Even the Strong Need Help

by Charlie_K

Sixth Entry

Fritz knew it was his job to stand guard and watch the hallway he'd been assigned to, in the event somepony who didn't belong there came traipsing along into an area they clearly shouldn't be.

But at the same time, he couldn't really stay perfectly focused on his assignment. Curiosity kept bringing his attention back over to Strike's presence where he stood.

He'd been standing there, at attention, ever since showing up, and hadn't really shown any signs of moving from his position. No wobbling or shifting, or anything that indicated his unconscious state was catching up with him and threatening to lay him out on the floor.

In one way it was remarkable and even a bit envious. In another way it was downright creepy and unsettling to observe how he could be so statuesque while simultaneously being totally unconscious. And his eyes... the less said about those glassy, vacant eyes, the better. Just looking at them made his own hurt and water.

"This way."

It made him all the more thankful for the distraction of approaching shod hoofbeats against the palace floor, bringing his attention to something other than his current companion.

He hadn't expected to see Lily come trotting up with Princess Luna following behind her, but that was really none of his business.

"He's right over here," she said as she gestured to Strike's current position, despite it being entirely unnecessary at this point.

Luna simply approached and looked over Strike for herself, as if she were examining a piece of merchandise she was thinking about buying.

"How long has he been like this?" she eventually asked.

"I'm not sure. I'd say... maybe an hour?" Fritz offered in response.

"An hour? He has been standing here for one hour, and you just left him here?" Luna asked.

"I didn't really know what else to do with him right now," Fritz admitted. "And at least this way we could keep an eye on him. You know, in case he ended up falling over or something."

"I suppose that is a fair point," Luna replied while trying not to sound too frustrated while sighing. "But it is still not good for him to be out here, even if he is asleep at the time. The physical strain is not good for his heart."

"His heart?" Lily asked.

Luna nodded. "The doctors found disturbing signs when he was at the hospital. They said had he not broken his leg and passed out when he did, it is likely he would have died from cardiac arrest not long after. That is primarily why he has not yet been cleared to return to active duty; his heart may be in it, but it is not yet up to it. He needs time to recover, and he is doing himself no favors right now. The more he tries to push himself, the longer he is going to set himself back."

"He's... he's not going to die just because we left him out here, is he?" Fritz asked uneasily, now wishing that they'd tried to put him back to bed.

"I do not know. I hope not," Luna admitted, before her horn began to glow and Strike was levitated up and draped gently over her back. "Thank you for alerting me to this. I will put him back in bed, and hopefully he will stay there this time."

"Ahh, the night shift's bunk rooms are closer, and nopony's using them right now. I doubt they'd mind any," Lily quickly pointed out.

Luna contemplated the suggestion for a moment before nodding in agreement.

"Yes, that will work. Lead the way, please."

---

The walk back to the barracks bunk room was a quiet one, other than the sound of shod hooves against stone flooring as guard and princess walked side-by-side, while their passenger just sort of laid there across Luna's back with his limbs dangling helplessly at her sides like he was a lumpy cloak.

As promised the selected room they eventually arrived at was devoid of any occupants. Leaving them free to operate without having to worry about making any excessive noise that would rouse somepony from their slumber.

"This one," Lily said as she directed her to one of the empty beds.

That was about the sum total of her contribution on the matter, as she watched Luna effortlessly lift Strike off her back, before stripping him of his armor without so much as a single clink, setting it atop the locker, and tucking him into bed and pulling the covers up to his neck.

The fact he didn't try to resist or move once she relinquished her hold on him was promising.

"You are certain the owner will not mind if their bed is used for his?" Luna asked.

"I don't see how, seeing as she's me. He covered for me last week when I needed an emergency dental appointment, and I do mean emergency. The least I can do for him in return is let him have a quiet spot to rest," Lily stated.

"Very thoughtful and considerate," Luna noted, "but now you have me curious. You said that he covered for you? Just how many ponies is he covering for?"

"I... I don't really know. It's never really come up for discussion; not that I know of," Lily admitted.

Luna looked at her curiously for a moment, but then stopped as Strike momentarily stirred in the bed, before eventually settling back down again.

"He's not gonna get back up again, is he?" Lily asked.

