Chapter Unus
Bellator Fortuna
“Fighting Fortune”
Time had progressed quickly as Twilight soon found herself alone with Luna on the floor of the library. After the Princess had assured her friends (and spike) that she was not in any trouble, the two had began discussing the short series of events leading the strange event and explosion (which turned out to be anything but a burst of magical energy). Eventually, one by one, her friends departed after saying their short farewells and Spike left for his bed. With the Night Princess left alone with Celestia’s prized pupil, they began examining the events and Twilight soon discovered something very important. Luna, despite her request being seemingly innocent in nature, had been holding back on her knowledge of the tome.
“So you’re saying you knew this would happen?” Twilight asked in a hushed tone of confusion, not wanting to wake up Spike. “Luna, I could have been hurt! Or worse...”
Luna replied in a similar tone. “We are apologetic, Twilight Sparkle. We did-...I did not foresee these events playing out as they did. Thou art, after all, one of the Equestria’s brightest minds. I should have known.” She looked down, not noticing the blush on Twilights cheeks from her compliment. “I’m sorry.”
After a moment and a warm smile, Twilight closed the gap between herself and Luna and placed a gentle hoof on her shoulder. This prompted Luna to look at her, smiling just a hair in return. “I forgive you Luna,” Twilight said. “But still,” she lowered her hoof, looking towards her study desk and the tome sitting open on it, “I don’t understand what happened beyond me just activating a spell.”
Twilight placed a hoof on her chin, deep in thought. After a brief silence, she returned her gaze to Luna. “Do you know what happened?” she asked.
Luna shook her head, “I do not, unfortunately. Without being able to sense the magical residue of thy own workings, I can only fathom a guess.” Twilight then gave a hopeful expression, as if expecting a response. Luna sighed, “It is only a guess, but by thy own words, thou hast activating a portal of some kind.”
“A portal?” Twilight raised an eyebrow, “Really? That isn’t something I’d place in a tome of ‘great magical spells’.” She emphasized her last words with a roll of her eyes.
“Thou knowest how to make a portal?” Luna inquired, a hint of surprise in her voice.
“Well, sure, everypony who goes to the royal academy knows.” She then looked off to her side, a slight blush to her cheeks. “I mean, not everypony, but maybe those taught by Celestia.”
“I see,” Luna said simply. She cleared her throat, “In this case, perhaps it should be no surprise that thou did activate a spell within the tome. Thy knowledge of the procedure surely assisted in its activation.”
“I suppose s-”
The two were suddenly drawn to the center of the library where a small orb of light had appeared. Luna gazed towards it with superficial interest, while Twilight took a more surprised expression. It was her that noticed the small bursts of electrical bolts shooting from the orb to the tome. “Luna,” Twilight said in a half gasp, pointing out the observations. Once noticed, Luna’s expression changed to one of worry. “Oh my stars,” the Princess said, gawking, “What is happening?!”
As they watched, the orb became bigger. The bolts of magical lightning shooting at a faster pace, growing in width. Both Luna and Twilight took a few cautious steps back; Twilight herself moving a bit faster due to expecting another shockwave. The door to the Library burst open, the two mares not looking away despite the appearance of four Lunar Guards who beheld the growing orb, making way towards Luna and surrounding her as they lowered their heads and entered a defensive posture. The orb then started to grow in size exponentially, the tome raising above the study table as it was engulfed in a magical field.
“Princess, it’s not safe her-” one of the Lunar Guards started, only to be knocked cleanly off his hooves as the explosion hit. He flew straight into the Princess whom was then knocked into Twilight. All five ponies in the room found themselves either flying into each other or into the wall. Their vision momentarily blinded, they remained on the ground for a few moments as they heard a soft thunk against the wooden floor. The Lunar Guards were first to rise, resuming their positions around the Princess and Twilight. The two mares slowly opened their eyes, Luna first to rise. Twilight was last, rubbing her head from yet another painful impact to her head. Thankfully, it was only against the side of the Princess.
When she looked around her, however, she noticed how still everypony was in the room. Even Luna, who normally had a reserved demeanor, displayed no such reservations. The Lunar Guards and the Princess jaws had literally hit the floor, Twilight almost left to ask why before her eyes turned forward. Then she saw it. It stood on two legs, wearing some form of camouflage attire that looked thicker than its form allowed. On its head was a helmet of some sort, its eyes wide in what Twilight could only assume was fear. It held some sort of mechanism its hand, looking like a sword, but only bigger with a barrel pointed directly at Luna.
“Melkos xsiol! Ti throdenilt malrunwai!” the strange creature shouted, absolute panic in its voice.
