*Dong*

It was eight o'clock and the first of the eight chimes echoed down the castle hallways. Jack took his position between Star Screech and Moon Shadow as always. Slightly on time this evening, for a change. Between his fellow guards he saw some exchange glances as the bat ponies smile and smirk at him. Leucippe in particular smiled at the two and gave a light blush.

*Dong*

Leaning over her wispier in Star's ear, “Why do I think they heard us last night.”

*Dong*

Star continued to look forward, giving only the slightest hint of a smirk.

*Dong*

“I have no idea what you're talking about Jack. I had one of the best night's sleep in a while.” Star smirked, enjoying the teasing she was inflicting on Jack.

Jack told himself he wasn't quite so found of it, but his slight blush argued otherwise. He was unaware of what Star had told several members of the squad earlier.

*Dong*

“Stow it you two.” Moon Shadow's voice was quite, but forceful, and behind it was the almost ring of venom and hate as well.

*Dong*

“Besides the whole castle heard you two last night. Should have known by your name that you were a screamer Star Screech.” Star felt her cheeks warm from Shadow's statement. She sensed hostility from the stoic guardpony. A part of her winced at the thought, but she wouldn't show it.

*Dong*

“Heh, better to scream in pleasure then cry in laughter.” Star whispered just loud enough for Jack to make out. He didn't quite understand her meaning, but responded whit his own smirk just the same.

*Dong*

With that last bell Princess Luna walked around the corner, her head held just a bit lower than normal. “Attention.” Night Blade barked his usual orders, and the Night Guard stood at attention as the Princess Passed through them all.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jack watched Luna walk by. For some reason she seemed a bit different tonight, it was hard to explain. Luna always seemed to have this slight aura of sadness around her, but tonight she just seemed more down then usual. It almost radiated off of her.

She walked up to the balcony and raised the moon with her magic, staring at it for a moment but saying nothing. Slowly she turned around to face the Night Guard in the chambers. Again Jack was in awe of her magic and the imagery he saw. However this time he was careful not to look directly at the princes. He also made sure to stay well in formation. She was sill beautiful, though the night seemed darker then usual.

Luna placed her wings tightly by her sides and began a brisk trot towards the exist. She glanced at Jack for a brief second, too quick for even him to notice. She troted forward, her tail and ears not quite matching the rest of her stature as she forced her head to be held high.

In the back of Luna's mind, she wondered if she shouldn't have been so forceful and proper yesterday. She really did like the attention. Despite her beauty, her position and attitude made it very difficult for anypony or anyone for that matter to get close to her. In truth Jack was the first guard in a long time to visibly take interest in her. Even before he became a guard he was kind to her and she had enjoyed his company. 'No, we are a princess. It's not proper.' she reminded herself. She really wanted someone to talk to about what she was feeling.

Reaching the end of the throne room she paused for moment, as if considering which direction to go in. Instead of her normal left, Luna took a right this time and head off down a long corridor towards her sister's room. Perhaps Celestia could talk to her, before she went to sleep for the night.

Night Blade watched his princess walk down the wrong hallway and grew concerned. “At ease” Night Blade barked as he trotted down to follow the princess. It was clear he was afraid for her and about her. Seeing the Princess in an unusually despondent attitude was not a good sign. A long time ago, back when Princess Luna was first returned to the castle, Night Blade had been warned about certain things. Things he needed to watch out for, a change in attitude like this was just such a warning flag.

“I wonder what that was about?” Leucippe asked with slight concern. Most of the guards shrugged and prepared for their normal duties. One however, stood in place, remembering a faint fragment of a dream from last night a creature that was almost but not quite a silhouette in it. The human began to feel a bit disconcerted, feeling he might somehow be responsible for the oddity in the Princess's behavior, yet he could not fully explain why.

With their captain indisposed, Moon Shadow picked up the extra duties as a second in command should. Walking between the rest of the Night Guard he barked a set of orders, “You all know what your jobs are, so get to it.”

The crass noise of orders snapped Jack out of his trance. He made a mental note to try and stop day dreaming so much.

Both Jack and Star knew their daily routines well by now and each proceeded to walk away, together for their nightly patrols. They were unexpectedly stopped by shadow's hoof, “Not you two. I want you two working in different areas tonight.” The acting captain's face, was a stoney gray and just as cold.

First he pointed to Star, “I want you to handle the first half of the watch. After that head down to the stock room and help Mani with the inventory.” His voice was emotionless as he assigned her duties.