"I do not know. I hope not," Luna replied. "Consider your assignment for tonight changed to keeping an eye on him. If he tries to get out of bed again for anything other than using the rest room... then I do not know. Sit on him, if need be."

She nearly snorted in response at how ridiculous the suggestion was. But she saluted regardless, acknowledging her assigned duty and intent on performing them to the best of her abilities.

Once Luna departed and left the two of them alone, she looked to her left. Then she looked to her right. Then she looked to her left once again, and then leaned over and kissed Strike on the forehead.

"Sleep, you exhausted workaholic."

---

Celestia looked around as she took in her surroundings. Or at least that's what she tried to do anyway.

It'd been a long, long time since Luna had last grabbed her and pulled her into the dream realm. And she honestly didn't remember it looking like an all-encompassing black void filled with an ever-present fog that might be expected on a night in Trottingham.

"Is this the right place?" she asked.

"Unless we took a wrong turn in Albuquerque," Luna quipped. "This is the "right place" in the sense that it will lead us to where we need to be."

"Right," Celestia replied slowly in annoyance to the less-than-clear response. "So explain this to me, just so I know we're on the same page. Exactly what are we going to do, and how is this supposed to work?"

"It is quite simple, Sister," Luna began as she spun around. "Now that we are both in the dream realm, we will both enter the dream of Thunder Strike. There we will both be able to converse with him at the same time. Perhaps he can tune our advice out individually, but not if we are both speaking to him together.

"Matters in the dream world work differently than they do in the waking world. He as well as we will be much more calm and relaxed there than we would be otherwise. He will be much more likely to listen to reason here; the typical fight or flight response is much more subdued there because the equine brain is not as addled and affected by hormones while asleep as it is while awake."

Celestia couldn't deny that the plan sounded like it was well thought out. They had both talked with him individually, and neither one of them seemed able to make him understand that working like he was, was neither necessary nor healthy. So now it was time for a different approach.

"I certainly hope so," she replied. "And at the same time, I hope we only have to take this course of action once. I'd hate to think the Lieutenant is anything more than an outlier in terms of his work ethic."

"You are not exactly alone in that concern, 'Tia," Luna assured her. "Since my return I have encountered multiple individuals who display unhealthy standards for self-conduct. Most of them have needed but a gentle reminder from time to time, to pay attention to their own well being. But this is not like those cases, however, and there is only so much that I can do.

"If we are going to run with the theory that Thunder Strike is but one of potentially many, we may have to begin conducting a monthly audit of hours worked by palace staff, to see which of them may be logging more time than they should."

"We may have to," Celestia sighed in agreement, already mentally running through which accountants she knew or remembered that they could assign such a task to.

"But let us not go and borrow trouble before its time. We must first see what there is to see, and go from there," Luna stated, before tapping her right forehoof against whatever was serving as the ground in their current surroundings.

Celestia nearly jumped as columns and rows of doors came rushing past them, flanking them on either side, before one particular and quite plain-looking door stopped directly in front of them.

"This is the door that will lead us to the dreams of Thunder Strike," Luna explained quite simply, before pushing it open and ushering her sister inside with her.

---

The scene that greeted them as they stepped through the doorway was unexpected, but at the same time not entirely unsurprising.

They were in the palace, in one of the common areas that anypony could easily access. It was presently buzzing with activity from numerous assembled guards moving about from one spot to another in accordance with assignments being passed out. But it was made up of dull, muted, uninspired colors as far as the eye could see, resembling a pale imitation of the waking world. They were the most brightly colored thing present as they took in their surroundings.

"Is it always like this?" Celestia asked as she glanced about, before stepping to the side as one of the dream guards walked right past her without so much as batting an eye.

"In his case, I am afraid so," Luna huffed. "I have never known Thunder Strike to dream vibrantly. It is always an anemic mimicry of the real world. Drab and depressing, and absent of imagination or even zest. He dreams like a technical manual. A technical manual about work."

Celestia said nothing, as nothing really needed to be said about Luna's assessment of the situation.

"But we are not here to critique a lack of imagination," Luna continued as she eyed the stallion in question, who was currently checking with another guard. "We are here to help a pony in need who is apparently unable to help himself."

Celestia followed her sister's gaze and nodded. "Lieutenant, a moment of your time, please."

