Even the Strong Need Help

Luna knew full well that it was supremely rude, to say nothing of inappropriate, to go and snoop through the dreams of ponies who weren't in distress and actually in need of her assistance. Respecting the privacy of their subjects was one of the main guiding principles to her work as a warden of dreams.

But even with all of that in mind, even she had to admit that her curiosity of this night was proving to be irresistible when it came to the dreams of one pony in particular. A pony who could never bring himself to ask for help, even when under duress.

After much internal debate and discussion with both herself and her conscience, she eventually concluded that it wouldn't hurt to simply take a precautionary peak at what he was dreaming about, just to make sure he wasn't unduly suffering and in need of a guiding hoof to nudge him back down a more appropriate path.

One little peak that nopony but her would know about, surely couldn't hurt.

The shield that'd served to keep the city safe from threats within the outside world had failed, falling in spectacular fashion under an unrelenting assault that Captain Shining Armor simply hadn't been able to overcome in time in order to prevent its total collapse. Leaving them tasked with safeguarding the palace, the city, and the ponies who lived there, against hordes numbering on what had to be the thousands as they darkened the skies above with their presence.

The question of whether or not they could do it had never once entered his mind. They were the noble Royal Guard, and it was their sworn duty to face all threats in the name of protecting the ponies of Equestria. And in light of what had happened, they were going to do just that!

High above the ground, Lieutenant Slam Fire, Sergeant Kowalski, and the rest of the pegasi air forces were engaging the invading changeling forces in aerial combat to deny them the opportunity to land and increase the number of ground forces that had to be tended with. They were presently being backed up by unicorn reinforcements who were providing cover fire with a myriad of spells to try and both disorient and thin out the masses.

Down below on the ground, the changelings who were engaging earth ponies were learning the hard way that Sergeants such as Reckless, Pulaski, and Zacharia were not to be taken lightly. Along with currently doing their level best just to stay alive against Lieutenant Brick Wall, the physically largest and strongest that the Royal Guard had the honor of having in their ranks, who could easily send a fully grown changeling flying backwards with a mere tail flick to the face. Even with a half dozen or more of them attempting to gang up on him and restrain his limbs simultaneously, they were still failing to be anything more than an annoyance that he could easily fling away and otherwise stomp on.

He himself was currently running interference and doing what he could under present circumstances. The anti-grappling charms etched into his armor had been powered up, serving to electrify his cuirass and everything else, rendering it impossible to grapple and restrain him without being shocked in the process. Combined with a good percentage of his magic being diverted to his hind legs to provide a significant speed boost and let him move about, slamming himself into any changelings in his path and more or less use their bodies like a springboard to bounce off of and send him hurtling in the path of a fresh target as their brethren dropped to the ground, spasming helplessly from being shocked with such force. All the while leaving nothing but a trail of cobalt blue light behind in his wake as he moved about seemingly erratically like a pinball in one of those arcade games in the palace cantina.

Up until his momentum had been interrupted by one particular changeling in his path of travel thinking to move out of the way and let him go careening off and need to right himself again, it'd all been going reasonably well. He was quick to recover, making ready to reengage the horde, but stopped as he noticed Lieutenant Piercing Lance's own ongoing struggles, left fighting solo due to the sheer size of the invading forces they all had to contend with, essentially making teamwork a luxury they simply didn't have.

Lance was essentially pinned down in place, surrounded on all sides and unable to move about freely, while placing heavy emphasis on polearm techniques with a spear that was in constant motion to press the assault and drive back any changelings that tried to get too close, while simultaneously trying to force an opening.

Unfortunately for Lance, changelings apparently had no interest in playing fair and resorted to the same sort of swarming and dogpiling tactics that'd failed against Brick Wall, with more than a dozen of them all piling on in a heavy heap that nopony would be able to throw off from down below.

He moved in to help, to clear them off of Lance's prone form, but never got the chance to actually do that as an eruption of fire and a shockwave of pure heat came from underneath them, halting his advance while simultaneously sending the changelings flying about in every direction in a flaming panic, allowing Lance to stand back up. Or... at least was he thought might've been Lance at one point in time.

He could feel himself staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed at the sight of the pony that stood bipedally before him right now, furiously roaring towards the sky as if issuing a direct challenge to it for supremacy.

The cream-colored fur of the pony that'd been beneath the pile had been completely washed out, and left looking like a sun bleached white that contrasted sharply against Royal Guard armor that was no longer a polished gold color, but rather a burnt orange. But the most noticeable aspect of it all was what had to be the burning ethereal flames that'd seemingly replaced the dark red hairs of what had originally been Lance's mane and tail.

