Rolling off of the slab that counts as the bed in the cell he was in, Bud Dale rubbed his head slightly. He never was able to get any sleep in the drunk tanks like this post his usual on-leave bar brawl. His slight hangover telling him that at some point he had ended up drinking bourbon last night.
He smiled a little as he recalled the fight itself. The reason for his leave was to help his family make a few deliveries so he had taken a bit more than a week and it was coming up on the end of it. It had also gotten him away from Canterlot for a little bit, one could only handle so much of wedding preparations, especially if they were for a royal wedding. He and one of his younger relatives had made the trip to deliver the order to the bars in the town, after which he imbibed some of it and managed to get banned from 2 of the bars.
Hearing the guard coming towards his cell to let him out he shook himself a little to ease his stiff muscles. The guard let him out of the cell and as Bud exited it he froze in his tracks as he saw just who was waiting for him.
Two members of the Royal Guard were standing near the entrance to the small guard post. One of them marched up to Bud and looking up to glare at the stallion he took a deep breath so as to prepare himself.
"Just what kind of guard do you think you are? Getting into fights when off-duty does not help the image of the Royal Guard, especially not when it's a member of the Solar Guard doing such disgraceful actions. You are to report immediately back to Canterlot so we can dole out a fitting punishment for you Specialist Dale." The stallion ordered rather fiercely.
"Sir, Yes Sir." Replied Bud.
He left in the company of the two guards, himself rather surprised at just how severe they seem to be treating the situation. He knew they were unlikely to know about any of his other fights, or just how many times he's been banned from bars due to them, so they should be treating this as a first offense. There seemed to be something else driving the discipline that he is sure to come.
Arriving in Canterlot a couple hours later, Bud and the two guards went immediately towards the exercise fields where his immediate superior was awaiting them.
"So what's this I hear about you fighting on your time off?" She said with an intimidating tone.
"A little bar scuffle is all Ma'am." Bud said defensively, fully accepting whatever punishment they have in store for him.
"Well if you got the energy to burn beating barroom buffoons, then you can use it up with some physical training. Since I know just how strong you are, I've arranged a little something that should really test you." She said with a slight smile as she gestured towards the dirt track where a bunch of their platoon was waiting.
"Lets start with a couple laps while we get the surprise ready, and I want to see speed." As a couple of the ponies took off along side Bud.
A few minutes later as the were halfway through the second lap one of them noticed a slight snoring sound. Looking over she saw the Bud seemed to be taking a light nap as he easily kept up with their pace even though a couple of them were running as hard as they could. When they were finishing up the 4th lap they were called over to where a cart had been moved next to the track, Bud waking up as they approached it.
They help him get hitched up to a cart whose wheels had been removed and placed into the cart itself, before several of them jumped into it. A few of the pegasi tied ropes around him so that they could pull back on him to help increase the load that he would have to pull. Bud just smiled at all the effort.
"You know, this might not be enough. I'm real good at pulling stuff ya'know." He said tapping the image of a cart that made up his cutie mark.
"You've got a dozen ponies weighing you down, if you can complete 5 laps I might just let you off easy on your actual punishment."
Some time later Celestia was taking a bit of a walk about the castle to stretch her legs when she passed by a window looking out over the guards training area. A brief glimpse of something brought her to a halt as she peered outside to get a better look. She easily saw an earth pony dragging a wheel-less cart loaded up with guards around the track leaving long grooves in the dirt while several pegasi were being dragged behind him like kites. Another guard was pacing him without too much effort even though he was moving at slightly more than a trot.
Her interest piqued she flew done and waited along one edge of the track.
Out of the corner of his eye Bud saw a large white form land further up the track. Focusing his vision a little gave him a little surprise. A couple minutes later as he neared where the princess was waiting he slowed his pace so that he would stop in front of her. As he came to a stop his platoon members all sprang to attention and saluted the princess. Bud just took a somewhat cocky resting pose as he hid just how much he was exerting himself.
Princess Celestia looked over the stallion, standing not much shorter than herself. His dark green coat had a light shine to it due to he sweat.
"I know exercise is important but isn't this over doing it just a tad?" She said.
"Well your highness, Specialist Bud Dale here is undergoing a little punishment due to actions he had taken while on leave that might reflect badly on the guards." Said the officer who had been pacing the group.
"What do you mean, I don't think I had gotten any complaints about misbehaving guards recently."
"I got a report from another Solar Guard member who was visiting his family about a pony he recognized as a fellow guardpony getting into a rather sizable bar fight. A brief investigation showed that Specialist Dale here not only was a brawler in said fight, but had caused some damage to the bar's premises which resulted in him getting permanently banned from that bar." The officer explained.
Celestia noticed that a small smirk had crept onto Bud's face during the conversation, suggesting that maybe he had done this previously.
"Well Specialist Dale, what do you have to say for yourself?" She asked polietly.
"Well your highness. I work hard to keep my personal and professional lives separate. Until now nopony I had fought with knew I was a Solar Guard." He replied.
"By 'until now' do you mean you've done this before?"
"To be honest, yes. I take a couple days leave every couple months, and twice a year to help my family make deliveries. I consider it a waste of the leave if I don't get banned from at least one bar." Bud said with a good hint of mischief in his voice.
