“Honestly, I can’t take you anywhere.” Octavia chided as she dabbed a damp napkin on Barrier’s head, wiping a small trickle of blood off of the stallion’s forehead. “Don’t get hurt I said, you come back hurt. Stay still while I clean your lip I said, you flail like a foal.” The mare focused once more on the treatment, pouring rubbing alcohol on the wound.

“Where’s the part about where you split my head open with the frying pan?” Barrier asked, a slight smile on his face.

“I was simply worried about you.” The mare had the good grace to look ashamed as she neatly wrapped a bandage diagonally around her counterpart’s head.

“You’re worried about me, so you hit me with a frying pan when I tried to run. Where did you even get a frying pan?”

Braeburn watched in disbelief as the pair carried a casual conversation. Barrier had made it out of the saloon only for Octavia to be worried about his - admittedly - very bloody lip which had leaked spectacularly onto his chest, making him look rather gruesome. When Barrier refused to let her clean him up and check him for wounds, the pair had started arguing, before something was said and Octavia clocked him with a cast-iron frying-pan. Needless to say, the unicorn gave into her request immediately after.

“You never know when you’ll need a frying pan.” Octavia said wisely, backing away from the unicorn and examining her hoof-work. “And…sorry, for, you know.” She motioned to the bandages on his head.

“Eh, I’ve had worse. I don’t think it was your intention to actually hit me with it so much as it sorta happened when we fell.” Barrier nuzzled the mare affectionately, which she returned.

Braeburn smiled at the pair’s clear affection for the other, “So, Barrier. How’d ya do that thing with the pony that was tryin’ to buck ya’?”

“Uh, which one? There were three of four.” Barrier chuckled and turned to meet gazes with the stallion. “Assuming you mean the last one. When he went to buck me, I ducked underneath and hit him in the femoral nerve on his front-left foreleg. It’s on the inside of the thigh, around the same height as the testes. A good blow there tends to numb that leg up. Nothing permanent, mind you, but it’s damn effective.”

“I’ll say.” Sheriff Silverstar trotted into the office, a stack of papers in hoof. “Five of twelve ponies say they tried ta’ fight you and none of’em ‘cept Lucky Clover got ya.”

“Lucky Clover? That the pony that caught me with the chair when I walked in?” Barrier chuckled slightly. “I should probably apologize to him, hitting him in his carotid like that. He okay?”

“Lucky’s fine. Said he was sorry about nailing you with a chair. Sorta heat-of-the-moment, he says.” The sheriff plopped down into his chair.

“Well, we should probably be on our way, then.” Barrier climbed upright, followed by Octavia and Braeburn. “Gotta find a place to crash for a couple of days before we head home.”

“Why shoot, we got a spare room on the farm. Ya’ll can stay with us if you’d like. Any friend of AJ’s is a friend o’mine.”

“Braeburn Apple the ninth.” A gruff older pony, nearly identical to Braeburn, with the exception of noticeably darker colors and a larger build was speaking to Magic Barrier and Octavia in the living room. “Father to Apple Barrier.” The pony closed the filing cabinet and passed a thin manilla folder over to the unicorn. “Afraid we don’t have a whole hay of a lot of information about him. Born and raised in Dodge Junction, joined the guard at sixteen, spent most of his life in it. We ain’t got any information about his time in the guard. Moved back to Dodge Junction after his discharge and started a family.” The stallion shrugged and leaned back in his chair, sipping a glass of lemonade.

Barrier glanced over the discharge papers of the pony in question. “He was discharged as soon as the Nightmare Wars ended.” Barrier sighed softly. “He left the military less than six months after I disappeared.” Barrier commented as he placed the certificate back into its envelope.

“Waddya mean?” The older pony asked, glancing at the staircase leading to the second floor, Braeburn carefully making his way back to the first floor, having been preparing the guest room.

Opening up another envelop, Barrier slipped the papers out, smiling nostalgically as he glanced at a set of six cutie-marks all grouped closely together - the three most noticeable being a dark-silver apple, a blue shield with a bolt in the center, and a shield with a sword behind it and a familiar arcane star in the center. The vast majority of the text on the paper was blacked out, and what wasn’t was extremely faded and only barely legible; the paper was clearly aged. It was astonishing to see the documents survive so long, Barrier mentally noted.