The roaring ceased and the flaming pony immediately looked straight at him while setting down on all four hooves again, giving him a very good look at what had previously been soft brown irises, replaced with a fiery orange framed against a blackened sclera, giving it a positively demonic sort of feel. And in that brief moment he instinctively took a step back as a new sensation made itself known to him; absolute terror.

This... thing... whatever it was, whoever it might've been, scared him in ways that he couldn't even properly comprehend. The urge to flee was genuinely palpable as he stared into those horrible, horrible eyes that no pony should ever have. Much less have to actually see for themselves.

"Don't be going and getting cold hooves on me now, Slacker, we've still got work to do!" the flaming abomination spoke with Lance's voice, serving to snap him out of his less-than-honorable thoughts about self-preservation through a combination of both tone and grin that he a least somewhat still recognized. "Stuff like this is what we signed up for!"

"Can-" he spoke up as he tried to find his voice again, "Can... can you actually stand that much heat, Lieutenant Lance?"

It was the closest thing he could think of to a coherent question upon learning that his fellow Lieutenant was still there. And at the moment it seemed like the most pressing. The amount of heat currently being generated was far more than even he could tolerate, leaving him feeling like his coat might singe right off even at this distance, and he didn't want to get any closer if it could be avoided.

"A lot better than they can, apparently. Looks like chitin isn't actually fireproof after all," Lance panted as fiery eyes turned skyward to glance around them. "Ugh, we don't have anywhere near enough ponies to deal with all of these bugs. We gotta see about evening those odds some!"

He nodded as his training and conditioning reasserted itself again, allowing him to think more coherently in light of the fact that Lieutenant Lance was still in there, and still thinking rationally despite the sheer amount of flame and heat being put out. It allowed him to better focus on how the point about the disparity in their respective numbers was solid. But actually getting to the point of a solution still remained a mystery.

"So... how do we do that, exactly?"

"Well..." Lance paused, obviously trying to think of something to offer up to fill the ensuing silence of their situation. "I... I don't know yet. There's too many or our own ponies in the way of... wait, what if we capture their queen? Maybe we can force their surrender if we hold their matriarch!"

At the moment there was far too much adrenaline coursing its way through his system to allow for the type of higher-level thought process that would properly analyze what was being suggested. But right now it sounded like a fairly reasonable and logical proposal. And even if it didn't work, word of the queen being threatened might draw more changeling soldiers away from their efforts to take the city, to engage in protection duties. Which in turn would give the Royal Guard a better chance at protecting Canterlot.

"It's worth a try," he agreed, once again activating the anti-grappling charms of his armor, allowing the electrified current to run across its structure.

Lance reared up, slamming two fiery front hooves together in a shower of sparks and embers from the hot metal-on-metal contact. "Alright then! Let's go and crush that oversized cockroach!"

Luna slowly pulled back from the dream.

"Well now..."

Truth be told, she hadn't expected to encounter a memory playing out inside of Thunder Strike's dreams like it had been. And yet it'd still happened regardless.

She remembered the incident reports that she'd read relating to the invasion. Lieutenants Piecing Lance and Thunder Strike had been two of more than a dozen royal guards who'd all had the same idea of storming the throne room to take the fight to Chrysalis directly... only to find themselves outnumbered by more than one hundred changelings already there and waiting for just such an assault to be attempted.

The clash between the two opposing forces on that day had been violent with both sides going all out with literally everything they had, with not a single guard willing to go down without a fight despite the overwhelming odds they were up against.

But to actually see the incident behind the reports, through the eyes of those who had been there as it played out and unfolded...

Curiously, she turned back to the dream once again.

Somehow, against all of the odds they were up against, an opening to bring an end to all of this had presented itself in the middle of the bedlam.

In between their efforts at clearing a path to their target, while watching each other's back to not get overrun by the ambush squad of changelings in the throne room, he'd managed to spot a direct opening to capture Queen Chrysalis and potentially bring an effective end to this invasion.

"Lieutenant Strike!"

An opening that Sergeant Reckless had apparently seen as well, and allowed herself to serve like a springboard for him to kick off from and lunge forward to capitalize on it, only to get sideswiped by a changeling tackling him and knocking him off his course of travel and send him careening against a pillar at an angle he couldn't recover from.

