After Duty
Night in the castle was fairly tedious and dead on the best of nights. Though there were plenty of nocturnal denizens of Canterlot, seldom few of them actually had any reason to be in the castle when Princess Luna held her night court. That being said, considering it was the evening of Hearts and Hooves day, it made a regular court night look lively in comparison.
Traveling their way through the castle halls from the west barracks, two Lunar pegasi were in the middle of a discussion. Or, at least, trying to have a discussion. One of them was all-but throwing a fit, and the other one was seemingly trying to calm the other one down. It would have been comedical if they weren’t both wearing the same midnight purple armor that marked them as part of the Lunar Guard.
The irate bat pony in question was in the middle of rolling her bright yellow slitted eyes, huffing in a dramatic show of her irritation. She was slightly taller than the other one, and had a very faint tint of dusk blue to her coat, which seemed to go very well with her royal blue and light blue striped ridged mane. The only reason that the sharp ridge of her mane was even visible was due to the fact that she had her helmet firmly held under one of her membranous wings.
The other, slightly shorter mare, was ash grey herself. She was keeping her amber eyes forward, very clearly trying to stay patient with the mare beside her. Only her bangs were visible under the helmet she wore, which themselves were dual-shaded dark blue. Though she was shorter than the other mare, she still seemed to be the more mature one, considering the fact that she was currently trying to talk the other mare down from her irritation at her duty.
“I can’t believe that we have to be on duty this year on Hearts and Hooves day!” Midnight Thunder grumbled to her companion as they made their way around the castle.
“Calm down, we don’t know what duty, and not with who,” Eclipse reasoned.
“That’s exactly the problem. I have to do this instead of sitting at home and enjoying the night!” Midnight explained before rubbing at Eclipse with her free wing.
“Thunder, no. Duty first.”
Said mare reluctantly kept some distance, “You’re no fun!”
“This isn’t about fun,” Eclipse sighed, “You know exactly why we have to stay professional while on duty.”
“I know, but I don’t know why we care. If you ask me, some things are way more important than what the Captain or even the Princess say.”
“It’s not that easy,” Eclipse started, just to be cut off.
“You always say that. Every. Single. Time!” Midnight stomped her hoof onto the ground to emphasize each word, “Don’t you care enough to ignore it and finally have some fun?”
Eclipse nearly lost it at those words before reasserting control and giving a frown, “Official and private relationships are two different things, you know that.”
“Do you really think that matters? We’re not the only Guards in a relationship, Eclipse. By all the lights in the night sky, just look at Captain Star!” Thunder exclaimed, halting in the middle of the hall so she could angrily exclaim at her marefriend.
“That’s different. She and Wave Night are already married, and got their blessings from Princess Luna,” Eclipse replied cooly, stopping to look back at the stubborn mare with an irritated sigh.
“What, so having someone say that it’s okay is all it takes for you to be fine with it? That until I march up to Luna and ask if it’s alright, that we’re just Guard partners, for all intents and purposes?” Midnight Thunder asked, stomping a hoof against the stone floor again in anger.
“You know that’s not true, Thunder,” Eclipse replied, her scowl softening a little at the harsh words.
“You sure as the Moon act like it is,” Midnight snorted.
“Unless Luna says it’s alright, we just need to act professional when we’re on duty. It’s just to look good, to look professional,” Eclipse explained, giving in and walking over to stand in front of her marefriend.
“That’s horseapples, and you know it. Besides in private, I can’t even kiss you without having you flinch away to the next wall,” Thunder spat bitterly, turning her head to look stubbornly away from the mare in front of her.
Huffing quietly, Eclipse shook her head, “We just can’t be doing such reckless things while we’re on duty. We’re only privates in the Guard, we can’t get away with some of the things that the others do. If they think we’re slacking off because of our relationship, they’ll either discharge us, or reassign one of us,” she explained, putting a hoof against Thunder’s shoulder gently.
“And you think that they would think that we’re slacking?” Thunder asked with a raised eyebrow, “You do bucking know that we’re always invited to Wave’s place on our free days, right? She knows how hard we work.”
