Barrier groaned as light filtered painfully into his eyes, forcing them closed once more. “What the hay happened last night…”

As he tried to sit upright, the unicorn realized he had weights on both sides of him. Cracking his eyes, he glanced to his left, finding Octavia draped over his hoof, her mane a mess and leg twitching slightly.

Okay...who’s on the other side?

Attempting to open his eyes and view the pony, Barrier winced as his eyes slammed shut and pain forced its way through his head. With no small amount of effort, his horn flared and cleared the haze enough for him to take in the...that’s a big bucking pony.

“You were wonderful last night.” The giant muscle turned and smiled seductively.

Barrier bolted upright, throwing Octavia from the bed as he did so, his breathing erratic, his eyes bugging out.

“What’s going on?!” Octavia climbed back onto the bed, nearly as panicked as Barrier, due to his reaction.

“Horror…” Barrier gasped out. “Pure, unadulterated horror…”

Octavia waited impatiently for him to explain.

“Uh. Sorry, just a bad dream.” He smiled sheepishly.

The mare facehoofed and fell back onto the bed.

“Sorry about that. It was a pretty horrifying dream though.”

The mare only grumbled and rolled over, turning her back to him.

With a chuckle, Barrier found himself thinking back to the party; after Berry Punch had pulled out a bottle of Granny Smith’s moonshine, Applejack had bowed out and they went at it. They had both gotten pretty screwed up, but Barrier had the good sense to drink boatloads of water beforehand, at Octavia’s urging.

“I’m surprised you’re up this early.” Twilight sat at the table, coffee mug in her magic and a newspaper in her hooves.

“Some habits never,” Barrier yawned deeply, “die I guess. Can’t even count the number of times I’ve had to get up early with a hangover. Not to mention I had a particularly sobering dream”

“Princess Celestia said you were notorious for being hungover on-duty.” The mare giggled lightly and returned her focus to her coffee-pot on the table, pouring Barrier a cup.

“So,” Barrier took the cup in his magic. “not that I’m complaining-” Barrier turned and watched Octavia stagger down the stairs, looking worse than he did. With a quiet chuckle, he floated his mug of coffee to the mare as she joined them at the table.

Taking the coffee gratefully, Octavia took a sip and plopped her head on the table wearily.

“So, why did you want me to come to Ponyville? I doubt it was just to bask in the glory that is Magic Barrier.”

Twilight giggle-snorted at the statement, blushing slightly when she realized what she had done; Barrier of course, found it amusing, grinning in response.

“I thought we’d gone over everything when I was in Ponyville General.”

“Actually, I wanted to ask you some questions about…” Twilight scrunched her face up and lit her horn, levitating something Barrier had all-but-forgotten about; in her magic, was his old guard-armor.

“I...holy buck, I thought they would’ve thrown this out.” He took the armor from Twilight in his magic, taking in the condition of it.

The armor had been cleaned of blood and grime, though it was still terrible condition. The entire right-side of the armor was still caved in, and there were scuffs and dents all over it. While it was mangled beyond repair, it still resembled a guard’s armor.

Barrier was speechless; his stomach had dropped as he took in the armor. He’d known he was in bad condition, but he should’ve been dead.

Taking a shaky breath, he sat the armor on the table, prompting Octavia to look up at the sound, only to take in the armor herself.

Taking a moment to regain himself, Barrier opened his mouth to speak, only to find no words.

“Princess Celestia had to take the armor off of you, you know. The doctors couldn’t grip it with their magic while it was on.”

“By Celestia, what happened to this armor?” Octavia had rotated the armor and gotten to the point where the right side bent inwards.

What the hay is going on?

Those were the first thoughts that Barrier found passing through his head, though he had little time to ponder them. Glancing down, his eyes widened and he realized he was resting on Nightmare Moon’s back. Almost instinctively, he raised his hoof above the unsteady mare and brought it crashing down between her wings several times in rapid succession, causing her to cry out in agony before he felt her magic envelop him, magic that powerful being nearly alicorn-exclusive.

Well buck.

“You dare strike your queen!”

