Fading Eclipse

“They scorn me, Celestia! Can you not see?” Luna shouted, her hoof slamming down on Celestia's desk.

Celestia said nothing, her lowered eyes complementing the worried look on her face.

“The moon heralds all the ponies to sleep!” Luna ranted, her gaze desperate yet unable to meet Celestia's. “Hardly a soul exists past midnight. I may enjoy the ambiance of my night, but surely you know I do not enjoy the chronic loneliness.”

“Perhaps... if you tried giving your night more light?” Celestia's voice quivered, her eyes shifting to the stone and mortar walls of the ancient castle. “I know you have said before that-”

“Yes, and surely you know I am not interested in your suggestions to make my night more like your day.” Luna hissed softly. Celestia frowned, looking now into her sister's eyes. Luna stared back for a moment before sighing and raising her hooves.

“I know you mean well by your suggestions, Sister, but you must try to understand...” Luna turned her gaze to the moon through the window, pointing with her hoof. “The moon— it is as bright as it desires to be. Any more, and the sky would be drowned in it's light.” She waved her hoof along the night sky and smiled. “And the stars— they are fickle. Each desires to be known independent from one another. How can I ask them to bleed their light wider, and encompass their brethren? Or to disappear completely beneath the moon's light?” Luna stood now, walking over to Celestia and raising her chin to look out through the window.

“Look, Celestia, but do more than look. See. How could I ask the night to be different than what it truly is?” Luna said in a strained whisper.

Celestia sighed, and frowned. “Because, Luna, it's not working.” Celestia stood up and walked over to the far side of the room, staring at the wall. “Do you not understand? The ponies need light to perform their duties in Equestria each day. The ponies do not need a wistful allure from the cosmos they can never truly know.” The older princess looked back at her sister, her eyes now hard with the weight of reality.

“It is you who does not understand your night, I feel.” Celestia challenged.

Luna's eyes narrowed as she stomped to her hooves. “Oh?”

“Yes. While the ponies need light to work and play during my day, sleep is just as fundamental a need.” Celestia countered, taking a step towards her sister. “I say perhaps you do not understand your night because you seem unaware of the fact that it is suited perfectly for the ponies to rest.” Celestia shook her head. “Luna, do you not see? You have succeeded! All the ponies enjoy your night as a time for rest and respite— as a place they can lay their worries and trouble and gain peace! Without your night, the ponies would never be able to love my-”

“No!” shouted Luna, her eyes narrow behind a mask of utter detest. “I refuse to believe that asking for the love and appreciation of my people is something I should simply give up on,” Luna hissed, taking a step forward and staring down her sister. She huffed in anger before closing her watering eyes.

“You will never understand,” Luna whispered menacingly, her deep breaths transforming into choking sobs. Shoving her sister out of the way with a flash of her horn, she stomped towards the door.

“Sister, please!” shouted Celestia.

It was the first time the princess of the sun's words were met with a slamming door.

Guard work had always come easy to Shield Bearer. It was only natural to him— growing up in the castle, he had always idolized the flashy-looking palace guards. Flashy, however, was the last thing being a guard initiate was. When they had told him he would be guarding the Princess' themselves room, he practically burst with pride. He was a quick learner, though. After less than a day he had begun to question why the immortal princesses even needed guarding at all and, being a Pegasus, all he had to look forward to was a career full of ferrying them around. Life had become a game of 'hope the cute kitchen-mares are willing to talk when they deliver food to the princesses'.

Shield looked over at the other stallion guarding the door. He had fallen asleep hours ago— the night shift was not kind to some ponies. Shield yawned, only to prematurely stifle it as he heard hoofsteps coming from the hallway beyond the slumbering stallion.

“Lancer! Wake up!” he whispered frantically, but the pony was too deeply asleep to heed his warning. Hearing the hoofsteps draw closer, he resumed his stalwart gaze forward and stood at attention, not daring to look.