***
Tiberius Samsus, Colonel in the Confederate States Special Forces and one of the first responders in the Nightmare Invasion, was no more. At least, he believed he was no more. He had awoken in a place of complete white. No, white wasn’t the word. Whiteness. Everything was white, displaying no structure or form. Nothing his mind could use to gauge distance or direction. As a result of this, Tiberius felt an overwhelming sense of vertigo. It didn’t last long, however. The moment he felt solid ground against his boots (he still had boots?!) he felt the weight of his battle dress uniform on his body (he still had clothes?!). He felt himself almost lose his balance, coming to one knee as he held his head. When he felt his helmet, he slowly took it off, lowering his head as he closed his eyes and tried to calm his breathing.
The last thing he remembered was feeling the Nightmares horn against his head, starting to slowly and painfully impale itself into his skull. He felt where the spot should be, only to feel no break in the skin. Relieved, he opened his eyes, replacing his helmet as his sense of balance (for whatever that mattered here) recovered. He stood, looking in every direction possible as the field of white nothing continued all around him.
“Where am I?”
“In a state of limbo,” said a voice behind him. Startled, Tiberius reached for his handgun and quickly withdrew it from his holster. He made a swift one-hundred and eighty degree turn, his handgun pointed forward as he saw.....nothing. He blinked, eyes widening, looking around him again. “Over here,” called the voice again, this time from behind him. He swiftly turned again, only to have his weapon lower.
“Wilkus?” Tiberius whispered softly. “That’s....not possible...”
Johnny Wilkus stood before Tiberius. The Native-Anagonian wore casual clothing, his sleek raven black hair still neatly cut per military regulations. He was smiling at Tiberius, briefly watching as the Colonel lowered his weapon, then resuming his gaze at his comrade. “Surprised?” He asked.
Tiberius nodded.
“We’re all here, actually. Travis and Steven are somewhere around here,” Johnny said as he looked far off to his left, “But we’ve only met once.”
“Are they....are they in the same state as you?” Tiberius asked, holstering his weapon as he stood. He came closer to the Sergeant, not really believing what he was seeing, but not entirely ready to reject it. That large lingering desire to see his comrade alive was still burning. It was the only thing that kept him sane from what he was experiencing now. “Are they okay?”
“Of course!” Johnny replied, laughing. It was a hearty laugh, similar to when he made his sheepish jokes during their off hours. It further relaxed Tiberius. Maybe this was real. “They’re kinda dressed differently though,” Wilkus continued. “Travis has some black robe on, like the priests in the Drekamythian temple. Steven has like some kind of hunting gear on. We kinda joked about it for a bit, but...then we left.”
“Why?” Tiberius asked.
“I’m not sure,” Johnny admitted. “It was just a feeling. I think we’ll see each other again, I’m not entirely sure how I know, but it’s just a feeling. Same reason why I’m here.” He smiled again, “Guess it was to meet you, Tib.”
Now he was sure this was Johnny. Only he knew that nickname, if only because they had grown up together. Without hesitation, he bridged the gap, quickly taking Johnny’s hand in a shake and briefly hugging him. He exited the embrace with a warm smile, all doubt now gone. Where ever he had ended up, whether limbo as Johnny had suggested or somewhere else, it was simply good to know familiar faces were here. “It’s good to know you’re okay,” Tiberius said.
“I know the feeling,” Johnny said, “So what happened to you? You get eaten up too?”
Somehow, Tiberius found that funny, despite the memories of seeing Wilkus being eaten alive still fresh. It didn’t matter now, he was right here, without even a single scratch. “Nah,” Tiberius gave a nervous chuckle, “I don’t have that attraction to Nightmares.” After seeing Johnny give a smirk, he continued. “I saw a bigger one. An Iroquois had just landed by that time and Travis along with Steven had already got on board. By the time I realized what happened, the big bastard had destroyed and the helicopter along with them. It bested me before I could draw my pistol, saying something about us being food. Then it’s horn touched my head-” Tiberius lightly touched his forehead for reference “-and then I ended up here.”
“I see,” Johnny said, quirking an eyebrow. “So this must be yours then, huh?”
“Wha?” Tiberius blinked, noticing Johnny raise his S/A AdkM75 that definitely had not been there before. “Wait, how did yo-”
“You’ll need this,” Johnny interrupted, not even giving Tiberius a chance to finish his question. “I don’t know why, I just know.” As he finished, he pressed the rifle against Tiberius chest. The Colonel took it, examining it slowly. It didn’t look like it had a scratch on it. As he looked up, Johnny was nowhere to be found. “Goodbye Tib, I’ll see you soon. Just not today.”
“Wait, Johnny!” Tiberius cried, reaching for where Wilkus had just stood. “Don’t go! Don’t leave me here!”
“No Tib, you’re leaving us.”
“No!” Tiberius shouted in protest. The entire scenery of white started to turn a vast array of colors. “Melkos Damnit, No! Johnny please! What about Milessia, what about your son! What do I tell them?!”
