It was not long ago that he made his choice to be here, not long ago had he made the ultimate choice to end his life. It was a choice that took him awhile to consider, but only took mere minutes to act upon it.
The day before, it was just the end of another day in the endless gravel wars between Redmond and Blutarch Mann. He, and along with the other REDs, had successfully managed to gain control of the hydro dam from Blutarch's mercenaries. Throughout such, most of his comrades had sustained one brutal injury after another, with he himself being spared any injury at all.
The respawn system had been powered down for the day, and it was his duty to fix up his comrades during their downtime. It was a general rule made by the The Administrator that if any of them sought to use it after dusk, they had to pay with their own money for each time they'd die and respawn since it had to be powered up for usage.
They all followed him to his medical facility, properly funded and provided by The Administrator, Saxton Hale, and Redmond Mann. His friend, Heavy, had sustained the brunt of all the punishment on the battlefield, thus the remaining REDs had to provide what support they could to his frame so he wouldn't collapse under his own weight. His teammates allowed him to rush ahead to his workplace near the Badwater facility and begin setting things up for each of them.
Sniper had a couple of arrows stuck in his leg, forcing him to walk with a limp for a time. His wounds were easily treated with the careful removal of the arrows and disinfecting of the wounds, finishing off with a heal-beam to seal up the wounds.
Spy had the distinct odor of urine and milk covering him once again, but he mostly received a varying amount of burns that were visible through openings in his scorched suit. To go with the burns, he also had several bruises and a few broken ribs too. His injuries were easily fixed with his medigun being applied to the burned and injured areas; his suit however, would have to be fixed or replaced on his own.
Heavy, who had large amount of shrapnel stuck in his head and chest, took the most out of his time to fix. Remove the shrapnel, disinfect the wounds, remove additional kidney while he wasn’t paying attention, and proceed to seal up the wounds with the medigun.
Throughout the course of him fixing up his comrades, he had started to notice something missing with his surroundings. He first noticed it when he was met with the Demo, who had been at the receiving end of the BLU sniper trying out his Machina again, was riddled with several clean holes going all the way through him. It was a medical miracle to say that he was even alive, but that's when he noticed it.
Where was Archimedes?
The sudden thought caused him to cease his immediate work with the demo and to begin a search to wherever his avian companion may be. He'd searched high and low around his work space, looking in every nook and cranny he came across. He had even checked the fridge to see if he had taken to pecking at the Spy head he had stored in there, but his bird was nowhere to be found.
He felt a bit lost without his dear friend being alongside him, watching him work and reminding him of the simple things in life he enjoyed. He wanted to cease his work and continue searching for his friend, but the distinct cry of the Demo screaming his name ultimately forced him back to his job. He couldn't just leave a patient to his wounds, not when the work was only half done.
He eventually finished fixing up his comrades later on in the evening, letting them all off with a near-clean bill of health. He'd bid them farewell for the night and told them that he'd meet them at Teufort later on, informing them that he had some business to conclude before he left. His teammates brushed it off as a part of his natural behavior, not knowing the actual underlying reason as to why he chose to stay behind.
He continued his search shortly after they left, going through the auditorium where he worked a second time in the hopes he'd appear in some place he didn't check yet. The figure of Miss Pauline had long since left the observation deck high above after he finished his work, leaving him with all the time he needed to find his beloved friend. But again, he was nowhere to be found.
Ultimately, his search led him to his office where it had finally come to a close, and to where the final hour of his life had begun counting down. There, he had found his friend along with his two other doves, Neuron and Einstein. The two immediately greeted him upon his entry and flew towards him, seeking his attention.
However, Archimedes did not move. His friend had remained motionless on his desk, lying on his back with his wings sprawled out beside him. There wasn’t the faintest of movements coming from him, no indication of life... nothing.
At that moment, he felt a plethora of emotions, ones he rarely ever felt throughout his life. Sadness, denial, anger, and what led him to where he was now, desperation. He just couldn't accept the loss of his most dearest friend, not when he had such a close attachment to him.
He had never felt such things before in his life, not ever. He was already jaded from the experiences he had bore witness to time and time again throughout the gravel wars, but this... this was something more. It struck a pain that was fierce against his heart, like a part of him was forcibly torn away from him forever. It was something so new and painful, failing in comparison to all the physical pain he had been endured with his time on the battlegrounds.
