On the Side

by Life-Wire

Rating: teen
Tags: Alternate Universe, Comedy, Adventure
Length: 3940

I've been burdened with a task that I do not approve of. However if it's what princess Luna wants it's what princess Luna gets. I just don't know if this is going to be a good idea.

Princess Luna calls me into the castle with an "important task" to give me. I have no idea what it is, but knowing Luna it can't be that challenging. Oh boy was I wrong about that. Now I'll be traveling with Luna to a place I don't even know about. Guess it's my duty as a royal guard. All I need to know is if she is even aloud to be doing this.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-04-17 23:20:03 UTC

On the Side

       I stood in my room inside of Canterlot castle. My name was Cutlas, and I was a commander in the royal guards. Luna made me some special green armor. For some reason she really liked me as a royal guard. I mean we’ve been friends ever since my past. She saved me one night and ever since then I’ve owed her my life. However she's hasn't been acting like herself lately. To me it seems like she's hiding something, but who am I to point her out on it. I had to train new royal guards this morning.

I sighed and put on my green helmet followed by my green armor that Luna designed for me. I heard a knock at the door. “Come in,” I said.

“Hello Cutlas,” Luna said with a smile.

“Luna, what are you doing up so early in the morning?” I asked.

“I actually need your help with something,” She replied.

“Mm and what would that be?” I questioned.

“Come with me to my chambers and I’ll explain everything,” She said walking to her room.

I sighed and followed behind Luna. I was curious what this was all about but I highly doubt it’s anything to crazy. She opened her door and walked in, I followed in and shut the door behind me.

        "Luna make this quick I have training to do with new recruits," I said bluntly.

“Alright I will no worries. Cutlas look at this map,” She pointed at the map on a table. “I need to go here to get a thing.”

“You’re being vague princess,” I said bluntly. “What exactly are we going for here?”

“An ingredient I need for something special I’m making.” Luna said still being vague to me but it was something.

“Now why do you need me to come along?” I asked.

“Royal protection,” She replied.

“Right, I guess I could of guessed that,” I said.

She chuckled. “You’re a funny stallion sometimes Cutlas.”

“I try not to be ma’am,” I replied.

“I know now come with me I need to get to that location pronto,” She said.

“As you wish princess. Shall we take a royal carriage or a royal train?” I ask.

“Neither we go on hoof,” She said.

“Wait what!” I said in shock. “Why are we going on hoof?”

“Cause I said so now come on were wasting time,” Luna said walking out of her room.

I followed behind her still questioning her actions. “Are you sure you should be doing this? This is no way for a princess to travel.”

“Oh it’ll be fine calm down,” Luna replied. “I’m bringing you with me so everything will be good.”

“Grrr princess are you doing this when you shouldn’t be?” I asked in frustration. Luna always brings me into things where she could get in trouble.

“Just relax Cutlas everything will be fine,” Luna said. “It’s not like I drag you into everything.”

Boy was that an understatement. We both went out of the front doors of the castle. I started regretting listening to Luna to do this but nothing I can really do now. Luna took a right and I followed behind. “Luna are you sure you know where you’re going?” I asked.

“Yes of course now shush and stay close,” She replied.

I rolled my eyes and kept behind her like she said. She moved a bush out of her way and was about to cross off into a forest. “Luna no means to be a burden but, is this really necessary?” I asked.

“Will you stop asking questions and just follow me?” She counter questioned.

“You better not get me in trouble this time like you did last time,” I replied.

“No worries man now come on quickly,” She said going off into the forest.

I sighed and just kept following. I still don't understand why she needed to do this but, she was persistent. What’s the big deal about where we are going and why won’t she tell me anything. Grr sometimes she frustrates me but what can I do she’s the princess. I looked back and forth, nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe I’m over thinking this whole thing it can’t be that big a deal. I might just be her escort, which is probably what she wanted.

I looked past Luna and saw a stone wall up ahead. I couldn't see the top of the wall cause trees were in the way. “Um princess what is that?” I asked her.

“Where we are going.” Luna replied.

I looked at her confused but just accepted it. We walked up to the stone wall and I looked up it. It seemed to be some kinda old temple. Why would Luna need to go hear. We went left and around a corner trying to find an entrance to this place. We saw an entrance up ahead. Me and her both walked and started looking around. “Luna why did you bring me to this place?”

“Well my friend Cutlas, I brought you here cause I need your help,” She replied. “Only two ponies can complete the puzzles inside. That's what it says in this book I have on this place.”

“Wait puzzles?” I wondered. “What exactly have you dragged me into?”

“Don’t worry it’ll be fun.” Luna said with a smile.

For some reason I doubted that. We walked in deeper seeing a big door in front of us. We opened the door revealing a gigantic room. Mini waterfalls were coming out of the stone grey walls. The walls also had some weird designs but I had no idea what they meant. They looked like hieroglyphics. Just a stone bridge stood in front of us. I was confused, but Luna seemed happy.