“Mad?” Barrier spoke quietly, the magical grip around his throat preventing any real noise escaping him.

Nightmare Moon’s eyes narrowed in anger at his audacity, her horn lighting up painfully bright.

Closing his eyes as a painfully bright light erupted from the mare’s horn, Barrier clenched his jaw tightly and grunted as pain erupted across his right side; he vaguely registered that he was flying through the air at break-neck speeds. With a crash, he found himself beneath a crumbling support pillar, hundreds of pounds of stone on top of him.

“Nightmare Moon likes it rough.” Twilight blushed brightly as Barrier continued, “That’s the armor I had on when I came back to the…uh world.” Barrier chuckled humorlessly, magically pouring himself a cup of coffee. “I should’ve been dead.”

“You probably would have been if not for Princess Celestia.” Twilight folded the newspaper and placed it neatly on the table. “She pumped you full of enough magic to kill most ponies.”

“Guess that explains why the doctors cauterized my side rather than sealing it with magic.”

“The doctors didn’t cauterize it.” Twilight explained. “Princess Celestia did. She was with you almost the entire surgery, you know.” Twilight frowned a bit. “None of us thought you would make it. There was a lot of blood…” Twilight trailed off, shivering as she remembered the scene, paling slightly as she did so.

Octavia had fallen silent, still examining the armor.

“Well, at least that’s all over.” Barrier chuckled, trying to lighten the mood, though in truth, he himself felt little joy.

“Yeah. You survived, and that’s all that matters.” Twilight nodded, a smile working its way onto her face.

“So, you had a question about the enchantments on my armor?”

“A couple actually. I asked the princess, but she said she didn’t know much about them.”

Barrier chuckled at that, nodding in agreement to Celestia’s statement.

“I’m not surprised. Most of the armor’s enchantments were spells devised by Princess Luna.”

“Did all of the guards’ armor have such heavy magical enchantment?”

“Nah, most of it was pretty light. When I became a Captain, my armor got a bit of an overhaul, as well as being enchanted by Princess Luna and Princess Celestia themselves. Most of the military was under Princess Luna’s jurisdiction in those days and Princess Celestia didn’t often get involved. Was there a particular enchantment you wanted to know about?”

“This must be the place.”

The pair stood out of an inn that could honestly just be considered a large house.

“It’s rather plain, though I can’t complain too much. It is a rather small town.”

Barrier glanced upward as a snowflake landed on his muzzle. “Huh, I forgot that it’s winter. Almost Hearth’s Warming…not sure how I forgot that.”

Trotting into the building with her companion, the mare smiled slightly. “So it is. It’s quite easy to miss as busy as we stay, though.”

“So uh…” Barrier hesitated, a nervous chuckle escaping him, “Have any plans for Hearth's Warming Eve?”

“I’ve not made plans for Hearth's Warming Eve ever since I left home.” The mare smiled sadly, and shook her head. “I’ve no plans.”

“Well…want to spend the day together? I know we’ve not been dating very long, but I’d really like to spend the day with you, if you’d be willing.” Barrier blushed slightly, really uneasy for some reason, despite normally asking her on dates not bothering him in the slightest.

A slight smile forming on her face, the mare nodded. “I think that’d be lovely.”

“Excellent.” Barrier turned to the counter, chuckling when he realized that he knew the mare sleeping on the counter.

“Miss Berry Punch…” Barrier spoke softly, biting back a chuckle.

“Mm…” The mare slowly opened her eyes, a sick expression on her face. “Wayu want?” she mumbled, closing her eyes as she awaited a response.

“We had a room reserved under the name Barrier. Two full-sized beds, one bath?” Barrier levitated a bag of bits to the counter.

“Just take a key...twenty bits a night.” The mare sounded miserable, furthering Barrier’s amusement.

“One-hundred and twenty bits it is.” He levitated the appropriate amount behind the counter and levitated a key off of the rack. “Here’s to hoping we got an appropriate room.”

No such luck. The room -number 4 according to the key and door- was moderately large, with a single decent-sized dresser and a large not-quite queen-sized bed.

