Chronicles of Arche

by Spellbounder

Ch.10- Out of Mind

“It was…..It was too much to bare.”

Arche couldn’t turn his sight away from the pill bottle. The realization had come as a shock to him, but as his mind slowly began to process the situation before him, keeping a dead corpse in a jar within his basement, he was surprised he didn’t start taking medication almost immediately. He picks up the bottle once again, and sets it on the desk, unsure exactly what to do next.

“Things seem so clear now, yet I’m more confused than ever. Was it stress alone that resorted me to take this again, or could my own words seem unbelieve even to me?”

Suddenly, the sound of a loud banging caused Arche to jump. His breathing becomes heavy, the feeling in his legs start to weaken.

“No, they found it, it’s over. It’s all over!”

“DELIVERY!”

Of course, it was simply a mail pony, nothing more. This was all really starting to drive the poor admiral mad. He needed to get out of that basement, get his bearings, focus entirely on something else that had absolutely nothing to do with the Changelings.

“ANYPONY HOME! DELIVERY!!!”

“YES! I’M COMING! HOLD ON!”

Arche quickly climbs up the stairs and locks the basement door behind him. He then quickly levitates the key into the bottom drawer of his living room cabinet, before finally answering the door.

“What? What’s so important that you keep shouting at my doorstep!?!”

To Arche’s surprise, it wasn’t the typical Canterlot mail pony that handles his street. It was actually a royal guard, levitating a single envelope with his magic. Upon realizing who’s house he was delivering to, the guard stood up straight, hooves in place, trying his best not to show how embarrassed he felt now.

“Admiral Arche, Sir! Apologies sir, I was not aware I’d be delivering to your home, sir!”

Arche sighs in annoyance, clearly this was a rookie.

“At ease, soldier, I shouldn’t of been so rude.”

“Nonsense, Sir! If anything, it is an honor to have one of Equestria’s esteemed Admirals yell at..”

“Yes, yes, yes, that’s very kind of you and all, but is that a letter for me?”

The guard nervously opens it, trying his best to look cool now in front of the Admiral.

“I was told to read this aloud….if of course, you’re ok with that, sir?”

He rolls his eyes, knowing though it was a good distraction at least from his other problems at hoof.

“Proceed.”

Realizing he’s ok with it, the guard wipes off the sweat on his head, clears his throat, and begins to read the letter.

“Here ye, Here ye, the message has been sent by the Crystal Empire’s very own Prince Shining Armor, to chorally invite you to….”

Arche snatches the letter out of his magic with his hoof to read the rest on his own.

“I’m truly sorry, soldier, you’re doing a great job, I’m just very busy and need to read this on my own.”

“Oh…of course, but truly an honor to have a letter snatched by….”

Arche closes the door, unable to handle that flank kissing guard for one more second.

“Wow, he shunned me with the door! THAT IS SO AWESOME!”

The Admiral sits in one of his living room chairs, a simple design, unlike most of the gaudy fanciness of Canterlot, and continues reading the letter.

“Dear Admiral Arche, I know the last time I invited you somewhere, it ended in mass disaster, and I’m well aware you’re a very busy pony, but I have so much I’d like to talk to you about, and what better place than at the biggest sporting event in Equestria. I got you a ticket for top quality seats at the Equestrian Games hosted this year at the Crystal Empire. It would really mean a lot to me if you’d consider coming, and it would be a great chance to show you I’m not that nerdy sponge who kept following you around. Warm regards, your top student, Shining Armor. P.S, there’s gonna be a lot of single mares there, and I know there’s more to you than war talk.”

Arche smirks, looking over at one of the pictures on his wall. Most were from medal ceremonies, military events, and a few personal photos of his family, but the picture he enjoyed most was him and his former student Shining Armor upon his graduation from the Royal Academy.

“Heehee…..Shining Armor…..”

Now the pony truly felt like a fool. He was so focused on the changeling threat that Shining Armor completely slipped his mind. The unicorn had been quite busy recently. Though Arche’s top priority was his work, he did read about some of the aspects his former student was up to after the disaster at his wedding. How he and the real Princess Cadence became rulers of the Crystal Empire, and that he was related to one of Celestia’s top students, now a princess of her own, though he never did meet her. As much has he hated sports, seeing them as a waste of abilities better suited for military offense, he felt like he owed it to Shining to finally catch up with him. Not to mention he never did speak to him at the wedding, considering his own incident at the time.

“No…don’t think that…don’t….think”

In that instant, a crazy idea formed in his head. Arche quickly retrieves the key from his bottom drawer, and quickly unlocks the basement. He then runs down the stairs and grabs the pill bottle from the desk below. There was still five pills left.

“This goes beyond a lot of my own ideals, but I just can’t have this on my mind…not now.”

He takes a look at the glowing green vat one last time, before swallowing the rest of those pills. Before they take effect, Arche climbs back upstairs and locks the door once again. He then proceeds to move his entire living room cabinet in front of the basement door, looking as if it was never there to begin with. To really seal the deal, he slips the basement key into one of the wooden floorboards, not a care on his mind if it becomes lost forever or not.

“Out of sight…out of mind….out of sight…out of mind.”

Those are the only words he could say, as he slowly trots into his bedroom, holding his letter from Shining with his magic. He places it on the small table next to his bed, then crawls into it, covering his face with the pillow.

“Out of sight…..out of mind….out…of sight…..out……of….”

He looks over at the letter one last time, before closing his eyes for a well needed nap.

“Mind.”

His mind becomes clear, quiet, a peaceful quiet. Nothing but darkness, no other soul around him. It didn’t even feel like Arche was in his own body. A strange sensation now controlled his thoughts. A sensation of true deep sleep. Something he was very unfamiliar with. He feels calm, relaxed, like a huge weight has left his shoulders. For what seemed like forever, Arche was actually content, at ease, and it felt perfect. But like all good things, it never lasts forever. Within his clear darkness, a strange pair of eyes appear, almost like….a bugs.

“No.”

His peaceful darkness starts to shatter like a glass mirror, the sounds of agonizing screams consume his ear drums.

“NO.”

The screams turn into maniacal hissing, as the shattered pieces of darkness take the form of a changeling, that quickly pounces.

“NOOOOOO!!!!!”

Arche wakes up, out of breath, shaking, sweating. He looks around, the darkness was gone. It was another peaceful morning in Canterlot, it was all simply a dream.

“Not….real…..yes….it was just a nightmare…..just…a nightmare…..”

He slowly gets out of bed, noticing a letter on the table next to him. Strange, it was open, but he doesn’t recall ever opening it. Using his magic, he levitates the letter over to his line of sight, reading it for the first time, or so he believes.

Author's Note:

I got such a quick response from fellow readers about chapter nine, I got inspired to kick out another chapter for you all! Chapter eleven will focus on the events of a well known MLP episode! Let's see if you can figure it out!