Chronicles of Arche

by Spellbounder

Ch.21- Plagues of the Past Part 6

Time had moved forward once again. Princess Luna had seen much of Arche’s life through his dreams, but the question still remained. What point in his life changed him forever? Seems she had no other option but continue onward, watching more of his memories as a soldier. One of which he was looking over new attack patterns in his quarters. He was now wearing the gleaming armor showing his authority as captain of the guard. Luna recognized it easily, already meeting the current captain, Shining Armor, who as the brother to her sister’s top pupil, Twilight Sparkle. She noticed something different about Arche this time. The strange glare in his eyes, speaking to himself, calculating new actions for his soldiers. This was the same look he gave her not moments prior, when he told her there was no helping him.

“It was too much for you. This job had consumed much of your time.”

Suddenly, his door swung open. A young unicorn mare around the same age as the newly deemed captain trotted in, a warm smile on her face. She sported a blueish-green coat, a short dark blue mane, and had glittering blue eyes. It looked like her cutie mark was an open oyster shell, revealing a shiny white pearl. Her attire consisted of a red scarf, goggles, and black stocking on all four legs, yet were cut off at her hoofs. Luna noticed she had quite a few scars on her face as well. Perhaps wounds from past battles. This could be a soldier, yet she certainly didn’t dress like one.

“You’ve gone over these plans for the last four days. Pretty sure the formation is unbreakable.”

“That’s the difference between you and me, Teal. I don’t leave anything to doubt.”

The mare noticed the several cups of old coffee and cider around Arche’s desk. Seems he had proper motivators to work with.

“Have you even……gone home? Taken a nap? Hell, have you even gone to the bathroom?”

“What are you, my wife?”

This makes a small annoyed blush rush over her cheeks. She then grabs Arche by the tail using her magic, dragging him away from his battle plans

“Teal, what are you doing?”

“Consider this a temporary leave of absence until you’ve gotten at least a few hours of rest.”

Arche groaned, not even tempted enough to fight back.

“Just let me go, that’s an order.”

“You’re not fit for command, sir. I’m only doing what’s right.”

“And you’re really pushing it, Lead Navigator Teal Pearl.”

That name, it sounded so familiar to Luna. She knew she heard it somewhere. Then it suddenly came to her.

“Oh no.”

Luna now stood in the military hospital once again. Arche laid on an operating table, covered in dirt and blood. Cuts everywhere, from his legs, all the way to his face. It was truly a rather bloody sight. This poor pony had survived an unthinkable incident, barely alive, and yet there was only one name he could speak, even if it took all his strength to do so.

“T….eal……where’s…..where’s Teal?”

“Captain Arche? Please try not to speak. You were caught in a horrible attack by a group of vicious changelings.”

“Teal…..where is Teal Pearl. Tell me…..is she…..safe? Where is she?”

The doctors around him began to whisper in confusion. One stepped forward, a look of sorrow and regret on his face.

“Captain……there was no one else left. You…..You were the only survivor.”

He tried to stand, blood dripping down his hoofs. His teeth were grinding, tears slipping out of his throbbing left eye. The doctors who witnessed it would tell you it was from the excessive pain he was enduring. To Princess Luna, however, those were tears of despair.

“No……NO! The hive….”

“Captain, please stay down, you’re gonna go into shock.”

“THEY WERE ALL IN THE HIVE! CHECK THE DAMN HIVE! THEY WERE IN THERE!!!!”

“Captain Arche, you need to-“

“WHERE ARE THEY!?! YOU’RE ALL A BUNCH OF LIARS!”

“Restrain him!”

“TUMBLE! ZED! WHERE ARE YOU!?! COSMO!?! SAY MY NAME!!!! GIMBLE!?! TEAL!?!”

The doctors were now strapping him to the table, his voice getting louder, more violent.

“NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME! NO! I NEED TO SEE THEM!!!! WHERE DID YOU HIDE THEM!?! AGHHHHH!!!!!!!”

Luna had to turn away. This was becoming too much for her.

“AGHHHHH!!!!!!!!! TEAAAAAAL!!!!!! AAAAAAAGHHHH!!!! TEAAAAAAAAAAL!!!!!!!!”

His screams just roared through her ear drums. She had no choice but to cover them with her hooves, failing to block out the agonizing moans he continued to shout. Her horn glows, leaving this horrific vision.

“By Celestia’s name…..it was those creatures….the changelings.”

