//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Fatum Fortis Vocat Redux // by Kromulus Regulus //------------------------------// Prologue Ineo         Wah-THOOM         The explosion resonated within my ears as I came to my senses. I took in a very deep gasp of air, feeling as if I had just burst through water after holding my breath. My eyes swiftly opened, my lungs greedily taking in further deep gulps of refreshing oxygen as my chest heaved. A torrent of monsoon-like rain fell all around me. Heavy droplets of water impacted on my person, causing me to involuntarily shiver and spasm as the icy-cold droplets careened down my exposed skin. I looked around me; my surroundings hidden behind the inescapable wall of water. I felt cold, so very cold. I had the sudden urge to find shelter, my mind knowing I did not have long before I succumbed to the elements.         My fingers clenched into the watery mud beneath me, I groaning in agony as my muscles resisted my commands to move. Shelter had to be my priority right now. Regardless of whether I knew where I was, or how I got here, I would be doomed should I linger. I had to move, I had to. I grunted heavily, feeling myself awkwardly snort in a fashion I’d never experienced before. Slowly I came to my knees, bringing my hands up to my face to feel for the obstruction on my nose. My hand stopped several inches from where my brain knew there was open space.         “Wh-..Huh?” My fingers slid across the foreign object on my face, making a scritch sound each time they slid further down. I felt the scritches, as if a cat were gently sliding its claws along my skin. My eyes focused further, noticing then the shape of my hands and of the object within the inward sides of my vision. All I could muster was a quiet “What?”.         I didn’t have time for this, I was in danger of catching hypothermia at this rate. My body was already shivering and I believed firmly I was hallucinating. I had to be, because when I walked on the trail before I definitely did not have a reptilian snout protruding from my face and I most definitely did not have claws. I reasoned I must have stumbled sometime back and passed out and now I was recovering, the rain causing my mind to jumpstart myself and, not having enough time to comprehend the situation, made me see things. Yeah, I thought reassuringly to myself, this makes sense.         I chose to ignore the edges of the snout within my vision for the time being, concentrating on finding a way out of this unnaturally cold rain. I felt myself stand, grumbling as I nearly stumbled forward. I had felt like I had tripped on something. Looking down, I quickly noted that there was some sort of odd branch resting against my....         “Digitigrade feet?!” I screamed, feeling my eyes widening as shock overtook me. I moved my legs around a bit. The skin on them was most assuredly not human. It was scaly, looking almost like an alligator's hide. From my knee down my leg did a backward V shape, ending with my clawed feet providing my walking ability. I felt a lurch from behind me, twisting my waist so I could glimpse and see a- “Tail?!”         My mind was careening out of control at this point. It just simply couldn’t comprehend why one moment I had been a living, breathing human being and now, at that very second, I looked like a lizard man. Granted, some part of me didn’t see it as too bad, but the conscious and clearly homo sapien side of me was shitting bricks. I did the only thing I could do to bring my attention back to the fore. I simply, with a quick intake of breath, let out a long sigh and pushed the discovery to the back of my mind. I did not have time for bullshit at this very moment, survival was to be key. So I moved forward.         And then fell flat on my face into the mud.         “RRRaarrrrgghh!” I screamed in frustration, coming out as a roar. “This is absolute, total horse shit!” My fists slammed into puddles of muddy water, splashing their contents on me as I forced myself back to my feet. It took a few more attempts, but I eventually got the gist of using the extra bounce in my legs. A sudden chill down my body reminded me that more important matters required attention, I groaning as I tried to move again. It felt like I was learning to walk again. Very carefully, each step was made with a successful gain of balance. I move forward, the rain never stopping its continuous downpour, giving me the extra motivation to press myself onward.         I felt different, very different, walking like this. Eventually, however, I felt myself adjust to the new style of locomotion. The tail behind me seemed to wave this way and that on its own accord, automatically balancing my body as each step was taken. I took a few slow breaths, careful not to let the previous state of shock overtake me again, then concentrated forward of myself. I saw, very briefly through a sudden clash of lightning, what appeared to be a building. I moved onward, trying to run as I awkwardly stumbled a few times. My body started to shiver involuntarily, my muscles aching terribly. This was no normal rain.         