But whereas he'd failed to properly capitalize on the moment and was now being pinned down and restrained, Lieutenant Piercing Lance's approach had succeeded by teleporting directly in front of the changeling queen, already reared up on hind legs with a flaming, fiery right hoof drawn all the way back and swinging it forward to deliver a smiting blow to Chrysalis' face, only to slam it against a sickly green force field appearing at the last second, causing a loud CLANG to sound while sending a shower of flames exploding outward on contact. The attack had been rendered useless.

But Lance remained undeterred by this unfavorable development and just kept pushing forward regardless, kept maintaining a hostile forward posture and aggressive contact against the shield's wall as if the attack could be brute forced right through its structure with enough effort behind it. All the while forcing Chrysalis to remain on the defensive and maintain the shield, burning through more of her pilfered magic for her own safety from what was just on the other side of it and trying to get to her; would get to her if even the slightest of openings presented itself.

The bug in control looked entirely uncertain about the certainty of events she was facing, all while colorful and unprofessional taunts about blood being boiled within her exoskeleton were made as the flames continued to burn, generating a degree of heat that neither pony nor changeling wanted to approach. Not even a direct order from their matriarch seemed sufficient to spur the available soldiers to take action and attack the exposed back of the one that was assaulting her.

Were it not for the flames petering out as Lance's magic was completely depleted from the continued exertion of everything they'd been up against, their plan might've just worked.

Again, Luna pulled back from the dream as it devolved into Thunder and the rest of their team being captured and subsequently cocooned to keep them from resisting any further. From there it was just a matter of minutes before Twilight Sparkle and her friends made their appearance after being captured. And then only a matter of time before Shining Armor and Cadance managed to repel the changelings with their combined love wave, doing what absolutely nopony else had managed to do on that day.

Her little endeavor had revealed one particular piece of information, however. It'd provided her with context behind why Thunder had never considered the possibility that Lance might've also been compromised during the second changeling invasion like Sergeant Zacharaia had been.

The demonstration of fire, fury, and perceived effectiveness where he had supposedly failed in his attempt to strike at Chrysalis, had essentially elevated Lance to an almost legendary status in his mind. The very notion that his fellow Lieutenant could potentially be bested by changelings had simply been too impossible for him to even consider as being a possibility.

In a way it was endearing. But in another it was very concerning for one to have such an unreasonably high opinion of another. The deep-seated level of respect that he had for Lieutenant Lance in the aftermath of their struggles was far in excess to what he held even for himself. Truth be told, as best she could see for herself, it almost bordered on the same level of hero worship that Twilight held for her sister. And they had all seen where and how that had ended.

"My little pony, you need this vacation far more than anypony truly realizes," she muttered to herself and shook her head. "And perhaps so much more than even that..."

Something felt out of place to Doily, as her mind idly hovered in the void between being asleep and awake. It was something that just wasn't quite right, and just off enough that it left her feeling unable to get back to sleep.

Reluctantly, even resentfully, she slowly opened her eyes to try and see what was wrong so she could go back to bed.

The blur of tired eyes and less-than-stellar lighting meeting and mingling with one another made it difficult to focus on her surroundings. But as consciousness made itself more and more present in her mind, ensuring that going back to sleep wasn't going to be a possibility, she could slowly but surely make out her surroundings better. Including the big white blur that was directly in front of her.

A blur that just so happened to be Thunder Strike, who was still sound asleep as he held her in his forelegs while she rested against him.

What happened last night hadn't really been much of a mystery to her; she knew that he hadn't done anything inappropriate, regardless of the positioning they were currently in.

They'd sat up late into the evening, staying up until the point of repeatedly dozing off and neither one of them could really stay up any longer. Eating ice cream together, while Thunder demonstrated the same amount of enthusiasm he had the first time around, treating the frozen cookie dough goodness like it was the best thing he'd ever eaten in his life. And just watching the Canterlot skyline go by, while talking about whatever had come to mind. Before eventually retiring for the night, making use of that nice big bed that was far too large for a single pony to realistically make use of all by themselves.

And much like she'd learned on that first eventful night, when Thunder was asleep he got to be real cuddly. She vaguely remembered in the waning moments of fading consciousness, his forelegs finding their way around her and holding her close to his chest, much like a foal would with a teddy bear. She'd drifted off, feeling warm and quite secure as she laid there, not even needing to make use of the covers that were thoroughly trapped under them at the moment.

