The Ophiotaurus was a… difficult creature to study. Solitary, elusive, and fast, the half bull half snake beasts that lived in forests near the borders of Equestria were hard enough to find, let alone capture for study.

That’s where Fluttershy came in. Friend to all creatures, she and Twilight had decided they would be the ones to find an Ophiotaurus. They weren’t generally mean spirited; they just liked their isolation. Herbivorous in nature, they weren’t generally known to eat meat unless they absolutely had to. This particular study required them to get one to eat meat. Specifically, Fluttershy. She had volunteered, surprising all of her friends. She wanted to know more about the creatures, and if being eaten by one so that she could help expand medical knowledge about them helped, she would do it.

Finding one wasn’t as hard as they expected. A quick search of Chrysalis’ mind, trapped in stone as she was, and they knew where a nest was. This nest housed two, a mated pair. Twilight smiled when they found the creatures, writing down in her notes what she observed. The larger of the two was a dark green color, much like the leaves on a pine tree. The smaller was a reddish pink. Unable to confirm gender of either one, she simply left that blank as she filled in the notes she could.

While snake like, the Ophiotaurus also had front hooves and could pull itself along the ground with them. The horns on its head were short, likely more used for scraping bushes out of the ground to get at the roots. Their eyes and lower half of their body was snake like. The larger green one seemed to be at least half a pony length longer than the smaller pink one.

“Ok Fluttershy, are you ready?” Twilight asked and Fluttershy nodded. She trusted her friend. Twilight would get her out of danger if anything went wrong.

Slowly, almost as if sneaking up on them, Fluttershy left the bush. Twilight’s camera collar on her neck recorded every step and the small drone behind her kept its lens focused on the two bull snakes. The first to look up was the pink one. It hissed and the two turned to slither away. “Don’t go.” Fluttershy’s voice was soft yet insistent. The two creatures stopped and the pink one turned back to look at her. Twilight’s camera was close enough to notice a distinct difference now. The small pink one had a more masculine build to its muzzle and frame while the larger green one had a slightly more slender build. Now she could gender them.

Female Ophiotaurus were a dark shade of green to match their surrounding environment, blending in with the trees and bushes. Whether it was for camouflage or confusing would-be predators, Twilight wasn’t exactly sure, but she knew where she could find out. For now, she had a task. Keeping her camera focused on Fluttershy, she wrote down what she’d observed so far.

“I know you don’t normally like guests but… uhm… I was wondering… could you… maybe… eat me?” Fluttershy asked, her gentle little voice sounding as if she was begging the creature to eat her. The larger female Ophiotaurus looked at her, confused, and snorted. Much like a cow. “I know it’s an odd request but… my friend is updating the Canterlot Bestiary… and we wanted to make sure we knew… about how your insides worked,” Fluttershy said, and the female blinked. Twilight wasn’t sure if she was confused or understood what was going on.

Twilight kept taking notes, most of them now about how Fluttershy could so easily communicate with the creatures. She was so enthralled with the notes that she nearly missed the female picking Fluttershy up and engulfing half of her friend in a single bite. The camera drone flew over to watch as Fluttershy’s own camera turned on. The male moved to eat the drone, but the female growled at him around Fluttershy’s rump. Twilight tried to use her magic to move the drone, so it didn’t have such a clear view under Fluttershy’s tail, but the magic of the Ophiotaurus seemed to be interfering.

Deciding to just edit the footage later, Twilight took notes of what she could see. Fluttershy wouldn’t narrate. They’d agreed that she didn’t actually need to see anything, so her eyes were shut tight. Stepping out of the bush to see better, Twilight watched as two strong swallows from the big female sent Fluttershy into her chest, only the shy mare’s tail still sticking out of her mouth. Was she going slowly so Twilight could take notes on everything Fluttershy’s camera saw? She didn’t know, but she was going to capitalize on the opportunity. As soon as Twilight’s quill stopped moving, the big bull snake female swallowed again and Fluttershy slid easily into the long body of the snake.

Twilight had expected the four chambered stomach of a cow to be present in some form in an Ophiotaurus. Instead, it had a single stomach in its long tail. It was quite roomy and Fluttershy was able to move around quite a bit. It wasn’t roomy enough that Fluttershy could just walk out, instead she’d have to settle with being rescued by Twilight’s magic. The male Ophiotaurus hissed at Twilight, something between a moo and a hiss, when she got too close to the female’s stomach. The female hissed back, and the smaller male shied away.

Twilight touched her engorged snake stomach softly. “Fluttershy, can you hear me alright in there?” She asked and she received a tap of confirmation against her hoof. “Just tap twice if you’re ready to come out and we can go home. I think I got enough information to make the documentary video informative enough,” Twilight said, waiting for the two taps. “If you don’t tap twice, I’m going to teleport you out myself.”

An insistent tap followed that, and Twilight jolted a little. Was Fluttershy trying to say something? The small camera on her collar didn’t have a mic and it wouldn’t get to Twilight anyway, since she didn’t have a headset. Pressing her head to the Ophiotaurus belly, Twilight listened. Fluttershy’s voice was soft, but strong.

“She’s a plant eater Twilight. Her stomach isn’t strong enough to hurt me. I’m fine in here until she lets me out.”

Twilight blinked and groaned. “Fluttershy, we have to go back to Ponyville before dark. The Ophiotaurus turns to stone in the dark, remember? The sun is already starting to go down,” Twilight said and Fluttershy was silent for a moment before tapping twice. Twilight stepped back and lit her horn, teleporting the shy mare out.

“Sorry… Twilight. It was just so comfy and safe in there… I… I felt like I wouldn’t have to worry about anything sleeping in there,” Fluttershy said, and Twilight nodded. It made sense that the shiest pony she’d ever met would want to feel safe and comfortable. She couldn’t deny she’d felt safe in Manny’s stomach when she started this whole endeavor.

As if sensing Fluttershy’s emotions, the big female tapped her on the back with her nose. When Fluttershy turned around, the two mares gasped. The female Ophiotaurus was holding one of her eggs. Fluttershy took it gently and looked up at the big cow snake. The Ophiotaurus snorted softly before slithering over to her mate, curling up around him, and turning to stone around their eggs the minute the sun dipped far enough to hide them in shadows.

Fluttershy and Twilight stared at the statues for a moment before looking at the small egg. It was also made of stone now, but it wouldn’t be tomorrow morning. Fluttershy would set about to making a small nest for it and learning everything she could about raising one the minute they got back. Twilight smiled at the statues before teleporting the two mares, and accompanying egg, back to Ponyville.

Author's Note

Ok. Another chapter busted out. We'll get to the Ophiotaurus unbirth chapter eventually. I did give Fluttershy an egg for a reason.