“These here.” Barrier pointed out six marks. “Were the cutie-marks of the six members in our squad, one-thousand years ago. Shining said they use pictures these days, but back then our cutie-marks would be copied into our file to identify us. Your great-grandfather, Braeburn Apple the Ninth, was a member of this team. As was myself and four others.” Barrier turned around, showing his cutie mark to the stallion, who took the paper and compared the two.

“Huh, so AJ weren’t exaggerating.” The older stallion commented, replacing the picture in the folder. “The letter she sent said you were from one-thousand years ago, but it was a mite hard to believe.” The stallion admitted.

“Oh, I understand completely.” Octavia agreed. “I thought he was out of his mind when we first met.”

“She still thinks I’m out of my mind, if we’re being honest.” Barrier chuckled. “Not entirely wrong I suppose.”

“So, Mr. Barrier,” The pony locked eyes with the unicorn. “I’ve told you what I can about my ancestor, can you tell me what you know about him? What did he do in the Royal Guard? Almost everything is marked out in his files.”

“Black operations mostly.” Barrier admitted, pursing his lips. “Sabotage, assassinations, problem solving basically.”

“So my ancestor killed ponies for a living?” The stallion asked, his own lips tightening.

“We killed more than ponies. Any creature that the princesses felt posed a threat to Equestria, whether they threatened us with war or looked to be preparing for a war that could involve us, we dealt with them. It was mostly the Griffins, but we dealt with minotaurs and ponies as well as a few other races.” Barrier glanced sadly at his mare-friend, who responded by placing a hoof on his shoulder. Shaking the dark thoughts from his head, Barrier continued, “We didn’t always like what we did, Braeburn first and foremost, and we tried to pursue diplomatic routes first and foremost, but we did what we had to in order for Equestria to prosper and I’ll not apologize for it, nor would any of the team.”

The stallion’s gaze had hardened over the course of the conversation and the couple had half-expected to be thrown out.

“Ya did what you had to, nothin’ more, nothin’ less.” Braeburn had reappeared at the top of the stairs. “Can’t say I like the thought of killin’ ponies or other creatures, but the princess wouldn’t have made ya’ll do it if it weren’t important, would they?”

“No, the Princesses never gave us orders like that without a good reason, and most of it was split up between the different special forces at the time.” Barrier glanced apologetically at his host, knowing he had probably upset him by telling him his ancestor was a killer. The Apple family had always had very strong morals surrounding topics such as that, at least to his knowledge.

His tight expression fading, Braeburn’s father closed his eyes and took a deep breath, calming himself. “So, Braeburn the Ninth was a part of the special forces?”

“Yeah, Sergeant Braeburn Apple. Though he was a sergeant first class on his discharge papers, so he probably got promoted right after the war, before he was discharged.” A very brief flash of hurt crossed the stallion’s face, though he was quick to mask it from his hosts.

“And what about the other special forces you mentioned?” Octavia inquired, attempting to shift the topic from his old friend, however slightly.

“Hay if I know.” Barrier gazed at the mare appreciatively, “We didn’t really get involved with each other. The only other team we really worked with were the Wonderbolts, and they had dealings in just about all of the other special operations.”

“I thought the Wonderbolts were just celebrity stunt-flyers?” Braeburn asked quickly, taking a seat next to his father, clearly interested in the subject, regardless of it having drifted away from the original topic.

“Not sure about now, but back then the Wonderbolts were our aerial infantry. What I’m talking about was the Dark-Ops branch of the Wonderbolts though.” Barrier took a sip of his lemonade, savoring the drink for a moment before once more picking up his narrative, “Unlike the main branch of the Wonderbolts, they weren’t entirely pegasus-exclusive. They handled reconnaissance and scouting, as well as serving as a quick-response unit and support for the other special operations. They could be pretty much anywhere in the blink of an eye, and I can’t count how many times they pulled our flanks out of the fire.” Barrier started to lapse into memory, snapping back to reality as Octavia rested a hoof on his lap, stopping the daydream.

“Well, Braeburn, why don’t we go start dinner and let our guests get settl’d in?” The older stallion asked gruffly as he stood up from his chair, followed by Braeburn.

“Yessir,” Braeburn nodded smartly and turned to his guests. “Ya’ll are in the second door on the left, upstairs.” The stallion instructed, before both he and his father trotted off to the kitchen, his father taking the briefcase with him.