Then the big question came up for him.
What if?
What if he chose to join him? He could be away from the troubles of Teufort and the endless war between Redmond and Blutarch Mann, and he could be with his dear friend forever.
He considered the idea for a time, weighing in on what he would leave behind if he made the choice, and what he would accomplish with his choice. His comrades, he would no longer be able to keep them alive in combat once he was gone. They would fall more in combat without him; they'd lose ground more quickly than it took for them to gain over the span of many months.
But what he was feeling, it was all just too much, even for him. He was left with a gaping wound in his heart, one that felt like it would last an entire lifetime with a loss that was so sudden, a loss that took him entirely by surprise.
As a final farewell, he wrote and tied two small notes to Einstein and Neuron, giving a hopeful message to whomever would come across them would take care of them, giving some instructions and insights to their habits. He then set them free ten minutes later. At first however, they were hesitant to leave his side. They knew how upset he was with the loss of Archimedes, they sensed his distress and they had put up a bit of a fuss about leaving him. But in the end, he forced them to leave by ushering them out the window.
That's when he finally decided to do it. He gathered some jars that contained a toxin he was experimenting with, one that would've involved using his syringe gun for a future project. He didn't test to see how lethal it actually was, but he didn't need a correct dosage to guess what was and what wasn't fatal... after all, he wouldn't be coming back to use it.
And with his choice, it ultimately led him here to a place between death and the afterlife. He had found his bird, saved him from the reaper, and was now content with his existence. He could now be with his dearest friend, forever.
Knowing that the respawn system was shut off for the day, it was likely that his teammates would try to use it to bring him back in the morning once the found him. But it would already be too late by then, he'd already be in the early stages of rigor mortis by then. He'd be well past the point of no return; they'd no longer be able to bring him back, instead, they would have to settle for a funeral.
"I'm sorry my comarades," he started with a whisper. "Sometimes zere are things zat are more important zan our line of work..." He hung his head low as he leaned back further into the tombstone behind him.
His friend, Archimedes, now a red essence of energy, cooed happily as he hopped down his right arm and onto his wrist. With his other free arm, he brought it up to his friend and softly scratched at what he assumed was the bottom of his friend's beak, smiling softly as he did so.
"I did zis for you my friend, to be here alongside you," he quietly explained to his bird. "You are a dear friend to me, I hope you understand zat. When I found you though, I truly felt sadness for ze first time." He finished with a heavy sigh.
He didn't really think through what he was to do once he was reunited with his friend, but there were only two options that were provided in such a gloomy place: he could walk, or he could wait.
With a sigh, he pushed himself up from the gravestone, using it as a support until he stood towering over it. His feathered friend fluttered about in the air briefly as he stood up but had quickly perched onto his left shoulder, cooing with content.
Nearby was the decapitated remains of the reaper which had tried to end his life once more, and had made an attempt at forcibly taking his friend away from him. He scoffed inwardly at the remains, feeling no remorse at a being that tried to prevent him from being with his friend.
"Come along Archimedes, let us find a way out of zis place."
He picked up his Amputator bone-saw which was next to the corpse, hoping to use it as protection against whatever would be in this afterlife, and began walking away from the area. He made sure to pick up the cage as he passed by the tombstone. He couldn't be more happier with where he currently was, even if he was dead in the outside world, he didn't mind in the slightest for he had a dear friend to accompany him through the unknown.
He hopped down from the large rock and landed in the water below with a loud splash. His avian companion quickly recomposed itself as it landed back on his shoulder, ruffling its non-existent feathers the moment it landed. The water wasn't as deep as he had first imagined, as surprisingly, it was only shin deep.
Unsure of where he would or could go from there, he began walking forward into the fog that surrounded the area, seeking a locations where he could be at peace with his friend before they both were forced to move on. His journey would be a quiet one though, the only sounds to accompany him were the soft coos of his feathered friend, his own breathing, and his heavy footsteps as they trudged through the water.
It would be a long journey it seemed.
Ever since he had first entered this strange plane of existence it’d felt like barely an hour had passed since his arrival, yet somehow, it truly felt like a numerous amount of days went by instead. It was definitely a strange thing to realize, he’d been walking for what felt days to him and he still didn’t feel the slightest hints of exhaustion yet.
