Chirp's arms twitched, making his armor whir and clink noisily. He couldn't help it – there was just this tightness, some jittery energy in his limbs and a knot in his gut. Something about this night was just getting to him. Well, not just 'something'. He knew what it was. Those ambassadors from Griffonstone couldn't be trusted. And not only that, but he was all alone guarding the Princess tonight. Squeaks Fluffentuft was supposed to be there with him, covering his back, but she'd been confined to quarters because of some kind of bizarre bathroom incident. The whole battalion was talking about it, and yet none of them knew anything about it at all.

Which left him exactly alone, against potentially the entire griffon entourage. Fluffentuft was never the most reliable backup, but he'd still feel better with some backup, even her.

But without anypony else there with him, all he could do was sit and stare into the night, waiting for them. Of course there wouldn't be any attack, it was madness to think there would be. Well, his instincts must be mad, then, because they kept insisting that something was going to happen tonight, something big. He didn't know what it would be, but there was a nagging sense of impending change in the back of his skull that wouldn’t go away.

He glanced at a few icons on his display and winked at them, setting his power armor to scan the area once again.

Clean, of course. The only sign of life was Princess Luna in her dreamwalking alcove. But then again, intel said that they suspected the changelings had developed cloaking technology that would fool the relatively basic sensors in his suit. What if the griffons had borrowed some of that?

Sighing, he rose and paced back and forth across the spacious room. He'd been in awe of it the first time he'd seen it. The Night Princess's anteroom, opulent elegance from the sweeping arches of the domed roof to the tiny sparkling inlays on the deep blue nanosilk cushions that were scattered seemingly at random around the room, and yet formed a pattern that ended up being surprisingly functional and inviting. Now it was just where he worked, one of the least interesting places he could think of. Even Princess Luna rarely came here other than to entertain guests, which wasn't frequent. Mostly, she stayed in her workshop with all the equipment she used to enhance her dreamwalking abilities, or beyond that in her private chambers, where no sunlight ever reached. Other than momentarily coming and going, Chirp had never seen her in the anteroom more than a couple times in all the years he'd been pulling guard shifts here.

His power armor was designed to be quiet and stealthy, specially made for the bat pony division, but the sound of its actuators and pistons filled the dark, silent room.

He almost wished something would happen. Almost. More like he dreaded it. A stupid feeling, that: dreading something and yet wishing it would just happen and get it over with. Somehow he felt that waiting for it would be worse than it actually happening. But of course it wouldn’t be. Because if anything did happen, it would probably be the griffons. He could take one, maybe two, sure. But the ambassador had over twenty guards in his retinue, and even his aides and assistants had those nasty hooked beaks and hidden claws in their fingers... Even their feet were cruelly sharp talons. Chirp shivered for a moment at the thought of those things tearing through him on their way to Princess Luna.

More pacing. The activity didn't really make him feel all that much better, but at least it took his mind off it a little, and it satisfied his body's screaming need to do something about it.

Why couldn't his battalion have found a replacement for Fluffentuft? Sure, Chirp had pulled solo duty before, lots of times. But not with a horde of supposedly friendly griffons just down the hall! Was there really nopony else who could have done it? With no one there to watch his back, the griffons could have him easily, and then they'd have the Princess too. Didn't anypony else see that? He began pacing faster, clenching and unclenching his hands around his gauss rifle's grips, habitually checking its ammunition readout over and over. The soft-glowing numbers read '620' every time. A full drum, of course, but he couldn't stop checking it.

“Would you just stop, already!”

Chirp froze at the sound of Princess Luna's voice from the other room. It wasn't much of a yell, but the suit's advanced hearing inputs combined with his sensitive batlike ears made it seem to dominate the quiet space. He moved only once more, to take up a rigid stance facing the door and stay there. Bothering the Princess and preventing her from completing her royal duties was not in his job description, and he wouldn't risk disappointing the Princess – nor would he risk the inevitable disciplinary action from his commander.

But he couldn't help it. He noticed his leg was moving, so he stopped that. But then he noticed his hands clenching again. He stretched his shoulders back, trying to alleviate the tension, but it just wouldn't go away. “Ugh, just relax already,” he grumbled quietly at himself, striking his fist against a thigh muscle that insisted on twitching no matter how much he told it to stay still.

His armored fist clanged loudly against the thigh plate. Stupid! Why hadn't he remembered the armor was there? It wasn't as if it was the first time he'd worn it – he'd been in the guard for almost a decade!

“What is wrong with you?” the Princess's voice came again, echoing his own thoughts. Why couldn't he just stand still like she'd told him to? His auditory sensors picked up footsteps coming from deeper within the suite. Crap! The Princess was coming out, interrupting her work. Now he'd really screwed up!