“Come on lets go!” Luna said in excitement running forward.

“Princess careful now we don’t know what’s ahead,” I said cautiously.

“Oh calm down what’s the worst that could ha-” She fell through the bridge. I ran as fast as I could and caught her hoof.

Panting I said, “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Shush and pull me up,” Luna said

I chuckled and pulled her up. “Traps, ancient ruins, this better be worth it princess.”

“Totally worth it,” She jumped the hole she put in the stone bridge.

I jumped the hole as well. “Just be careful from now on okay?”

“Will do no worries, now come on lets go!” She runs off again.

“What on Equestria did I just say….” I sighed. “Princess slow down!” I chased after her across the bridge.

Luna ran into the next room, “Whoa look at all of this Cutlas,” Luna said in amazement.

I came in behind her, “What now…..um wow.” Twelve floating stone slabs were in front of us. Six were red and six were blue. The stone walls were now a pale green. “Seems each room might be a different color depending on the difficulty of the room. Seems like a video game pretty much.” I said.

“Oh I love video games, see I told you this would be fun,” Luna smiled.

“I think fun is an understatement,” I replied. “Anywho this is obviously a puzzle but how do we solve it?”

Luna walked over to a stone slab, “Hey over here I found something it’s like a riddle of sorts,” Luna said gesturing me over. “I can’t read it though it’s like in some different language.”

“Red as hot as sun, blue as cold as ice, explore the environment and match the tiles to the floor tonight,” I said reading the riddle.

Luna turned her head to me very slowly and dramatically, “How do you know this language?”

“I used to write in this language,” I replied.

“Alrighty then what does it mean?” Luna asked.

“Well lets explore the room and find out,” I replied looking around the room. I didn’t understand the riddle at all for the moment. I saw a huge hole underneath the floating tiles, maybe that could be a clue. I jumped to one of the blue tiles and when I landed on it, it turned red. “Ah one of these puzzles.”

“Careful Cutlas,” Luna said in caution flying to one of the red tiles and landing on it turning it blue. “Whoa ummmm oops.”

“No worries they probably change with another jump.” I looked over the edge of the tile I was standing on. “Oh Luna down there.” I pointed down in the hole.

“Oh water and lava are down there so what?” She asked.

“Luna you're dense sometimes,” I said being brutally honest. “There squared off, red as hot as sun, blue as cold as ice. So the red tiles should be above the lava and the blue tiles should be above the water.”

“Yeah but it’s so far down. The depth perception from this distance makes it so we can’t tell which is which,” Luna said.

“I can tell the difference, I have enhanced vision,” I said.

“What else do you have that I don’t know about?” Luna chuckled.

“A lot and I’ll explain later,” I replied. “Now our first jumps were perfect. Luna jump to your upper left and I’ll jump forward one,” We did so and the panels changed color. “Alright Luna jump forward and I’ll jump right one,” Again we did so and the panels changed color.

“Did we miss one?” Luna asked.

“I think so but I don’t see which one it is.” I replied looking around for the missing tile. “Mmmmm oh there it is. Right in front of me,” I face hoofed.

“How could you miss that mister enhanced vision?” She poked fun at me.

I looked up to her and jumped on the tile in front of me. “I said enhanced vision not perfect vision,” All of the tiles turned green and the next door across the room opened letting us move on to the next room. Luna ran into the next room with no hesitation. She was either really excited to do this or in a hurry for some reason. I followed her up the stairs to the next room. In this room the stone walls were a pale yellow and it was just a straight path to the open door on the other side of the room.

“This is gonna be easy,” Luna said walking down the path as I followed behind her.

“Luna careful now anything can happen,” A harpoon shot out of a wall going toward my head. “GAH!” I dodged it barley. “Luna please you’re walking pretty fast slow down.” Fire shot out from the floor and my tail gets singed. “Luna can you even hear me right now?” I get a tranquilizer dart in my shoulder. “Awwwww cooome oooon maaan.” My speech is slower now great. We get to the other end of the room.

“Well that was easy you alright CutLAS," She was surprised...looks like she didn't hear me after all."Whoa what happened?” She pulled the tranquilizer out of shoulder.

“You...seriously didn’t hear ANYTHING behind you!?!” I asked.

“Wow how did you recover from a tranquilizer so fast?” She counter questioned.

I sighed. “I can’t explain that one to be honest I just sorta do.”

“You’re weird but whatever lets move one.” Luna went to the next room….she’s trying to kill me.

I followed her to the next room which had bright pink stone walls. “Oh I hope this is the last room,” I said wanting to get out of here.