“I’ll go and try a different key and we-” Barrier fell silent as the mare trotted past him and set her saddlebags on the dresser.

“This room will do fine.” She almost sounded pleased.

“Uh, okay.” Barrier didn’t mind terribly. Ever since the night at the Sparkle home, they would occasionally share a bed when circumstances -such as them both being home- permitted.

“So, any idea what you want for Hearth’s Warming?” Barrier levitated his few belongings out of his saddlebag and into the dresser; a pair of scarves and a pair of heavy-duty looking boots, both of which he had bought shortly before winter began. I don’t need anything for Hearth’s Warming. The thought crossed Barrier’s mind almost as soon as Octavia vocalized it.

“I don’t need anything for Hearth’s Warming.” She placed her now-empty saddlebags under the bed. “Just having you with me will be gift enough.”

Barrier felt a slight twinge in his chest and he found himself smiling unintentionally. “Doesn’t mean I won’t get you anything. I can’t promise much as I’m terrible at buying gifts, but I have a couple of ideas.”

Truthfully, Barrier only had a single idea. On occasion, Barrier would get to listen to Octavia practice playing her cello, or he would visit a restaurant she was playing at. It was clear that she took painstaking care of her cello, but it was simply old. It was, according to her, the only cello she had ever owned, which meant she had played it almost eight hours a day every day for almost fifteen-years, sometimes even longer with only the barest of funds to support herself.

From what Barrier could tell, playing at restaurants didn’t pay terribly well, and coupled with her bills, she had been falling behind financially when he moved in, and she outright refused to ask her father for assistance, their relationship being distant and cold at best. The gala had been her big chance, though that didn’t quite pan out as she and her ensemble had hoped.

Only in recent weeks were they starting to come out on top as far as finances were concerned.

“So, where do you want to go for dinner?”

“Hm, what about Sugarcube Corner? Twilight said their sweets are quite delectable.”

Barrier felt his stomach lurch. Cotton Candy lives there. “I suppose that would work, though Pinkie Pie is a bit overwhelming.”

“Indeed. I honestly had to bite my tongue when I first met her at the party. I know she meant well, but she all but ruined the reputation of my ensemble and I at the Grand-Galloping gala.”

“She’s a good pony just…young. Twilight and her friends are good ponies, they just have a lot of maturing to do.”

“Indeed.” The mare pulled a scarf from the dresser, throwing it around herself expertly.

Levitating his own scarf around him, he trotted out the door. “Kind of makes me feel old, talking about them like that. I’m not even thirty yet.”

“Technically, you’re over one-thousand years old. The only ponies older than you are the princesses.”

“And yet you’re dating me. Have a thing for older ponies, I take it?”

Octavia blushed slightly as they left the inn -Berry Punch still unconscious on the counter- and angled themselves towards the nearby Sugarcube Corner.

“So, that wasn’t a no.” He held the door open for Octavia.

“Barrier, shut up.” She trotted in.

Biting his lower lip slightly as his eyes roved over Octavia’s backside, Barrier followed her in.

“Yes master, please don’t punish me master.”

“Then you’d better behave. I’d hate to have to beat you for back talking.” Her voice dropped slightly.

“I have the weirdest boner right now.”

“That’s kinky.” Observed the pink mare behind the counter, a freakishly wide grin on her face.

Octavia blushed intensely, realizing they had said all of that in public while Barrier simply shrugged it off, focusing instead on Pinkie Pie’s casual world-breaking.

How is that physically possible? Her face should be in two separate parts.

“Pinkie Pie,” The stallion spoke casually as he and Octavia sat in a booth as Pinkie Pie hopped over to take their order. “You horrify me.”

Author's Notes:

Damn editor's got into the fridge again. Orange Juice absolutely everywhere. I keep beating them but I think Izanagi enjoys it. Dude was sporting a stiffy last time I tagged him with the belt. Alticron still shies away from the beatings but I'm worried Izanagi will bleed over to him. Sucks.

Also, they're still editing/proofing, but still, Izanagi, awkward pain-boner.