“Never in my life have I been more disappointed in my guards,” Celestia expressed with a queer combination of frustration and sadness, enough to make any pony unsure of her next move. The six guards had been lined up in a line with Luna’s to the left and Celestia’s to the right. “Six of our loyal court being caught in such a heinous act of… of…”
“Peeping, princess?” spoke Flash, the furthest guard to the right.
“Yes. ‘Peeping’.” One could tell from the way she puckered her lips she was ready to spit out a terrible taste in her mouth if it weren’t for her regal composure. But, in front of the five restrained stallions and one… mare, she held herself back. Barely.
“I’m sorry Princess Luna and Princess Celestia. There is no excuse for our actions tonight, though we may have been dishonest in our actions tonight, I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say we will take whatever punishment you see fit for us.” The white earth pony, Silver Lining, in the right middle bowed his head.
“I just…” Peeps, the middle pegasus sitting on Celestia’s side, stammered, “I’m sorry. I’ll fix the walls and plug all the holes.”
“I will delete the photos I took of you two; I also request a memory transfer of tonight so I don’t have memories of the photos either,” Flash, the unicorn guard of Celestia’s team, apologized as well.
“That won’t be entirely necessary, Flash,” Celestia stated firmly, “I will take away the photos, mind and film together, but I don’t want you to forget this experience. You will learn nothing from it that way.”
“Of course, Princess.”
“Luna,” Celestia said, giving her sister a sideways glance, “you should talk to your guards at the other side of the room. I should not be the one to determine their punishment as they are under your jurisdiction.”
“Of course, sister. Penumbra, Eclipse, Poe, let’s move.” Luna removed the three magic chains from their bodies and let them stand up. As they turned left to start walking away, Luna yelled, “on the double!”
“Yes sir!”
Princess Luna ran with them, the barrier of bubbles soon completely covered them from view as they turned the corner.
“Peeps,” Celestia said quietly, returning her gaze to her guards, “I have a small confession to make to you.”
Peeps sat on his haunches and looked up. He wasn’t sure of what to think about a Princess confiding something in him, so he didn’t react other than making eye contact.
“I’ve known about your peeping for quite some time now.”
Flash and Silver Lining turned their heads faster than lightening at their fellow fellow and in unison screamed, “What!?”
“Yes,” Celestia continued, “you were never the most subtle of characters, Peeps. While your reconnaissance skills have proven to be exceptional and your wits in your field simply unsurpassable, those all seemed to disappear rapidly when you decided to do this deed.”
“How long… have you known?”
The solar princess looked up and scanned the wall, which was now half ruined from when Luna yanked each of them out, a topic they’d discuss later. She eventually found the gaping hole she was looking for and pointed at it. “When you were only two peep holes in. I found it increasingly odd how whenever I’d take a bath, a faint thumping noise would occur.”
“Dude, Peeps. We were walking up against that wood back there. You were-?”
“Well, at least we found up what Peeps was really up to when he flaked on gambling nights.”
Celestia cleared her throat. “I had always thought it was workers from upstairs, but when I asked a noble about if there were any bath concerns, she failed to mention any knocking sounds occurring at all. When I went to make my own inspection of the room, I eventually noticed some holes in the wall that allowed me to see through the wood, something that shouldn’t have been occurring at all. When I discovered that there was much space behind the wall, enough to fit a guard, it made sense to me.
“Peeps, what do you have to say for yourself?”
“I don’t have any regrets. I knew what I was doing was wrong, and so did these guys. I knew there was a risk, and I was willing to take it.”
Celestia eased up on her frown. “Well, I find that… strangely endearing that a pony would go so far just to look at me. However, that does not change the fact that you two, Flash and Silver, had joined in with those Lunar guards tonight. You can thank your flanks that I’m the more understanding of the two of us. I can only imagine what my sister, my one-thousand year old imprisioned and emotionally distraught sister, is doing to those poor souls. New hires never do get a break.”
As if to confirm her suspicions, sounds of crying echoed through the room. All three of Celestia’s guard flinched at the wails of presumable agony and pain.
“May Luna have mercy on their souls.”