//------------------------------// // Seventeenth Entry // Story: Even the Strong Need Help // by Charlie_K //------------------------------// Thunder knew that something wasn't right. He'd known that something wasn't right, from the moment the fog of sleep had started to clear from his brain and allow him to transition to something that vaguely resembled consciousness. In the past seven and a half years of being a Royal Guard, two years spent at the academy to become a Royal Guard, and countless leading up to him becoming a Royal Guard, he had gotten firmly into the habit of waking up at a specific time of day, to the point he could practically feel the time of day. He had conditioned himself to rise and shine regardless of whatever the circumstances were that might demand a different course of action. Thousands of times over the course of his service, he'd forced his body up and out of his bed no matter how exhausted he might've felt, because he had duties that needed to be performed regardless of how he might've felt. But this time his body refused to cooperate. Despite him technically being awake, technically being conscious, his body felt heavy and unwilling to let him move from his spot. Even something as simple as trying to open an eye was proving to be far more than his body wanted to allow to happen. The last time he'd felt this weak, this tired and unable to move, he'd fallen in the showers and was stuck laying under the cold spray of water until he'd been found and rescued. It'd been bad enough the first time around, and he had no interest in a repeat of that. But he just couldn't seem to get his body to cooperate this time around. But this time around it felt different. This time around he didn't feel cold and wet, but rather warm and dry. He actually felt... dare he say it... comfortable. Something was out of place in this equation. He remembered falling asleep last night, and nothing he'd experienced could explain how he was feeling right now. The floor of his quarters was firm and unyielding beneath the padding underneath the carpeting he'd rested on. By comparison, what he was feeling right now almost felt like he was floating. It felt like... he didn't even know what it felt like, they were too many unfamiliar sensations for his brain to process going by mere touch alone. Grunting, he focused on forcing an eye open to survey his surroundings. Despite the low light setting, he recognized that he was still in his quarters. More specifically he was in the bed in his quarters. Now he knew that something was wrong, because he knew that he hadn't been on the bed when he'd fallen asleep. He had to have been placed there after the fact, but for what reason and by whom, he had no idea. And then he felt something rustling against him. Something actually moving. Straining to glance down with both eyes, he saw that Doily was in the bed with him, and was currently nestling her face into his chest with her forelegs wrapped around him... and his forelegs had wrapped around her! And if he had to hazard a guess, going by what he was currently feeling as the rush of adrenaline started to bludgeon and slice its way through the haze of tiredness... Holly was currently behind him in much the same position, pressing her front up against his back as she held close to him. "Alright, don't panic, that'll only make things worse. Stay calm and focus on your training. Take stock of the situation, and evaluate what you know. You're in a bed with two mares, and you don't have a clue how you got there. The last thing you remember was Holly saying to get yourself ready while she and Doily talked in private. You took one of the pillows from the bed and settled down in front of the window. And then... then you woke up in this situation." He knew precious little about his current situation. He understood even less. And why was it proving to be so comfortable that all he wanted to do right now was just go back to sleep? He really didn't understand it. He'd been asleep for the last eight hours straight without interruption, and had been having a pleasant dream about having to fill in for one of his fellow Guards in one of the most prestigious positions available at the palace; standing watch at the base of Princess Celestia's throne. Was all of that simply not enough for his greedy body? Did it really expect him to go back to bed like he didn't have responsibilities to see to? How much more rest did his body really want from him? ... It was a stupid question and he knew it. He wasn't getting anywhere near enough rest to maintain his work schedule. And if what Princess Celestia had said in her office was accurate, there wasn't a pony in the kingdom who could actually make his schedule work in the long term; not even her. The spirit might be willing, but the flesh was too weak to withstand what was being demanded of it. He'd pushed his body to the breaking point, and once there he'd tried to push even more out of it. And in the process of doing so in order to embody his ideal of what a Royal Guard should be, he'd nearly died as a result. Because the breaking point was named that for a very good reason; once that boundary was crossed, you were the one that was broken in the process. Eight hours of rest for one night simply wasn't going to be anywhere