“Hm... he must be quite the guard to be able to defend my sister while asleep...” a soft voice said. Shield looked over, now being addressed, and felt the blood drain to his hooves as he saw a smirking Princess Luna examining Lancer. He had never seen the princess of the night before, despite working the night shift. His eyes were drawn immediately to her mane, complimenting her tall, pronounced figure with it's star-speckled, flowing form. For a moment he was too shocked to speak, imagining the punishment that would come from slacking off so severely and being caught by a princess.

He bowed, rose back to his hooves. “N... No Princess. I... me and Lancer here were... fighting earlier and... I- I beat him so badly, he said I must be strong enough to guard the Princess all by myself! I... I told him I could handle it, and that he could go to sleep.”

Luna cocked an eyebrow and gave Shield a toothy grin. “Is that so? Well, I'm glad to have such a prestigious guard attending to my sister, then.” She stepped to open Celestia's door, but paused a moment. “Don't worry. I won't annoy Iron Helm with this. More guards than not have trouble keeping their eyes open at this time of night. You must be pretty awake to throw together a story like that so quick, though. What did you say your name was?”

Shield's eyes widened and he felt immediately ashamed of his lie. “S...sorry, Princess. My name is Shield Bearer.”

“Well, Shield Bearer, I appreciate your commitment to being awake for your duties during my night, and for your willingness to take such a blame from your friend.” Her royal blue lips curled into a warm smile.

Shield gazed in disbelief at the Princess, before nodding, words not forming in reply. He watched in wonder as she slipped her slender form into Celestia's room, accompanied only by the clicking of the large wooden doors behind her.

Shield couldn't help but wonder why he had never seen the princess of the night before; he was sure he would remember a goddess like that. He had been trained extensively to be a disciplined soldier, but he was unable to help his mind from replaying her dark curves slipping through that doorway over and over again. After all... it was okay to think the Princesses were beautiful, right?

“Not beautiful like that...” his moral compass grunted. He bit his lip, unsure of what to think exactly, but was quickly distracted by a shouting from within. He tried to listen in, but could make out the same voice that had comforted him minutes ago now strained and angry.

Now, it seemed, it was Celestia's turn. He knew the voice of the solar royal all too well; in the palace, you were taught to idolize everything about Celestia. Now, however, her voice was not understanding, but harsh and argumentative.

He had never even thought the sisters argued about anything. But the shouting coming from within was most certainly-

The doors flashed dark blue as they swung open and pushed his head aside. Luna came galloping out, rushing down the hall and slamming the door behind her. Snapping his head to see what the princess was running from, he just barely made out that there were... tears in Luna's eyes? He shuddered, unable to envision his princess in a state of sadness, deeply disturbed by the notion.

Shield's contemplation was broken by a tired moan. “Ugh... what just happened?” grunted Lancer, picking himself off the floor.

“I think the princess may not be alright, Lancer.” Shield said with a worried frown.

“What... like... the one in there?” grumbled Lancer sleepily.

Shield sighed. “No, the other one.”

“Oh... like... aren't we supposed to make sure they don't get hurt?”

Shield nodded, and took a step down the hallway. “Exactly what I was thinking. Lancer, stay here and keep my post. If anypony asks, tell them I needed to go to the bathroom really badly.”

“Whatever...” Lancer grumbled, leaning back against the wall.

“Thanks Lance. You're a real pal. I'll be back soon.” Shield said, galloping after the princess of the night.

Luna ran faster than she had ever ran before, fueled by her sadness and anger, barely stopping herself from crashing into the castle walls as she navigated it's hallways. She sobbed heavily, tears flowing from her eyes as her mind solidified the notion that she would always be alone.

She reached a spire in the castle and took off, flying into the night. She knew a nook in the Everfree forest where nopony would come to look for her. Even with tears and sadness clouding her flight, she found the direction she was looking for and sped off into the horizon.

Shield threw off his helmet as he saw Luna take flight, and plummeted off the edge of the castle just in time to open his own wings. He looked forward, hardly able to make Luna out against the night, but was able to keep up with her despite her enormous wingspan.