Then, he turned his attention to Jack and looked up at the human, the cold expression had a subtlety too it that was hard to explain. As if some measure of scorn lay behind the muzzle, hidden from view. “As for you ape, you need to go wash the latrines, and scrub the baths while you're at it.” This time, there was a clear air of contempt behind the orders.

Jack raised his eye brow at the chore and Shadow's word usage. “Seriously?” he asked with a sigh.

Shadow came in as close as he could to Jack's face, but even standing on his hoof-tips his head fell a few inches short of the taller human “If you got a problem with that rookie you can feel free to quit.”

Not waiting for a reply or come back, Shadow turned around and began walking down the hall to complete his own nightly runs away from the troublesome guard. No one could see the subtle hints of tears in his eyes or hurt in his voice.

Most of the squad were still around when Shadow started barking his orders to Jack. Leucippe in particular stood by Star's side and spoke what was on her mind “Wow, that was a bullshit order. “

Some of the other guards nodded in agreement, before turning away to begin their own runs. Three decided to for go the start of their own runs, Star, Leucippe and another night guard, the third in command, Mani stayed behind to offer Jack a bit of support.

“Hey Jack, we'll help you clean up. Leucippe is right, that was a bullshit order.” Star spoke with her usual bluntness.

Mani stood next to Star, a slight bit taller than the normal sized bat pony. His golden eyes looked at Jack behind the midnight black fur of his face. His steel blue-gray mane shook with his head as he nodded in agreement, “You may want to talk to Night Blade later. Shadow can't push you around or talk to you like that.”

But Jack just shrugged at the suggestions, “He outranks me, and he's second in command. He can order me to do anything he wants. You guys really shouldn't shrug off your normal duties to help me. You'll get in trouble too, and besides, it's nothing I can't handle.” His face turned up into a smile which was only slightly forced.

As the human guard turned from group he quickly began the walk towards Guard's Bath works, hoping to complete the dirty and labor intensive chore as quickly as possible. His heavy footsteps carrying with it a heavy thought. 'Maybe Shadow's right and I should just quit.' He thought. It wouldn't be the first time he quit on something, maybe he could actually do it right for once.

Behind him, he heard the clop of some hooves as a bat pony came up next to him. Looking to his side he already guessed it would be Star Screech who had followed him. “You know the way to the grounds is in the other direction, Star?”

She looked up at the human “Oh, yeah I know. But the Bath works are this way.”

Jack sighed. “I guess I can't convince you otherwise?” Star just smiled and trotted ahead of Jack.

The guard's bath works comprised two areas, the wash room which held showers and than the lavatory which of course held the toilets. The pair took a right when they entered, the latrines were the worst Jack's mind and would be best to start on first. Plus, he reasoned he could finish off by taking a shower once he was done everything.

Star was right behind him carrying two buckets, a mop and some brushes. The way the pony balance the two buckets on her back was nothing short of impressive. Using the mop as a rod to connect the two. Jack was always amazed by the ponies ability to improvise and operate just like a human, even with out true hands.

She dropped the two buckets on the floor. Jack went to pick up a brush and one of the buckets. “I'll grab the toilets, you start with the floor.” With that, both Star and Jack went to work scrubbing the grimy ammonia tainted tiles and porcelain.

There was some mild chit chat between the two as they worked on cleaning the smelly room. Talking about the most recent hoof ball games, their fellow guardpony, and even some gossip about the local pony nobility. According to Star Screech’s griffin friends, Fancy Pants was a colt cuddlier and had a thing for certain guardpony.

Of course, the conversation naturally drifted to their current duties.

“I really wish I knew what Shadow's problem is with me.” Jack spoke with mild annoyance. “I mean, I know he's serious, but even Leucippe and Gray Sky slack off more then I do.”

Star gave slight sigh, “I don't think it's you Jack... I think it's me.”

Jack stopped cleaning the last toilet in the room. “What do you mean by that?”

The bat pony's head and ears sank a bit. She wasn't sure she wanted to tell Jack this, but as she looked at the human a part of her wanted to tell him. The part that wanted to get closer to him. She took a breath, “Well, when I first started in this squad about nine months ago I noticed him. He was a bit stuck up, like he had a stick up his ass, but he was kind of cute.” Star blushed slightly thinking about it.