“Tell them I love them,” Johnny replied in a somewhat distorted voice, “and I’ll always be watching over them.”
Tiberius field of view shifted as he felt the intense wave of vertigo overcome him again. “Oh Melkos, Oh please no!” He felt his stomach rebel, erupting its contents below.. Strangely enough, with the last bit of vision Tiberius had left as his surroundings started to implode, he saw his bile continue falling downward as if no floor had existed at all.
* * *
When Tiberius opened his eyes, he was laying on the ground. He took a slow intake of breath, feeling some pain as his chest expanded. The smell of a wood floor came through his senses, he groaning softly as he placed his right arm against the ground. Slowly, as the wave of vertigo settled, his head ceasing to throb, he rose himself to a crouching positionn. One knee was on the ground while the other foot rested on the floor. He took a moment to collect his bearings, noting that he now was in some sort of log cabin. No, that wasn’t right, there were bookshelves lining the wall in front of him. Was this some fancy cabin in the woods?
He rose to his feet fully, resting his weapon downward as he looked upward and around. It seemed like he had been spirited away into some treehouse. He noted a small study to his right just after the bookshelves ended. A staircase seemed to go upwards from that side as well, though he couldn’t make out what was on the second floor. To his left was a window. By the darkness that appeared through it, he could tell it was sometime after dark. Slowly he turned around, his head still looking up before looking in the direction he was facing.
He froze, but only for a moment. Fear returned, a deep seating fear that was similar to when the larger Nightmare had him pinned and ready for the kill. He quickly rose his weapon, seeing before him five forms similar to what a regular sized Nightmare looked like. The only difference was the coloration and, by what the three in the fore wore, armor. None of this he truly registered, the fear quickly erasing any sense of logic. He only registered the size of these creatures, how similar they were to his enemy, and that the larger one in the center looked familiar to the one that had tried to kill him.
“Melkos Damnit! Not more Nightmares!” he cried, fear truly consuming him as he began to shake. He couldn’t even pull the trigger on his rifle. “Why won’t you things die!”
One of the armored Nightmares lunged toward him. His adrenaline finally caught up with him and, applied with instinct overtaking his fear, he aimed and fired a quick three round burst. The Nightmare cried out a howl very unlike a Nightmare, gushing red blood on the floor as it collapsed. It gave a hefty gasp, staring at Tiberius with eyes full of shock before its body lay still. Tiberius noted movement from the corner of his eye, pointing his gun at the other two armored Nightmares.
“Stay back!” he commanded, “Stay back! I know your tricks! I know you can take any form! You can’t fool me! Stay the fuck back!”
His voice was now filled with a mix of fear and anger. He swiftly looked to his left, noticing a door. Returning his attention to the remaining four (the larger one and the purple colored one looking in disbelief at the dead Nightmare), he cautiously began sidestepping towards the door. He kept his weapon aimed at the nearest armored Nightmare, only taking his sight off of the thing to watch his step. A tense few moments followed as he gently reached for the door handle, noting how smaller of a frame it was constructed in, slowly lowering to a crouching position before turning the handle.
The door burst open, Tiberius nearly losing his footing as he instinctively rolled backward. He ignored the pain from his combat pack for the moment, quickly going to a crouch on one knee and aiming at another armored Nightmare, whose bat-like wings beat menacingly as it flew towards him. He shot another three round burst, downing it, quickly turning his attention to the previous armored Nightmare surrounding the larger and purple ones. He quickly rose to his feet, seeing no way out, backing up quickly as he felt his combat back hit a bookshelf behind him.
He was surrounded.
“Fucking shit!” He said, tears starting to stream from his eyes. His lips trembled. He was going to be eaten alive. It was going to be the most painful experience of his life. The armored ponies were everywhere in the room, mainly around the larger one, all glaring at him. Their wings flaring as they prepared to lunge towards him. He did the only logical thing he could do. He threw down his rifle, almost immediately noticing a slow movement of the Nightmares, before grasping at a fragmentation grenade and holding it above his head. He watched as the Nightmares came closer, time slowing as he pulled the pin and held the handle with both hands. He brought it down close to his chest, quickly taking a breath. He released the handle, activating the timer.
When he opened his eyes, they were literally upon him. Twenty of them, at least. A feat seemingly impossible in such a small space. He stared into the eyes of one, seeing a similar face of a soldier. For a brief, small instant he thought that maybe, just maybe he had been mistaken. It was too late though. Just as the hooves of the Nightmares touched him, the grenade detonated. The shockwave was felt first, his eyes slowly closing as his cheeks rippled violently. His clothing disintegrated, reaching from the point of detonation at his chest towards his head and feet. A brief moment of flash heat struck his mind before his nerves and body were consumed by the fireball and he could no longer feel anything.
Then....darkness. Beautiful, peaceful, darkness.