The Princess and the Private

The Royal Guard Academy of Canterlot; never before had ponies witnessed so much raw, musky stallion (and occasional mare) in one place. Only the finest, most ferocious, and physically fit are allowed to so much as even step hoof in it's masculine halls. Within, a symphony of battle cries, grunts, and muffled shouts of pain ring across the corridors, and reverberate throughout every training, weight, and combat simulation room.

The source of these noises, former and aspiring warriors of all ages and races, Earth Pony, Pegasi, and Unicorn fought against and along each other in what are supposed to be pretend battles, though many say  that "pretend" isn't strong enough for the pain they would and had received from them. This was a school of hard-knocks, and that didn't apply only to it's traditionalism. It was a school for the intelligent, unforgiving, and those willing to vanquish enemies of the state.

Private Oculus Nox . . . however . . . was none of these.

Sure, he had graduated from the academy, and passed the bare minimum of his requirements with all the grace and finesse of a beached whale, but the young stallion had never been the image of a Guard or Soldier of Canterlot. Oculus Nox was very permissive, even submissive to everypony making him stick out like a dragon's sore claw. He didn't see many reasons to be angry, or aggressive, or pick fights all the time, contrary to the hobbies of many a roommate he had in his quarters, much to his distaste.

The unicorn was a stallion who loved nature over the battlefield. While his very few friends would go out drinking, flirting, and

asserting their dominance over one another in hoof-wrestles and other pain games, Nox would takes relaxing trots through the forests close to his barracks. On said trots, he would revel in the scents of seasonal flowers, made even better after a small rain shower and try to coax the animals out of hiding to spend some time with them. Given his gentle nature, many animals allowed him to pet them until distracted by a predator or food.

Oculus Nox was an introvert, encouraging his works in the fine arts. Being a non-conformist in his barracks made cultivating his talents difficult. Not a day went by that he would hear his paintings, sculptures, and manuscripts were "accidently" completely destroyed by his roommates or their friends. How many hours, days, even months, had he poured his heart and soul into them, only to be scrap heaps by the time they were finished? He wouldn't scream, he wouldn't beat them up, he wouldn't show any emotion opting instead to not confront them. Liquid pride was shed for them, but this was in private. More harassment would happen should anypony have seen him.

For somepony as sensitive, humble, and peace-loving as Oculus Nox, one would wonder why in the world he would even bother joining such a roughneck brotherhood. Many times he wondered the exact same thing. From his point of view he thought if he could ever find employment at a steady, locale job the great outdoors where the best it was going to get. As a soldier in the Royal Guard, his office was expansive, boundless, and picturesque.

His parent's might have had a hoof in it as well, his father being a retired soldier in his youth, thinking it would be marvelous for Nox to learn discipline, something substantially lacking at home ponies would say. Of course his father was a desk jockey for most of that tour of duty, but nevertheless was quite loyal to the brotherhood that had shaped his formative years.

Although Nox and his father clashed many a time, his mother and sister couldn't stand to see him leave the roost only to be endangered by the intense training involved at the academy, of which he would be staying at for the rest of his service. War was always a possibility, but threats were there, looming over the heads of the loved ones he left behind. As a member of the guard, he could be called at any time to sacrifice himself for the good of Equestria.

His sister was the most affected of all. It clenched Oculus Nox's heart, all throughout his training, to hear she would have horrible nightmares due to his absence. Once he was out, he would have to give her the biggest hug a brother could give, and let her know everything would be alright.

In fact, he was about to do that right now as he awoke to sound of a far off rooster crowing. He was all smiles as he remembered that today he would head home to show her he was in fact still in one piece, and rub it in his dad's face he had made it through the rigorous tests, despite the track record of failure.

He looked up to his bunk-buddy, another "rough and tumble" character snoring loudly in his sleep. A black eye adorned the yellow unicorn's face, probably from a bar fight which was pretty normal in these parts. Oculus Nox was to giddy to dwell on him for long, smiling even as he slept.

Slowly making his way into the shared restroom, Nox made away the daily grooming regimen that the academy had literally beat into his head countless times before. He didn't particularly enjoy it, preferring the scraggly look every once in a while, but this being a special day, he didn't fuss too much.

After a brisk cleansing, not up to Guard standards, he walked over to the barracks room door, opened it and stepped into the cool, misty morning air. He sucked a great big breath of air through his nose and sighed it out appreciatively. With foggy , red and orange-tinted daylight peeking through the horizon, Nox through his hooves out and bellowed ecstatically.

"Good morning, oh beautiful world!"

Unfortunately, it seemed others in the barracks disagreed.

"Hey, Nox, keep it down out there! Some ponies are trying to catch some shut eye!"