CHAPTER TWO

Meanwhile, Zecora finally arrived to her home carrying with her a few potion-ingredients and herbs of her own. Unfortunately, her present collection of plants, herbs, potions and books was too big for more as of currently. She put down her newly picked content onto the floor next to the door.

"Looks like my recent additions won't fit; I will have to redecorate a bit." She spoke before getting to work. There wasn't much to do around her house anyways, so a good clean-up could keep her entertained for a few hours. She began with her books, carefully removing them from their shelves and putting them on the floor. Large piles of books formed at the same rate as the shelves were cleared.

Somewhere in the pile closest to her personal, wooden desk was there a book named "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 children into being more thankful to the gift of life, right? Well, that is what Zecora had convinced herself into believing. Actually, the tale of when Flaming Ace became the first Tantibus victor was a true story, written by himself. Under a false name of course, the author "Landon" didn't want to cause any unwanted attention to himself.

Nowadays, Flaming Ace does not need to worry about such attention since shortly after publishing his remarkable story; he finished his own life in a desperate attempt to lose the guilt of taking the lives of five innocent, fellow ponies.

Zecora 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 sorting her potions, herbs and ingredients over again, sorting the potions of their labels and the plants into different groups. Now she was careful to squeeze them together tightly so that this whole redecoration would actually have a point and fit the new additions.

Zecora was almost finished with sorting as she only had two jars left to replace. They were placed up on the top shelf, out of her reach. Even when she was standing on her practical stool she still couldn't reach them. It was barely as she smudged the wooden edge of the shelf with her hoof, over and over. That's when there was a slight knocking on the door.

Zecora looked over her own shoulder as to confirm what she had heard. Yes, the door was conveniently placed to where the knocking had come from. Zecora gave up her struggle with trying to expand her body into being able to reach those darn jars and walked over to the door. On the other side was a slightly nervous Twilight Sparkle, eagerly waiting for an answer because the visit had to be short if she would get home in time, before darkness fell. The door opened and Twilight was met with Zecora's familiar smile and rhymes.

"Welcome, my dear. Twice in one day you are here." With an inviting motion with her leg Zecora showed her friend Twilight Sparkle in through the door for the second time that day. "Did you find your herb, if I may disturb?" Zecora asked as she closed the door behind Twilight.
"Uhm… Yes." Twilight lied so that she could get straight to her point faster. "But that isn't why I'm here again. I'm here to ask you about something."

Zecora stepped back up on her stool and continued trying to reach her jars. The thought of Twilight's magic didn't strike her mind yet. "Oh I see. What could that question be?"

Twilight reached back into her bag that she was carrying on her back. With a slight movement the bag opened and a small yellow note came floating out of it. As the floating note approached Zecora's focused expression Twilight stated; "Do you know anything about this?"

Zecora looked over on the note and saw Twilight's clear 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? If the color wasn't convincing, the smell sure was. 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!" Zecora did a quick jump in shock as she had read about Tantibus before. 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 didn't think it would have such a great reaction on her. As she helped Zecora getting up again she explained calmly. "Well, it says it's written by Aeon. I just found it like this on a field. It was so weird, as I picked it up from the ground this small graveyard spawned around me. With only five graves, the cause of death was Died In Tantibus on every tombstone." Zecora looked even more shocked. "I came here, wondering if you maybe knew anything about Tantibus."
"I've thought that Tantibus was just a legend for my entire youth. I do not wish to take any part of it, if it turns out to be truth." Zecora stated.
"Zecora, please! I must know!"

Zecora walked over to the pile of books closest to the wooden desk and picked out a book named "Spooky Tales & Legends". "Everything I know about Tantibus is written in this book. If you must know, have a look. I suggest that page eighty-two is the chapter for you."

Twilight spoke a polite "Thanks." when accepting the book. She then quickly turned to page 82 to see if what Zecora was speaking was the truth. It was the beginning of a new chapter named "The Dark Mansion". Twilight closed the book and placed it in her bag.

"Night will fall, as I recall. Now you need to go, whilst the sun is still low." Zecora said. She was right, it was about an half hour until dusk and Twilight really had to get going if she wanted to arrive to her library while at least a glint of the sun was still available.

She checked her bag once more before saying a final goodbye to 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…"

Twilight reach back into her back and Spooky Tales & Legends floated fluently out and practically opened up to page 82 in front of her. She thought that since she had quite the long walk home ahead of her she might as well check this story out 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 drop of water dripped onto the page, slightly above the D in The Dark Mansion. Just a moment after, another drip landed on the page, and then another one. Twilight looked up into the sky and another drop of water made a clear and moisture splash onto her cheek. It was starting to rain and she had to keep the book dry to make it presentable for her deep studies. The book floated back into position inside the secure bag. "I guess it will have to wait for when I get back to the library."

It was dusk at the library with the rain pouring down outside and Spike, who Twilight had left home alone for the day, was getting worried. He had decided upon reading a book to conceal his worries but as darkness arose outside, he couldn't stand it much longer. Where was Twilight? It was not normal for her to be out this long. Sure, the herb she was getting was rare and hard to find but surely would she give up the search if she was running out of time, right? The Everfree forest would turn into a horrible place at night and if Twilight had any senses she would know to not be there when darkness falls.

The door opened; in through it came a wet, soggy and exhausted Twilight Sparkle. The rain outside had really taken its effect on her and she must have been running to make it home as fast as possible in a race against time, darkness and rain. She closed the door after herself and put her bag on a table.
"Where have you been, Twilight?"
"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. Anyways… With this." Twilight opened up the bag and out of it came the yellow and old note. Miraculously, it was bone dry, along with the rest of the bag's content. She had Rarity to thank for the astonishing 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 not to freak out 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 reject and disgust, he backed off. "What is Tantibus?"
"I don't know, really. Zecora didn't really want to tell me either, but she did give me this book. 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 Twilight began her research. She began by studying the note a bit further. With a magnifying class she could tell that it was at least five years old. She was quite convinced that it was blood instead of ink or paint on it. She had only seen blood from bruises and scratches but this did remind her of it. Other than that, there wasn't much information she could retrieve from the note with the tools she had, so she moved on to the book Zecora had given to her. With curiosity, and a little bit of excitement, she opened to page 82 and began her reading.

The Dark Mansion is the short tale of Flaming Ace's experiences from Tantibus, written by Flaming Ace under the pseudonym "Landon". Everything is written down into this book from his innocent citizenship before waking up in the creaky mansion up until the moment when he walks out of the building with bloodstained hooves leaving behind the slain and empty bodies of five fellow ponies along with his own sanity.

According to the book; they were commanded by letters 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 group of ponies was offered an arsenal with edged and blunt weapons. According to Landon's description, Flaming Ace could not control his actions as he picked up a sword and went on a heartless and gruesome rampage, slicing off limbs and heads without any sign of mercy or reconsideration. It was as if Flaming Ace was under control by someone else, as nothing but a ragdoll in the possession of something dark and evil. He could only witness with his own eyes what was happening, what his own berserk and bloody ravage caused upon the terrified poor souls of the ponies. His ears could only memorize the desperate cries at the same rate as his eyes carved the desperate expressions of the victims into his mind to be remembered and haunt him for all of eternity.

After completing the soulless challenge, the door opened and the bright light stunned him as he stepped out into freedom again. But what freedom could you possibly enjoy when your mind is a wreck and any traces left of your sanity will be torn apart over and over by the memories. The books 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 looking at her, very tired and frustrated. "It's really late. Can't you please put out the candle and go to bed?"

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