The Guard And His Sword

by Himntor

The Promises We Make And Paths We Take - Two Weeks

“Is everypony alright?” Shining Armor asked, brightening his light spell to see us.

“Just peachy,” I said, shaking more dust out of my mane.

“All limbs accounted for, Sir,” the pegasus guard said, Flash Sentry I later learned.

“Good,” Shining Armor said. “Swordulan?”

Silence. I could’ve sworn he had been standing right next to me when everything came crashing down.

Shining Armor looked at the pile of rock and crystal that cut us off from the surface. “That’s not good. Flash, is there anywhere at the top to squeeze through?”

Flash Sentry flew up to the ceiling and searched, but he shook his head and came back down.

“Drat. We’ll have to continue further down and see if we can find the tunnel that will lead us out of here.”

“Wait, what about Swordulan?” I asked. “You’re not just going to leave him behind are you?”

“Hopefully he and Summer are okay and the other branch of the cave is still open to them. I think it has a more direct route out, so they’ll likely get out of here before we do. If not, it should only take us the rest of the day to get out and find enough help to dig them out.”

The air began to feel thin. “But what if we can’t find a way out? What if we’re trapped down here forever, without food or water!? I’ve never been trapped underground before! What if your magic runs out and we can’t see anything? There’s gotta be a way back, there has to—”

Flash Sentry stuck a hoof over my mouth, earning himself a cold stare. “Relax, Captain Shining Armor has everything under control. Keep your cool and stay close, we’ll lead you out.”

“Let’s go,” Shining Armor said.

I glared at their backs as they began to move deeper into the cavern, but reluctantly followed for fear of being left in the dark. If they were sure about getting out, then I’d just have to trust them. Feather-brained stallions… I wasn’t losing my cool!

Shining Armor set a hard pace, though it was no trouble keeping up on my wings. I was a pretty fast flier; one time I had measured 15.7 wing power on the anemometer, and I could consistently hit between 14 and 14.5, which was high enough that I could have tried out for the Wonderbolts. Not that I ever would. Following orders and rules weren’t really my thing, unlike Swordulan who apparently could never get enough of them. What a boring life he must be living. When not trapped in caves by mysterious villains, I guess. Or fighting monsters, or courting beautiful mares, or…

Sweet Celestia, no! I’m not the one who leads the boring life. He stands around doing nothing for weeks and gets paid to do it. I work at the lightning factory and… alright, I might have gotten laid off a few days ago, but at least I had got out with friends on the weekends and had a life besides work. It was only after getting laid off that I’d heard about Stonehenge, and since then I put everything on hold. Finding another job can wait until I know he’s safe.

Neither of the two stallions said a word as we continued our descent. Not that I was about to break the silence to strike up a conversation, but it was a bit nerve-wracking to only hear the echoing clatters of hooves or flaps of wings. The squeaks of frost bats didn’t help, and I flinched at every shadow that looked like it was coming after me.

I was starting to get real thirsty after a few hours. We had come across a number of branching paths, and Shining Armor guided us down one or the other, and when I took a break from flying it felt like we were starting to go uphill.

*

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed when I found a small underground stream. Felt like hours had gone by, and my legs ached from the weight of Summer on my back. She was still unconscious, but at least I could feel a heartbeat. I had spoken some of my thoughts aloud along the way, mostly to see if it might rouse Summer, but it never did. Maybe I also did it so I didn’t feel totally alone. I gently laid her next to the stream while I stooped down to take a drink.

“Ah, that’s cold. I wonder how much farther this goes.”

Finding out would have to wait until Summer was awake. She probably needed water too, and for her head gash to be cleaned. Carefully taking off the helmet showed that the bleeding had stopped, though it still looked pretty nasty. I took the helmet downstream a bit and washed it out as best I could, then rinsed Summer’s wound and put the helmet back on. She still didn’t wake.

I softly nudged her backside and whispered, “Summer, wake up. Come on, you need to drink some water.”

She didn’t stir except for the subtle movement of breathing. With a sigh, I levitated a puddle of water over her head and let it drip onto her nose. Still nothing after half a minute of it, and growing impatient, I let the whole thing fall on her face. With that, she finally cringed and moved to wipe at her face.

“Thank Celestia,” I sighed, “you’re awake.”

“Mmmph… my head is throbbing,” Summer said. “What happened?”

“There was a cave-in, and you took a bad hit. I had to put my helmet on you to stop the bleeding. Here—” I levitated another puddle of water over to her mouth. “—drink some water, it’ll help.”

Summer opened her eyes just enough to see the water and drank slowly. “This water tastes weird.”

“It’s mineral enhanced.” I grinned at my joke, but it left as quick as it came. Summer was awake, but could she walk? Or even stand? Probably best she didn’t. I didn’t know whether or not I could carry her out of here, if there even was an exit somewhere. For all I knew, we’d die of starvation down here. But I couldn’t let the thought show, I needed to be courageous and appear unafraid for Summer’s sake. I had to let her know there was hope.

Summer shivered as she finished the water and closed her eyes, resting her head on the hard floor again.

I grimaced at how much her neck craned. “Here, let me…” I came around her head sat down on all fours then levitated her over so her head rested on my back. “Is that better?”

“Yes, thank you,” she whispered. “Could you turn the light down? What time is it?”

I dimmed my light spell until I could just make out the shapes and outlines of things. “I don’t know, sometime in the afternoon, maybe evening.”

“Where am I?”

I hesitated. “In the crystal caverns. Don’t you remember?”

“Ngh, not so loud. The crystal what? No, I… the last thing I remember is getting home from work. But I recognize your voice; do I know you?”

My heart skipped a beat. She didn’t remember… did she even remember our date? “It’s… it’s me, Swordulan, of the Shield family.”