To wherever he may be though, it was certainly difficult to distinguish. All around him, stretching for what he guessed was for hundreds of kilometers, perhaps even further, was a thick veil of fog which prevented him from seeing no more than a few meters ahead. Anything that was beyond those few meter became well obscured within the veil; but if only there was something to be seen.
High above the fog was something of an interesting sight to behold in such a place, confusing even, as there sat the moon high above. It provided what light it could in such a place, shining faintly through the fog and clouds above. It gave nothing significant, but gave just enough light to bathe the whole area in a soft azure glow.
It was only after what felt like the third day when there was an eventual change in footing for him. The water he had once been trudging through ever so slowly had given way to the feeling of soft dirt beneath his boots.
Glancing back, he noted that the dirt dipped into the water abruptly once it came near the water. Overall, it was certainly a big change from what he had been walking through for the past while, and of where he had come from. It was possible that the rock was hours, maybe even days away from him in the opposite direction.
"We're making good progress Archimedes, ve cannot stop now," he spoke to his friend, who remained perched on his shoulder.
He turned to the semi-muddy path ahead of him and steeled himself for yet another long trek. He let out a breath he had no idea he was holding, letting his figure slump slightly at the idea of doing more walking.
It was likely going to be another long stretch of time before he and Archimedes would come across anything more significant than dirt... perhaps it would take even longer for them to find a way out of here too.
He cracked a smile as he turned to Archimedes. "At least I am not alone here."
Archimedes made a short coo in reply and ruffled his nonexistent feathers, finishing off with puffing out his chest. The sight was barely visible thanks to the ambient red glow that surrounded him.
The Medic chuckled softly. "I'll put on a brave face for you my friend." He looked to the path ahead and gave one last glance back to the water's edge. There was no clear way to tell where either direction would eventually take him, but so far, he'd cleared the most distance heading this way. Heading back no longer seemed like a choice at this rate.
He began walking deeper into the fog.
"Is the Everfree Forest normally foggy this late in the evening?" Spike asked as he stole a glance through one of the library's windows.
Currently, he was tasked with sorting through a large amount of books that had come in several boxes from Trottingham. To how they got these books was something of a matter of coincidence; just a little over a week ago, one of Ponyville's residents came into the library and happened to idly mention the new that one of the libraries in Trottingham were closing down, primarily due to a lack of funding going into it.
Twilight was quick to send a letter through to the city's mayoral office the moment she caught wind of the situation. She asked of them for whatever books they didn't plan on sending to any other libraries in the city, that those books instead be sent to her place.
Low and behold, within a little over eight days the books had arrived through the mail. Although, upon their arrival, a certain pegasus had difficulty trying to cram each and every box, along with their contents, into their mailbox outside. The mailmare's reasoning was that she knew she couldn't fit them through the mail slot, so instead, she had the idea that she'd leave them in the mailbox for them to pick up. Thankfully though, Spike was there when the boxes had arrived and ultimately prevented the books meeting an untimely end.
"Are you sure it's not fog scheduled by the weather team, Spike?" Twilight asked from across the room at her desk.
"Definitely sure! If they scheduled for fog you'd think they'd go for doing it just before dusk or dawn, and even then most of Ponyville would be covered by it. We wouldn't even be able to see too far out the window if there was any. And besides, Rainbow Dash would've told us if they were scheduled for rolling in the fog in Ponyville." Spike paced by the window and grabbed another stack of books near the main entrance of the library.
"Take a look for yourself Twi, the Everfree is really foggy." He gave a loud grunt as he walked across the room, placing yet another stack of tomes next to an ever-growing pile beside Twilight before making his way to gather another.
Twilight hummed to herself and halted her logs. Curious about it herself, she gently placed the quill she held with her magic onto her desk and trotted over to the library's southeastern window, gazing towards the Everfree Forest. "Huh, that's definitely not normal..."
"Weird isn't it? It couldn't have possibly been done by the weather team." He set another stack of books down beside Twilight's desk with another grunt of effort, "I think I'm gonna take a quick break for a bit, my back is killing me..." Arching his back some, there was the distinct sound of some cricks and a few pops as he set his back into proper alignment.
