Tantibus

THE SECOND CHAPTER

Zecora finally arrived home while carrying a few potion-ingredients and herbs of her own. Unfortunately, her current collection of plants, herbs, potions and books was too big to fit any more as of currently. She put down her newly picked groceries onto the ground next to the door.

“Looks like my recent additions won’t fit, so I will have to redecorate a bit.” She stated before getting to work. There was not much to do around her house anyway, so a good clean-up could keep her busy for a few hours. She began with her books, carefully removing them from their shelves and putting them on the floor. Naturally, large piles of them formed at the same rate as the shelves were cleared.

Somewhere in the pile closest to her personal, wooden desk there was a book titled ‘Spooky Tales & Legends’. The third installment and chapter of that book told the tale of the only known and documented occurrence of ‘The Tantibus Challenge’. But that was only a silly tale to scare rascals into being more thankful for the gift of life, right? Well, that is what Zecora had convinced herself into believing.

She removed the final book from her desk and put it in the smallest pile, completing the first part of redecorating her simple residence. She now began organizing her potions, herbs and ingredients, sorting the potions based off of their labels and the plants into different groups. Now, she was precise in compressing them together tightly so that this whole rearrangement would actually have a purpose and fit the new additions.

Zecora was almost finished with sorting as she only had two jars left to reposition. They were placed up on the top shelf, out of her reach. Even when she was standing on her practical stool she still could not reach them. She could only caress the wooden edge of the shelf with her hoof, over and over. That was when there was a faint knocking on the door.

Zecora looked over her own shoulder as to confirm what she had heard. Yes, the door was conveniently placed in the exact spot that the knocking had come from. Zecora gave up her struggle with those darn jars and walked over to the door. On the other side was a slightly apprehensive Twilight Sparkle. She was impatiently waiting for an answer, considering that the visit had to be short if she were to reach home in time before darkness fell. The door opened and Twilight was met with Zecora’s familiar smile and peculiar rhymes.

“Welcome, my dear. Twice in one day, you are here.” With an inviting motion using her front hoof, Zecora showed her friend Twilight Sparkle in through the door for the second time that day. “Did you find your herb?” Zecora asked as she closed the door behind her.
“Uhm… Yes.” Twilight hesitated and lied so that she could get straight to her point. “But that isn’t why I’m here again. I am here to ask you about something.”

Zecora ascended back up onto her stool and continued her struggle with reaching the jars. The thought of borrowing Twilight’s magic did not strike her mind yet. But she continued the small talk; “Oh, I see. What could that question be?”

Twilight reached into her bag that she was carrying on her back. With a swift motion, the bag opened and a small beige note came floating out of it. As the note approached Zecora’s fixated expression, Twilight stated; “Do you know anything about this?”

Zecora looked over at the note and saw Twilight’s advisory demonstration of magic. As soon as she read this note she would ask Twilight to help her. Right now, she was focused on the note’s content. It looked like blood. But was it? Her pupils moved from left to right twice as she read the two simple lines.

My name is Aeon.
I died in Tantibus.

“Oh, dear!” When Zecora was reminded of what Tantibus meant, she jolted suddenly. Was it more than a story? Her hoof knocked into the shelf, flipping over the two jars. Zecora landed flat onto the ground with the jars coming soon after, landing safely in her lap. “Who wrote this note?!”

Zecora’s fall came as a surprise to Twilight as she did not think it would evoke such an intense reaction from her. As she assisted Zecora in getting up, she explained herself calmly. “Well, it says it’s written by Aeon. I just found it like this on a field, so I wouldn’t know. It was such a haunting experience, because as I picked it up from the ground, this small graveyard materialized around me. There were only five graves, but the cause of death was Died in Tantibus on every tombstone.” Zecora appeared deeply alarmed as Twilight continued. “I came here, wondering if you perhaps could tell me anything about Tantibus.”
“I’ve thought that Tantibus was just a legend for my entire youth. I do not wish to take any part in it, should it turn out to be truth.” Zecora stated.
“Zecora, please! I must know!”

Zecora walked over towards the pile of books adjacent to the wooden desk and picked out the book titled ‘Spooky Tales & Legends’. “Everything I know about Tantibus is written in this book. If you truly must know, have a look. I would assume that page eighty-two is the chapter for you.”

Twilight expressed a polite “Thanks.” when accepting the scripture. She then quickly opened it and turned to page 82 to disclose what Zecora was implying. It was the beginning of a new chapter named ‘The Dark Mansion’. Satisfied, Twilight closed the book and placed it in her bag.

“Night will fall, as I recall. You need to go, whilst the sun is still low.” Zecora insisted. She was right. At the time, there was merely half an hour until dusk and Twilight had to get going if she wanted to arrive at her library while at least a twinkle of the sun was still on the horizon.

She checked her bag once more before exchanging a final goodbye with Zecora for the day. When the door closed behind her, she remembered the reason she went to the Everfree forest in the first place. She forgot completely about the plant.
“Oh well. I can always come back another day. I don’t really need it right now. Besides, this Tantibus legend will probably keep me going for a few days. It is so strange, all of this…”

While trotting home, ‘Spooky Tales & Legends’floated elegantly out of her backpack and practically opened up to page 82 in front of her. She thought that since she had a little bit of a journey home ahead of her, she might as well examine this story a bit. “It’s written by Landon. I wonder who that is. How does he know about Tantibus? Did he enter and win perhaps?”