Finally after several long and grueling minutes of battling my legs, I came upon a building. Through the wall of rain, I made out a lit window. It was all I could see until another bolt of lightning revealed the building for a brief instant, I just glimpsing a set of stairs and a porch. The rain started to come down harder, the droplets suddenly becomingl knives against my body. “Oh God!” I cried in pain, several painful impacts hitting against my head and back. It felt like someone was throwing baseballs against me. “Help me!” I continued to shout, feeling another object slam against my head.         The ground met my face again. *        *        *         “This isn’t a part of the trail.”         I had followed the path when it had suddenly shifted in coloration as I rounded a hill, pine trees dotting the landscape around me. To the left of the trail, the Cornwall River flowed, its presence the only thing I recognized at this point. Somehow, I had become lost a few yards back. I thought the prospect impossible since I had traveled this area many times over the years. I knew Sweetmaker Park like the back of my hand and, quite frankly, getting lost in a relatively small area somewhat irked me.         “Hmm,” I looked to my map of the trail. When I looked up again, the river was gone and I was standing in the middle of an endless grassland. Carefully, I folded the map, replacing it in my pants pocket. “This is definitely not part of the trail.” I heard a loud crack of thunder above me. I looked up just in time to see a bolt of light zig-zagging its way down to me. Then everything went black. *        *        *         I felt warm. The feeling of covers over my body relaxing me as I rolled onto my side. My mind was slowly waking from its slumber, I realized then that I was in my bed. It had all been some crazy dream. I yawned softly, stretching ever so slowly as I felt my feet gently touch a bed post. My arm stopped mid stretch in the air, my toes making a click sound as I fell against the wood frame. Something was not right here. I rolled onto my back, only to have an intense pain shoot through my spine as I bent something attached to my tailbone.         “Gah!” I cried, my eyes shooting open as I tried to sit up. I only succeeded in causing the pain to intensify, causing my body to spasm as I suddenly rolled off the side of the bed and thudded against the wooden floor. “Oof!” I loudly exhaled, blinking as my hands righted me into a sitting position. The pain had stopped, but the shock did not wear off. I was looking down at my lap, seeing instead of boxers or brief a naked hide of underbelly scales.         I stayed in that position for what felt like forever. My brain was trying to catch up, failing miserably. My eyes acted on their own accord as they scanned over my legs and feet. I had claws at the end of my toes and my feet were still had multiple joints. My hand slid across the floor to touch the one thing that confirmed my worst fears. A tail, which by its mere existence along with what I was seeing suggested strongly I was having the weirdest dream of my life.         “You’re awake!”         The sudden appearance of a voice towards my right caused me to jump. I looked up towards the source, half expecting to see some person there. Instead, I was met with the gaze of an impossible, improbable creature. My jaw slowly lowered, my body starting to tremble. “You’re a-a-a-” I started, moving ever so slightly back towards the bed as I felt the my back touch against the mattress. I couldn’t finish, I was too deep in a state of something between disbelief and horrible realization.         “An Earth Pony?” The light ambered colored pony said with a tilt of its head. “Why yes, yes I am. I take it you’re not from around here, hmm?”         I could only shake my head. This was really too much for me to process. I was at the brink of insanity and total loss of mental and emotional capabilities. My body was shaking and I felt a slight moisture collect itself over my eyes. I could not be seeing what I was seeing. This was impossible. My eyes darted from the ponies dark amber colored mane down to where I could barely make out something on its flank resembling a....hourglass?         “Doctor Whooves?” I said in disbelief, my shaking stopping all at once. The pony had a brief expression of surprise, before lowering its head and tilting it so one azure eye was looking at me. “Perhaps,” he replied slowly, “but almost everypony knows me as Time Turner. Tell me, lizard man, how do you know that name?”         “Because you’re from a kids show,” I replied, blinking.         Time Turners eyes opened wide, his pupils widening. I could clearly see a smirk appear on his muzzle. “Really now?” he said.         Before I could emit a reply, my eyes rolled in the back of my head. My mind had clearly had enough of this nonsense. Trying to process extra appendages and a what appeared to be a new bodily structure was only the first nail in the coffin. Seeing a creature, a pony, standing right before me and acknowledging a given fan-name had been the last. Sensory overload mixed with an extra dose of what-the-fuck had done the rest. I could clearly remember making one last, comical observation of my condition before my vision turned white.         This had to be the first time I’ve ever passed out from shock.