"That will not work. We may be witnessing his dream, but we have not yet pierced his dream. He is no more aware of our presence, than any of the others would be," Luna stated. "I wanted to see what we were dealing with, before we interfered. On the off-chance he was having a pleasant dream on his own. But it seems that is not the case."

"It would seem not," Celestia agreed. "So what do we do? Do we go over and poke him or something?"

"I mean... I suppose that is an option? But at the moment I do not believe it would be worthwhile. If we are going to get through to him, we will first need to gather more information on this matter," Luna stated. "It is not something that I am particularly fond of, and try to limit only to emergencies. But we may need to delve deeper into the memories of Thunder Strike in order to find what we are looking for."

"If you believe it's necessary, it's your call. I trust your judgement," Celestia replied. "Can you bring up his memories from the time of the accident?"

"It should be easy enough," Luna replied, before stomping her right hoof against the palace floor and dragging it to the right, causing their surroundings to grow fuzzy and disoriented once again, before finally sharpening back up.

+++

He tried to focus. He tried his very best to focus, and speak slowly, and enunciate properly.

But no matter how much he tried, no matter how deliberately he tried to say his words in a coherent manner, he just didn't seem able to get the quill to follow along. The speech-to-text spells that allowed others to transcribe automatically were a wonderful invention of magical development, at least in theory, but right now they weren't doing him any favors.

The hour was late, and the more he had to start over because of his words slurring or being interrupted by a yawn, the later it was going to get before he could actually sleep.

Reluctantly, he took hold of the quill in his hoof, and sat down at the desk to do for himself what he needed to do.

+++

Celestia and Luna watched silently as the scene unfolded before them. Thunder Strike's own tired frustration was easily palpable as he gave up trying to dictate the paperwork, and instead sat down to write it out himself.

"Those spells really are frustrating to use at times," Luna noted.

"That's why they're still in the trial phase with R&D. The more feedback they get, the more they can improve the final product," Celestia replied.

"Is there a reason thought-to-text has not been used instead?" Luna asked.

"It was attempted, but it was found the quill wanders with the mind if the user didn't maintain complete focus. And it had to be abandoned for speech-to-text when the product testers started drawing penises on one another," Celestia explained.

Luna loudly snorted in response as she -weakly- tried to bite back the desire to laugh, before quickly turning her attention back to the memory playing out for them.

But the mirth quickly drained as they watched him trying his hardest to write by hoof, only to have to repeatedly start over. Again, and again, and again it went on, with each new attempt having to be discarded as he noticed an error.

How many times had he been forced to rewrite the same passage, only to discard it two minutes later because of a word being misspelled, or a punctuation mark in the wrong spot?

He'd only had two pieces of paperwork that actually needed to be filled out and submitted, neither of which should've taken more than fifteen minutes at most. But they were taking an unreasonable amount of time to complete, through no fault of his own other than his own standards for grammar. Standards that he apparently refused to relax even to account for his ever-degrading skill as the night wore on.

It was all the more painful to watch when she realized he was writing by hoof because he was totally drained of mana right now, and wouldn't be able to use his horn for writing even if he'd tried.

+++

"... Finished..." he finally sighed as he put down the last period and set the quill aside, before giving everything one final look over to ensure everything was right. "Now maybe I can get some sleep."

He finally sat up and stretched his back as he yawned and scratched at his side, before his eyes drifted up to the clock on the wall.

The realization was silent yet horrified as his sleep-addled brain slowly processed and registered the fact that it was morning. Specifically the time of day when other guards would be waking up and getting ready for the morning shift.

He'd been up for literally the entire night, and was facing the very real fact that his shift was coming up soon, and he wasn't anywhere near ready for it.

"I've still got twenty minutes before breakfast is served," he mumbled.

Slowly, knowing what he had to do, he pushed himself up from the desk he'd been sitting at. And with equal slowness he turned to leave, silently making his way through the palace towards his intended destination.

+++

Luna tried not to comment. She had known that he hadn't gone to get some sleep on that day. But actually witnessing it for herself was still disturbing. It was like watching a train wreck unfolding.