near enough to get him back in shape for service, and he knew that. He didn't care for that fact, but there really wasn't much that he could do about it. The rules of physics had no care for what anypony thought, regardless of their amount of dedication and determination they carried. His thoughts on the matter were interrupted as Doily shifted slightly in his hold, but made no move to indicate that she was currently awake, or showing an intention of actually waking up. That just served to bring him back to his previous questions and thoughts. What exactly had happened here last night? Why couldn't he remember anything? And why had that been the most restful night's sleep he could remember in a very long time? "We've got a lot of good questions, but we're not going to get any answers just laying around here. Need to ignore the physical comfort and focus on doing what needs to be done instead." The first order of business was getting himself untangled and out of the bed. But first he had to figure out how to do that. The foreleg currently draped over Doily was easy enough to move off of her, but the one pinned underneath her frame was a different story that had to be figured out without disturbing her slumber. And then he'd have to find a way to get himself untangled from her forelegs and Holly's, and then get off of the bed, all without waking them up. "Teleporting out of this isn't exactly an option. Not with them both in close contact with me at least; they'll be dragged right along with me. Even if I can compensate for their inclusion, at least one of them is going to end up falling on the ground." Try as he might, regardless of whatever strategy and approach came to mind for how to address this matter and get himself free, he just couldn't figure a way out of this without waking at least one of them up in the process. "It looks like I don't have any other choice in the matter," he acknowledged to himself. "Doily... Doily," he whispered as he gently nudged her with his free foreleg. "Doily, wake up." What should've been enough to rouse her, as it could easily rouse him, seemed to have the opposite effect of making her grunt in annoyance and try to bury herself deeper into the bed and against him. "Doily," he continued, using his free hoof to shrug her with a bit more force this time. "I need you to wake up, please. It's important." Slowly, reluctantly, his efforts produced the desired result of rousing her from her slumber, leading to her stirring and slowly pulling her head back in order to yawn and rub her eyes as she mumbled incoherently to herself. "Whuzut?" she mumbled as she looked at him. Reaching out with his magic, he plucked her glasses off the nightstand once he caught sight of them, and gently placed them back on her face where they belonged so she could better see. "Thunder?" she asked as she saw him come back into focus, "what's going on?" "I was hoping that you could tell me. After letting me get up," he replied. He could see the confusion playing out on her face at his words, as she pulled her head back and slowly looked down at the two of them as her mind tried to process what she was hearing. She let out a small, startled sound and quickly did her best to withdraw, as he shifted his weight to unpin her foreleg and allow them to separate, which nearly led to her rolling right off the edge of the bed as she tried to get up. With the commotion of it all serving to rouse Holly from her slumber. Which provided him with just enough slack to slip free from her hold and climb down off the bed. "It's way too early to be awake," she mumbled to herself, yawning and stretching out on the bed while looking ready to roll over and go right back to sleep. "I apologize for waking you. I was trying to avoid doing that," Thunder spoke up. "Whatever," Holly grunted in tired annoyance, before stretching much like a cat would, resigning herself to the fact that she wasn't about to get anymore shuteye. "No use just laying around here, I guess." "Do you mind if I ask a question?" Thunder asked her as she climbed off the bed on their side. "What exactly happened last night?" "We were kind of hoping you could tell us the same thing," Holly replied, now off the bed and rolling her withers. "Why were you sleeping on the floor when we found you?" "You told me to get myself ready, so I did," he replied. Holly quickly shook her head. "No, no, I mean why were you sleeping on the floor like a dog last night?" "... Where else would I be sleeping at the time?" The question had been delivered with absolutely no sarcasm, and a heaping helping of genuine curiosity as he looked at them for an answer. He honestly looked like he as lost; like he wasn't able to put two and two together, and was trying to understand a foreign concept. "Thunder," she started slowly, not really sure what to think herself, "why didn't you take the couch last night?" "Where would you or Doily have slept if I'd done that?" he asked in turn. "That would've left you having to choose who got the floor instead of me. I couldn't see any point in that." Holly looked over to Doily, who looked back at her. Were they actually hearing him right? Did he really not know that... "Thunder," Doily spoke up as she brought his attention over to her. "Holly and I could've doubled up on