Lustrous and Trail Blazer hugged on the floor of their room for a while longer. He just let the mare cry it all out until she had nothing left. She sobbed and kept asking, “why?”, why did this all have to happen to her? And Lustrous didn’t have an answer, the only thing he could do was hug and be there for her right now. The unicorn was at a loss for what else he could say or do, his life had been so uneventful and so devoid of things like what Trail Blazer had gone through there was no advice he could give or any way he could relate to her. So he just let her feel his warmth and tried to silently convey that he was there for her now. That would have to do.
After a minute of silence it seemed like she was done but Lustrous didn’t want to be the one to break away the embrace. He could feel the wetness of her tears against his chest. Lustrous didn’t know what he should say or do to break the ice or see if she was alright, the first thing that came to mind was trying for some levity.
“My knees are starting to hurt from kneeling, do you mind if we stand up?” He asked Trail Blazer.
She didn’t move or say anything at first and he was worried that he had made a mistake but then her muffled voice came out from buried in his chest. “Okay.”
The two ponies got up from their entangled position, Trail Blazer still looking rather forlorn with her black eye. She definitely needed some rest before she would be better. Lustrous again just nervously glanced around, not sure if what he was going to say next would set her off again or not.
“You should probably splash some water on your face and clean up a bit,” He told her. “We’ll likely be leaving tomorrow now, or later today if Steel Wing causes too much of a ruckus.”
The map mare frowned. “I told him not to do anything...”
“He just cares about you,” Lustrous said without thinking and then bit his tongue, worried that saying something like that could upset her all over again.
She did freeze up slightly, that word fearfully setting her off. “Yeah, look, I just...” She stumbled over to her bags laid up in the corner of the room. “I just need another drink.”
As Trail Blazer fumbled through her bags looking for her flask, Lustrous was torn. Should he really let her do that? Did he have the right to stop her? Trail Blazer admitted she just used the alcohol she consumed to mask her pain, it didn’t seem right to him. He didn’t want her to keep doing something so self-destructive, so harmful to her. He cared about her too.
The earth pony finally found what she was looking for, pulling the half full flask from her saddlebag. She didn’t smile upon finding it, just started loosening the top with a shaky hoof.
“Stop. Please,” Lustrous grabbed her hoof.
“What are you doing?” She looked at him, not quite angrily. She was too tired to be angry now.
“I don’t want you to drink anymore,” He told her.
Her face scrunched up in a grimace. “Look, I get it, but I need this. I can’t function normally. Whenever I don’t drink for too long it all starts coming back to me, so I make myself angry to try and fill my head up with something else. Otherwise I’m just going to break down everyday.” She tried pulling her hoof away from him. “Let go.”
“No,” He shook his head. “I… haven’t experienced anything like you have. And it would just be hypocritical of me if I tried to tell you something like “It’s all going to be okay” or “You can’t run from your past”. Because I don’t know what it’s like to be you.” He pushed down her hoof holding the flask. “But I know that isn’t good for you. I’m not letting you drink yourself to death just because of what happened in your past.”
“It’s my life,” She glared at him.
“Yes, exactly,” Lustrous replied. “And I want to see you take better care of it. I want to see you happy for real and not drunk all the time just to escape your demons. I care about you too, you know.”
“But,” Her eyes started getting watery again. “I can’t do it, I’ll be a wreck all day, what am I going to do if I have another attack or-”
Lustrous hugged her again, holding the mare tight against him. “I’ll be there for you. I don’t know what else to tell you, but whenever you’re feeling upset, whenever you think you want to give up or don’t have anything, you’ll know that I’m there. Steel Wing too.”
She sniffled and returned the hug, nothing more was said between them, Trail Blazer just nodded and accepted it.
Again the two of them stayed like that for a moment. Neither one wanted to break it up. Finally Lustrous let her go, feeling it was pertinent for them to get ready and for her to take his earlier advice of cleaning up. Both of them would probably be feeling pretty awkward about all this in a minute. Lustrous only hoped that whatever Steel Wing was doing right now wouldn’t get them kicked out of town, it would be good for Trail Blazer’s sake if she could spend the night in a comfortable bed.
“One last thing,” Lustrous said as he grabbed the flask still in Trail Blazer’s hoof. “You won’t be needing this anymore.”
The unicorn trotted over to the wastebasket in the room and dropped the flask inside.
“We can call that a symbolic goodbye to the old you,” He smiled at her.
She snorted. “You have a way with words...”
The smile didn’t leave his face, if she could react with even the slightest amount of humor he would call that a win.
And as if on cue the door to their room opened back up and Steel Wing walked inside. He looked no worse for wear, which wasn’t surprising even if he had gotten in a fight, after what Lustrous saw him do to those griffons he was sure Steel Wing could handle any number of tavern-dwelling ponies without getting hurt in the slightest. Hopefully he didn’t get into a fight at all though.
The pegasus looked between the two of them, noticing the change in atmosphere. “I took care of the one who assaulted Miss Trail Blazer. Did… I miss anything while I was gone?”
Lustrous looked at the map pony with uncertainty on his face. “Do you want to tell him too? I know Steel Wing will be just as supportive. But if you don’t want to I can understand, it’s obviously a very draining experience for you.”
“That’s alright,” Trail Blazer shook her head. “I’ll tell him too. Steel Wing has a right to know after everything he’s done for us.”