+++

Despite his best efforts to exercise discipline and assert dominance, all efforts at not letting out a yawn utterly failed as Thunder Strike slowly trudged his way into the barracks showers, his hooves clopping against the pale blue tiles of the floor with each slow step taken as he tried to maintain both his balance and his vertical status. He'd already lost the early morning battle against yawning, but he was not about to let something as inconsequential as equilibrium get a win against him as well.

As long as he was methodical in his steps, his gait, and his speed as he made his way over to the closest stall, he would be alright. As soon as he got there, he could lean against the side wall for support and he'd be alright.

Finally at his intended destination, he braced his body against the half-wall of the selected stall, before placing his right forehoof on the shower control and wrenched it as far as it could go.

Immediately his whole body went stiff as he forcibly clenched his teeth to bite back the yell at being subjected to the deluge that was at least ten degrees below what anypony's tolerance would be.

But it was having the desired effect. He was already feeling more awake and alert than just a moment ago, as his heart was beating, his blood was pumping and adrenaline was flowing. And with that alertness came awareness, including a vague awareness of having an entire eleven precious minutes before breakfast was to be served, in order to get finished up here, get dried off, get himself combed and presentable, get his armor on, and make his way to the palace mess hall in order to eat.

All in all, if he didn't dawdle, he might be able to make it there with thirty seconds to spare.

+++

"He cannot be serious!" Luna protested. "After spending a full twenty four hours working and not getting any sleep, he seriously intended to go back to work for another eight hours without rest?"

"It would appear so, Luna," Celestia slowly acknowledged.

+++

Once there he could grab a cup -or three- of the strongest coffee the kitchen staff had prepared that would make even Spike and Twilight Sparkle gag, and get him through whatever his assignments for the day were.

"Maybe top it off with one of those five-hour energy shots available in the palace commissary for good measure," he mumbled to himself.

With all that in mind he pushed himself away from the wall and reached for the knob to turn off the water.

Exactly what the cause was, was entirely unimportant, as it didn't change the fact that he had slipped and fallen faster than he could catch himself and break his fall before he landed with a heavy thud.

+++

Both sisters jumped when he fell to the ground. It'd happened so suddenly they hadn't been prepared for it to actually happen, and winced at the sound of bone breaking on impact.

+++

His vision went hazy and unfocused, his senses disoriented as they tried to process and make sense of just what had happened a second ago.

"Owww..."

The groan was low and dragged out as he tried to rub his head with his right leg since it wasn't currently pinned underneath his barrel. He knew that he was hurt, just not the extent to which he presently was hurt.

As his vision finally cleared and he could reevaluate his surroundings, he became vaguely aware of the fact his left foreleg was currently bent at an unnatural angle at the cannon. He was also vaguely aware of the amount of pain he was currently experiencing in the limb. And perhaps more worryingly, the amount of pain that was lacking.

"That can't be good," he mumbled, aware of the fact the sensation of pain was there, but unable to really process it beyond it just being there; like a post-it note on the bulletin board that already had numerous other such notes tacked up there.

+++

"That is a massive understatement!" Luna all but hollered futilely at the conjured memory. "Sister, did you know it was actually possible to be exhausted to the point of not being able to feel pain?"

"I admit, I didn't know that was possible. Just as I didn't know it was possible for a pony's body to cannibalize its own mana to convert into physical stamina," Celestia stated.

+++

"I really don't need this right now..." he sighed as he tried to survey the extent of the damage, before giving up completely. It was broken and that was all he needed to know. "I'd better tend to that."

He wasn't the first Guard to have broken a bone, and he likely wouldn't be the last either. Although slipping in the shower wasn't exactly high on the list of causes for that. But that didn't really matter right now, as it wouldn't be found out.

He wasn't authorized to perform medical magic, but he'd spent enough time in the infirmary for one reason or another, he'd more or less learned the spell used for immediately healing bone fractures through observation alone. One quick casting and he'd be as right as rain, and able to stay on schedule. All he had to do was focus.

All he had to do was focus.

All he had to do was focus...

He slowly became aware of the fact that something was wrong here. He was focusing and concentrating, trying to push his mana into his horn to cast the spell so he could get back up on his hooves again, but nothing was happening.

"That's not good," he noted, now trying to figure out what to do otherwise. This was going to require a different course of action.

"Reparare."