A small droplet of water dripped onto the page, slightly above the D in ‘The Dark Mansion’. Just a moment after, another raindrop settled on the page, and then another one. Twilight looked up into the sky and another drop splashed onto her cheek. It was starting to rain and she had to keep the book dry to conserve it for her deep studies. The book flew back into its position inside the secure bag. “I guess it will have to wait for when I get back to the library.”

It was dusk back at the library with the rain pouring down outside and Spike, who Twilight had left home alone for the day, was getting anxious. He had decided upon reading a book to conceal his worries but as darkness engulfed the outside, he could not stand it much longer. Where was Twilight? It was not normal for her to be out this long. He was aware that the herb she was getting was rare and hard to find. However, surely she would give up the search if she saw the sun setting, right? The Everfree forest would turn into a frightening place at night and if Twilight had any common sense she would know to not be there when darkness falls.

The door opened and in through it came a dripping wet and exhausted Twilight Sparkle. The rain outside had really taken its toll on her. She had been running to make it home as fast as possible in a race against time, darkness and rain. She closed the door after herself, panting, and put her bag on a table.
“Where have you been, Twilight?” Spike greeted her.
“Yeah, I’m sorry for coming home this late, Spike. I got… distracted.”
“With what?” Spike put down his book and quickly retrieved a towel for the soaked pony friend of his. He wrapped it around her and she nodded back at him.
“Thanks. Anyway… With this.” Twilight opened up the bag and out of it came the old note which by this point she was well acquainted with. Almost miraculously, it was bone dry along with the rest of the bag’s content. She had Rarity to thank for the remarkable water-repelling fabric used in the recently sewn bag. Spike caught the floating note and read it.

“Is this… blood?!” Spike put down the note on the table. So far, Spike was the first one not to be completely revolted on first eye-contact with the note.
“I think so. It doesn’t smell like ink, now does it?”
Spike leaned forward and took a sniff from the yellow paper. In repulsion and disgust, he backed off. “What is Tantibus?”
“I don’t know, honestly. I asked Zecora and she did not really want to tell me about it. But she did give me this book.” Twilight brought forth ‘Spooky Tales & Legends’ and showed it to Spike, “I haven’t gotten the time to read it yet though. I think I will soon, if not this evening.”

Soon after, the discussion was ended and they prepared dinner. It was delectable, but her mind could not concern itself with anything other than Tantibus. She felt an obsession creeping up on her. So when everything was cleaned up, Twilight could begin her research with a content belly. She began by studying the note a bit further. With a magnifying glass she could tell that it was at least a couple of years old and she was quite convinced that it was blood instead of ink or paint. Other than that, there was not much new information she could retrieve from the note with the tools she had. She shifted her attention to the book Zecora had given to her. With her curiosity peaked and a hint of excitement, she opened to page 82 and began her reading.

‘The Dark Mansion’ is the short tale covering Flaming Ace’s experience with Tantibus. Everything is written down into this book from his innocent civilian life before waking up in the insidious establishment up until the moment he walks out of the building with bloodstained hooves. It was the moment he had escaped, though leaving behind the slain bodies of five fellow ponies, along with his own sanity.

According to the book; they were commanded by lettering on the walls, dripping from blood, with two simple rules.

THE RULES OF THE TANTIBUS CHALLENGE

RULE ONE; ONLY ONE COMPETITOR CAN LEAVE TANTIBUS ALIVE

RULE TWO; THAT COMPETITOR MAY ONLY DO SO WHEN ALL OTHERS ARE DEAD

The ponies were offered an arsenal consisting of edged and blunt weapons. Landon also wrote that Flaming Ace could not control his actions, in dramatic detail. Against his will, he had picked up a sword and gone on a morbid and gruesome rampage, slicing off limbs and heads without any sign of hesitation or mercy. It was as if Flaming Ace was under the control of someone else, as nothing but a ragdoll in the possession of a twisted and sinister puppet master. He could only behold with his own eyes what was happening and witness his own merciless actions torturing the terrified souls of the ponies, before finishing them off one by one. His ears memorized their desperate wails while his mind carved the horrified expressions of the victims into his memory to haunt him for the rest of his life.

After completing the soulless challenge, when no other being stood standing and the red blood had made its way into every crevice of the wooden canvas below… Only then, did the doors open and the bright light stun him as he could stagger out into freedom again. But what freedom could you possibly salvage when your mind is in ruins? Any traces left of his sanity would be torn apart over and over by the memories of his conduct. The story’s final words are:

Every pony has a soul

I gave up mine when I slaughtered five others

They will never come back

Neither will I

I’m sorry…

“Twilight!”, Twilight Sparkle quickly jumped out of the book and into the real world again. Spike was staring at her, exhausted and frustrated. “It’s really late. Can’t you please put out the candle and go to bed?”

Spike was right, it was late and probably a good idea for Twilight to get some sleep. Well, try at least.