Author's Note

I can't think of many other tags to give this off the top of my head, so if anyone can think of any, that would be appreciated.

Deep Dive into The Manticore

Deep Dive into the Manticore.

Twilight fidgeted with the camera as she made sure everything was set up properly. The record function was working, the camera was in focus and the settings were set to autofocus and x-ray when appropriate. Satisfied that everything was ready, she stepped back and smiled.

“Hello everypony. I’m Twilight Sparkle and I’m going to be updating the Equestrian Royal Bestiary entry on Manticores.” She said as the camera focused on her and the large orangish manticore with the red mane behind her. “Today’s manticore is a relatively safe one. This is Manny the Manticore. Some of you may know him from Trixie’s show, as he is the manticore in question during the Moonshot Manticore Mouthdive. Why am I not asking Trixie to do this study for me you might ask? Well… she’s just not as good at magic.” She said, smiling before her smile dropped.

“No no no. I can’t just say that. I need to be nice. Start over.” She said and her horn lit. The recording rewound to the start, and she took a breath as it started recording again. “Hello everypony. I’m Twilight Sparkle and this is Manny the Manticore. Today, we are going to be updating the Equestrian Royal Bestiary entry on Manticores. As many of you may know, Manny is the star of Trixie’s Moonshot Manticore Mouthdive performance, so he’s safe for this study.” She said as she turned to the manticore. Manny simply watched her as she walked over to him.

“First off, we need to have a look at Manny’s mouth. Say ah please.” She asked him and he opened his maw as wide as he could. Twilight used her magic to bring the camera closer and examine Manny’s teeth. “As you can see, the manticore has the teeth of a predator. A highly adapted set of chompers designed for chewing up meat. Manny however is quite gentle. As you can see here…” she said as she placed her two front hooves and her entire front in Manny’s mouth. “He won’t bite down unless I ask him to. I do have to remember to give him some Manticore treats when we’re done here.”

Rather than stepping out of Manny’s mouth, she looked at the camera for a moment, her eyes lost in thought, as she tried to think of the best way to say what she was going to do next. Manny kept his mouth completely still, save for frequent movements of his tongue under her hooves to keep his mouth moist. Twilight kept the camera nearby while she thought before blinking and looking at it. “I’ll edit this out in post… Next, we will be exploring his esophagus. Manny, don’t chew.” She said as she slowly pushed the camera into Manny’s throat backwards, the recording screen still facing her.

The screen went black for a moment before suddenly being lit up by a blinding light that was snuffed out and almost immediately replaced by a purple glow as Twilight smiled at it, still moving it ahead of her. “Manny’s throat, much like any other manticore, is well versed in swallowing large meals. Centuries of evolution helped the Manticore grow into one of the apex predators of Equestria. Already his throat muscles, using the process of peristalsis, are moving me along quite fluidly. All that remains of me still in his mouth are my hind hooves. Manny is such a good boy that he won’t swallow me until I give him the ok. This gives me plenty of time to fill you all in on everything happening around me.

“For all creatures, food processing begins in the mouth. The teeth are where food is broken down into smaller, more manageable chunks, though for the purposes of this study, Manny won’t be chewing anything just yet. Once the teeth are finished, the throat is the next stop on food’s journey. Here, saliva build up coats the food in a multitude of enzymes meant to break it down and make it more manageable for the stomach to finish processing. Ok Manny, send me down.” She said and a loud glurk almost made the camera fuzz out as she and the camera traveled down the throat.

Twilight closed her eyes as she was swallowed, the camera squeezing through the sphincter behind it ahead of her, giving it an excellent view of the tight ring it had just squeezed through, stretching around the scientifically inclined Princess. Her horn was the first thing to poke through, followed by her head and neck. “As… as you can see… I’m a bit stuck. I do hope Manny’s not choking on me. Most food that squeezes through this ring of muscle, called the esophageal sphincter, is chewed almost into a paste. I’m not exactly sure if… oh there we go.” She said as the sphincter stretched around her shoulders and she was pushed rather quickly into the stomach, followed by a torrent of water. “I see, Manny drank some of his water to help work me down. Good boy Manny.” She said with a smile before turning to the camera, cleaning it off with her magic.

“Here we are. In the stomach of the Manticore. For nearly all creatures, this would be the final stop on the rest of their lives. However, again, for the purposes of the Bestiary, this isn’t my final stop. On to the science. What you see around me is the stomach lining. Surprisingly sturdy stuff meant to hold back acids designed to break down meat and other substances that ponies simply can’t digest. I won’t be here long enough for the acids to begin to dissolve me, thankfully, but the Manticore’s stomach is designed to work on ponies and other live meals quite quickly.

“In fact, if I don’t move on soon, I’ll start to feel pretty tingly.” She said as the floor of the stomach started filling with an almost slimy liquid. Twilight took that cue to push the camera through yet another sphincter and follow it through. This time, she didn’t wait to explain it until she was completely inside. “This that I am currently encased in is the small intestine. It is here that the broken-down foods that didn’t dissolve in the acid are further dissolved in order to go on the last stretch of the journey. It is also quite twisty in here, so that’s all I’ll say for now. See you all in the large intestine.”

Twilight smiled as she pushed the camera head of her with her magic. It followed what seemed like an easy path through before squeezing through another sphincter into a new area. A few moments passed before the sphincter it had just passed through stretched and Twilight’s head popped through. “Hello again. Here we are in the large intestine. The last destination in any creature’s body. Normally, the only things that get to see this portion of any predators body is the dissolved and broken-down food stuffs that are turned into lumps of excrement. Most of it is simply dumped somewhere in the Everfree Forest, but for these purposes, Manny has been thoroughly cleaned by the best animal doctors in Ponyville, so there is no waste inside him at the moment.

“That concludes our tour of the Manticore digestive system. Next time, we’ll be discussing Manticore mating and the process Manticores go through to ensure a successful mating.” She said as she turned the camera off.

~~~~~

Fluttershy stroked Manny’s paw while the lump that was her friend moved through his bowels. It wasn’t normal for something still so large to go through his insides, but Twilight and Manny both understood. He clenched up his muzzle after a moment and Fluttershy watched as he raised his rump and squeezed out a camera coated in a purple glow. Not long after it, a pair of purple hooves squeezed out. They seemed to wave in the air until a pair of orange hooves grabbed them and pulled.

Applejack tugged on her friend as the purple princess squeezed out of Manny’s rear, spotless but slimy.

“Ah don’t know how you talked him int’ doin’ this crazy thing.” She said and Twilight just smiled as she stood up.

“I promised him as much meat as we could get.” She said and Fluttershy nodded as Discord wheeled over a rolling cart with a large silver tray on top of it. The dome on the tray was pulled away and Manny purred at it, his mouth salivating. “Go ahead Manny. You earned it. And thank you for your cooperation.” The manticore chuffed and dove in, eating every single portion of the meat.

Twilight smiled and lifted the camera. “And that, fillies and gentlecolts, is the Deep Dive into the Manticore. Join me next time when we explore yet another of Equestria’s dangerous critters.”