After five minutes, though, Shield was immensely appreciative for his aerial training as a guard. He had to fly at top speed and keep an eye on a near-invisible target for an extended period of time. After a couple more minutes though, he saw her descending into a clear spot of trees against the side of a small ridge where a stream turned into a waterfall.

Suddenly, though, he was unsure of himself. With the ramifications of approaching Luna in front of him, he realized his utter lack of any sort of plan. He landed some distance away, where he could see the princess from behind a spotty wall of forestry.

“Should I... even be doing this?” Shield asked himself, turning his gaze to the ground. If the princess flew away from her own sister, then why would she want to talk to some nopony like him?

“She... she probably wants to be alone...” Shield told himself, stepping back for a moment. He looked up at the princess and saw the tears streaming down her face as she sobbed openly in the nook. The look of helplessness and despair was something that devastated his idea of what being a princess encompassed.

“No...” he thought, dispelling his worries and feelings of nervousness with a strike of guard's determination. “The princess needs my help more now than she ever did just guarding her door.” He thought to himself, furrowing his brow at the prospect. This was his duty.

Taking a step forward, and around the brush he was hiding behind, he approached the princess. “Princess Luna... are you... all right?”

Luna looked up, her eyes popping, and brought her hooves to her face immediately, wiping away the tears as quickly as possible. “Wh.. Uh... Yes, I...” she stammered from behind her own forelegs.

“No, it's alright... please... I'm sorry for following you, but I saw you flee from your sister's room so quickly that... I feared you were hurt, somehow.” Shield explained quickly.

“No... no I'm not, um, hurt.” she stammered quickly, continuing to try to hide her eyes.

“You... don't have to hide your tears from me, princess.” Shield saw her watery eyes, now, and she lowered her hooves slowly. He took a couple steps forward, and sat in the grass in front of the much-larger Princess Luna. “You just seemed... really nice, with the way you let Lancer off like that. I couldn't not fly after you and at least try to see what was wrong. I just want to try and help, I guess.”

Princess Luna let out another sob, and lowered her nose to the grass underhoof. She cried softly, the sound of the small waterfall accompanying her sobs, a minuet of tears. The forest's sounds were just barely soft enough to allow her whimpers to carry to Shield's ears. He lowered his head, pointing his eyes at the grass, a sympathetic lump forming in his throat.

Then he felt a warmth over his head, and saw Luna had reached out to embrace him. “Oh, thank you Shield. Thank you... thank...” she sobbed slowly a couple times over before pulling back and smiling soft, beautiful smile at the grass. Different now, though, were her turquoise eyes, smiling along with her dark lips. “Your words mean more to me than you can ever know.” Luna said after a moment, dipping her eyes forward to look into Shield's. A shiver went down his spine, looking into her bright eyes directly for the first time.

He was speechless. All he could do was gape momentarily as his mind worked furiously to enamor the memory forever into his mind.

After an eternal moment, Luna looked down. Shield's trance was broken, and he began to realize the implications his stare could have held.

“What's wrong, princess?” he asked softly.

“You cannot begin to know, Shield.” Sighing, she turned her gaze to the side to distract herself with the nature around her.

“A guard is allowed to be a little more than just a statue. Just like a Princess is allowed to be more than just happy. Please,” he pushed.

“Lancer is what's wrong, Shield,” she said softly, letting her hair fall over her eyes. “Lancer, and the Guards, and Celestia... everypony.” She sighed, and rose to her hooves once more. “Come, stand up Shield,” she asked softly, and pointed with her hoof to the sky. Shield stood up and looked up into the night. “You can not begin to understand the magic of the cosmos. Surely all you know is that I herald the moon. The stars and galaxies all speak to me with their energies as well, though. They wish to remain as they are,” she explained, motioning with her hoof across the sky before turning to look at Shield, “and I most certainly agree with them.”

“Why would it even be a question, then?” Shield asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Tell me— If Celestia had fled the castle during her day in such a stupor as I did, how many ponies would have followed her?” Luna asked. Shield considered it in his head, and came to a draining conclusion. His eyes lowered, and Luna finished, “Yes. You know as well as I. And perhaps had I picked another night to flee, nopony would have followed me.” She raised Shield's eyes to hers with a hoof. “I consider myself lucky that you are here, Shield.”