He did his best to remain stoically in place, not a single motion, as she rushed in through the big arched entryway. Her presence burned into his back from behind him, but he didn't dare turn to face her.

“In my time,” she said, “guards were trained to stand motionless at attention in front of their Princess's door, not moving at all for their entire shift unless there was some threat or intruder.”

Chirp winced.

“Goddess above, how our standards have fallen! All this technology is making us weak.” She walked around him, then looked closely into his visor. It was supposed to be completely opaque from the outside, but Chirp had the strangest feeling that she could see him perfectly well through it. She wore her usual black krylex skinsuit; it covered her body from neck to toe, but it was so tight and thin he could easily see the one-piece underwear she wore beneath, as well as every contour of her skin around it. It was an immodest fashion that had been outdated for centuries, but Princess Luna often wore it when out of the public eye. “Something is bothering you,” she said.

“I...”

“Don't waste your breath denying it.”

Chirp slumped with a slight mechanical whir. Even when slouching, the suit was still holding him up.

“What is your name?”

He straightened and stood at attention. “Sargent Moonshade Nightfang, Your Highness.”

“Is that not a bit much?” she asked, a little quirk of a grin playing at one side of her lips.

“My friends call me Chirp.”

She stepped a little closer, looking uncannily into his faceplate again. “Well, Chirp, what is it that troubles you so much tonight?”

The peculiar tippity-tap of griffon talons on stone approached from the hallway, growing louder ... and then receding again. His shoulders sagged a little with relief as they faded away. Just off on some errand, apparently. They weren't after the Princess.

“Ah...” Princess Luna laughed a little, a sound that cut his macho pretensions to the core, despite how lovely and delicate it was. “You mustn't worry about the griffons. They're no threat.”

Chirp looked over her shoulder at the door. Two or more griffons had passed within reach of it mere moments ago. The security lockouts were good, but these interior doors were not very strong, only a few graphene mesh layers reinforcing the steel for nominal security. Much like his armor, they were badly outdated, and more for show than anything else – modern weapons could punch through in mere seconds ... faster, if they'd managed to smuggle any heavy weaponry or explosives in with them.

Princess Luna touched his hands, and only when the glove's sensors relayed the sensation to him did he realize that he'd been gripping his rifle tight enough to make the grips creak. He'd somehow turned the safety off, even though he had no recollection of doing so. “Trust your Princess,” she said. “Relax.”

Hoping she hadn't noticed the little red light on his rifle, Chirp turned its safety back on and relaxed his grip on it. She was right. Everything was going to be fine, and when the morning came, he'd feel foolish for all this tension ... and probably regret the headache it would inevitably bring. Besides, griffons were day hunters – nopony had ever heard of them doing a night raid, not even back in the Century War. “You're right. It's nothing, I'm sure.”

She nodded and headed back for her workshop, and he turned his head to watch her go. Thousands of years old, and she still had a graceful figure that was to die for. Chirp would never admit it to anyone, under any circumstances, but this job did have its little entertainments here and there. Seeing a near-goddess without the strictly concealing clothes she wore for public appearances was the chiefest of those entertainments. Soon, though, she disappeared down the short hallway, and he was again alone with his thoughts.

His thoughts weren't very good company. They were still full of griffon beaks tearing into seams of armored suits and disruptor grenades tossed through smoking holes in doors.

He was pacing again. When had he started that? No! He stopped himself. No, he wouldn’t do that. Princess Luna deserved peace and quiet to do her important work for the kingdom. But his legs felt like springs about to snap. He had to move! But he couldn't move. Any movement would make noise and disturb her. Why couldn't he have any backup tonight of all nights? That would make it so much easier! He settled for clenching his hands. The glove actuators were some of the smallest and quietest in the whole suit. Maybe if that's all he moved, he'd be able to handle his nerves and avoid any undue noises.

It wasn't quiet enough. Princess Luna soon came back into the room.

Cringing to himself, Chirp turned to face her. “I apologize, Your Highness. I—”

She glared into his visor. Her hair and tail were a simple light blue, rather than the elaborate glowing star patterns they would develop when the moon was full. It made her seem younger, somehow, and more real. “Just relax! There are no threats here.” She tapped her horn with a finger. “There is no one in this city I could not protect myself from, save perhaps for my sister.”

Chirp nodded, but let out a slow sigh. “I... I just can't. I'm sorry.”

She sighed as well, but her face softened into a faint smile. The two of them stood there for a long moment, just looking at each other and thinking their own private thoughts. Princess Luna's mind was an unfathomable mystery to Chirp, but he suspected that she could know every corner of his soul if she cared to.