Celestia watched as the officer next to her was gobsmacked by what was just said. Looking over to the platoon sitting in the carts, she saw that the platoon captain smile.
"Right enough of a break. Get your flanks moving if you want to be able to clean up a bit before I give you your posting today Specialist. Thanks for your time Princess, have a wonderful day." She said.
Bud let the pegasi take flight and get into position before bracing himself to set off again. A moment later Celestia was still standing next to the speechless officer watching the cart slowly make it's way around the track.
"I wonder just how well he would've handled the changeling invasion earlier this week. Anyways, have a nice day." She said before taking flight back towards the castle.
A half hour later saw Bud wearing his Solar Guard armour as he trotted towards his post. His captain had decided on the most remote broom closet in one of the higher towers needed urgent guarding for the rest of the day. A slight yawn escaped him reminding him that he had already been awake since his nap before lunch the previous day. He didn't count the nap he took while running as it wasn't really refreshing.
As he trotted towards his post, he saw a threstal Lunar Guard coming from the opposite direction down the hallway. As they passed he turned his head to get a good look at her well-formed flanks.
"Oi, what do you think you're doing?" She said in an accent he placed as belonging to the Northern Equestrian Mountains.
"Just inspecting the troops." He quiped back, pausing in his journey to get a full look at her.
"Well do I pass 'inspection'?" She replied in a tone implying both interest and more than a little threat, striking a bit of a pose and brushing her usual ponytail-styled mane a bit.
"Yes, and if I wasn't on duty... but I am and I've got a closet to go guard." He said in a slightly exaggerated tone depicting a dramatic sense of duty, before giving a light chuckle.
His laughter infected her minutely as they went their own ways. A few minutes later he arrived at his post and took up position.
Knowing that he would be there for a while and that there would be a few other guardponies checking in on him randomly, he took up one of his favorite mental pastimes to help prevent him from falling asleep. Thinking up new beer recipes.
Lunch rolled around and Bud was brought lunch by his Sergeant. He also stood watch so that Bud could relax a little and take a short break. They chatted while he ate.
When the Sergeant left Bud was back to standing around with nothing to do but to think. As such his mind wandered towards all that had happened while he was on leave. Missing out on both an invasion and a small brawl between the Solar and Lunar guards during the retraining that had taken place afterwards had him feeling a little left out.
Thinking about what he had heard, he had no problem agreeing that most of the Solar Guards had gotten a bit lazy with their duties. He had been in the guard for a few years now and was one of the few who put all the effort into their duty. He had also refrained from taking a promotion to Sergeant as he didn't feel the need for command, he didn't even want to make the lateral move from Specialist to Corporal.
He had had some interaction with the Lunar Guard during joint training sessions and the occasional meeting on the castle grounds or the city itself, although due to the shift differences such interactions were rare. He did learn enough about them that he had already been considering requesting a transfer over to them. It was that or not renew his contract when his tour of duty ended, but he did enjoy being a guard still. Maybe if he was quick enough he could get it all said and done before that one officer rounded up all the instances he had gotten into fights while on leave and tried to get him kicked out of the guard.
After getting relieved of duty for the day Bud headed towards his bunk, fully intent on sleeping after a day and a half of being awake. He planed to go and fill out his transfer request first thing in the morning. Collapsing onto his bed, he fell asleep before his head had fully hit the pillow.
Bud steeled himself as he straightened himself up before entering the small room he had been ordered to go to. His transfer request had been handled rather quickly than he had expected, though that might have had to do with how much chaff the princesses had cut from the ranks after the invasion had happened. Things tend to get handled a bit quicker when there are less ponies muddying up the process for their own sense of importance.
"Specialist Bud Dale I presume?" Said an authoritative voice belonging to the alicorn mare occupying the room. Her dark mane fluttered ethereally as she stood up to greet him.
"Yes your highness." Bud said as he looked directly into Princess Luna's eyes. Noting a slight hint of surprise that he was tall enough to do so. "It is a pleasure and an honour that you decided to review my transfer request personally."
"Don't be worried, I take a bit more of an active role with the Lunar Guard than my sister does with the Solar Guard. Though I will admit, my choice to review you is due to more personal interest. My sister had mentioned a rather large earth stallion dragging a platoon around the dirt track the other day and I had wanted to meet you. Now I've gone over your record, and there is only a single, recent mark against it. Something about a tussle in a tavern?" She said while moving to sit next to a table with some papers spread about on it.
"I like to keep my personal and professional lives apart, so if you would allow me to speak off the record." Bud said, questionably. Getting a slight nod from Luna he continued. "I've been in bar fights for almost as long as I've been helping my family deliver the beer we brew. In fact seeing how many bars we can get banned from has become something of a family game, my older brother's been banned from so many he has to have the bar employee's help him deliver the beer since he isn't allowed inside. It's all in good fun, we do what we can to ensure that the fights don't drag in ponies who don't want to be a part in then, and even will work to stop a fight if it looks like it would go to far. I've taken a hit or two that would probably have put the pony they were aimed at in the hospital, but have never sent somepony there myself."
"I understand, and looking over some of the other stuff about you, there is only one way I'd be willing to accept your transfer. You take the shift into being Corporal Bud Dale." She said with a slight grin.
"Just tell me when to pick up my new armour and where to report to." Bud said with a smile as he saluted Princess Luna.