She shrugged off some of the emotions she felt. “I thought I could maybe thaw him out a bit. We ended up going to the midnight well a few times, and one night... We each had a few drinks and, well, one thing lead to another, and I found myself in his room.” She paused for a moment, clearly a bit distressed by what ever had happened.

Noticing the distress, Jack became concerned. The thought that Shadow may have hurt her was eating at him, “Are you ok Star? He didn't hurt you did he?” He ask with no sense of subilty.

“What? No, Shadow didn't hurt me...” She sighed, and looked down again it almost looked like she was going to cry. “He didn't hurt me Jack. I hurt him.”

“We were in his room, and he was as ridged as always, in more ways then one. I could see he was horny and that wanted me bad, but there were still so many barriers up. I would try and kiss him, try to force him to kiss me back but it was...”She paused looking for the right words. “Cold. I thought I could warm him up a bit if I started playing with him, but when I felt him he was... small. I...” Her blush deepened and she held her head down again. “I laughed a little when I felt him.”

Now Jack understood. “Oh.” Was all he could managed to come out with. Jack knew how sensitive human's were regarding their size. He could only imagine that it was the same with colts. Not knowing what to say or do he went back to scrubbing. There was a growing uncomfortable feeling with this discussion's sudden direction.

Star continued, “You know, it's not even that his size was the problem. I've been with other males that were smaller then he was.” She tried to suppress a laugh as another though came to her mind “I was even with a few griffins. Now those guys are small!” The laugh escaped as she thought about it more.

Jack stopped scrubbing for a moment as a thought occurred to him “How many partners have you had Star?”

Another laugh came over her and she smiled, a tad grateful that the conversation moved from her failures to her conquests. She tapped her hoof on her chin as she tried to think “Oh you know a few... maybe twenty or so?” She shook her head trying to get some of the nasty thoughts out of it. “But that's not the point Jack. He was small sure, but I could have dealt with that. He just couldn't accept that I didn't mean to laugh. He put his armor back on and left. Ever since then he's been cold towards me.” She paused for a moment, lost in thought before going back to scrubbing the floors.

Jack tried to think of something to say, “I think I can understand. Why he would be upset about that I mean. I know for my people size is... well something that's a bit sensitive.”

“But I didn't mean to laugh!” Star snapped at Jack. She stopped all pretenses of scrubbing the floor and looked up at him, he could see her eyes were watery. She wasn't crying but was on the verge of it.

“Star I didn't mean...”

She interrupted him. “No, I know you didn't Jack.” She rubbed a hoof over her eyes. “It's just I know Shadow had a crush on me, and I broke his heart. I didn't mean too. You know he's not a bad colt, he's just stuck up. His whole life he's worked to make something of himself. His legacy, his desire to be somepony. It's a part of him.”

Jack stopped what he was doing to think for a moment. “Star, it's not your fault. You didn't mean to laugh, and Shadow is... Well we both know how he is.” With that he looked around the room.

It wasn't perfect, but it was a magnitude better than before. Seeing how it was mostly clean and knowing a change of atmosphere might do them well, Jack suggested that they leave the latrines and head over to the lavatories, remarking that “This place stinks” when he picked up his bucket and brush.

Star forced another smile as she picked up her bucket and brush, small dark spots on the floor showing her failure to properly clean.

Thankfully the showers next door were much easier to clean and overall less messy then the toilets proved to be. The shower room was just a straight run of silver shower heads and off white tiling that helped to hide the ancient shower spots and mineral deposits. The ponies here would be supprised to learn that the title in this room was almost as old as the castle, but thanks to the constant displin, mostly by the Night Guard, it was kept in nearly spotless condition. At the end of the shower rows, closed to the far wall were a few baths. Built just after the showers themselves it had been designed for some of the more unique inhabitants of the guard. There were times when Jack had considered using them, but apparently such activities were frowned upon unless it was necessary.

Which was really a shame, because Jack would have been more comfortable in a bath than a shower, since the showers were unisex. The tub would have provided a modicum of modesty to the normally clothed human. Even if he never really looked at mares in a sexual light, well, until recently, it still made him feel awkward due to his constantly exposed genitalia, which occasionally attracted the odd off comment. Especially from the mares. The thought of which came into his head as he stood there remembering the sexual comments as the water would drip off their fur, and their manes clung to their necks and sides. Once or twice he was sure he saw a few of them 'wink' at him.

