Night Guard, royal security or scandalous orgy?

Luna’s guards take ‘protect the night’ to the next level!

Princess’ guards’ foal just another publicity stunt?

Red dropped a small pile of magazines onto his pregnant co-workers desk, both of them staring idly at the cover stories.

When he looked up to see Ether, she had intense anger written on her face.e’d only seen her like this once before, and man it did not end well.

“ This is terrible! I’m going to have to take even more days off work for this!” She shouted, “Did you get an appointment with the doctors yet? We can’t have a foal, we need to get this all sorted out!”

“Yes, you can.” A stern voice approached the pair, Princess Luna herself.

Red turned and saluted, stiffening up instantly as he looked up at her. Ether bowed in turn, her look of rage turning to one of worry at her words.

“P-Princess Luna! Y-You can’t be suggesting that we…” Ether started to say, trailing off before the Princess finished the sentence instead.

“Keep the foal?” She finished for the lawyer, “I’m not suggesting, I’m ordering.” Her voice was ice as she turned to the still saluting guard, “At ease, we aren’t in the barracks here, there’s no need for such formality during such a… momentous occasion.” She told him as he put down his hoof, still standing stock still.

“With all due respect, Princess,” Red said through his teeth as he tried to control his anger at Luna’s instruction, “We both did not plan this foal, and we accept that we made a mistake, however this punishment feels a little... ” He glanced down at Ether, “Inappropriate.”

“Punishment? Did somepony mention punishment?” Luna says, breaking her guise of sternness, “My own bat ponies, having foals!” She said, a grin lighting up her face, “This is more than excellent!” She shouted, her excitement making her slip back into old habits of using her ‘Royal Canterlot Voice’.

After the two bats recovered from the sound, they turned to her incredulously with their mouths open in surprise.

“What?” They said in unison.

“That’s right, this is indeed a fabulous turn of events!” She said, “But even if it was not so, you two would still be obligated to keep this life that now grows in the womb of Miss Ether.” Her tone suddenly became more firm, causing both ponies to glance at each other nervously, “Due to the evident media obsession with the two of you, the Night Guard is under even more scrutiny than ever, if it were to come out that you two had aborted this foal, whatever trust the nobleponies has will wane even further and the luxury of privacy we’ve had until now will disappear within days, and I will be put back into the politics of running a military division. I’m sure the two of you knows what this means you must do?”

The two ponies sighed, defeat written on their faces. It seemed as if this was bigger than the two of them, meaning that there was no way out of the hole they’ve dug themselves into. The two bat ponies looked at each other worriedly, both kissing their normal lives goodbye.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Ether accepted with a nod.

“To whose residence am I sending the moving ponies to, then?”

“Wait, moving ponies?” Red piped up.

“Yes, did you not understand what I meant? The two of you are to live together, as a family, with the foal!” Luna grinned at him.

“Well, there’s no way my place could support a full family, it’s a tiny one bedroom apartment.” Ether said.

“Then it’s settled. Reddling, I’ll allow you leave for the rest of the night to see that your home is presentable, and Ether, you best go oversee the move.” Luna instructed before turning and strutting out of the room, a giddy look on her face, as she walked past Ether’s window, she suddenly remembered one last thing.

The night princess stuck her head back in the door, “And by the way, call me Aunt Lulu when we’re alone from now on, that’s an order~” She said, before bouncing away happily.

“I’m never drinking again.” Reddling groaned, looking to his new… Marefriend? No, that's not how he'd describe it. Roommate, nothing more than a roommate.

That's what he told himself anyways.

“That’s a lie and you know it.” Ether replied, “Get out of here, we’ll sort this out later. For now there’s no way I’m disobeying the Princess’ direct order.”

Red sighed once more, trotting out of the room, defeated once and for all by an unborn foal and a goddess playing matchmaker. He stepped outside and into the shadows of the night, spreading his leathery wings and taking to the sky. It looked like he had a lot to think about.

Red touched down outside his apartment, unlocking the door and entering the apartment before being blasted with the scent of alcohol, ‘Home sweet home…’ He thought to himself as he glided over to the kitchen, which was a mess, as usual.

