if it wasn’t Rainbow Dash? That was the question.

What is a tatzlpony?

Fluttershy looked down as she thought about that question. What did she know? Could she truly answer that question?

___

”Tatzlponies… they look like ponies like us. The differences are that their eyes have little marks underneath them that look like lightning bolts. Their cutie marks are given those patterns too. And their tail is a long lizard-like limb with bumpy hairs near the end, and ending with a tail fin.”

“But that’s just the outer parts. I-Inside is a much different story. *Gulp*. T-They have… three, long, tentacle-like tongues. They’re much stronger… and much more flexible than ours. They use them to catch prey. T-They… have a big appetite… a much, much stronger stomach, and can swallow more than what their size is. They can swallow things just as big as them… e-even other ponies.”

“*Whimper*. B-But… when they swallow ponies, o-or anything else that’s alive, they can be regurgitated later, u-unharmed I think. But while they are swallowed, they are trapped, unable to do anything to escape. It’s up to the tatzlpony when they’ll be released.”

“But… tatzlponies… they don’t realize that’s wrong. The ponies that they swallow, they only swallow those they are close to. They don’t like swallowing ponies that they hate. All they need, is to be told that swallowing others is wrong.”

“But we can't just yell at them about it. Tatzlponies are lonely. They get discouraged easily, and will often run away if they’re given too much insecurity. They can learn, but they need to be told gently with kindness, and they’ll stop swallowing other ponies against their will.”

“With just that, tatzlponies really aren’t that bad. But there’s still one more thing about them… one that I still haven’t figured out the answer to. Tatzlponies are poisonous. Every breath they take spreads a small amount of their toxin in the air. Anypony exposed to it will be affected, but slowly.”

“The toxin doesn’t leave the body, and it will continue to collect the longer anypony is near a tatzlpony. It’ll take at least three days before the toxin starts affecting you. But if they ever get sick, the toxin spreads much faster. If what X said was true, then it would take only one night before it infects a whole town, like Ponyville. How far would it spread after a few days? I don’t know. The only cure to the toxin that I know of is…”

“I-I-Is… the flower that I failed to protect. A purple flower called… ‘Alpine’. Only one is needed to save somepony from the toxin. But the toxin can just affect them all over again. Without the Alpine Flowers, tatzlponies can’t stay around other ponies for very long.”

“But… that’s not their fault. Tatzlponies don’t have any control of that toxin, do they? Tatzlponies can dig very fast and bury themselves underground. If they live underground, they must not have any control over it. In fact, they probably hid themselves underground so that they don’t put anypony else in danger.”

“Tatzlponies aren’t bad. They can’t be. But… what about the one that attacked the Journalist? No… Something must’ve happened to it to make it mad. Just like this tatzlwurm that swallowed us, something made it mad enough to do bad things. Maybe that tatzlpony suffered a similar thing.”

“Tatzlponies aren’t bad. They’re just misunderstood.”

___

Fluttershy finally opened her eyes after ending her deep thought. She looked Rainbow Dash eye to eye and answered confidently. “Tatzlponies aren’t bad. They’re just misunderstood. I’m sure of it, Rainbow Dash. So… even if it wasn’t you, even if you were a tatzlpony I didn’t know, I trust you. I trust you, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash took in what Fluttershy said. A few words repeated in her mind. “Follow your instincts! Don't fight them! Your instincts will carry you through.” They were the words from her Rescuer. That’s exactly what she was about to do. The problem was, could she trust her instincts? If Fluttershy could, then she could as well. With a deep breath Rainbow nodded and responded.

“Please… try and stay awake this time…” For a second, Fluttershy was confused as to why Rainbow said that. But the next second told her why. Rainbow opened her mouth and was slowly reaching out one of her tongues towards her. Her eyes went wide while the hairs on her coat stood on end, despite being soaked. How that was possible, she would never understand.

