Celestia had a headache. It wasn't helping that Luna was seated firmly beside her, fuming. She could almost feel the steam coming out of her sister's ears, and she was fairly certain that there was a hole melting into the door she was glaring at. They were in Luna's room. It was dark, only lit by candles on the walls and a few on Luna's vanity, mostly for her sister's benefit.
As it turned out, Luna had decided that, in her inability to leave her room, she would get the reports from all the guards on patrol, be it solar or lunar, by force if necessary. The lunar guard's almost suicidal loyalty to their princess was very well known to Celestia, so she'd capitulated and let her sister get the daily reports. She was already regretting that decision. Less than one day and already Luna wanted to murder somepony.
"They're late," Luna growled, glaring daggers at the door still, "If this is the sort of loyalty you inspire in your troops, I'm shocked you haven't had open rebellion yet."
For once, Celestia took the insult in stride and didn't respond. She was too tired, and much too disappointed to scold her sister. They were still awaiting the pair of guards who had supposedly intercepted Septimus. It was three in the morning. The sun wasn't meant to be up for another three and a half hours, she hadn't gotten enough sleep, and now she had to deal with two of her guards whilst her sister tried to speak over her. To finish off, she was still in her pyjamas with only her crown atop her head to show her rank. On the other hand, her sister was dressed in full regalia, only stopping at royalty at Celestia's arrival. Otherwise, Celestia wasn't sure if she wouldn't have donned her old armour.
And then a knock came at the door and a Thestral guard with deep shadows under his eyes poked his head into the room. The pair were in Luna's room, given Celestia's order to not allow her to leave.
"Princess," He said formally, "You have two solar guards out here telling us they have an appointment. Should I throw them out?"
Luna's jaw clenched and Celestia stiffened.
"No, let them in," Luna growled, "They're here on my demand."
"As you wish," He grunted, obviously a little disappointed, before vanishing behind the door. There was a muffled word or two and the door opened again, this time enough to admit two full ponies into the room. One of them looked significantly more tired than the other. Luna recognised the thin male as Arc, a guard her sister had been keeping a close eye on for some reason or other. The other one had a scythe strapped to her back, and that hit home for Luna.
She was the one who tried to kill Septimus.
"You two were on patrol earlier were you not?" Celestia began coolly, trying to defuse as much of the angry tension in the air as possible. It wasn't working. Arc fell into a bow, taking his helmet off and putting it on the ground before him. Without his helmet, his hair fell out of place, a tangled mess of dark grey and lightning blue.
"Yes Princesses, that's true."
"I have your reports," Luna interjected darkly. Arc froze, but his partner didn't seem to care, "Both of them. There seems to be some discrepencies between your two reports."
Arc had caught on quite swiftly to the night princess' cold tone and kept his head downturned. Nightspring didn't seem to have any such respect, and didn't even bother standing straight. Celestia cleared her throat, but before she could speak Luna had plowed on.
"You are under orders to bring a young stallion back to this castle, am I incorrect?"
This time, she was clearly addressing the pegasus mare, who shrugged.
"Yeah, what about it?"
Celestia could feel her headache growing even now, and she put a hand to her forehead. Luna bristled.
"You will address me properly!" The younger alicorn intoned dangerously, "I am a Princess of Equestria, and you are just a guard. You WILL remember that!"
Nightspring bristled back and stood straighter as she shot back angrily.
"I take my orders from Celestia," Nightspring snapped back, "Not a deposed princess who set the dick we're searching for free in the first place!"
Arc, still on his knees, winced. Celestia put a hand on Luna's shoulder, but Luna just shrugged it off. Her wings opened, mighty appendages bringing the room into a darker light as the candles in the room went dark. Luna's eyes burned with a black fury of those scorned and rejected that which they deserve.
"If I tell you to shut up, you Will shut your pathetic mouth and you will not open it until such a time as I tell you that you can, do you understand me soldier?"
Nightspring growled, her own wings opening in a pathetic attempt to seem larger than her opponent. Her mouth opened to reply but, with a swipe of dark sparkling fingers, Luna stole away her voice. Nightspring's eyes went wide and Luna held up her hand, a bright golden light flickering like a golden flame. Celestia's eyes widened.