the bed together without issue. I think we proved pretty well last night that it has more than enough room for that. It's not like it would've been a big deal or anything." "Oh," Thunder replied slowly. "I... didn't know that was actually an option." "You didn't-" Holly started, only to stop herself as she looked at him in disbelief. "Thunder, I know this isn't any of my business, but haven't you ever shared a bed with another pony before?" He didn't immediately respond to the question, but instead looked like he was trying to remember for himself if it was something that'd happened. "I did. Five days ago when I got back from the hospital," he eventually replied. "I ended up sleepwalking my way onto duty that night, and had to be put back to bed by Princess Luna herself. Sergeant Lily on the night shift had her put me in her bunk since she wouldn't be needing it until the following morning." The brief moment of hope they'd experienced at the start of his explanation, the hope that he understood what they were saying, was easily broken by his recounting of the relevant details. "No, not like taking turns," Holly clarified, doing her best to not sigh in frustration. "I mean, like you and another pony sleeping in the same bed at the same time. Together." "Oh..." Thunder replied slowly. "Once. But I got in trouble for doing it, and told that I was too old to be letting somepony sleep in my bed with me." Doily wanted to groan at hearing this. She could only imagine what Thunder's home life had to have been like if what she was hearing was an accurate recounting of things that'd happened. Probably an older brother whose little sister would crawl into bed with him at night, only for their parents to object as they started to get closer to puberty. And Thunder, being the dutiful and obedient pony that he was on the job, probably just took the statement at face value without ever bothering to ask for finer details. "Well I don't know who you might've heard that from, but there's nothing wrong with a couple of ponies sharing the same bed together. Especially not when it's a nice big bed you can stretch out on," she stated and shook her head. "And if somepony tries to tell you different, you send them to me and I'll straighten them out for you." Holly blinked at the sudden shift in Doily's demeanor. When had such a mousy and otherwise polite little pegasus, suddenly found the assertiveness to turn into a bossy big sister type? Not that she would complain. Doily could stand to have a bit more assertiveness about her. And from the way Thunder just nodded silently in response, he didn't seem to have any complaints either. "Alright," she spoke up and yawned again, "I'm going to see about getting some breakfast and some coffee. Today's gonna be a long day." "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Thunder, you wanna join us?" Doily asked. "As appealing as that sounds, I can't really do that right now. I need to do morning calisthenics, get a shower, make myself look presentable, and go see if Doctor Malar will certify me for working today," Thunder explained. "But didn't you do that yesterday?" Holly asked. "Shouldn't you focus more on resting, rather than rushing to get back to work?" "I don't know how to do that. I can't just... sit down and do nothing when there's work that's needing to be done; it just feels wrong to be doing that. If nothing else I have to at least keep trying. Eventually he'll have to sign off on me returning to active duty," he replied. All Holly could do was sigh and try not to shake her head in response. He was never going to get anywhere with that attitude. But it was his life and his job, and he really hadn't asked her for her opinion or input on the subject. If he had, she could've offered him some advice on what not to be doing. But right now that wasn't her place. "Alright then. Good luck, then," she replied and shrugged dismissively. "Doily, you coming?" "Um, I'll be there in a minute. You go on, I'll catch up," Doily stated as she waved her friend off. Once they were finally alone in the room, she looked over at Thunder, and then stepped closer to him. "Last night was really nice," she stated as she proceeded to hug him tightly. "I can probably come over again tonight if you'd like." "Do you mind if I ask something first?" Thunder asked her. "How did I wind up in the bed last night? And why were we all intertwined like we were?" "Well Holly and I didn't feel right about leaving you on the floor like you were, so we decided to put you in the bed. And then... well I got a bit silly and suggested we all share that bed since it was so big. I guess we all just sorta got scooted together in the night," Doily stated, not sure what else to say. "I suppose that makes sense," Thunder replied. "Are you sure you wouldn't mind coming over again tonight?" "Well I can't speak for Holly or what she might think, but I'd be happy to come over again. You're a very nice stallion." She needed to settle down and calm herself, before she started making herself giddy and risk saying something that she shouldn't say. "I'd better get going before Holly thinks something's amiss. Anyway, I'll see you tonight if you're still here, alright?" she asked as she let him go. "Alright," Thunder replied and nodded. "I'll see you then."