Shield wanted to protest, to quell the princess's worries, or most of all to hug her again, but all he could do was frown and droop his ears.

“The ponies stay asleep, Shield. The ponies don't care. They see my night as a time to shut themselves away, and nopony stays out to live... laugh... anything under my stars. Can you...” she paused and looked away, “can you understand?”

“No.” Shield said matter-of-factually, causing Luna to gape and turn her head quickly back to him. Shield simply looked the princess in the eyes and continued. “No, I cannot understand why anypony would neglect a princess that should be beloved in such a fashion,” his eyes hardened, and he put a hoof on Luna's shoulder, “...I cannot fathom how they cannot see the gift they have been given. And I cannot comprehend how you must have felt all these years feeling so under-appreciated,” Shield's eyes lowered to the ground, and he kneeled. “On behalf of all the ponies I can speak for... truly, I am sorry.”

For a moment, the sounds of the forest finally reigned supreme. After just a short while, Shield heard Luna lie on the grass again, presumably to continue crying. Still, he remained bowed, hoping his words could—

Lips pressed against his softly, and his eyes fluttered open in surprise to see Luna's muzzle against his own. Her eyes were half closed as she kissed him sweetly, and he returned the kiss, pushing against Luna's warm lips with his own. Luna closed her eyes all the way, and pushed his mouth open, turning her lips and kissing him sideways. Shield did the same, his heart beating like a kick drum against his ribcage. He laid down, then, and felt a shoeless, soft hoof on his cheek, encouraging him to kiss her more deeply, leaning forward and tantalizing her lips with his tongue.

Her tongue met his, and she moaned ever so slightly as their kiss evolved into a passionate dance. His lips tingled, and he opened his eyes to see her beautiful dark face, her eyes still squeezed close in excitement. He explored the sweet insides of Luna's muzzle with his tongue, feeling her own do the same, and let out a moan himself. Luna's hoof crawled to the back of his neck, tugging ever so slightly for more, and he put his hooves around her neck, pulling her lips into a wonderful pressured embrace with his own. They kissed deeply, Luna letting out moans when Shield would pull them closely together.

Luna opened her eyes and stared into his half-lidded, before lightening the kiss and pulling away completely after a few moments. She smiled a wide smile, the edges of her mouth curling, and her eyes brightening. “That was the most wonderful thing anypony has ever said to me...” she whispered, her muzzle still against his, the hot breath of her words mixing with his own slight pants.

Once again, Shield could not speak. His mind should have been overloaded with the feelings associated with the previous actions, but all he could do was simply absorb the sensory barrage he was getting.

Instead, they stared into one anothers eyes, muzzle against each other, hooves in each others hair, breathing on one another for minutes. Shield found himself stroking her silken mane, in wonder with the way it felt against his hoof, and playing with her ears. Lying with... kissing the princess was everything he thought it could never be.

Finally, he found words. “I just didn't want you to be alone, Princess.” he whispered, gazing in the turquoise pools of her eyes.

“Luna.” she whispered, and closed her eyes and kissed him again. More quickly, her hooves wrapped around Shield's shoulders and pulled him close. Now, their bodies were sharing warmth with one another, entangled in one another's hooves. Shield put his hoof around the princess's back, but fluttered his eyes open when he felt a force pulling it further down her frame. He saw her staring lovingly into his eyes, her horn glowing slightly as it guided his hoof to her flank.

Shield kissed her more deeply, pushing into her flank now and making her moan and open her mouth. He guided his tongue deep into her mouth, and continued to knead her flank, procuring deeper and deeper moans the more pressure he applied. He felt Luna's own hooves making their way to his flank, and he broke the kiss, moving in closer to Luna and kissing her neck, causing her to moan deeply and wrap one hoof all the way around his shoulder as she held him close. Kissing her neck caused her to begin breathing sharp, hot breaths into his ear between moans, and he began to hear whispers of “yes...” ever so softly coming with them.

