Trus and Luna

by Trus

Chapter 6: Getting Somewhere

Trus and Luna

Chapter Six

“All clear.” Luna said. She had been scouting ahead and around corners before Trus would follow her. They were sneaking him back into the castle even though there was no real need since Luna could just remove the banning order by giving a simple order. However she seemed to be enjoying herself by sneaking Trus past her sister.

“No pony behind us” Dark said. He was trailing behind making sure no pony could sneak up on the smuggling party. He didn’t seem as excited as Luna at playing smuggle Trus under Celestia’s nose, but he played along nicely and even slipped in a few smiles at times.

The castle was surprisingly empty for the living place of two princesses. The only other ponies that the group passed were part of the night guard and they just left the three of them alone after giving a bow to Luna.

“There’s a secret passage right over here.” Luna said as she came up to another corner. She rounded it and found a pressure plate in the wall that opened up the wall next to it. They hurried inside and Luna closed the entry behind the three of them. Luna then lit one of several small candles in the corridor they were in and carried it with her.

Both Trus and Dark were in front of her waiting for her further direction. Luna though, took a moment to simply stare at the two in front of her before she shrugged and continued leading on. Trus and Dark shared a glance and a shrug of each their own and continued following.

Dark didn’t fall back this time as they weren’t going to have anypony sneaking up behind them without them hearing them with the extremely acoustic walls of the corridor. Nothing was said as they walked. Trus began studying the stone walls in the dim, flickering light of the candle for no more reason than to have something to do and to not be looking at Luna’s backside. He began wondering if he could use a stone wall in a drawing or something when Dark snapped him out of it. “What do you plan on doing here anyway?” he asked, turning his head toward Trus and away from straight ahead.

“I… I don’t really know honestly. I rarely do.”

“Hmm… You know you’re starting to sound like a broken record with that line.”

“Well it’s not like anyone really knows how much they help someone else with anything they do until they’re told just how much what they did helped.”

Dark gave a puzzled look. “…What do you mean?”

“Say I were to help someone move a couch. At face value I did a nice thing, but I may not know how capable the other person was to get it moved or how capable they were to get someone else to do it. Depending on those things I could have really helped them out or I could have done almost nothing in their sights. It also depends on if I was asked to do it or not, or if they got help often or not. If they got help often it would probably just be another nice thing, but if they rarely got help it could mean the world of worth to them. So I really don’t know how much I’m helping often, because I just don’t know the situation well enough and that’s usually the case, because I am jumping around world to world, and so forth, so I can’t really find out what I need to know more often than not… I usually only find out how much I’ve helped long after the events have occurred and I usually don’t get to stick around after many of those events.”

Dark’s face contorted “So how do you know you’re helping in those situations?”

“It’s just the way I’ve set it up…”

Dark gave his puzzled look again. “Huh?”

“I’ve used my power when I was…a deity…I set up-”

“Hold on what!?!” Dark stopped walking and gave a hard stare at Trus. Luna slowed to a stop and turned back to look.

Trus sighed, his shoulders now feeling heavy. “I was once a deity and I gave it up… You don’t want to hear about it.”

“Oh yes I do!” Dark said. “Why would you give up something like that?”

“…Because I hated not knowing what was real…” Dark raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything so Trus continued. “Long story short I…couldn’t tell if I was just making things or if I was talking to real people. I wanted to help others out so I made a life for myself where no matter what I did, I would be helping someone…or somepony, in a positive way.”

Silence filled the cold, dark passageway. Dark looked stunned, his mouth hanging slightly open. Luna, on the other hand, only seemed mildly surprised.

After a moment that felt much longer than it was, Dark shook his head and stared moving forward. “Well let’s go…” he said. Trus gave Luna a glance to find that she was still looking at him before he moved his eyes to the cool, stone floor.

“Why do you seem so ashamed of your decision to leave a life of one so confused to one so honorable?” Luna asked quietly.

Trus looked back up at her for another moment before dropping his gaze again. “I guess…it’s still easier than the life of anyone else I meet.”

“And that is cause to mourn?”

Trus tilted his head and gave an awkward smile “Eh…”

“Come we can speak further in a more comfortable place.”

…

Once in the observatory again the three sat down on some cushions in the room below where they had sat on the roof the previous night. Several windows still allowed for observations of the night sky. The only light sources they currently had were the moon, stars and the lone candle they had kept from the passageway. The candle Luna placed between them once they were all seated. Trus sat quietly listening for the slight sounds of a breeze against the glass windows as everything else, but one another’s movements and breathing, was quite silent. He let himself sink into his cushion to try and warm it from its lack of use in the growing coolness of the night.

Dark seemed to be in a state of discomfort as he kept a stoic look upon his face. He would take occasional glances in Trus’s direction before looking away again and would often follow up with a deep breath.

With all the unease Trus was happy when Princess Luna was the first to speak, even if it turned out to be a question. She spoke softly yet with determination and purpose in her voice. “Trus thou hast been exceptionally honest with us, but if you are willing I would like to hear about thy troubles in your life of adventure.”

Trus nodded slightly, but didn’t look at her. “Alright” he said. Why am I hearing Old English, and why only half the time? Unless… Is she speaking Old English? ...Or can a magical translator mess up like that? ...Anyway… Trus heaved a sigh. After another moment he opened his mouth to say something, but closed it when he realized he didn’t know where to start.

Luna and Dark waited patiently giving Trus time to put his thoughts together. “I’m not really sure where to begin. There are lots of beginnings I could start from-”

“How about thou start at the very beginning?” Luna said. ...Why does that sound like such an overused line? It’s not like I use it much or hear… Oh…I know where I hear it…

Trus blinked himself out of his thoughts and nodded. “Alright...but it’s going to be a long story.”

Luna smiled “We have the time for such.”

Although curious about her statement Trus decided not to question it at the moment. Instead Trus took another deep breath before he began. I’ll probably have to tell the whole story for any of my problems to make enough sense…

Author's Note:

I honestly didn't intend for the story to take the route of going into Trus's personal life, but it just kinda flowed that direction... So those who read the next chapter are going to get a huge chunk of a story I've been building for some years now...