Twilight let out an exasperated sigh and shook her head. "Lift with your legs, not with your back, Spike..."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Spike muttered as he walked across the foyer of the library towards the kitchen. "I'm gonna grab a snack from the kitchen. You want me to make you something to eat while I'm in there? We haven't really had the time today to make something to eat since lunchtime, and that was almost nine hours ago."
“I appreciate the thought Spike, bu-” Her stomach then decided to punctuate his point as the obvious sound of it gurgling echoed throughout the library. “On second thought, maybe some daisy and daffodil sandwiches would be nice,” she stole a glance back at Spike who was holding back a small fit of laughter beneath his claws.
“Ahem... I’ll be a bit busy with finding some information regarding the amount of fog seeping through the forest in the meantime.” She turned her attention back to the window, letting Spike prepare a quick, late supper the both of them. “Oh, and Spike?” She called out as she quickly turned back to the kitchen.
Responding to his name, he craned his head around the doorway with a handful of gems clutched in his claw. “-Eah?” He said between chewing one of said gems.
"Could you bring the food out here when you're done? We still have a lot to do before we're finished for the night, and I'd prefer to make sure we have an even workload for tomorrow too."
She saw him visibly groan and sink slightly in the doorway. "And here I was thinking I'd be able to head to bed early tonight..." He let out a heavy sigh. "Can we at least call it quits before midnight? I haven't got a decent sleep these past few days and I really need the extra rest."
Twilight hummed to herself for a brief moment, tapping a hoof against her chin. He did have a valid point, for the past few nights he wasn’t enough of a healthy rest meant for a growing dragon. That was a bit of a fault on her part, mainly due to a few surprise late-night study sessions keeping him awake much longer than need. Perhaps turning in early would be good for the both of them, they’d been running on minimal amounts of rest for the past few days and a good nights rest might be a good change of pace from her constant business.
"How about we call it a night at eleven?" Twilight replied with a soft smile. "We both could use the extra rest for tomorrow when we finish cataloging the rest of these new books. We can sort them into their proper shelves tomorrow evening once things die down, does that sound good?"
A smile formed on the young dragons features. "So long as we won't be up all night I'll be fine with it." With that, he crammed another gem into his mouth and disappeared beyond the doorway of the kitchen.
Glancing over at the clock on the far side of the library, Twilight noticed that it was only nine in the evening so far. There was still time for her to continue her work of logging the newest arrival of books, but her curiosity and thirst for knowledge was getting the better of her.
She trotted away from the window and began gathering scanning through the bookshelves searching for anything in regard to the unnatural phenomenon of the Everfree Forest. In case any of her books would lead her nowhere, she quickly pulled out some well known magical and arcane theory textbooks to see if they played a role in the whole thing, and for good measure she grabbed a recently updated volume of the Equestrian Encyclopedia; currently on its 27th edition.
After a few minutes of careful scanning, she found another book she was looking for: All the things you need to know about the Everfree Forest: How it works and the creatures within.
The book itself wasn't really huge, nor was it really small either. Just barely passing the mark of a size comparison to a common fiction novel such as the Daring Do series, the book had a lot of researched facts and theories relating to most of the occurrences within the Everfree. She had barely touched any copy of the book before she arrived in Ponyville, but due to circumstance, she had to compromise and settle for reading it to learn of the forest's dangers.
Taking a careful glance at the books she gathered, she had a relatively moderately sized pile of about four books, each with their own key details about the Everfree and how it worked. She wouldn't be reading all of them throughout the course of one night though. No, she was searching for anything regarding the Everfree to explain the abnormal amount of thick fog coming through the treeline, she just didn't really have the time tonight to read each all the books in one sitting. Although the idea was tempting, she pushed the thought out of her mind and set to work.
Time was beginning to no relevant meaning in this place. Minutes had passed, and they felt like hours; hours passed, and they felt like days. No matter to what amount of time had passed, more of it seemed to go forward whenever he’d try to guess to what amount had gone by. It was like the whole place was toying with him.
After what he assumed to be the seventh day here, things had begun to change ever so slowly with his pace. The brown dirt beneath him gradually changed in appearance during that time, with it giving way to life breaking through the soil, and ever so slowly, becoming covered in bits of withering blades of grass and flora as time dragged on.