But right now, all she could focus on was that tongue reaching out towards her. When it got close enough, she could tell it was moving to wrap around her. Whimpering, she took a step back. The tongue stopped in its place as she did so. Fluttershy looked to see that Rainbow’s face was full of concern again. She would not go through with this unless Fluttershy was okay with it.

But why would Rainbow need to do this? Fluttershy thought about everything she knew of a tatzlpony, and nothing explained this sort of behavior. Was she wrong about them? Or was it something that she still didn’t know about them? Did Rainbow know? Maybe she didn’t, and that was why Rainbow asked her if she trusted a tatzlpony that wasn’t Rainbow. Despite her fear, she still trusted that.

“D-...Don’t stop, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said hesitantly. “I-I may be scared, but… I still trust you. I still trust... tatzlponies.” The tongue started moving again, and caused Fluttershy to whimper more. She was shivering, yet she kept talking. “K-Keep going. Don’t… worry about me…” She could now feel the tongue wrapping around her neck, causing her to shiver violently as her body chilled to the core. Not even the heat of this stomach was warming her body.

Rainbow started tugging, slowly dragging Fluttershy towards her. After one step, Fluttershy tried to stop herself with a hoof. Tears were forming in her eyes. She was clearly terrified, yet she continued telling her not to stop.

“Even if I’m scared… even if I resist…” Fluttershy looked away. “E-Even if I… s-scream… don’t worry about me. Just… do what you gotta do-o-o… m-m-mph.”

So Rainbow continued. Fluttershy continued to resist still. It felt like now she was wrapped in a collar and being pulled by a leash, one that she wasn’t gonna be able to escape. At least, part of her hoped she could, but another part of her hoped she couldn’t, the part that trusted Rainbow Dash.

They started closing the distance and Rainbow reached out another tongue towards Fluttershy. This one wrapped around one of her forelegs, pulling it above the pool. She could see that the hoof had grown very soggy and soft. It wouldn’t be long before it started dissolving. The feathers on Fluttershy’s wings were already falling out on their own, being dissolved by the pool.

Fluttershy’s resistance was getting stronger. She was no longer saying anything and was whimpering louder in fear. But Rainbow remembered what Fluttershy said and continued anyway. This must’ve been really hard for her to handle.

Rainbow reached her last tongue out and placed the tip against Fluttershy’s snout. When Fluttershy felt it, she opened her eyes. It was the tongue with the knot on it. That knot reminded her of when Rainbow was dealing with such a stressful situation. She had to put so much trust on Fluttershy to get that treated. And she succeeded.

Remembering that helped Fluttershy to collect her nerves. It slowed down her whimpering. But more importantly, it reminded her of what Rainbow asked her to do. Try to stay awake.

Fluttershy gulped and looked forwards again, seeing Rainbow’s comforting eyes looking back at her while the tongues continued to pull her in. Her stress was coming back, but she tried to stay strong. When she got close enough, Rainbow opened her mouth wide. Gritting her teeth, Fluttershy’s whimpers came back and she started resisting again.

But this time, Rainbow didn’t stop or slow down. She pulled Fluttershy closer, until her mouth wrapped around Fluttershy’s head and down to her neck. One of her tongues wrapped around both of Fluttershy’s forehooves to halt the struggling. Muffled screaming could be heard, but Rainbow continued.

Soon, Fluttershy’s forehooves found their way inside Rainbow’s mouth. Fluttershy tried to use them to push herself out, but to no avail. Remembering Rainbow’s words again, Fluttershy opened her eyes. She regretted it, but refused to close them back as the tears flushed out. All she could see was the dreaded dark presence of red squishy walls squeezing against her and swallowing her further down.

Rainbow’s tongues lifted the rest of Fluttershy’s body out of the pool. They wrapped around her body and wings, which were locked up due to how scared Fluttershy was. One of the tongues wrapped around Fluttershy’s hind legs to stop their flailing and splashing of the pool. Taking a few more harsh swallows, Fluttershy’s wings soon disappeared in Rainbow’s mouth.