Her smile grew a little. “I think I know a way. Follow me.”

Following her through the short corridor wasn't a chore. He could see perfectly well through her skin-tight suit the way her beautifully round ass cheeks flexed as she walked, and her hips swayed side to side mesmerizingly. They passed into her small workroom with its many wall screens and humming magitronics boxes. On the other side of the room, her dreamwalking alcove waited, yawning empty and dangling thousands of glowing wire strands.

Princess Luna didn't stop. She led him through and into her private chambers. He'd only been in these rooms a handful of times, and he was always taken aback by the old-world opulence of it. Dressers and cabinets made from real, polished wood; a bed and a lounge chair swathed in dark handmade silks; richly padded carpets that would bog down any of the castle's cleaner bots and would have to be cleaned by hand. It all had to be at least several hundred years old, and even if he did know that a cutting-edge wallscreen hid behind the huge vintage painting of the night sky, it always made him feel like he was walking back in time when he came in here. Chirp wondered for a moment if Princess Luna felt the same way when she came here... Maybe that was why she had it furnished this way to begin with.

She stopped at the corner of her huge, canopied bed and leaned herself lasciviously against one of the intricately carved wooden poles.

Chirp stopped as well, only halfway across the room to her. His mind raced with ideas about what she might have brought him in here for ... ideas he couldn't possibly allow himself to express in any way if he valued his career in the Guard.

“Take off your armor,” Princess Luna said.

“Princess!” Chirp winced at his own tone in addressing royalty, but it had to be said. “That's against every regulation in the book, and the griffons are still out there.”

She smiled and rolled her eyes a little, then her horn began to glow.

Latches and motors clicked and whirred in his power armor. “Direct royal command override in effect,” the suit's synthesized voice told him. “Prepare for immediate contingency protocol fifteen: emergency ejection imminent.” What? In all his training for the power armor suits, he'd never heard of any such override. And what did it mean, ejection? They had to be carefully taken off, piece by piece, a laborious process that took almost half an hour. More latches snicking open, and the sound of his suit's hydraulics working. With one final mechanical cacophony, the whole front side of his suit split open. Chilly dry air flowed in through the widening crack, and suddenly he wasn't looking through his display visor anymore, but directly at Princess Luna, with nothing in between them but air.

“Princess Luna, what did you—?”

A blast of compressed air shot him forward and out of the suit. He stumbled when his feet hit the ground, barely managing to regain his balance in time to stop himself from careening into the Princess. They now stood face-to-face, barely an inch apart.

“There, isn't that better?” Princess Luna smiled.

Chirp felt cold and naked without his suit, even if he was still covered in his tight undersuit mesh. He'd never been near any of the princesses without his bulky power armor on, and now he felt totally exposed as he never had felt before. “Um, yes... Much better.”

His lie didn't seem to have fooled her, not if the sudden little quirk in her smile meant anything. Still holding onto the bed post, she slowly lowered herself down to sit on top of her posh blankets. It wasn't possible for him to look away from her breasts under the utterly skin-tight fabric, the way they stretched and moved along with her outstretched arm. With her other hand, she patted the bed next to her, making them jiggle ever so slightly. “Come, sit with me.”

Chirp gulped. What was going on here? Did he dare think it was what he thought it was? It could still be something innocent. Maybe she only wanted to talk to him, or do some kind of purely innocent massage. He couldn't allow himself to jump to conclusions, no matter how alluring those conclusions might be. He did, however, sit down next to her, keeping a respectful distance from her on the bed, barely within arm's reach.

She didn't stay at a respectful distance. Instead, she quickly sidled up to him until their thighs and shoulders touched together. An intimate distance, not a respectful one.

He could feel his hands jittering a little. He didn't want to seem nervous, but there was no way he could hide it.

“Still anxious about the griffons, I see.”

Chirp remained silent. He didn't want to tell her about the real reason his hands were trembling, which had much more to with the warmth he felt where his leg touched hers than anything about griffons.

The Princess wrapped an arm around his shoulders just over his bat wings, and she leaned in close until little hairs from her mane tickled the side of his face. Her breasts pressed palpably against either side of his nearer arm. “I know just how to take your mind off them,” she whispered.

“How is that?” Chirp was surprised not to hear himself stammering. It seemed like he shouldn't be able to speak at all, but the words came out cleanly.

Princess Luna smiled knowingly, reached down with her free hand, and touched the growing bulge in his mesh trousers.