'Now was not the time to be fantasizing about such things' he thought with a shake of his head. Carrying cleaning equipment to the nearest shower head he began to work on the shower floor, while Star started on the lower walls. In the back of his mind, he had hoped that the work would help clear his head.

Yet Jack had a single thought that wouldn't leave his mind since it was placed there by Star. A thought which only grew louder as memories of the other mares comments flooded in. For a moment he stopped subscribing to ask a single question, “Star I have to ask, how do I compare... size wise to Shadow?”

To her credit Star did her best to suppress a laugh and answer honestly “Well, you are definitely bigger then he was, but that isn't difficult to imagin.”

Pausing she thought about it further, “You're actually one of the bigger ones I've had, but not the biggest.” Jack could see Star's cheeks start to blush a bit as she thought about it. “Anyway, size isn't what really matters Jack. It's the motion, the touch, the intimacy which really gets a mare off.”

As she looked at Jack, there was a slight fog in her eyes as lust glazed over them. “One of the best fucks I ever had was smaller then Shadow. He was a griffin who knew how to use his tongue better then any pony I've ever been with.” Star gave a slight shiver at the thought.

The red flush on her cheeks began to grow as her lust started to form a silent fire inside of her. “You know Jack, you can do amazing things with those fingers of yours.”

Slowly, Star began creeping towards Jack. The thought of her getting wet in the shower started playing through his head as he grew more aware of the pony's advancement towards him.

Trying to ignore the lusty pony, he went back to scrubbing, quicker than before. Jack wasn't really paying attention to her, until he hit a hoof he wasn't expecting. Her hoof. Star was standing over him. Clearly interested in something more then just scrubbing the floors.

“Uh, Star maybe we should finish cleaning first?” He looked around at the nearly clean shower room. It was already more then adequate for most other commanders, but Shadow would have an issue with it of course. He always did.

“We've been cleaning for hours now. We do get breaks you know. Come on Jack.” She put her hoofs on his shoulders and brought her mussel in for a kiss. “You know you want this too…” She purred.

Swallowing back his fears and uncertainty, he brought his mouth to her's, kissing her deeply. Quickly the two dove into their passions, their kissing becoming faster as their tongues played with each other. Jack was careful this time to stay away from her fangs.

A familiar tight pressure started forming beneath Jack's armor. Ignoring it for the moment, he reached his hands around her sides moving towards her flank. Giving her a quick slap on top of her exposed flanks.

She yelped in pleasure before reached her hoofs down to Jack's leg armor. Her hoof made quick work of the bindings, much faster than last night, moving straight to his underwear which was immediately removed. More foreplay would have been fun, but they both knew to be quick about it. Even if it was the middle of the night, anyone could ignore their “closed for cleaning” signs and come in for a late night shower.

Star wasted no time and turned around, pointing her plot at Jack's face. She lifted her tail and felt the air over her warm wet slit. She turned her head back towards him, a sligh pout on her lips as she spoke. “Well, what are you waiting for. Don't you want to fuck me, Jack?”

His cock throbbed as he placed it in position behind Star. He trusted a few times, letting His manhood rubbed against her marehood, coating his lower self with her slick love juices. Her cunt twitch and pulse as his ran his dick over her slit. Occasionally he felt a small nub appear, as Star winked. The sensation of his dick stroking her clit casuing her to gasp and laugh as tingling pleasure flowed from her cunt.

His cock, now slick and ready, pushed at her entrance and slowly he penetrated her outer lips. He could feel her liquid heat around him. Coating his every inch as he filled her's, slowly bottoming out in her depths. His balls taped against her gently kissing her winking clit.

“Mmmm, you know you can move faster then that” .She turned her head back, her half lidded eyes glazed over with lust. “I won't break.”

Star shivered and let out a quite moan as Jack pulled out and then moved deeper inside of her, speeding up with each thrust. She needed this, all the stress of the night, all her mistakes she had made slowly leaked out of her with his every thrust. The faster he moved the closer she came to release.

Tiny pulses of pleasure flowed over her as Jack touched her flanks. Star let out a yelp as Jack gave another slap against her ass.

His fingers ran over her now rosy cheeks, squeezing them. It was then he saw her ponut twitching in tune with her marehood. A slight evil smirk came over him and he stuck one finger in his mouth thoroughly wetting it. Lowered his head towards her earhe whispered, “So you want to know what I can do with my fingers.”