The withering flora soon became straighter and less frail the further he walked, and the grass was covering the dirt more and more the further he went, becoming more distinguishably green. It was a bit strange for him to know that most of the flora he had seen earlier was limp and withered, regardless of the amount of moisture that hung in the air, yet these plants were somehow surviving in the same environment .
It was a definite stark contrast to the plants he had seen earlier; he was no botanist, but he knew it was certainly an unusual thing to see.
The eighth day came and the plants and flora become abundant and more varied. Weeds of many different types grew from the soil, some bright with color, some dark, and some with strange auras permeating from their flowery ends and stalks. He dared not go near them, as they looked nothing like the plants he had seen grow in his home of Germany before he became a mercenary, nor in the desert regions surrounding the gravel pits and Teufort.
The ninth day then came. The numerous plants that he had bore witness to the day before only increased when he went further, causing his path to narrow up and making him move dangerously close to some of the glowing flora. There was one in particular he didn't feel comfortable even nearing; this one being an all blue flower/herb with darker blots of blue on the ends of it, all the while it emanated a strange glow beneath the light of the moon which barely moved in the slightest since his arrival.
But his path soon gave way to something more the further it narrowed up. Bushes and vines soon replaced most of the unknown flora around him. The whole area had progressively gotten thicker with every few minutes of walking, but it all led up to one point where the vines and bushes coincided with possibly, the very end of his journey: a forest.
This particular forest was something that seemed straight out of a young child's fairy tale, one that was meant to scare young children into never going into any heavily wooded area on their own. With what he could see of the several meters ahead of him, the trees grew in unnatural directions and looked remarkably thicker than any tree he had seen. Some of them twisted into one another, and he swore some of them had the illusion of a face being stuck onto them.
Whatever kind of forest this was, it was certainly unnatural by his and any of earth's standards.
The medic gave an exhausted sigh as he stared at the forest ahead of him. "Vat should we do Archimedes? Ve cannot go back ze way we came unless I plan on doing more walking, but zis is our only way forward. Perhaps it is ze last thing we have to pass through until ve can get out of here," he turned to face his avian companion, half-expecting him to provide any words of encouragement or to make the choice for him.
In response, Archimedes hopped off his shoulder and with outstretched wings, flew to the entrance of the forest. He landed on one of the many vines that made up the forest, patiently waiting for his human friend to take notice of what he was suggesting.
There wasn't much else he could do if he didn't want to go, as the possibility of finding anything remotely similar in the opposite direction was rather minuscule. If anything, he thought it was a barrier made to impede his progress just to prevent him from going any further. He would have none of that though, he wanted to be rid of this place and move on.
He took took a moment to steel himself once more for the troubles that would lie ahead; taking deep breath and letting it out to relieve himself, he set out onto the path once more with minimal hesitation. Archimedes had taken to flying back onto his shoulder as he passed by the dove, but had moved a lot closer to his head upon entering the forest.
Upon entering, he realized that it felt as unnatural as it looked from the outside. The moonlight was barely able to seep through the dense treetops and only managed to provide enough light for to see just a few feet ahead. It was bad enough that the fog was still hanging around with him too, preventing him from seeing too far ahead when he was outside the forest.
But this? This was just completely ridiculous. With the combination of the darkness and fog, it was even harder for him to see ahead of him beyond those few feet.
The one thing that completely bugged him though about the forest was the complete absence of any form of noise. This absence felt entirely different to the one he soon got used to before, there was only the sound of his footsteps and water to provide little noise amongst the silence. But here, it was as though the noise was being consumed. With each step he took, he couldn't even hear the sound make its way back to him unless he was directly passing by a malformed tree, and that bugged him. It was just ominous and foreboding.
Even while he was on the battlefield, not even the BLU spy could make him feel this uncomfortable when he was caught alone with him.
This failed in comparison to it, as there was a lot more to be afraid of among this vast unknown, and that was something he was currently experiencing as he walked: Fear. Even more now, the feeling of being rid of this place strengthened within him and caused him to increase his pacing to a near frantic walk.
He just hoped he'd find a way out of the damned forest soon before his feelings drove him insane. It was one thing after another with this place it seemed.