She'd awoken in much the same way, to find him still slumbering away peacefully, likely having not even moved a muscle since falling asleep. And then she realized that was what'd been out of place.

In all other times, few though they were, it'd always been her waking up after Thunder had already awoken and gently stirred her out of her slumber. Now here they were with their positions being reversed, and giving her the opportunity to observe him as he was the one who was slumbering peacefully for a change.

She really didn't like the idea of disturbing his rest. Faust knew he didn't ever seem to get nearly enough with his crazy work schedule. And if he didn't have an appointment to keep today, she'd just let him continue to rest there. Provided she could worm her way out of his embrace, that is.

"Thunder, buddy, I'd let you sleep if I could. But this is for your own good," she mumbled apologetically, doing her best to shrug him. "Come on, big guy, you need to wake up. C'mon, soldier, on your hooves and look alive."

She was rewarded for her efforts as Thunder grunted, his forelegs growing stiff around her as he reluctantly stirred from his rest. Eventually he even opened his eyes.

"Doily?"

"Yep. Good morning."

"What time is it?"

"Good question. You can probably tell better than I can; the clock's just a big blur to me right now."

Her point was met by him levitating her glasses off of the nightstand and gently depositing them on her face again, allowing her to better see as he checked the clock on the wall. And then she saw the look on his face.

"It's thirty minutes later than the Royal Guard normally wakes up and gets ready for duty," he noted, his voice tinged with disbelief at the fact. "I haven't slept this late since I was at the orphanage."

She frowned at hearing that, but at the same time it didn't really surprise her one bit. She wouldn't be the least bit surprised to learn if he'd actually conditioned himself to awaken at a specific time, come rain or shine.

"Well you obviously needed it," she commented as she stretched herself to work out a catch in her back, thankful that he'd taken to hint to let go of her so she could sit up and give her wings a proper stretching. "At least you've got plenty of time to get ready for your trip."

He didn't say anything as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. But then again he didn't really have to say anything, for her to know that he was still very uncomfortable with the idea of being away from the palace. For all intents and purposes he was being sent away from his home. Maybe not a great home, but it was the only one that he'd ever really known.

She remembered how she'd had a similar reaction the first time her parents had asked her if she'd wanted to attend a summer camp. And back then, when her prepubescent brain was still in the process of trying to de-orphan, she'd ended up interpreting it as them saying that they didn't want her anymore.

It'd been a rough, painful experience to think that she was getting thrown out again. But it hadn't happened and the whole thing had ended up being very informative and ultimately worthwhile in the end. But that still didn't change just how rough it was to experience firsthoof. She couldn't help but wonder if he was experiencing something similar for himself right now.

"I wish you could come with me. I'd feel better about all of this, if I had somepony with experience at my side," he admitted.

That got a smile out of her in response.

"I know you do. But like I said last night, all my paid time off got used up earlier this year. Taking anymore time away from work just isn't something that I can afford to do right now," she reminded him.

He was silent only for a moment before speaking up again.

"If I made up the difference, could you come then? Actually being paid for not working just doesn't feel right to me since it's not being earned. I could sign my pay over to you, and if it's not enough then I can make up the difference from my bank account afterward."

That was enough to make Doily pause. If she'd had a custom-printed bingo card of possible responses/reactions that Thunder could give, that one would most certainly not be among them. Although she was glad that he'd made the offer to her and not somepony else; a mare of lesser quality would probably rob him blind without a second though, and he wouldn't even suspect it. One look in those innocent brown eyes of his were enough to tell her that much.

She didn't even have to contemplate whether or not telling him he was technically offering her a bribe, might be a bad course of action to take. Putting that out there, putting the idea in his head with how hard he strived to be a good guard, might be enough to end up breaking him in a way that couldn't be fixed. No, she had a different route to go on this one.

"Tempting, but I'm afraid that I just can't do it. Sorry, Thunder, this is something that you'll just have to do for yourself," she explained.

She then moved over next to where he sat, and wrapped her forelegs around him once again.

"But I'll tell you what I can do. Whenever you get back from Ponyville, I'll be here waiting to greet you. I'm not going anywhere, alright? And when you do get back and get settled in again, you and I are going to sit down and indulge in a carton of what many regard as being the premium flavor of ice cream in Canterlot; maple pecan caramel swirl. How's that sound?"

It was a very weak offer to be making, and she knew that from the start. But at the same time it was the only sort of thing she could think to actually offer up, that might be along Thunder's speed of doing things. He was a simple pony with simple tastes, so a simple offer seemed appropriate.