If standard magic wasn't going to respond to his efforts, if he couldn't focus with his horn, he'd simply go the route of spoken incantations to get the job done. Perhaps not as flashy or as efficient in comparison, but it still worked.

Except it wasn't working right now. Despite speaking the incantation, his leg was still bent at the same awkward angle. Had he mispronounced it? He'd try again.

"Reparare."

He'd been more careful, more deliberate in his pronunciation, just in case he'd emphasized the wrong syllable. But the results were just the same as last time.

"Reparare," he spoke again, straining the word as he tried to focus everything on making it work, certain he was saying it just right this time.

His foreleg continued to remain bent at an awkward, unnatural angle, as if it were mocking him for his own ineptitude.

"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. Your left foreleg is currently broken and pinned under you. Unicorn magic is proving unresponsive, and spoken incantations aren't working either. Why this is, we don't know yet. But it's obvious that you're not resolving this situation without outside assistance."

If medical magic wasn't going to solve this situation, he was going to need to go the old school route. He was going to need to get up, and get himself to the infirmary to get fixed up by Dr. Malar instead.

"I'll have to skip breakfast if I want to stay on schedule," he muttered as he focused on resolving himself for what was needed of him, certain that whatever numbness he was currently experiencing was going to come to an end as he got up. "Got to do what you've got to do."

Had he even had dinner last night? He thought so, but at the moment he couldn't remember

+++

"Unbelievable!" Luna practically shouted in disbelief. "Even after being seriously injured, he still intended to go back to work without rest OR food? Does he have no self-preservation instincts whatsoever!?"

Celestia said nothing, far too focused on what they were witnessing to comment.

+++

He tried to push himself up, despite the awkward position he was currently in, but found he wasn't getting anywhere. He was still laying on the shower floor, with his coat becoming ever-more waterlogged and saturated from the spray he'd failed to turn off before falling.

He tried again. Tried to push himself up, tried to roll over onto his back, tried to do anything to move, but nothing worked. His body was proving to be unresponsive to his demands it cooperate. Unresponsive and oh so very heavy right now. And the more he strained to even get an inch of movement from a single limb, the heavier it felt like it was.

"Move. Just... just move..."

Pushing through pain was nothing new to him. Exhaustion, muscle cramps, soreness, and other injuries encountered over the course of his duties had been encountered and worked through before. It was just a matter of having enough determination and dedication to tell the body to stop complaining and cooperate.

But it wasn't working now. Despite his best efforts, despite his stubborn intent, his body was refusing to respond. Even when he focused with all of his might to force his right foreleg to move even just a single inch, it refused to heed his demands.

"Move... please..."

He couldn't move. No matter how hard he tried, no matter how hard he demanded, begged, or pleaded, his body simply refused to obey. It wouldn't stand, it wouldn't even crawl. He couldn't even hold his head up any longer right now. All he could do was lay there, feeling more and more exhausted for his efforts.

"Three seconds, recruit! You have exactly three seconds to pick your worthless self up off that floor right now!"

He had just about closed his eyes when that voice thrust itself into the forefront of his mind. He recognized that voice very well, unable to ever forget the screaming of his Drill Instructor back at the Academy.

"You have the nerve to call yourself a Royal Guard? You're an embarrassment to everypony who ever dedicated their lives to the organization!"

Something deep within him stirred at those words resonating in his skull. Something that demanded a response from him. Demanded that he prove otherwise.

Grunting, he strained against the exhaustion, against the lead-like sensation that'd settled deep into his bones that demanded he remain where he was.

"You pathetic maggot! My grandmother lived to be one hundred and two, she only had three legs, and she could still run circles around you!"

He clenched his teeth, focusing every bit of his will on moving his body into an upright position. He would stand. He would stand up.

"Do I seriously need to tuck you in for a nap, you baby!? Are you a foal!? Do we need to bottle-feed you!?"

Every single muscle in his body protested, practically pleading with him to abandon his current course of action before something terrible happened.

"You're a pathetic excuse for a glue pile, it's no wonder nopony ever wanted to take you in! Did you run away from the orphanage, or did they throw you away with the rest of the garbage!?"

+++

Celestia had been frowning throughout as this new stallion's voice and abusive words entered the equation. But that last statement had been absolutely uncalled for. It went far beyond merely being uncalled for and crossed over into absolute cruelty. Had he really been addressed in such an abusive manner in the past?