"I don't handle insubordination like my sister, bitch," Luna snarled, her other hand swirling a small jar into existence in which she deposited the voice into, "You will respect my authority, even if I must have it beaten into you."
"Luna!" Celestia gasped, only meeting an open palm as Luna silenced her sister without magic.
"No sister, you sit out of this!"
Celestia's eyes narrowed. She too stood tall, but when she opened her wings, everypony took notice. An ethereal glow brightened the room as she demonstrated her own power, pushing back Luna's darkness in favour of a comforting glow.
"They are my guards sister," She intoned, "And I will not have you treating them like dogs! Back off now, let me handle it, and I won't take away your precious games as well."
Luna rounded on her sister, But Celestia was quicker, holding up her hand in her famous 'I don't want to hear it' manner which, for some reason, always made Luna silent. Now was no exception.
"You can handle your precious Thestrals any way you wish," Celestia began, "But when my guards mess up, it is my responsibility to punish them. You will be silent until spoken to."
Luna's eyes narrowed as, finally, she didn't back down.
"No." She said slowly. Celestia's brow raised.
"Excuse me?" She said bluntly. Luna did not back down.
"You may have the final say in how they are punished," Luna said slowly, "But this concerns me as well, which means I get a say in this discussion, and if they disrespect me, I will handle it my way."
With that, she turned back to the two guards, Arc terrified, and Spring desperately trying to speak, with no results.
"You, Arc," Luna demanded. Arc flinched, keeping his eyes downturned, "In your report, you recorded you located Septimus because your partner spotted him in the dark, correct?"
"Y-yes your Highness," he stammered out. She continued, leaving the slightly bewildered Celestia in the dust.
"He ran, yes?"
"Y-yes your highness. Nightspring called that he was under arrest, and he ran."
"You gave chase."
It wasn't a question, and Arc was painfully aware of that. He gulped and nodded silently.
"And when is it that your partner threw a scythe at Septimus?"
Nightspring froze, and slowly turned to glare at Arc. Arc was visibly trembling now.
"I'm.... I'm not sure your Highness. I hadn't caught up in time to see her throw it, as I mentioned in my report."
He was babbling now, but Luna wasn't interrupting him.
"It was dark, he ran and Spring took to wing to catch him. I couldn't keep up with him, he was too fast, and so was Spring, but she could catch him and, to my understanding was, until he turned into an alley. It was too small for Spring's wingspan, so she ran instead. At some point I'm certain she threw Belladonna at him-"
"Belladonna?" Luna asked. Arc gulped and nodded.
"H-her scythe Highness. I found her trying to yank it out of the wall and... she told me what happened."
Luna did not seem pleased, and neither did her sister.
"However," Celestia said coldly, "In your report Nightspring, you left out the part where you threw your weapon at a civilian. I'm sure I don't need to ask why."
Nightspring squirmed under Celestia's glare. Arc still had yet to stop looking at the floor.
"Nightspring," Celestia said darkly, "This is not the first instance of unnecessary force you've been reported for. I believe Gild warned you at the last incident that there would be consequences. Now, it seems, you must taste the fruit of your error."
Luna's piercing voice cut through the darkness.
"Nightlilly!"
There was a sound of something being startled behind the door and it opened a little, a female guard this time poking her head into the room, also looking very tired.
"Your Highness?" She asked.
"Fetch Gild," She said bluntly, "And get him here as fast as you can. If he decides he needs to refuse, tell him I'll have him demoted."
The mare's eyes bugged out and she nodded furiously, the door slamming shut as her face vanished behind it. Celestia looked at her sister, unamused.
"You realise you cannot decide whether or not my guard captain keeps his job. That's my responsibility," she whispered.
"Does he know that?" Luna shot back at full volume. Celestia glared at Luna sharply, which Luna ignored. She'd already turned to the two guards within the room.
"You two will wait with us until your captain joins us. Punishment will be metered out that is suitable"
Thirty minutes, two cups of coffee and a pissed off guard captain later, Nightspring was, quite literally, being lead off by her ear by the captain, leaving Arc standing on his own, with Luna glaring daggers at him.