More time after that was spent with Trail Blazer reiterating her story to Steel Wing. The pegasus listened intently and both he and Lustrous helped the mare through it when things became difficult for her again. But now it was all out. Steel Wing made the same promise that Lustrous did, he would be there to help her whenever she needed a shoulder to lean on. Trail Blazer’s sheer exhaustion caught up with her after that and she went to sleep for the rest of the day on her bed.
“I feel sorry for her,” Steel Wing said to Lustrous as he watched the sleeping mare.
“Me too. But I don’t think she needs us to pity her right now. I think it would be better for her if we treated things like normal and just let her know we’re here for her if she needs us. Frankly I think one of the best things for all of us now will be to get back onto our journey, it’ll be something we can all use to take our mind off things.”
Steel Wing nodded. “Yeah.”
The pegasus then bit his lip. “I, uh, when she’s awake I have something I want to tell the both of you too.”
“What?” Lustrous raised an eyebrow at the normally reticent pegasus.
“It’s just… it isn’t fair of me to keep my past to myself when you’re an open book and Trail Blazer just told us all about herself,” The pegasus responded.
Lustrous frowned. “You don’t have to feel obligated to tell us anything if you don’t want to.”
“But I do,” Steel Wing frowned right back at him. “I’ve wanted us all to get closer but at the same time I’ve never told you anything about me. I was never willing to open up like she was. And it’s shameful for me because I didn’t even go through anything like she did, my family history isn’t a happy one but it’s not like what happened to her. Yet I still kept it all to myself, telling you it was personal and clamming up while at the same time hoping we would just somehow magically become friends.”
The red pegasus looked more upset than Lustrous had ever seen him. He was pretty sure that was the most he had heard Steel Wing speak at once too.
“Well, let’s talk about it when she wakes up then?” Lustrous said.
Steel Wing agreed and the two spent the next few hours quietly in the room, letting Trail Blazer get as much rest as she needed. Lustrous was curious as to what exactly Steel Wing might have done to the pony who hit Trail Blazer but he didn’t ask.
When Trail Blazer had woken up and freshened up a bit it was already evening, but she was just as willing to listen to Steel Wing as Lustrous.
“I mentioned before that I was trained to fight by my grandfather before he was exiled?” Steel Wing said to remind them.
When both of the others nodded he continued.
“That was because my parents died when I was very young, I don’t even remember them. So my grandfather took me in to raise me. He had very… traditional ideas of what it meant to be a pegasus and he didn’t agree with the peace forged between our three tribes. But it seemed as if he was willing to grudgingly accept it, or at least that was the front he was willing to put on for our leaders. While raising me he trained me to fight before I could even fly, he said I would be the pride of the pegasi one day,” Steel Wing sighed and despondently looked out the window of their room. “My life with him was harsh and loveless and it went on for years. For a while it was all I knew until I started interacting more with other pegasi and actually came of age to join the weather teams. My grandfather said the only purpose in me getting to know others was for fighting, to sharpen my skills. But the more I simply hung out with others the more I realized how empty my life was, and how my grandfather was wrong about the world. He would always tell me that the pegasi joining together with the unicorns and earth ponies was the worst decision they had ever made. But everyone and everything looked so happy to me.”
“So when I was a little older and my grandfather attempted to kill Commander Hurricane and Thunderstorm I didn’t stand with him.”
Lustrous’s eyebrows shot up into his forehead. “Wait, what?”
“I hadn’t heard about anything like that happening,” Trail Blazer said.
Steel Wing grunted. “Yes. The pegasi didn’t really want to talk about it, they didn’t want to worry the other tribes with the fact that some radicals had tried to take over and start the conflict all over again. As far as I know not even Bright Diamond and Cheese Souffle know about it.”
“That is somewhat distressing… it would probably make quite a few, especially those of the older generation, uneasy.” Lustrous mused.
“Does Princess Celestia know what happened?” Trail Blazer asked.
“Yes,” Steel Wing replied. “She was notified.”
“So just what did go on with your grandfather?” Lustrous asked him.
“What happened was that while he was acting calmly enough during the new peace what he was really doing was finding other like-minded pegasi over the years and preparing for a coup. I was told about it at the last second, they all knew I was the best fighter and I was meant to be the one who actually did the… heavy lifting.” Steel Wing said with dismay.
The red pegasus’s wings anxiously unfurled and furled. “He expected me to just be his tool. His weapon. But in the end I betrayed him. After he told me what he was planning I immediately went and told Thunderstorm. My grandfather and his conspirators were rounded up and exiled.” He sighed. “I betrayed my only family to do the right thing, I’ve been agonizing over it ever since.”
Lustrous laid a hoof on his shoulder. “I’m sorry you had to go through that as well. But I’m glad you shared it with us too.”
“What he said,” Trail Blazer said, patting Steel Wing’s opposite. “It, uh, does kind of feel good to talk about this stuff. And know that you guys care and all. I’m not used to it.”
“Me neither,” Steel Wing said. His voice still rather morose. “But yes, thank you Lustrous. And you Trail Blazer. We may not have had the best of times before this, but I’m glad to have the both of you here with me. I’m glad to be traveling with you.”
There was a silent moment as the three all stood in that room, smiling at each other.
Finally it was broken by Trail Blazer, a thoughtful frown coming to her face. “Um, does this make us friends now?”
Lustrous’s ears perked up. “Huh. I dunno, I’ve never really had a friend.”
“Me neither,” Steel Wing shrugged.
Trail Blazer gave a short laugh and rolled her eyes at the two stallions. “Heh, first time for everything.”