And for somepony who'd grown up unwanted, what better offer could really be made, than letting them know that somepony would be looking forward to their return because they were wanted?

The fact he eventually nodded made her feel a lot better about the whole matter.

Not for the first time, Twilight paced about the platform as she looked down to read the letter before her, trying to properly make sense of everything.

Ever since the initial correspondence with Celestia about all of this, things had gotten... well... they'd gotten weird. And subsequent correspondence since then really hadn't helped the matter much.

Instead of just greeting the guard in Ponyville when he got off the train, as she'd initially intended to do, she'd been asked to come to Canterlot for the purpose of meeting him there, and escorting him to Ponyville.

In addition to that, she'd been provided with both his name and a brief physical description of what he looked like. Along with instructions to write back immediately if the pony who showed up at the station platform to meet her didn't match that description.

Efforts at getting a straight answer about what exactly was going on had been... well the only way to politely describe them was being less than stellar. Like she was trying to be politely tight-lipped about something that could only be discussed discretely.

But, ever the dutiful student that she was, she'd done what was being asked of her. She'd caught the train up to Canterlot yesterday evening with a round trip ticket, stayed at her parents' home overnight and caught up with them about things going on in their lives that might not've been otherwise covered in letters, and had been sure to be at platform number nine nice and early to meet with the guard.

Now it was really just a waiting game to try and make sense of everything. Hopefully when he showed up, he'd be able to fill her in on exactly what was going on here. Like why Celestia had wanted her to escort him all the way to Ponyville.

"Miss Sparkle?"

The station platform wasn't particularly crowded at this hour of day. Making it very easy for her to hear somepony behind her, addressing her in such a formal manner.

"Yes?" she asked as she turned around.

She was met by the sight of a unicorn stallion with a white fur coat, and nearly trimmed brown mane and tail, looking in her direction as he stood back several yards. Harnessed to him was a rather sturdy looking wooden cart, that experience with her brother had told her was standard field equipment for the royal guard when transporting supplies was necessary.

"Can I help you?"

"Ma'am, I'm a Royal Guard. Lieutenant Thunder Strike, Palace Division. Serial number zero-seven-one-seven-two-zero-two-two. At your service," he stated as he stood rigidly at attention and saluted her.

She looked at him, before looking back at the letter and once again reading over the description of who and what to look for.

"Well that's certainly convenient," she mumbled to herself, before turning her attention back to him. "Um, at ease, Lieutenant."

He responded by setting his hoof back on the ground, but still continued to remain standing stiffly at attention regardless.

"Right, um... Lieutenant Strike, I apologize but I'm at a bit of a loss here. You see, Celestia asked me to escort you to Ponyville, but she didn't really give much of a reason as to why? By chance do you know what's going on?" she asked.

He shook his head in response. "I apologize, Ma'am, I can't help you with that. Her Highness didn't say anything to me, apart from instructing me to be at the station before the nine AM train departs, and that I had a ticket purchased in my name and waiting to be picked up."

Twilight tried not to frown in response. So much for the idea of getting any information out of him. And looking at the station clock told her that she didn't have time to go to the palace and try to get answers there. She was just going to have to do this blind, and hope for the best.

Then again, proceeding blind and hoping for the best was what'd ultimately gotten her such a great group of friends in the first place. So maybe it would work out.

"I guess it's really not all that important," she replied with a shrug. "Anyway, let's see about getting boarded and everything secure, then we... er, Lieutenant, if you don't mind my asking, what exactly do you have in the cart?"

"Supplies, Ma'am," he replied simply. "I was informed that this assignment could last as long as thirty days, depending on your assessment of the situation. So I spent last evening trying to anticipate what might be needed for such an extended period away from the palace, and filling out the necessary requisition forms to procure it all. Thirty days worth of MREs, drinking water, water purification tablets, clothing for adverse weather conditions and developments, first aid kits, medicine, hygiene products rated for use in the field, a bedroll and tent. Along with a set of saddlebags and funding for unforeseen expenses that may develop. I apologize for not having my armor with me, but I was informed that I couldn't bring it along."

Twilight found it necessary to try and resist feeling her head swimming at this. Was he actually serious about believing all of that was going to be necessary?

Another glance at the station clock told her that she didn't have the time to get this all sorted out; not here at least. They'd just have to go with it now, and sort it out later on.

"Would you care to inspect everything, Ma'am?"

"No, no, I'm sure it's fine. Let's just see about going."