"And what of him?" She asked harshly, "he too is partly to blame."
Celestia sighed, rubbing her temples.
"Arc could do nothing to stop his partner," Celestia explained quietly, "She had superior speed, and far too much momentum."
"He's a unicorn," Luna pointed out harshly, much to Celestia and Arc's chagrin, "He could have done almost anything to stop her, but he did not."
Celestia rolled her eyes. It was too early to deal with this.
"Then allow me to deal with Arc. You got your way with Nightspring, I will take care of Arc. Now can I go back to bed? I'm sick of my headache, and your attitude is not helping.
For a moment, Luna almost felt bad, but with a twitch of her cheek, she capitulated.
"Fine. You punish him. I won't be a part of it."
She glanced at the guard, then back to her sister.
"But I want to know his punishment, and I want your word that you'll be more careful who you send after Septimus."
Celestia waved a hand irritably, "Fine, fine. I'll let you know, and I'll be more considerate in my choices."
Luna looked long and hard at her sister, and Celestia held the gaze unfinchingly. Eventually, Luna sighed and waved a hand irritably, the blue glow signifying her magic opening the door.
"Fine! But get out. I need sleep, and I won't get it with you idiots around."
Celestia almost scolded Luna, almost. But her need for sleep was greater. So instead, she stood up and left, taking Arc with her. Luna, still angry, closed the door behind them.
Celestia walked swiftly, her wings twitching agitatedly at her back. Behind her, and looking a bit like a recently kicked puppy, walked Arc.
"You let me down, Arc," She finally said, her hand over her eyes, "You asked for this assignment to get out of the castle, and I gave it to you."
"I know Highness, please let me-"
"I let you take Nightspring because you two were friends, and you've worked with her before."
"I know, please-"
"I'm trying to throw you a bone Arc."
"Please, Majesty-"
"I'm not sure if I can let you off so easy this time Arc, or Luna will hate me more than she already does."
Arc didn't answer, merely followed her, lagging behind.
"Keep up!"
He flinched, but did as she demanded, following her closely now.
"I've done everything I can, trying to help her. I don't know what more I can do."
"I'm... not sure I'm the pony you should be telling this Princess," Arc said nervously.
"Nonsense," Celestia swept aside his complaint, "I've tried to teach her the responsibility she needs to take her place on the throne, I've tried to tell her how immature she's being but..."
Arc was very uncomfortable, but he said nothing.
"I love my sister," Celestia mourned, spreading her arms in surrender, "More than anything else in Equestria, I just want her to be able to take her place, confidently, in Equestrian politics, and society."
Arc said nothing, but the pair had now reached Celestia's chambers, and she just dragged Arc right in with her.
"I've tried to be her teacher for so long..." She continued, seating herself upon her bed, Arc standing nervously by the door, "Her mother, everything I thought she'd need. I know I've been harsh recently, I know maybe I haven't been the... the nicest mother but... Mothers aren't always your friend... right?"
Arc didn't reply, still a little overwhelmed at her revelations. Celestia fell silent for a long while. Silence isn't the most comfortable thing at the best of times, and right now was probably the worst.
"You know," Celestia started sullenly, "When your application to join the guard came through, Shining Armour had it brought to my attention."
Arc blinked. This was news to him.
"Your record was already tarnished by the time you finished basic schooling," She explained tiredly, "Dark magic at such a young age? I had to take you in to my school, to keep an eye on you."
Arc's eyes darkened and he looked away, shame covering his face.
"And when you applied, Shining wasn't certain what to say. He brought the matter to me in the hopes I could help him decide."
She snorted sighed, "Had I not told him otherwise, he was going to reject your application. I considered it myself, but given how I knew it'd shatter you..."
Arc refused to look up at this point. Celestia didn't seem to care, her tired eyes shut, simply venting.
"I let you in, and for the most part, I haven't regretted my decision."
This did make Arc perk up, looking at her in surprise.
"So far, you've kept yourself in check. Even in a crisis, you haven't lost control, and your peers come to you for help..."
Arc could see where this was going, and he wasn't sure he liked it.
"What am I doing wrong?"
Arc sighed. This was not going to go well for him.