For a moment, he forgot why he was home early, almost popping open a bottle of ‘Applejack Daniels’ and starting to drink the night away. He then remembered what his goal was, looking over the pigsty that was his apartment.

“I best get started, then…” He said to no one in particular as he started to pick up the bottles strewn around the floor, some of them still had a little bit of liquid still in them, which Red emptied into his mouth with no regard for how long it’s been there, “I deserve at least some indulgence.” He told himself as he dumped his first load of bottles into the trash with a chorus of clinks and cracks.

‘Ugh! How could this happen!’ He thought as he threw a few more bottles into the trash, ‘I mean, I’ve wanted a foal but… Not like this! Not with her!’

“Well, maybe with her, she’s not the least attractive mare I know…” He continued thinking as he worked, distracting him from the tediousness of his cleaning.

A few dozen more trips and multiple mew trash bags later Red finished clearing his floor of every last bottle he’d ‘forgotten’ to trash earlier. Somewhere along the line, he had cracked open a bottle or two of beer against his better judgement, not enough to stop him from finishing, but enough to give his face a slight glow and make his breath have a hint of alcohol still on it.

It was only a few hours before the movers arrived with the first of many of Ether’s belongings. They knocked on the door, breaking Reddling from his thoughts.

“Hello? Is this the Rain residence?” One of the movers asked.

It occurred to Red that if he pretended not to be home, the movers may just go away, being that they probably have other jobs to do.

“Reddling! Open up!” Another voice could be heard from the other side of the door, Ether’s. It looked like that plan wasn’t going to work out.

The bat pony briskly trotted over to the door, opening it frustratedly to see a very frazzled purple mare and an entourage of burly earth pony stallions. Ether groaned, smelling Red’s breath and the still prevalent odour of alcohol that rushed out of the apartment.

“You could have at least sprayed some deodorant.” She said flatly, prompting only a shrug from Red.

“Part of the charm,” He shot back, stepping out of the way and holding the door open, “Come on in.” He said to the movers, who started to unload their moving cart silently.

As the movers continued to move Ether’s belongings, Red started to notice a trend in the specific items that were being stacked in his living room. Books. Stacks and stacks of books of various genres and topics, but there was certainly a favourite, law books.

“A little light reading?” The stallion asked, raising an eyebrow at the mare next to him.

“Trust me, I don’t want these any more than you do.” She deadpanned, “We’re going to need somewhere to put them, please tell me you at least have a bookshelf?”

“At least? Of course I have a bookshelf!” Red said, “It’s upstairs, in the corridor next to my room.” He tells her, “Please tell me you at least remember where that is?” He teases, adding a little wink to the end of his sentence.

Ether blushed lightly, “Shut up.” She says, making her way up the stairs to the corridor.

It took a few moments before Reddling remembered what he was using his bookshelf for. It only took a few more for Ether to realise.

“Are you serious!?” She shouts down the stairs, rolling her eyes at the sight before her. A large bookshelf, lined from top to bottom with bottles of alcohol.

“Sorry, I guess I didn’t expect to have a mare move in with only half a night’s notice!” He shouts back.

Reddling grabbed a half full bag of discarded bottles and made his way up the stairs, helping Ether to drop them into the bag and slowly clearing the bookshelf. By this point, the movers downstairs had dropped off all of Ether’s books, leaving the house silent aside from the clinking of bottles as the pair of bat ponies cleaned the bookshelf and the rest of the upstairs section of the apartment.

After they finally finished cleaning, Red spoke up, “I suppose we should bring the books up now?” He asked.

Ether turned to him, “I’ll do it, you probably don’t have any idea the order they go in anyways.” She said coldly.

“You know if we’re going to be living together then you could at least try not to treat me like just another convict.”

“Not until you apologise.”

“What for? You’re the one who didn’t use an infertility scroll when you went into heat!”

“I was drunk off my ass, Red, the possibility of a foal was the last thing on my mind!” Ether shouted at him, “You’re the one who took advantage of me, and now I’m saddled with your bucking foal and terrible habits!” She finished, tears welling up in her eyes as she raised a hoof and slapped him across the face before galloping down the stairs, leaving Red to soak in her words.