Taking a chance, he moved his right hoof to her stomach, and began sliding it down to where her marehood was.

He found that hot warmth between her thighs, hearing a “Mmmhm..” whispered into his ear, and began rubbing his hoof up and down it, feeling immediately that it was already wet. “Oh...” Luna cried, as Shield started to use the edge of his hoof to tease the inside as he rubbed up and down, and turned from kissing her neck to licking it up and down. He used his hoof on her flank to pull her hindquarters into the rubbing, causing his teasing to go ever so slightly deeper. He pushed the edge of his hoof in deeper, eliciting an “Ahh!” as he spread Luna's nether's lips apart.

Pulling Luna on top of him to let gravity help him do his job, he felt her began rocking up and down, her moans becoming labored and scattered with the staccato of her hot breaths on his neck. He pushed further with the edge of his hoof, and Luna's threw her hooves around him violently, openly moaning now, moving up and down against his hoof and whimpering in ecstasy. Her breathing and moans were starting to build upon themselves, turning to near-shouts of pleasure, Shield pushing her pleasure deeper and deeper with his hoof.

“Yes... Ah... Yes! Oh, Shield!” Luna shouted in absolute pleasure. Shield could feel her pussy quivering, leaking it's juices onto his hoof and the leg below. “Shield... I... ah I'm gonna... Mmm” she moaned, rocking bringing her flank up and down onto Shield's hoof, as her shouts of pleasure built higher.

Her body tensed against Shield's as she squeezed against him, pulling with all her might and letting out a high, elongated shout as Shield gave her neck a final bite. Her nethers pushed against Shield's hoof with all her force, and her pussy let out a squirt of her juices that covered his entire thighs. Edged on by Shield's bites on her neck, she continued to let out her shouting moan, stopping only for the shortest moments to take breaths as her marehood erupted against Shield.

Finally, after what had to be a near 20 seconds of orgasm, Luna slumped forward against Shield and began giving him a deep, passionate kiss. Her eyes were pressed completely closed, and every other kiss she would break it to moan “Oh, Shield...” into his ear softly. Shield couldn't help but to moan just as much back, returning her kiss, and calling her name out as well.

Shield realized he was now turned on past the limit of control. He had been so caught up in bringing Luna pleasure, he had completely forgot about himself. Even as she leaned against him, he felt his body undulating, his stiff member twitching against her warm body.

She giggled softly in response between sweet kisses, before whispering “Look's like somepony got a little excited...” staring lovingly into his eyes. “You know, that was my first time with another pony Shield...” she murred, smiling, caught up in her own afterglow.

Shield's eyes widened: Luna and Celestia had ruled for more than six hundred years! Could she really have been so isolated that... Shield preferred not to think about the logistics of it at the moment, instead plainly saying “I think... I mean, I hope that you... liked it.” She gave him a half-lidded look, and a huge sloppy kiss, before moving one of her hooves from around his neck to her own mouth and covering it in her saliva, then leading it down to just above where Shield's erect member was. “Luna... you don't have to if you don't feel like it...” he whispered.

Luna smiled. “Do you want it?” Shield looked down, ashamed but obviously certain of the answer to the question. “Well, I can tell you that I definitely want it, Shield.” she half-moaned into his ear. The words themselves practically made Shield pass out.

Luna moved her hoof back up to her mouth, covering it in saliva once more, before moving it down onto Shield's erect member, sliding it up and down very slowly, covering it in a wet film. She proceeded to kiss Shield deeply, rubbing faster now, stopping at the base to caress his testicles for a moment before repeating the motion. Luna seemed like she could hardly concentrate on kissing Shield, so he moved his mouth forward and kissed her, moaning as she applied more pressure and pushed his member against his body.

“M..more..” Shield whispered almost instinctively, wrapping his hooves around Luna and getting lost in her hot kisses. Obliging him, Luna rubbed faster now, caressing his entire shaft with her soft hooves and applying pressure at the base, trying to coax Shield's seed out.