Twilight was scanning through the last few pages of the need to know guide about the Everfree Forest. There wasn't a whole lot that referred to the all the happenings with the forest, mainly stating that the weather patterns were often sporadic and completely unpredictable, referring that the weather is often caused by its strange magic. It didn't delve into the topic, but categorized the ground based weather into one general category.
Her textbooks however, had provided a bit more useful information regarding it, albeit more wordy in comparison. The first text, which related to old Arcane Theory that was practiced centuries ago, mentioned that during the time of when the old Canterlot castle was destroyed during Celestia’s battle with Nightmare Moon, many of the arcane energies which were contained within it begun to trickle out into the nearby Everfree Forest. The forest in turn, had gradually absorbed these energies and soon came out of context with what everypony considered natural in their eyes.
The two textbooks she read relating to Magic Theory however, only explained how the Forest's strange magic warped the weather in the skies above it into being completely out of control; thunderclouds would strike out against pegasi unless they knew how to properly combat those kinds of clouds, average clouds would float of their own accord and pegasi wouldn't even be able to stand on them, let alone push them; earth ponies would have difficulty tending to any kind of plant within the forest unless they put more effort into using their natural magic with nature. It didn't mention much against unicorns though, only explaining that the limits of what a unicorn could do was based on their magical strength.
With a sigh, she closed the guide book and set it down next to the other three she had skimmed through. There wasn't really much she could go on other than the happenings were just based on the forest's unnaturally natural magic.
She glanced at the two sandwiches that were on the floor beside her. Spike had left them there a little over an hour ago and she hadn't bothered to take a bite out of any them. She guessed the bread was already becoming stale, but food was food.
Picking up one of the sandwiches with her magic, she trotted over towards the window facing towards the Everfree. Looking through it, the forest still had the fog seeping through the treeline, but it looked like it had gotten thicker since she had last bothered to look.
Questions still floated through her mind as to why it was so foggy in there, as simply writing it off as the forest's magic causing it wouldn't work for her. There had to be some underlying reason to why it was doing this.
Taking a bite out of her food, she continued to eye the forest curiously, noting that the bread was indeed stale. Whatever it was that was going in there, she wanted to know how and why it was happening. Though coupled with the fact that it was already night and that the fog was abnormally thick, she would be called crazy if she even considered making a late night trek just to see what was going on.
She let out a quiet sigh to hide her frustration. As much as how great the scientific endeavor was to figure out what was going on, it was just far too dangerous to explore. Even with her being the element of magic, something bad would likely happen to her either way.
She heard Spike led out a loud groan as a signature thump was felt across the floor. “I think I’m done for the night,” she heard him grumble. “My back’s already killing me from the lifting I did earlier, and now my knees are starting to ache. I think it’d be best for the me to stop now before I end up having to use a cane to walk in the morning.”
Taking a glance at the time, she noticed it was already ten thirty in the evening, nearing their agreed time frame of calling it an early night.
With the Everfree Forest weighing on her mind a bit heavily, perhaps calling it a night now would be a good idea before her thirst of knowledge got the better of her.
"You can head to bed right now if you want Spike, I'll be heading up in a short while once I'm done eating. I think we've done enough work for the day."
"Really!?" He exclaimed happily from across the room. "Thanks Twilight, you're the best!"
She heard the rapid scampering of the young dragon's claws against the floorboards. The rapid movements suddenly died down as she heard a distinct crack echo throughout the library. This was followed by muttered grumbles that were unintelligible from across the room.
Perhaps Spike will need that cane he mentioned after all then. She amused herself with the thought briefly, softly chuckling at the mental image of seeing her assistant hunching over with a cane in his claw. All's that was need was to add a thick pair of glasses and a bushy mustache and he could fool almost anypony into thinking he was old.
She broke away from the window eventually, taking the remainder of the night to clean up before she would call it a night herself.
She spent the rest of her time on the ground floor of the library, organizing the stacks of books by her desk into several neat sets of piles just so things would be orderly for tomorrow, and cataloged a few extra books until she finished her light supper.
She opted to take one final glance at the window facing the Everfree, not noticing much of a change in its strange behavior.
Perhaps in the morning if the fog doesn't cease, she would investigate this further.