“That’s on our days off, though. When we’re on duty, we need to pay attention to things. What would happen if the castle got invaded because we were busy making out in a broom closet?” Eclipse asked with a deadpan expression.
“Are you bucking serious right now? Who said anything about making out? All I’m asking you for is the tiniest bit of affection, allowing me to give you a kiss now and then or wrap my wings around you!” Thunder practically yelled, “Stop twisting my words whenever you need it!”
Visibly flinching away from Thunder, Eclipse hesitated for a moment, briefly frightened by the outburst. She quickly recovered, removing her hoof from Thunder’s shoulder, “I know you, Thunder. I wouldn’t be dating you if I didn’t know you, right? And I know that a kiss from you can turn into a make out session just about as quickly as a light drizzle can turn into a downpour,” she explained, calling upon their days off that they would spend together.
Thunder quickly stepped back, “Seems like you don’t know me enough in that relation. I know my duty well enough to not take it that far, but do as you wish,” With that, she turned and continued her walk.
Eclipse blinked a few times, stunned and hurt by the words her marefriend said. She couldn’t make herself move for a few moments, simply frozen in place as she tried to control the strange shivering she felt in her hooves. When she felt comfortable moving on her own a few moments later, she sluggishly turned and started following her marefriend, her head slumped as she trailed along.
It wasn’t long until they both entered the large mess hall where the other guards already waited to get their orders. There weren’t many of them on Hearts and Hooves day, but still enough.
“Privates Midnight Thunder and Eclipse are ready for duty, Captain,” Thunder stated as they walked in.
“About time, took you two long enough,” Purple Star glared at them, “Take a seat.”
Eclipse sat down at a free bench, Midnight took a place with several inches of space to her left. The distance hurt Eclipse, but she said nothing.
“Alright. I know that today is hard for all of you, but someone has to do the job. Wave will now tell you the groups you’re all going to be in. We have groups of two and three,” Purple Star said before nodding at the mare to her side.
Wave Night coughed and raised a list, “Alright. First group; Blue Fire and Wild Wings. Second group; Midnight Streak, Black Cloud and Snowy Winters. Third group; Eclipse and Midnight Thunder…”
“What?!” Midnight silently cursed, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“Midnight, is there any problem?” Purple asked the huffing and cursing mare.
“No problem here, ma’am,” Eclipse piped up, interrupting whatever answer that Thunder might have given, and speaking for the first time since their argument in the hallway.
“I hope so,” Purple murmured before nodding as her wife continued to read the groups.
Midnight, at the time, was frozen in shock. Of all bad things, that was the worst that could’ve happened to her after the argument. However, an order was an order, and she had no choice but to listen to what her commanding officers asked of her.
Eclipse wasn’t terribly thrilled herself, but she wasn’t going to voice any of her problems with it. They’d had their arguments in the past, so it wasn’t anything really new, but she had to admit that the argument they had earlier was on a level they hadn’t even come close to touching before. It really shook her up, and filled her with dread.
They didn’t even realize that Wave stopped speaking and put her list down. That is until Purple spoke up, “You got the plans for today. Now move to your position. This might be hard on this day, but Luna may guide us safe through everything.”
Midnight blushed. She hadn’t even listening as Wave told each group their task for the night. A look at Eclipse told her that she hadn’t fared any better.
Catching her marefriend’s glance, Eclipse gave a small sigh of defeat, realizing that neither of them had really been paying attention. She stayed sitting as the rest of the Guards began to get up and head to their posts. While everyone was busy moving about, she quickly got to her hooves and made her way over to Wave Night.
“Sorry to interrupt, ma’am, but could you repeat our posting for the night?” Eclipse asked, trying very hard to keep the blush out of her cheeks.
“You two will guard the main entrance, alone,” Wave replied and gave her a curious look before quickly following Purple out of the mess.
Eclipse watched them leave for a moment before turning to the only other mare left in the room; Midnight Thunder. Giving a little bit of a sigh, she gestured halfheartedly with a hoof, “We’ve got the main entrance tonight. Let’s go,” she said before starting out.