The now very wet fingers ran over her anus, eliciting a moan of approval beneath her heavy breathing. Star gasped as she felt one of his fingers pass inside her anal cavity. Star gave a smirk of approval, “Oh Jack. You Aaaah! Are dirty.” She moaned and panted between words. She was already very close, and the fingers in her ass twitched and pulled her closer.

His figure passed her outer ring as he moved a second finger inside her, stretching her rarely used hole.

Star couldn't stop shivering at the sensation of being double penetrated. She was right about Jack's fingers, they were amazing. Never before had she felt anything like this, even the rare times she took two stations it never felt quite this good.

The sensation of the two things moving inside, stroking her inner walls was driving her over the edge.

Star's body tightened and she gasped as a big orgasm washed over her body. Her muscles clenched and pulsed around Jack's cock, her body milking him for all it was worth.

It brought Jack to the cusp. He could feel her clench around his fingers as her anus pulsed in tune with her cunt. Jack kept thrusting as star started coming down. He was close, and Star knew it. She looked back at him, “Jack… cum inside.” Her tongue lazily ran against one of her fangs.

Jack felt his balls tighten, and his cock started to pulse as he sent sticky rope after rope deep inside of Star.

She could feel each sticky strand shoot inside of her. Each one causing a pleasurable tingling that grew into it's own little wave of pleasure as a second smaller orgasm filled her. Slowly Jack stopped cumming, but his cock continued to twitch inside of the twitching mare-cunt.

The two stayed connected for a while longer. Each trying to catch their breath, until Jack slowly pulled his cock and fingers out of star with a subtle pop.

“Mmmm... Jack.” Star moaned as she let her legs collapse under her. She spent a moment just letting his warmth trickle out of her onto the once clean shower floor.

Standing behind her, Jack watched Star's marehood twitch as a small stream of their love fluids leak out. He felt himself twitch once or twice while looking at her. It was still an odd mix of emotions when he thought about her as a lover. Star wasn't a horse, but she was still different. He laughed once, choosing to ignore the odd feelings. It just wasn't worth thinking about.

“Something wrong?” Star's head was on her front legs. She herself was lost in thought.

He shook his head 'no' as Star looked back at him. Her smile smoothed out, she didn't want to say these next words. “You know, we can't have a relationship, but that doesn't mean you can't try with someone else.” There was almost a hint of sadness in her eyes and voice as she spoke.

Still slightly out of breath, he managed a single response. “Who?”

“Well, there's already someone you like. Why not talk to her?”

It took a few seconds for Jack to process this statement, unsure at first who Star was talking about. “Luna? Didn't you tell me earlier that it wasn't a good idea?”

“I thought you just wanted to get your rocks off. If you actually care for her like you said, then...” she paused to consider how to word it “t might work.”

She thought about it for a moment more, “Just be prepared. If it doesn't, she may take you off of Night Guard, or even out of the Guards entirely. Actually...” She put a hoof to her chin. “That might actually work out for you thought. Not being in the guard I mean.”

Missing the subtle innuendo in her voice, Jack thought about her words. He did find Luna interesting, more then just that. Since he first met her, there was a connection that he felt with her. If he had never joined the Night Guard he might have even been able to get closer to her. It was a bit of irony, that by being physically closer to her, he felt farther than before.

Looking down at his armor, his gaze naturally drifted to the moon crest on the one shoulder. 'Give up the Night Guard?' he thought. He had given up on so many things in his life. Would this just be another clump of junk in a growing bag of trash he carried?

“You think it could work?” His voice held a hopeful ring.

Star pushed Jack off of her and started to walk away from him back to her bucket. “Look, I know it might sound sappy coming from a bat pony, but I believe in love. If you care about her and truly love her like you seem to think you do than, who knows? Beside, I don't know a mare alive who could refuse those fingers of yours.”

Star went over to one of the newly cleaned stalls and turned it on. She was a bit of a mess after the cleaning and fun they had. “Shining Armor made it work. Why not talk to him?”

She spread her wings out letting the water wash over them. Jack could only watch her in awe, as part of him started to perk up. She gave her lust filled smile at Jack and winked once, “Why not join me Jack.” She turned around to show him her plot. “I could use some help in back.”

Outside the Showers a single pony hidden in the shadows peaked in. He quickly walked away once he saw what the two inside were doing.

Author's Note

Originally edited by Tiwake

Reedited on Dec. 31, 2015