“Oh it definitely is, cause what I need is right up there,” Luna said pointing at a long set of stairs. “And don’t worry I’ll just fly up there and get it and then I’ll come back then we can leave,” She smiled.

“Well be careful and watch for traps will you.” I said in concern.

“Oh relax I’ll be fine.” She said and then started to fly upwards toward the item she needed. I watched her closely to make sure nothing bad happened. I was really overprotective of her. Perhaps she’s right I should relax. Yet after all of this I can’t believe she saved my life that day. I still remember that day when I was nine.

“AAH!” I was surrounded by fire in my quote on quote home, wood falling all around me. I was trapped. “Help some pony please! I can’t breathe!” Tears running down my face there was nothing I could do. I heard wings flapping in the distance and voices as well.

“Sister I hear somepony…..there!” One voice said.

“We have no time sister we must lea…..instant.” Another voice said. I could barely hear their conversation. It was being muffled by the fire.

“But…..ster were here to save everyp…….can now come…” The first voice said.

“NO SIS COME BACK!” The second voice demanded.

“Help please!” I yelled for help hoping to get saved.

“Don’t worry little one I’m here!” The first voice was in the house I was in.

“Who are you ma’am?” I asked.

“I’m princess Luna and I’m here to help,” Luna said.

“I’m scared....am I gonna die?” I asked.

“No don’t worry I got ya promise,” She used her magic to move wood out of my way and kneeled down. She was sweating and looked exhausted. “Hop on my back now we gotta get out of here!” Luna said. I jumped on her back and she flew out of the building. In the sky she looked back and forth. She seemed confused like she was missing something, “My sister already left she must not be happy with me.”

“You have a sister Luna?” I asked.

“Yes, princess Celestia would be her. She hasn’t been very fond of my actions.” Luna said with a tear rolling down her cheek.

“You alright princess?” I wondered.

“Yeah fine,” She sniffled. “Me and my sister always used to be so close…but now she’s been so busy and stressed with work. She’s been taking out her stress on a lot of ponies...even me. I tried to help her bust she wouldn't listen.”

“Well that’s not right, you were just doing what you had to do. You were here to save every pony you could right?” I said.

"That's correct," she replied.

"The your sister should have no right to get mad at you," I said. "You did what you came here to do and to me....that's a great big accomplishment right there."

“Even you understand, what’s your name little one?” Luna asked.

“The name is Trinity Cutlas, but I usually just go by Cutlas cause it’s cool with all my friends and stuff,” I said. “I’m always a pirate whenever I play games with my friends, pirates are cool. I'm also said to be very very smart for my age.”

Luna smiled. “Alright Cutlas where or who are your parents?”

“Oh I don’t have parents…” I replied.

“What but the building you were in-” I interrupted her.

“Was an orphanage. I’ve never seen or even heard from my parents since the day I was born,” I said. "The foals who lived with me were practically my family. Brothers and sisters all around. They taught me so many lessons about family and all of that. They even protected me when ever I needed it."

“How old are you?” Luna asked.

“Right now I’m a big number nine. I’ll be ten tomorrow.” I replied.

Luna looked sad for me. My only home burnt to the ground. “Well how would you like to stay at the castle?”

“Oh really no fooling?!” I said in excitement.

“Yes really,” She smiled.

“Yeah I wanna stay at the castle! That would be so much fun thank you,” I gently hugged her neck and we flew off to the castle.

It was a remarkable day. Ever since then me and her have been friends, in fact she’s pretty much my own mother. I’m just too nervous to call her that. Knowing that she practically adopted me and raised me. Her and I have always had a connection.

“Got it!” Luna said from the top of the stairs.

“Right on now get dow-” The temple started shaking. “Why am I sensing a reference?”

Luna flew past me. “I would run if I were you!”

A giant rock was rolling right toward me. “Yup there’s the reference,” I started running catching up to Luna. “A GIANT ROCK REALLY!” I yelled

“I’m not the one who built this place dude!” She said to me.

The rock was right behind us but at the last second we both jumped out at the entrance and the rock blocked it up. We both began to pant heavily and then busted out laughing. Both of us were laying on the ground. “Why do you drag me into these things Luna?:”

“Cause it’s no fun if you’re not there,” She replied.

“Well did you get what you came for?” I asked.

“Yup I did, now we need to get back to the castle,” She said.

“Alright shall I escort you princess?” We both stood up as I asked that.

“Why of course Cutlas,” She replied.

We made our way back to the castle, her flying and me running. I was smiling and so was she. However still this better be worth the trouble. It better be something that we could actually use and not a complete waste of time. We walked into the castle and went to her room. “Alright so what was the big hoopla to get that special thing?” I asked.

“It’s the perfect topper for…..this!” She moved a shelf out of the way revealing a big cake.

“A…..cake?” I stood there with my pupils small staring at it mouth agape.

