Three days. Three days Septimus lasted, scrounging food from bins, the streets and the marketplace stalls with less than vigilant owners. Three days he went undetected. Well, relatively so. The whole time, a pair of golden eyes had followed him around, save for whenever he returned to his hidey hole in the boarded up building. He made sure to make his entry as complex as possible before even going close to his current home. The old district wasn't visited much by the populace anyway. But for three days he survived like that.
Three days until the solar guard finally spotted him.
He was considering a small fruit basket, wrestling with his guilt. He wanted it. To be honest, he needed more than he'd been getting. He was malnourished, and it was starting to show. Heavy shadows hung under his eyes from a lack of sleep, his movements were shaky, and weaker than normal. But he was still himself, lucid and far from delusional. The solar guard recognised him, however, from the posters in the barracks, and pointed him out to his partner, and both of them broke out into a sprint. He'd been labelled as a 'runner', meaning he would run upon sight of guards, and now he lived up to it.
With a curse, he spun and bolted, shouts of 'You're under arrest!' and 'Stop immediately' dogging his every adrenaline fuelled step. Putting well to use his practiced skills, he leapt to a small overhang, but missed as he misjudged the leap, and came down heavily, rolling and returning to his run, shaken. He took a left, a right, another right. They were still behind him. All he could do was thank Celestia they were earth ponies, and not unicorns, who were pursuing him. Or pegasi, come to think of it.
His road led him to a sheer wall. He put on a burst of speed, and jumped. His fingers barely scraped the top of the wall, but he got a hold and pulled himself up. He heard a crash as he jumped over to the other side. Probably the sound of the guards smashing into the wall. The old bricks didn't stand a chance against the more prepared second guard however, and his shoulder met the crumbling bricks and mortar, and he barged right through them. But then, Septimus hadn't stopped moving. His legs pumped, and started to hurt. He lost his shoe in his mad dash and leapt, managing to catch a fire escape with one hand, throwing another hand up and pulling himself up. He heard the guards yell out. He looked down quickly, seeing one point up at him. Without another thought, he started climbing. The ladder was rusty, but thankfully wasn't badly corroded. He hit the roof, and looked around. He had no doubt the guards were finding a way up. So, after getting his bearings, he ran to the edge of the old building's roof and, with a quick exhale, he jumped onto the retaining wall ringing the roof and cleared the gap between his building and the next, narrowing being missed by an arrow that almost took his eye, landing on that building's wall and jumping again, flipping onto his feet and running again, starting to feel a little more confident. He heard a shout and a metal clanging sound as he leapt to the next roof, but he didn't stop to see what it was. Instead, he continued his circuitous route, jumping from building to building in an effort to lose his pursuers.
Little did he know, he'd lost them on the second jump. One mare, hidden in any shadow she could find had, quite effectively, stopped the pair of guards.
Almost an hour later, he was back in his little room. He was sore. Very sore. His leg muscles burned, his chest heaved and his heart beat against his chest with a will.
"Celestia damn it..." He cursed softly, his words coming in bursts. Within the shadows, Midnight Blossom had to try hard not to laugh at him. Luna had said he'd had the stamina to last days running, and here he was. Puffing like the friendship express after only an hour. It'd been easy for her to follow him on the roofs of the old district, watching from the skies, and now she knew for certain where he was.
Luna didn't have the same idea as Celestia concerning her guards and curses. Luna knew a bit more about them, considering they fell under the realm of 'dark' or 'shadow' magic, which was practically Luna's domain, much like the night. That, and Thestrals were naturally resistant to unicorn magic. With a fanged smile, Midnight Blossom slipped out of the house, her destination already in mind.
Time to pay Skippy a visit then.
~*~
"No."
"Come on Skippy, you know this is important."
"Stop calling me that! And I can't just hand over documents like that to you Midnight, it's not legal, for one."
Midnight rolled her eyes. Cloud Skipper, the pegasus she was talking to right now (seated at a desk, shuffling through new reports), had a uh... 'special' connection. The pair had kept it a secret for a long time, and with Cloud Skipper in charge of making certain the Night Guard was kept in order and under control, the pair could often wrangle something into the schedules to get together during work nights. Interestingly, it had been Luna who had chosen him for the job, not Celestia. It had been the first choice she'd made when the Thestrals had tentatively returned to Canterlot, seeking to make peace with their princess once more. Luna hadn't let Celestia even suggest a pony, and had taken to Cloud Skipper's records.
"Come on Skippy, this is for the Princess! I know the reports cross your desk before they hit Gild's, all I'm asking for is a copy."
"Technically," Cloud Skipper sighed, "Princess Luna has all the authority of Princess Celestia, but I can't give away potentially sensitive information without Celestia's or Gild's say so. I don't make the rules Midnight, but I do have to follow them."
Midnight pouted. It was a weapon she'd used against the white pegasus multiple times, and it had been extremely effective. Though generally it only worked when the pony in question was actually looking at her.
"Skippyyyyy..." She whined, "I need those reports! Come on..."
She pushed her muzzle against his cheek and she heard him swallow with no small amount of satisfaction.
"Midnight..."
After a quick check to make sure they were alone, she nipped at his neck.
"Mmmm?"
The flinch from her sharp teeth pinching his skin made her grin a sharp toothed grin.
"Come on... this isn't exactly the time-"
"The rules never meant much to you whenever we get together," She teased, "What would it do to you if Celestia found out..?"
He froze under her gentle kisses to his neck, his cyan eyes widening in horror.
"You wouldn't!" He exclaimed, panicking more than a little, "You'd be discharged!"
"Eh, not really," She purred, "I'm the victim here, see?"
"How so?" He asked suspiciously. She smirked on his shoulder.
"See, my superior officer made such demands of me," She explained, trying to sound serious, "And if I didn't do it, he was going to put marks on my ledger. Blackmail is such a nasty business..."
She let him stew on that, but when he started hyperventilating, she figured she'd had her fun and pulled back.
"So, the reports?"
He shoved the paperwork over to her quickly and she brightened up considerably.
"Thanks Skippy!" came her bright acknowledgement, "It means the world to me~"
She planted a sweet kiss on his cheek and swept up the paperwork before spinning around and continuing to the door.
"Midnight..." He called nervously. She turned to him. He looked like he'd seen a ghost, or was about to have a heart attack.
"Yes?"
"You... You wouldn't tell... would you?"
She laughed richly and shook her head.
"Of course not. What, and get us discharged? Never."
With that, and leaving behind a fuming Cloud Skipper, Midnight Blossom hopped out.
He'll forgive me... I'll just have to persuade him later.
Now onto the last meeting of the day before going to bed.
Princess Luna.