When the pair was alone, Octavia turned to the unicorn, a worried expression on her face.

“It’s fine.” The stallion responded sadly, taking a shaky breath. “It helps knowing he settled down and had a family. Hurts to know I left the guys behind, but it does me good to know he didn’t die on some foreign battlefield.”

The pair sat in a pleasant silence for nearly fifteen minutes, the only sounds being that of Braeburn and his father cooking in the kitchen.

“I’m a little surprised, you know? I had expected to be here longer trying to figure this out, but it’s only been a day and we’re pretty much done here.”

“Well, at least now we won’t have to ask for extra time off of work.” The mare climbed upright, pulling her stallion upright in the process. “Not that I would mind doing that, if needed.” She quickly added, smiling weakly at the stallion.

“I appreciate it.” Barrier trotted towards the stairs, the mare leaning into his side, as he did the same to her. “You taking off of work to come to Ponyville with me and then right out here to Appleloosa. Don’t think I’ll ever understand how you put up with me.”

Octavia didn’t respond, instead letting the conversation lapse into silence as the pair made it to the guest room. The room was a simple affair, having a full-sized bed, a couple of wooden nightstands and a single solitary dresser, as well as a lonely window on the far wall. Plain but functional, Barrier supposed.

Flopping down wearily on the bed, Barrier wrapped himself around Octavia as soon as she laid down, snuggling into her. “So, what should we do next? We’re already done here, and guessing by what we saw earlier there isn’t much to see. Not to mention this heat is absolutely miserable.”

“Mm, what about Canterlot?” Octavia muttered through her pillow. “That Flash Sentry fellow was there. Perhaps he could tell you about your other friend.”

“Mm, maybe.” Barrier spoke with his muzzle pressed up against Octavia’s neck, causing the mare to giggle at the ticklish sensation. Smirking, Barrier continued, pressing his lips even closer, “Then again, I think I’d rather just head home, unless you want to personally stop in Canterlot.”

Octavia was unable to respond, the giggles escalating to laughter as she began to try and pull away.

“But then again, I guess we could stop in and see Shiny and the family,” Barrier continued to ramble aimlessly, tightening his grip around the mare to prevent her fleeing. “I do need to see what they want for Hearth’s Warming, after all.” Falling silent, Barrier proceeded to blow a raspberry on the back of the mare’s neck, causing her to laugh even harder and flail. The fun came to an abrupt stop as she got loose and rolled over onto him - suddenly, it had become a full-blown wrestling match, both sides trying to come out on top.

“Mr. Barrier, Miss Melody!” Braeburn tapped sharply on their door and pushed it open. “Dinner’s read…y…” the words died in his mouth as he took in the scene before him. Octavia rested on top of the unicorn, both ponies breathing heavily as beads of sweat trickled down their face. The covers and sheets were all over the floor and both of the ponies had turned to stare at him, wide-eyed like a foal who had just been caught elbow-deep in the cookie jar.

“Um, ah…” Braeburn’s face lit up an apple and he quickly turned his back to the pair. “Dinner’s ready, see ya’ll at dinner, bye!” He jerked the door shot and the pair could hear him scrambling down the hallway.

“Never realized,” Barrier had finally begun to catch his breath, “how strong you were.” The mare had pinned him several times, and ultimately came out on top.

“I try to stay in shape, I’ll have you know.” Octavia leaned in closer to the unicorn, her eyes half-lidded and she pecked him softly on the lips.

“It shows…” Barrier bit his tongue and glanced over the mare’s figure. He had always known Octavia was in good shape - the mare looked phenomenal, but he’d never realized how much of it was muscle. Meeting the mare’s half-lidded gaze, he bit his tongue even harder. Tempting as it was, their hosts had invited them to dinner. “Guess we should be heading down to dinner. No telling what Braeburn thinks we were doing.”

At those words, the mare’s sultry gaze suddenly shifted and her cheeks heated up, realizing what the pony had probably observed it as. “Yes, dinner sounds good right about now.”

Author's Notes:

Heads up, the whole Wonderbolts DarkOps concept [least that one I'm referencing] belongs to Wing and you should probably check his story out if/when you have the time.

Thanks to my editors/proofers {Izanagi/Alticron} as always, couldn't do what I do without them, and thanks to everyone who reads this drivel - you guys keep me going. :)