“This is such a bad idea,” Midnight whispered and reluctantly followed Eclipse.
Eclipse didn’t respond, instead she decided to walk straight to the main entrance without a word, still unsure how to approach the argument they had. She was worried about what it could mean for them, and that worry was distracting her.
It didn’t take very long for them to get to the main entrance. Positioning themselves on either side of the grand doors, the two mares took up their appropriate stances and prepared themselves for a very long and very awkward night.
It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t easy at all, as the two had to watch the pairs passing Canterlot Castle, either coat on coat, kissing or otherwise incredibly close. It was also something that hit Midnight much, much harder than Eclipse.
The silence was oppressive between the two mares, as if an intangible weight were pushing down on them and growing heavier with each passing moment. They were both stubborn in their own ways, but they weren’t infallible.
“I’m sorry.”
Both mares blinked in surprise, both unsure who had said it first and simultaneously surprised that they had both arrived at the same conclusion at roughly the same time.
Midnight was the first to continue, “I’m sorry how I threatened you. This is just so hard. Every single time I want to be near you, you pull away. It’s just… frustrating,” she ended, a small tear visible on her muzzle, but she stayed silent after her words.
“I know… I’m sorry that I’m so difficult about that,” Eclipse replied, looking down slightly, wishing more than anything that she could cross the distance and hold her marefriend to cheer her up, “You know I would if we were allowed,” she continued, trailing off quietly.
“It’s not forbidden. You are just too afraid of what the others might say about it,” Midnight stated.
“Not everything is as easy as you think.”
“Oh, is it not? What if I just come over to you now and kiss you?” Midnight threatened her.
Eclipse stiffened up a little and glanced around, “Thunder! You know we can’t! What if someone sees us?” she asked, worried.
“Do you know how bucking much I care?” the mare replied and even dared to turn her head.
“We could get in so much trouble!” Eclipse whispered harshly, glancing out of the corner of her eyes to look at her marefriend.
“Is it worth it for our relationship, or not?” Midnight asked her with all the seriousness she could bring up.
Eclipse balked at the claim, blinking a few times as she was taken aback, “You can’t be serious.”
“Does this sound like a joke to you?” Midnight raised her voice, “I think it is definitely not one.”
“Thunder, keep your voice down! You’re going to make a scene,” Eclipse quickly replied, glancing nervously in front of the castle and the ponies that wandered past again.
“I’m going to make a scene as long as you keep denying that I’m your mare and that you’re mine!” the mare stomped her hooves, “I’ll make sure e--”
The brash bat pony’s rant was cut off before it could properly begin by a pair of lips pressing against hers. Eclipse had quickly closed the distance between them, abandoning her post to kiss her marefriend right in front of the castle, where everyone could see. However, as much as her heart was pounding in her throat, she didn’t feel immediate regret.
Midnight was shocked and froze as she felt the soft lips on hers. However, that moment never lasted because she quickly pushed into the kiss, tasting her marefriend’s lips for all they were worth. She didn’t dared to make a sound until Eclipse broke the kiss.
“You… you kissed me,” Midnight stated, still a bit stunned.
“Don’t sound so surprised,” Eclipse whispered, not quite able to pull away from her marefriend, “You were about to throw a tantrum, and I couldn’t bear to let you think such horrible things on Hearts and Hooves day,” she said, her muzzle turning into a little chuckle.
“Just on Hearts and Hooves day?” Midnight frowned, “So you keep ignoring me any other day?”
“I’ll make you a deal,” Eclipse spoke softly, “I’ll try to be affectionate, as long as you don’t make too much of a show out of it, and you… behave,” she said, leaning up to whisper the last word into the ear of her marefriend playfully.
“You know that behaving is boring with that sexy flank of yours in front of my eyes most of the time?” Midnight whispered back.