The effect was immediate and electrifying, making him gasp. Never, not in his wildest dreams, had he ever thought a princess would be touching him this way. Well, actually, a lot of his wilder dreams did feature Princess Luna doing this and more, but he would have never guessed such a thing could ever actually happen. He cried out, “Princess!”

“Is that a 'No'?” She looked up at him, her eyes shimmering and so incredibly close.

“I, uh...” With her hand still touching him, it was hard to think. “Pr— Princess Luna... What...?” He took a moment to collect himself. “What's going on? I've never seen you like this.”

“You have been guarding me day and night for a very long time now, have you not?”

Chirp thought for a moment, going over the dates. It wasn't easy with his bulge still growing under her hand. “Uh... Nine years, I think. But that's not a long time by your standards.”

Her chest rose and fell against his arm; she laid her head against his shoulder. “It has been enough time for me to get to know you well, though perhaps not as intimately as I should like.”

“Intimately?” Chirp asked, beginning to sweat a little despite the chill.

“Have you not earned my boons with your faithful service?”

That was a difficult question to answer. To say yes would be self-aggrandizing and entitled. To say no would be depreciating himself and calling himself unfaithful. His reply would have to be worded and thought out very carefully, which would be nearly impossible given the effects she was having on him. “I ... didn't know that was part of being in the Guard.”

She smiled and rubbed her face down toward his chest. “Only for very special guardsponies. The best of them.”

How many guards had she done this to?

“Why are you here?” the Princess asked.

“I was assigned to guard you tonight.”

“No. Why the Lunar Guard?”

That brought him to a pause. “I'm a bat pony,” he replied simply.

“And ... that's all?”

“I guess it just never occurred to me to try for anything else.”

Princess Luna smiled against his chest. He could feel it. “Most guards go on about their love for the Princess of the Night and the like.”

“I... I...” Chirp felt his blood run cold. “My apologies, Princess Luna. I meant no disrespect, and I—”

“Your lack of flattery is refreshing, Chirp. Let me help you relax.”

It was difficult to breathe, as if there were tight ropes around his chest, not just an alicorn princess's arms. He stopped breathing entirely when she kissed his exposed neck. Her lips were so incredibly soft.

“Please?” she mewed.

“Princess, I—”

“Just call me Luna.”

“Yes ... Luna.” It seemed sacrilege to say that, but it only made the Princess hold him closer.

She pulled back from him a little and looked deviously up into his face. “Is that a 'Yes, I'll call you Luna', or a 'Yes, help me relax'?”

Chirp looked down at her, his ruler, his boss, his mission objective ... and a very attractive mare. Which one of those did he mean?

The Princess licked her lips slowly and luxuriantly, leaving them glistening and leaving him wishing he could see her lovely pink tongue just a little more.

“Yes, Luna, please help me relax.” He was surprised to hear himself say it, and yet he shouldn't have been. What kind of a fool would he be to have said anything else?

That had been the words she was waiting for, apparently. She whirled around in front of him onto her knees and grabbed the fabric around his hips in her hands. His eyes went wide as she leaned forward and pulled his mesh trousers down. Once freed from the tight mesh, his cock sprung out, nearly slapping the Princess in the face. It would have if she hadn't grabbed it around the middle with one hand.

Chirp's eyes went wide at the direct skin-on-skin contact.

She just grinned back at him, her hand still firmly clasped around his shaft, even as it swelled and thickened more. Her other hand stayed busy tugging his trousers the rest of the way down, until they hung around his ankles and he could spread his knees open comfortably. Her long, delicate fingers could almost reach all the way around his thickness above his medial ring. Her other hand joined the first, and she moved in close, squeezing it between her modestly sized but very shapely breasts.

The advanced fabric of her skinsuit felt cool and slippery-smooth against him, but he could feel the firm softness behind it, and soon he could feel the warmth of her as well. When her hands began to slide, he couldn't help but clench and strain.

“Are you ready?” the Princess asked.

His breath taken away, Chirp merely nodded.

She lowered her head, and her warm lips kissed the flattened tip of his cock. Slow and lovingly she pressed against it, and without breaking the contact, she tilted her head back a little and looked up into his eyes.

Chirp lost himself in those azure eyes. He lost himself in the impossible fantasy that was coming true right in front of him, in the soft touch of her skin against his. It was beyond anything he could ever have suspected. Reaching a hand down, he brushed his fingers through her hair over one ear, then let them slide down to caress her cheek.

She smiled up at him, her lips still pressed against him.