“You know...” she whispered into his ear, “there's only so fast my hooves can go.” Shield nodded in ecstasy as they kissed last deep time, before Luna dragged her tongue down the front of Shield's body making him twitch in sweet anticipation. She let her tongue caress his balls at first, then licked hard up his shaft, making Shield squeal in delight. She licked the head clean of the pre-cum, moaning at the taste, before wrapping her mouth around the head of Shield's dick.

Shield could feel her sweet lips move up and down against his member, going nearly insane at how slow Luna was starting out. Her tongue moved in to caress the head, swirling around it as her mouth moved up and down. Faster, her tongue flicked around and she began moaning, taking his cock deeper and deeper into her mouth. Shield put a hoof on Luna's head, his spine flexed backwards in pleasure, and gave out deep, fast moans each time her tongue caressed his head.

Then, Luna added the hooves back into the mix, massaging the base of his cock between them as she sucked up and down the member. Shield could feel his pleasure building at a breakneck speed. “Oh, Luna...!” he called out, “Oh... oh... Oh..!” he continued, as she worked her tongue even faster, up and down the top of his dick and swirling around the head.

“Luna... Soon... ah! I'm going to...” Shield moaned, only seeming to provoke Luna to go even faster, moving her head up and down his dick as fast as she could manage. Her tongue had covered his member in saliva, and was now pleasuring everything it could wrap around at any given moment. Shield began to breathe heavier and heavier, leaning forward and placing both hooves on Luna's head as she shoved the entirety of his dick into her mouth.

“Oh, Luna!” he shouted out, bending forward and cumming into the back of her throat, his own shouts met by a moan of ecstasy as she tasted his seed. Again, he shot a stream of cum into her mouth, and again, until it was nearly full. Then, she opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue, letting Shield's cum fall all across her face and into her mouth, moaning in delight at the taste. Cum shot up across the top of her face, into her soft ears, and across her closed eyes as Shield continued to shout out in utter ecstasy, shooting his entire load across Luna's face. It slowed, mostly shooting into her still open mouth and finally dribbling in as Shield panted heavily.

Luna moaned deeply as she swallowed the mouthful of spunk that had been given to her and stared up into Shield's eyes as he lay back against the grass. Slowly, she crawled up to where she was muzzle-to-muzzle with him, and kissed him deeply, letting him taste the remnants of his own seed. Shield breathed heavily, kissing Luna wildly and breathing in the smell of her body against his own.

“Luna... that was” Shield panted, spent from the huge release he had been building over the last hour, “...amazing.” he whispered fantastically.

“Mhmm...” she purred, laying against his chest, sniffing in the smell of the forest blended with the sweat of her lover. Wrapping her arms around Shield, Luna looked deeply into his eyes, whispering “you made me feel like I have someone to hold on to...”

Shield nuzzled Luna's muzzle sweetly and rubbed his hooves up and down her curvy figure. “I don't mean just that... You're an amazing pony, Luna. I've known you for so little time, but already I feel like I cant let you go. We have to...” Shield looked down as the weight of the thought imposed itself on his mind.

“Continue this?” Luna eeked out. Shield just nodded. Luna just smiled. “I was really hoping you were thinking that.” Luna murmured wistfully “But Shield... you know the implications of such an idea.”

Shield nodded, squeezing Luna tightly in his arms. “Sometimes you have to take a risk. If I hadn't, you would be out here alone and cold, and I would be wasting my life staring at a stone wall.” He thought for a moment. “Besides... something in me wants to find out everything about you. I can't let that go. Even if we have to keep it secret for a while, I--”

Luna silenced him with a kiss. Shield kissed Luna back, pushing the hair out of her eyes with a hoof.

Then, holding one another in their hooves, Shield and Luna drifted off to sleep in the grass under the stars.

End

Authors note: I really like this story. Perhaps I will write more of it, but much of that is dependent on the feedback I get. I've never wrote anything clop-related before. If you liked this work, please respond to whatever medium you've found it posted in with a comment regarding that and... if I see enough comments, I will definitely continue this.

Thank you
-Idylia