Eclipse gave a little chuckle before pulling away from her ear, quickly giving her marefriend another peck on the lips before moving to head back to her post. However, as she turned, she only managed to freeze in place. Before them was a hoof full of other ponies, all grinning at them with hearts practically in their eyes at the display. Eclipse was rendered frozen in spot.
Midnight shared a laugh at cost of Eclipse before shushing the curious ponies, “You haven’t seen anything, move along,” she giggled.
The ponies hesitantly continued their way, just one small mare stood there and smiled at Eclipse, “I think you both look cute, whether or not you’re Guards,” she squeaked before galloping away.
Eclipse couldn’t help the burning blush that sat stubbornly on her cheeks, but she also couldn’t help but smile in response to the innocent little filly that commented on them. She spared a little glance at Midnight before shuffling over to her side of the door, trying to will her heartbeat back to normal and her blush to go away.
“You look cute with that blush,” Midnight grinned.
“Shush, you,” Eclipse replied with a little chuckle, shaking her head in response.
“Heh, not my fault I got an awesome marefriend like you,” Midnight continued, her grin never faltering.
“Kinda is your fault that you have an awesome marefriend like me,” Eclipse replied with a little smirk, looking over at her marefriend.
“Why mine? It was you that asked me out after all,” Midnight chuckled.
“Yeah, but you were so irresistible that I couldn’t not ask you out!” she exclaimed, grinning stupidly across the way at her.
“Irresistible, huh?” the mare cooed gently and waggled her eyebrows.
“Absolutely,” came the chuckled reply.
“You know, we should definitely have some…”
“Midnight, not now,” she got quickly cut off by Eclipse, who sported a burning blush.
“Awww, but wingboners are fun!” Midnight laughed.
"Yeah, and you already have one of those, but we can’t do anything about it right now,” Eclipse joked, grinning over at Midnight.
“I always get these babies thanks to you,” came the coy reply.
“If you could keep your eyes off my flank for a minute, then maybe you wouldn’t have to worry about that,” her marefriend replied, shooting her a wink.
“Impossible.”
“I just hope Purple or Wave don’t see your wings now,” Eclipse chuckled.
“I’ll just say it’s your fault,” Midnight blew her a silly raspberry.
“What’s who’s fault, now?” came a painfully familiar voice from the doorway.
“Wave Night, ma’am!” Eclipse quickly snapped, jumping to attention with a hoof at her forehead in a salute. Midnight Thunder was a little slower to get to attention, but she quickly followed suit while she tried to force her wings down.
Wave Night looked between the two of them, a brow raised as she took in the sight of Midnight Thunder’s wings outstretched behind her. However, she didn’t say anything, and instead addressed the two of them, “I take it that you’ve worked everything out, now?” she asked, a serious expression on her face.
“Worked out what, ma’am?” Eclipse asked, taking a more eased position when she decided she probably wasn’t going to get yelled at right away.
“You two aren’t very subtle whenever you’re fighting,” Wave replied, fixing Eclipse with a gaze that made it seem like she could read what the other Guard was thinking as clearly as if it were on a page of a book, “And considering Thunder’s current...state… I’d say that you’ve made up,” she concluded, sparing a glance at Midnight and giving her a surprised raised eyebrow yet again.
“Oh! Um… Yes,” Eclipse replied, turning her head down slightly, “I’m sorry we didn’t say anything earlier, ma’am. We didn’t want it getting in the way of things,” she said, trying to take the brunt of the conversation so that her marefriend could settle her wings down.
Wave Night sighed before smiling at both, “It’s not always easy, but you two will work it out. Let me tell you something, but don’t you dare tell anypony about it. Back when we started, Purple and I were caught quite often with wingboners, burning blushes or kisses by Princess Luna.”
“What?!” Midnight and Eclipse yelled in unison.
“As long as you two keep your focus when it counts, and show Luna that you are good guards, you will be always on her good side. And by good guards, I don’t only mean how well you do your duty, but also how you act and what is inside you,” Wave Night chuckled.
“So, we’re allowed to act like lovers?” Eclipse asked, a brow raised in complete surprise as she spared a glance over at her beloved marefriend.