“Yes the changelings, my comrades. Seems our new orders involve the little buggers.”

Luna was now in a forest. In front of her was Arche, sporting the royal armor, as well as both his eyes. In front of him was a squad of ponies. Three she recognized. The unicorn sporting an orange coat with a red mane was Zed Blaze. The earth pony with the light brown coat, along with a light blue mane was Tumble Jack. Then of course was Teal Pearl, wearing that scarf still, along with that same smile. Last were a pair of Pegasuses she hadn’t seen yet before in Arche’s memories. These must be Cosmo and Gimble. One had a yellow coat, sporting a green spiked mane. The other Pegasus had a white coat, with a pink mane. They all wore royal armor, even Teal, standing tall and proud, awaiting orders from their captain. Luna wondered if this was just before the tragedy that took their lives?

“Listen up, Celestia herself wrote to me on this. There’s a small town about a few miles away from this very post. Word is there’s a hive constructed just outside of it. Now times are tough, Celestia is trying hard to establish an everlasting peace to Equestria. More bloodshed with the changelings will only make things worse.”

“You’re not insinuating what I think you are, Stone.”

“Zip it Blaze, there’s word of war brewing all across the lands. The Princess doesn’t want anything remotely like the misery she had to deal to her sister. There won’t be another nightmare war, my friends.”

Luna just stood in there in silence, lost for words.

“So what are the new orders, boss man?”

“Ever enthusiastic, Cosmo, I like it. Instead of engaging the changelings, we are to meet on terms of peace. Simply for the protection of both the townsfolk and the innocent changelings.”

Teal had her head down, unsure how to feel of these new commands from Canterlot. Arche walks up to her, puts his hoof under her chin, similar to how Celestia did to him when they first met.

“Teal, don’t be nervous. We got this, just like any other of our missions.”

“You know….how I feel about changelings.”

“Yes, I am aware, but these creatures are just frightened of us as we are of them. And if Celestia is certain that a term of peace can suppress even the thought of war, then we owe it to her to make that happen.”

She forms a small smile, holding his hoof in hers.

“Aye sir, we trust you.”

Upon hearing those words, Luna disappears from the forest. It was in that moment where everything soon turns pitch black. As she used her magic to luminate some light, Luna realized she was now standing in a void of never ending darkness. She hears the sounds of hissing all around her. Changelings had swarmed her, noticing their dark buggy eyes start to appear before her.

“This is nothing more than a nightmare brought by Arche’s own suffering. You can’t harm me.”

“GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET……….OOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT.”

The swarm had spoken these simple two words in a spine chilling unison. Repeating it to the princess.

“GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET……..OOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT.”

Get out? Get out of where? The void? The dream? Luna had witnessed traces of strong connections to dreams among other ponies, but never did she think so for Arche. The changelings soon light themselves ablaze in a green fire, each taking the exact same form, Arche Stone. Every imitation of Arche was now staring at Luna, once more repeating their demand.

“GEEEEEEEEEEEET……..OOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUT.”

“I…..I believe I understand now, Arche. There was a reason you kept this repressed for so long. The pain you feel for your friends demise by the changelings has haunted you all this time. You don’t wish for any pony to see this because you blame yourself. But understand this, Arche Stone, this is not the way to live. You can still live a life of true peace, but until you begin to forgive yourself for the tragedy that inflicted you and your soldiers, you will never be free.”

The changelings of Arche began to slowly disappear. One by one, until Luna was left alone. She hears the sounds of hoof prints coming from deep in the dark abyss before her. The true Arche Stone had arrived, that same dark glare appeared once more. It seems he wasn’t too happy with Luna’s words.

“You honestly think peace can be obtained through forgiveness of one’s self? Not even you could understand how I felt that day. The pain surging down to my inner core.”

Luna remained silent, wanting to hear more from him.

“Your time here wasn’t to show you that I can simply forgive myself. No, it’s so much more than that. What happened to me was a reminder that this world isn’t all happiness and fluffy clouds as your sister thinks it to be. There’s a toxin infecting Equestria. A toxin I thought the future could erase. After what happened at that wedding, what it lead to……..I knew it wasn’t enough to save Equestria. I KNEW……there was more for me to do.”.

Author's Note:

The root to Admiral Arche's pain has been revealed!

Comments

[Spellbounder]

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I just got busy with other things, on hiatus, thought people didn't like it at first. Pushed past that negativity and really wanted to continue it. I really am dedicated to the story