She was breathtaking, literally breathtaking. “Princess... I mean Luna, I—”

“Hush now,” she said, taking her lovely lips off him, leaving him silently begging her to put them back on him again. “No words – just relax.” Before he could say anything in reply, she lowered her head again, pulling her body away from him so she could slowly run her tongue from his very tip all the way down to the rim of his sheath and then slide up again, rubbing her cheek into the hard curve of his shaft. When she reached the top again, she gave him one more look, one more smile, and a mischievous wink. Then she took his entire tip into her mouth.

The gentle, wet heat of her mouth was incredible, easily the greatest sensation Chirp had ever felt. Her tongue swirled softly and slowly inside, making him groan with satisfaction and need at the same time.

But she didn't go any faster. Her movements stayed sensuously slow as she bobbed and twisted her head just slightly. Her fingers trailed light and soft up and down the sides of his cock, tracing over the smooth shaft near the top, over his medial ring, and then across the veiny surface below. She took a long dip down on him, letting a couple inches of him into her mouth, and one of her hands trailed down to cradle his balls.

Chirp had to strain to keep from grabbing her head and pushing it down. That would be no way to treat a princess. That would be no way to repay her tender kindness.

Princess Luna seemed to sense his restraint, and she rewarded it. She bobbed her head lower and lower, raising her back and angling her neck.

Was she going to...?

She went lower, swallowing his tip.

Chirp couldn't help but let his body convulse a little as he felt his cock slipping into her throat. It was so ... deep. He could feel her throat clenching around him and yet she kept going. She went down and down until she began to gag, making choked noises ... but she kept forcing herself down more. After a few tries at shoving herself down harder and harder, she made it all the way, kissing his sheath as her tongue caressed the bottom of his shaft.

When she finally pulled back up, she pulled all the way up and looked at Chirp with a sloppy grin. “How was that?”

“I've...” Chirp had to take a moment to catch his breath and collect himself. “Nopony's ever done anything like that with me before. You're incredible, Luna.” He gave himself a mental pat on the back for having remembered to use her name without any titles.

The Princess rewarded him with a long lick from his base to his tip. She looked up at him one more time, and then went down on him.

There was no subtlety to it this time, no grand technique. She simply fucked him with her throat, not going as far down as she had the first time, but going faster and squeezing him harder. Her hands twisted and slid up and down the exposed part of his shaft, moving easily after she had made it so slick the first time.

It didn't take long for her efforts to take effect. Chirp felt the familiar pressure building in him, the dam ready to burst. Too soon! He wanted to enjoy this as much as he could, as long as he could. But, of course, the Princess didn't stop. Stretching his arm down, he reached and slid his hand down her shoulder, across her chest as it bulged out into her breasts. His hand cupped her tit, feeling its soft suppleness through her barely-there skinsuit, tracing the outline of her undersuit beneath it before grabbing it wholly and rubbing it against her. He could feel her nipple, just barely, through the undersuit, pushing out to meet his hand.

She moaned slightly, with her lips still wrapped around his cock, and that was the point when it was too much to hold back.

“Princess, I'm—”

She didn't pull away when he came. Instead, she looked up at him as his cock pulsed in her lips and gushed his essence into her. He couldn't stop looking at her eyes, and it was prolonging the experience, dragging his orgasm through spray after spray, far longer than it normally lasted. Finally, though, the Princess choked, and splatters of white spewed out around her lips. Even then, she clenched her eyes shut and rode it out.

Only after Chirp completely stopped twitching and the last little dribbles leaked out of him did she let him slip out of her mouth. Thick strings of it dripped down onto her outfit, and she opened her mouth to show all that she still had inside, swirling her tongue around in the sticky white pool. She closed her mouth, swallowed visibly, and then opened it again, perfectly clean.

The Princess chuckled softly, barely audible. “My, you certainly did have a great deal of pent-up frustration ... in more ways than one. You may consider me impressed.”

Still enjoying the afterglow as the room blurred around him, Chirp simply nodded.

“It is a good thing this suit cleans off easily,” she continued. Her horn glowed, and all the white mess splattered across her face and chest slicked off of her and evaporated.

Chirp wanted to fall onto the bed, feeling his eyes begin to drift closed. He felt like he was mostly asleep already.

“Hey!” The Princess grabbed his chin sharply, forcing him to wake up and look at her. Intentionally or not, she'd pointed is face straight at her bulging chest. “You are not to become overly relaxed! You have yet to complete your shift at guard.”

Nodding, Chirp forced himself to stand and pull up the mesh trousers. “I, um... Thank you, Luna. This...” He paused, trying to find the right words. “This is an experience I'll treasure forever.”

She smiled and actually blushed a little. “Now go complete your shift. And if you manage to do it without any further distractions, perhaps we can enjoy each other's company even more intimately in the future.”

Author's Note

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