Fluttershy could now feel her body hitting against the bottom of Rainbow’s stomach. All of Rainbow’s tongues restrained her hind legs now. She could no longer flail them uncontrollably. They soon found themselves being sucked inside Rainbow’s mouth, and sliding down her throat.

Fluttershy’s body slid and flipped along the walls of Rainbow’s stomach, forcing her to form a ball inside. With gritted teeth and eyes barely able to stay open, she barely managed to avoid passing out this time, but was whimpering her breaths very deeply. Instead of focusing on what her surroundings looked like, she desperately tried to focus on the top of her hooves so she wouldn't pass out. Whatever was going to happen next was up to Rainbow. All she could do was lie on her stomach with her head just above her hooves.

But that was a lot easier said than done. The walls... she could practically feel them closing in on her. They were squeezing her... tighter... and tighter... and tighter. Nothing but darkness...

Rainbow did one last swallow to get Fluttershy’s tail down with the rest of her. Despite the circumstances, Fluttershy’s taste was still pleasant. Actually, it was far more pleasant than ever. The drench from the stomach acid didn't manage to bother her too much. Her belly was given a noticeable expansion without causing too much issue on the weight. As relaxed as she was now, Fluttershy was the complete opposite. Not only were her whimpers clear, she was squirming and violently poking the walls of Rainbow’s stomach.

Rainbow had to put a hoof to her stomach to settle some of those rough pokes. This squirming was making it difficult for her to stay in place. At the very least, it meant Fluttershy managed to stay awake this time. She proceeded to place her tail back under the pool’s level and stick it against the walls of this tatzlwurm's stomach. The faster she could do this, the less Fluttershy would have to endure this agony.

Rainbow took a deep breath before attempting to activate her magic, hoping that this would work. No. It wasn’t a matter of hoping it would work. This had to work. Nothing else mattered now. With fierce resolve, she gritted her teeth and used her magic.

As much as Fluttershy tried not to think about where she was right now, her ears could not block out the sounds of Rainbow’s stomach churning and gurgling right now. It increased her fears drastically to the point she just wanted to give up and pass out right there. Instead, she closed her eyes and let her tears of fear pour out without resistance. For some reason, it felt like her energy was being drained, making it more difficult to stay awake.

Rainbow could feel the energy flowing through her now. Her body started glowing as the energy flowed through her tail. It seemed this power really could only be activated after swallowing somepony. She continued letting the energy flow, hoping that it could send that sample she had back to the tatzlwurm.

All of a sudden, the tatzlwurm began roaring violently again. The roar was intense enough to start shaking the entire room. Stomach acid was dripping faster and splashing around. Some of it was splashing in Rainbow’s face, and the pressure was making it difficult to stay in place.

Still, Rainbow did her best to hold her spot. She kept her tail in place and continued to pour her energy through it. The stomach started to glow with that energy, but the resistance wasn’t stopping. It was only becoming more violent and the roaring was getting louder. Even with using her wings to cover up her ears, it was still so loud. This couldn’t be happening. Was this only making things worse?

No. She couldn’t give up. This was their only option left. It had to work. Nothing else could make their situation any less dire than it already was. Not even the fact that Fluttershy’s cries and squirms were getting worse as well. Every push she made caused Rainbow’s stomach to jolt left and right, making it even more difficult to keep her position.

Rainbow didn’t falter. Don’t give up. Those were the words that stuck with her. When she heard Fluttershy say that to her, it strengthened her resolve. She wouldn’t fail them. Strain kept growing across her body. Sweat poured from her face. The bandage on her head threatened to just slip off or even be torn off.

Yet, Rainbow pushed on. She kept pushing herself, enduring the pain that she was suffering to keep going, fighting a battle both inside and outside her pained body. The glow was getting brighter, spreading across the entire tatzlwurm’s stomach. It kept going, spreading further along the tatzlwurm’s body while it kept roaring and flailing around.