“Eclipse, you are Lunar Guards. You don’t have a stick up your flank like most others. Act naturally, but do your job. I don’t care if you show your love for each other, and I’m quite sure that Purple and the Princess would agree.”
"She’s pretty much right about that,” Purple stated as she walked up besides her wife, putting a wing around her, “You two are doing a good job so far, so don’t worry about anything else.”
“Did you two plan for this?” Midnight Thunder finally piped up, fixing them both with a suspicious gaze through narrowed eyes.
“No, but we quite often did see you arguing with Eclipse, and that she would ignore you during duty. It is good that you want to do your best, Eclipse, but don’t forget the most important thing in the world while doing that,” Purple Star said calmly.
“And what would that be?” Eclipse asked curiously.
“The one at your side. The one you can always count upon, and it is more than clear that Midnight Thunder loves you dearly. And I’m also sure that you feel the same about her, it’s not really a secret.”
“This sounds to me like you two are even encouraging us to show our emotions during our duty,” Midnight stated slowly.
“We are,” Wave answered, earning curious glances from the two mares before continuing, “Purple was pretty much the same at first. It took her a bit to loosen up, but in the end it helped us a lot. Restraining feelings can even block your work.”
“Well, I can’t argue with that,” Midnight said, a grin overtaking her muzzle. This, of course, resulted in Eclipse giving a little goodnatured sigh, “You don’t agree?” Midnight asked her with a frown.
“Of course I agree, but leave it to you to jump in with all hooves,” Eclipse said, giving a little chuckle.
“Just because I always storm headfirst, doesn’t mean I can’t think about my actions. I wouldn’t do anything if I wasn’t sure that you’d enjoy every moment of it.”
“I know,” her marefriend said, shooting a loving gaze at her for a few long moments, longing present in her eyes.
“Just ignore us,” Wave exclaimed, seeing exactly what those eyes told as she knew that gaze for herself.
Jumping in surprise, Eclipse quickly turned back towards her two commanding officers, “Sorry, ma’ams!” she exclaimed, embarrassed that she had so easily forgotten about their presence.
Midnight rolled her eyes before approaching her marefriend, causing her eyes to lock back again, “Shut up and kiss me.”
Eclipse didn’t even have the time to react before Midnight closed the gap. She cooed and leaned into the kiss, the soft touch making her nearly immediately forget that two superior officers stood right next to them.
She didn’t even hesitate as Midnight opened her muzzle slightly, her tongue asking for entrance that was immediately granted, evolving into a battle of the appendages.
Though this went on for what felt like an eternity, they were interrupted by an awkward, “Ahem,” by one of the ponies watching them, Wave quietly clearing her throat at the display.
“Let’s not overdo it, though,” Purple Star added with a smile, “You got enough time for that after duty.”
Eclipse blushed furiously upon that, “Damnit, I thought you said no making out!” she exclaimed playfully.
Midnight only blew her a raspberry at response, before turning and taking her post once again, but not without swishing her tail slightly for display at the still blushing mare.
“I say your marefriend is a tease,” Wave giggled.
“Agreed,” Purple added before pulling a wing around her wife, “We should go, or we’ll be late for our meeting with Luna.”
Eclipse still sported a healthy blush as their commanding officers made their way back, leaving them alone. She did the only reasonable thing she could think of at that point; ignoring the views from her marefriend and trying to return to her position. Something that failed miserably thanks to Midnight.
“Midnight. I swear to Luna, if you don’t keep to yourself, you’ll sleep on the couch tonight.”
“You know you love me,” Midnight replied, sticking her tongue out at her lover from the other side of the door.
Giving a little dramatic sigh, Eclipse couldn’t help but give a little chuckle, “Oh Luna yes, yes I really do,” she said, glancing over at her marefriend with loving eyes. Even though they had their fights and their rough patches, they were a strong couple, and they were more stubborn than anything. They weren’t about to let anything just hurt them, and even though they had to keep a somewhat professional approach to work, they always had time…
After duty.
Author's Note
Have fun with this little Thestral-story 