+++

Something deep within him broke at those words, snapping like a tie down chain that'd been ratcheted far too tightly. Something that he hadn't even known had ever been there. He would not tolerate such negative thoughts berating him for failing, because he refused to fail. He was a Royal Guard and he would prove his worth.

He pushed. He pushed hard. He pushed with more might than he'd ever used before, unable and unwilling to accept anything less than outright success. He strained both with and against every single fiber of his entire being, refusing to heed to the protests of weakness. Even if he tore his body apart in the process, he was going to stand back up again.

He clenched his teeth, furiously sucking in breath after breath while biting back the groaning his body desperately wanted to unleash as he strained to pick his head up off the wet floor, spurred on by a refusal to give up, pushing harder for this than anything else he'd ever strived for in his entire life. He pushed himself even harder than he had to get into the Guard. He pushed as if the fate of the world itself hung in the balance of him getting up off the shower floor, opening his mouth to finally holler with all the might his strained lungs could deliver as he finally lifted his head up off the ground.

And then he physically collapsed against the floor, the solitary inch of elevation he'd managed to fight for vanishing in an instant as his head made contact with the tiles once again.

All he could do was lay there, gasping for air, unable to even focus his eyes at the moment. All of his efforts, all of his focus and determination, utterly wasted as he remained in a pathetic heap, feeling like his whole body was suddenly made of lead. Utterly defeated by his own ineptitude, and his inability to overcome his own physical weakness. Even just breathing right now felt like it was more effort than he could physically muster.

"I'll just... lay here and close my eyes for one minute. I'll catch my breath, then I'll try again..." he mumbled as the strain of keeping his eyes open finally proved to be too much for him, as the last traces of alertness brought on by the cold shower washed away.

With a reluctant sigh and a half-hearted acknowledgement of his own failure, he finally allowed his eyes to slowly close, heeded the pleas of his exhausted body, and surrendered to the soothing siren's call of the cold tiles beneath him.

+++

When the darkness finally ended and revealed something else, it was the memory of when he'd been dreaming and Luna had finally made contact with him. A memory that was paused once it was realized what it was.

"We both knew what likely happened, based on the medical reports and his own accounts. But to actually see it for ourselves, and the full context behind it... the incident hits so much differently than I thought that it would," she uneasily admitted.

"It really does," Celestia agreed as she nodded. The fact neither of them could stop him as he was falling to the ground was especially uncomfortable.

"I do not understand why... why... why did he feel so compelled to finish those damned reports before going to sleep? Surely he understands that nopony would care that much about when the T's were crossed and the I's were dotted, right?" Luna Asked.

"Thunder Strike has always been an extremely by the book sort of pony, ever since he was a Private fresh out of the academy. A real stickler for following rules and regulations to the letter. If regulations specify all paperwork has to be completed before the start of the next business day, he'll do just that," Celestia replied as she sighed and slowly shook her head.

Whereas other guards had eventually grown out of such a green degree of rigidity and adherence as they gained experience on the job and learned what was important, he was one who never really seemed to move beyond that phase. If anything he'd merely grown into it.

"... We have to dig deeper to get to the root of the problem," Luna slowly surmised.

Celestia simply nodded in confirmation of the assessment.

"I really hate doing this. Ponies deserve their privacy, not our prying," Luna sighed. "But at the same time, I really do not see much choice except to pry."

"I know, Luna. I know."

With a defeated huff, Luna set her hoof back on the ground, preparing for what needed to be done.

Comments

[Bronycommander]

Loved the Kiss on the head. And sometimes, you got to take things by the root

[ChakatRedstripe]

Good chapter

[hydra30]

Good grief even Rarity wasn't as diligent, even when faced with a deadline.

[CRS2018]

I am going to guess that Thunder Strike was abused at the orphanage and mitigated said abuse by stringently adhering to the rules set for him by the staff.

However, the abuse proved to be too much and Thunder Strike ran away. Afterwards, he joined the Royal Guard and, motivated by the fear of returning to his old life, stringently adhered to rules set to him by the organization so as to not be kicked out.

Now stringently adhering to rules has become ingrained in him and he is incapable of reversing it.