“Swordulan? What am I… what are we both doing here?”

“Um… long story. Do you remember anything about the picnic?”

“Picnic? No... I don’t know. My head is spinning.”

“Oh, Celestia,” I breathed. Did I tell her the bad news? Ponyfeathers, I knew being honest with her like I had when telling her about Stonehenge was the right thing, but… this was something completely different. Yet I had to; there was nopony else who could. “Summer, you’ve lost at least two weeks of memory.”

“Two… two weeks? Ooogh… I… I want you to tell me everything that led up to now, but I can’t think straight more than five seconds. Let me rest some more, maybe a couple hours, then tell me, okay? Can you do that?”

“Of course, I’ll do anything and everything I can.”

“Thank you. Just let me… let me rest.”

Summer relaxed and her breathing became more rhythmic. I wasn’t sure how I’d explain events leading up to now, but there was no point in worrying about it yet. Stifling a yawn I decided to rest my eyes for a while too. The cave floor paired with Summer’s head on my side didn’t make for comfortable sleeping, but at least it would help me sleep lightly. The cave went pitch black as I cut off my magic, and I felt a wave of exhaustion come over me. Maintaining a light spell for so long while carrying somepony took its toll, and as a result, sleep came easy.

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed when I awoke to Summer getting up and feeling her way towards the stream. All I knew was that I was hungry, and there was nothing to eat. Maybe frost bats tasted good? No, no, I couldn’t kill and eat one of those.

After stretching my legs, I cast a dim light spell, helping Summer find the stream. She gave me an appreciative smile and drank greedily. I got up and took a long drink myself.

“Feeling better?” I asked.

“A little bit,” Summer said quietly. “Ears are still buzzing, but most of the dizziness is gone. That was a strangely soft rock for a pillow. Maybe it was just the helmet.”

I blushed in embarrassment. “That was my back, actually. I hope it was okay.”

“Oh… oh, no, it’s fine. Thank you. Did we bring any food with us?”

“No,” I sighed. “We didn’t think anything like this would happen. Thought we’d be down here only an hour, two at the most. You probably want to know everything now, right?”

“Yes, please.” Summer sat down away from the stream and I sat in front of her. “I’m still confused about where we are.”

“The crystal caverns just north of the Crystal Empire. We’re here for… well I’ll start at the beginning, it’ll make more sense.”

I went over everything from how I came to start seeking out Summer to why we were stuck in this cave, mainly keeping to the decisions and actions we made and why. I tried not to leave out any details, except for Discord’s brief involvement before the picnic date; she didn’t need to know about that. Some of the details were a bit of a pain to go over, particularly involving Katana, but I made it through without faltering. Summer listened with a contemplative look throughout, but once I finished, she looked… disappointed?

“What… what do you mean to me?”

Summer blushed at her question, and it, at the very least, was a shock to me. What did I mean to her? How was I supposed to answer that? The truth was that I didn’t know, but that wouldn’t help her at all. Hay, the scary thing was that I could say anything, short of being married, and she might believe me. But, it wasn’t true to say I don’t mean anything, I had to mean something to her. She had just never said what herself.

“I can’t say I know for sure,” I began, “because you never told me anything specific about that. I believe I’m at least a generous friend, and I know you’re physically comfortable around me, like when you let your head rest on my shoulder on the train ride here.” I paused and raised a hoof to my cheek. “You kissed my cheek on the picnic date. And maybe the way I take to my job as a Royal Guard means something to you, like that you’re safe and protected with me.” I grimaced at that, wishing our situation didn’t show otherwise. “Besides that, I don’t know what else to say.”

Summer nodded slowly and winced. “I believe you. I don’t know why, but when I look at your face, something tells me that I know you’re honest and I can trust you. What about me? What do I mean to you?”

Butterflies were suddenly swarming around inside me. Again I didn’t know the answer, at least not in this moment. It wasn’t something I had ever thought through. What did she mean to me? Well, I couldn’t just sit here and think about it while Summer waited for the answer. Complete honesty in the moment would have to be enough.

“I haven’t really pieced together my feelings, but I at least know you mean a lot to me. Seeing you lying there unconscious after the cave-in was… terrifying. In that moment I thought you were gone, and I had no idea what to do with myself. It was such a relief to realize you were alive. Finding out you don’t remember the last two weeks hurts, knowing you don’t remember the things you said to me that have helped me so much. But I don’t think that matters, because I can see that you’re still the same kind, caring, and compassionate mare you were back then. You mean more to me than… well, besides family, any other pony I know.”

I couldn’t put a name to Summer’s expression as I ended. Almost blank, but, not quite. My heart was pounding waiting for her response, and I could feel drops of sweat rolling down my neck. I levitated some water over and drank it.

“Thank you for telling me,” Summer said slowly. “I really do appreciate it. I… I wish I hadn’t forgotten everything. I’m so sorry.” She sniffled, and her eyes sparkled. They were beautiful even in tears. “I’m sorry I can’t remember. I’m sorry.”

I blinked away my own tears that were starting to form as she kept apologizing. Just watching her made my heart ache. “No,” I said, standing up. “Don’t—don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault. Please—” I sat down next to her and put my hoof over her neck. “—I’m the one who’s sorry. I should have… I could… I knew it wasn’t going to be safe. I didn’t want anything to happen to you, but...”

But I had still let her come, and now there was nothing I could do except hold her while she sobbed.

Author's Note:

The face Summer makes at the end that Swordulan couldn't put a name to is a face trying to hold back tears. 😢

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

So... Do we ever get an in-universe explanation as to why the Royal Guard are so incompetent in the show in this story?

[Himntor]

9629894
Hahaha, we might! I'm not sure how I'd tackle that, but I want to. I think when Tirek finally makes his appearance in the story I'll be able to do that.