Eventually, the glow reached the tatzlwurm’s head. The tatzlwurm flailed around a few more times. And then… it started slowing down. Its roaring grew more quiet. All the splashing of stomach acid started settling down. Soon, everything settled down. No more roaring, no more flailing, no more splashing.

With gritted teeth, Rainbow settled the strain she was putting on herself to send that energy. She struggled to stay standing, panting exhaustingly. There was one last silent growl coming from the tatzlwurm before it went quiet. It was hard to believe, but it looked like her theory was right. Sending that energy allowed her to send her sample back to the tatzlwurm. The tatzlwurm had managed to fall asleep.

Rainbow winced as she tried to open her eyes and look up. That’s what happened, right? She couldn’t tell from here. And her body was in so much strain right now. What about Fluttershy? How was she holding up? All she knew right now was, it was too early to celebrate.

They still needed to get out of here.

Author's Note:

I swear. I'm not always trying to leave you guys in so much suspense. There's a little announcement that I want to make, but I want to wait until I end one of these chapters without such a cliffhanger. Hopefully, that'll be next chapter.

--
Find any errors? Please notify.

Feed back and criticism are appreciated.

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

Comments

[bonberjean]

42 chapters of waiting for this scene... worth it

[Skylight77]

9091197
Wait, what? Which scene in particular were you waiting for?

[bonberjean]

9091247
I'll try to describe in the most unhelpful helpful way I can think of...
The method Rainbow used to put the worm to sleep

[Skylight77]

9091254
And here I was afraid people were gonna find that ability stupid. I guess I should've figured that since that was revealed way back in chapter 6.

[Marine Delight]

[Fluttershy still has quite a ways to go to be okay with being in a tatzlpony's belly, but it's good to see some action being done to escape.]

[Marine Delight]

9091876
[That's pretty much how he's portrayed in the show proper. He may be agressive with Fluttershy, but he ultimately wants to help her.

My personal favorite moment with him is when he tried to cheer up Twilight with snuggles, but it only resulted in him absorbing her sadness. No woodland creature is safe from an alicorn's depression. XD]

[Skylight77]

9091876
9092079

I like how you portray Angel. It's my personal headcanon for him. A total jerk, but he does care for Fluttershy. (No matter how grumpy he is doing it.)

Yeah, that's how I feel about him too. It's the reason why out of all the Mane Six pets, Angel is my favorite. Grumpy, but caring when it counts. And I really didn't like how comments made out that Sleeping Pill scene as just a wrong action of Angel simply drugging his owner. All he did was help Fluttershy get the sleep she needed.

Anyway, I've been really enjoying the story so far. I only knew the physical appearances of tatzlponies before I read this, so it's very interesting to learn lore about them. And the plot in general has been pretty good as well.

I have been making my own personal headcannon lore about them through this story without trying to completely drive off the first bit of lore we were given about them. I would love to see others do more stories about them with their own personal headcannons too.

Still don't know why Applejack is always the one to be a tatzlpony in most artwork, though.

Probably because she was where they originated from.
Source
derpicdn.net/img/2014/3/16/577077/large.jpg

Their description:

Tatzlpones tend to inspect each and every living creature they encounter by swallowing and spitting them back out. It is important to discourage this behavior in your pet tatzlpone at a young age. Refrain from hitting your tatzlpone and instead scold him/her with a stern voice until he/she uncoils and be sure to provide lots of positive reinforcement when your tatzlpone refrains from doing this.

It is also important to not confuse this behavior with when a tatzlpone simply wraps it’s coils around someone. This is a simple show of affection, akin to a hug, and should not be discouraged as it can cause your tatzlpone to become fearful around others.

[Brody Deitrick]

well at least theres hope for them to get out alive and not end up as worm food now but thats not my call now is it

[Detsella Morningdew]

Nice.

This was really well done in general.

And props to you for being able to write a vore-based fic that doesn't actually require the readers to be "into" it, or even know what it is. When I started reading this, my biggest fear was that it would be just fetish fuel, but nope - an actual good story.