“Yes the perfect cake,” She pulled out a gem and put it on top of the cake. “And now it’s perfect.”

“We did….all of that…..for a cake….WHY IN THE WORLD DID YOU DRAG ME INTO THAT!?!?” I asked in anger.

“Again Cutlas chill, you’re freaking out.” Luna said calmly.

“But you….we just…..I….okay I’m going to bed,” I started leaving the room.

“Goodnight Cutlas see you in the morning.” Luna said happily.

I went into my room and removed my armor. I flopped into bed and looked toward the ceiling. I can’t believe we went through all of that for a cake. I don't even know what the cake is for. I sighed in anger, guess I should've expected this from Luna, she always has these crazy schemes. I closed my eyes and went to sleep.

==========================================

The next morning

I woke up hearing an argument outside my door. I got out of bed and put my ear up to my door. It was Luna and Celestia.

“You were where with Cutlas yesterday?” Celestia asked.

“Me and him were in a temple getting something an-” Celestia interrupted her.

“In a temple...Luna, Cutlas had a scheduled training session with new guards yesterday,” Celestia said. I had completely forgotten about that at the time. That’s why I was up so early yesterday. I didn’t think me and Luna would be out all day but we were.

“I’m sorry I didn’t know, but I-” Again Luna got interrupted.

“Luna for crying out loud I can barely get things done around here,” Celestia said sternly. “I can’t have you running off with one of my royal guards all the time and I can’t just have YOU running off period.”

“Sister I understand but-” Again interrupted

“No buts Luna…sometimes Luna you do stup-” I slammed my door open before she could finish that sentence.

“Is there a problem Celestia?” I asked.

“Yes you weren’t here b-” I interrupt her.

“I went with Luna to get something she wanted as a royal escort. Something I am meant to do and have done with you on many occasions,” I said.

“You had-” I interrupt her again.

“Training for new royal guards I know, but my top priority as a royal guard is to keep both of you safe is it not?” I asked.

“Don’t interru-” I interrupt

“Why not? You interrupt your own sister so why shouldn’t you get the same treatment?” I asked. “You need to stop releasing your stress on ponies especially your very own family. I understand you have a lot of work princess and it's stressful to run a kingdom. However there is no reason to take it on your own family member.”

        Luna looked back and forth between us. This is the first time I've argued with Celestia but, she has done this with her sister in the past and I can't take listening to it anymore.

“Who gave you the right to talk to me that way?!?” Celestia questioned.

“I did,” I simply responded.

“You go to your position that’s an order!” Celestia demanded.

“.......No,” I said.

“What was that?” Celestia said.

“I said no, you know why?” I asked.

“And why is that?” She wondered.

“I quit!” I said going back into my room. I grab my saddle bags, armor, and anything that belonged to me. I can't believe I'm doing this but I'm sick and tired of her yelling at Luna that way. I won't stand to be around it anymore. I walked out of my room and past Celestia.

“You can’t just quit you know. There's forms and a whole lot of legal papers you have to sign,” Celestia said.

“Well guess what princess,” I said turning to face her. “I just did,” I turned back around and left the castle. I couldn’t take Celestia doing that to her sister anymore it was just frustrating me. Plus I have a small house I own in Canterlot to fall back into cause I knew this day was coming. I knew I would get fed up with Celestia.

==============================================

I arrived at my house and unlocked the door. I threw my saddle bags on the floor and hung my armor up on a wall. I sat down on a couch in the house and closed my eyes. Trying to relax was my first option. I heard a knock at my door. “Celestia if that’s you I don’t wanna hear it,” I said bluntly.

“Well it’s her sister,” Luna said.

Shocked I opened the door. “Luna why are you here?” I asked.

“I brought the cake,” Luna said.

“Wait why?” I asked.

“You don’t remember do you?” She asked.

“No what’s the big deal?” I wondered.

“It’s your birthday silly,” Luna said with a smile.

“Wait I helped finish my own cake?” I asked.

“That’s right, I know you forgot about your birthday so I made you cake and I wanted to celebrate it with you,” Luna said. "Nice place by the way," She smiled.

I stood there speechless. I had completely forgot about my birthday since we never celebrated it while I was a royal guard. I levitated the cake into my house with my magic and placed it on the coffee table. I sat down on the couch and Luna sat down by me. I closed my front door and we both just stared at the cake.

“I’m glad we are even talking Cutlas,” Luna said.

“Me too….thank you for coming,” I said.

“Anything for you man,” She said with a smile.

I smiled and we sat in silence for a bit. Kinda just enjoying each others company. She looked over to me.

“I think it was good for you to quit. I know why you did and no worries I’m behind you all the way,” She smiled. She was more happy than I’ve ever seen her.

“Thanks…mom,” I said.

She put a wing around me. “No problem son.”