“And you didn’t tell me this, why? I’d love to hear you play.” A soft voice echoed through the train, followed shortly by accompaniment.

“Because I knew you’d probably want to hear me play. Just because I can play it, doesn’t mean I’m good. Besides, where in the hay would we put a piano?”

“And the crate?” Octavia replied, glancing to the large crate that Barrier had insisted on bringing with them to the cabin.

“That’ll size down when the crate itself is gone. Plus, it’s far more vital than a piano.”

“And I’m still not allowed to open it?” The mare raised an eyebrow slightly.

“It’s your gift, love, you can open it whenever you please. It just happens you’ve not yet had the time.” Barrier smiled softly at his mare.

“In that case, perhaps I should op-”

Octavia was cut off as a voice called through the speakers, informing them that they had arrived in Canterlot and were about to depart.

The mare stared at Barrier, a thin smile on her face. “Well played, Barrier.”

“Thank you, mistress.” Barrier replied, a much more noticeable smile adorning his features. With a flare of magic, he trotted out of the cabin with the large crate and two travel-bags floating effortlessly behind him.

“We’ll stop at the hotel to drop off our bags and freshen up, and then we’ll head to the theatre.” Octavia informed, trotting a short distance ahead of her companion to lead the way.

“I still don’t see why we have to dress up. It’s just a play.” Barrier grumbled as he buttoned the shirt with practiced ease and tucked his tie in. He was wearing the same outfit he had worn to the gala, at Octavia’s insistence; a black tuxedo-top, white undershirt, and a red tie, though this time he had his sword neatly strapped across his barrel, having replaced the plain leather strap with a less-durable black cloth strap that better matched. As he finished, he turned to face Octavia, only for his jaw to drop and his eyes to widen.

Octavia had a gorgeous black dress on with a frilly chest and a white ribbon tied neatly in the center. Further back, the dress broke off into two layers, a sleek black, broken up by light grey trim; to finish the look, a pair of black slippers covered her forehooves.

Barrier wasn’t terribly knowledgeable about fashion, but damn. The mare was naturally gorgeous, but this was something else entirely.

As the mare put her mane into a neat ponytail and tucked a pale white lily behind her ear, she realized the unicorn was staring at her.

“What?” She asked, blushing slightly at the stare.

“Ah, sorry.” Barrier blushed in response. “Just…” Barrier fell silent again.

“Barrier?” The mare poked him in the shoulder, frowning at the odd behaviour.

“Sorry, it’s just…wow.” He motioned at her outfit. “You’ve always been a beautiful mare, but right now, words simply don’t do you justice.”

Octavia’s expression bloomed into a full blush and the mare turned away at the sheer honesty and reverence in the stallion’s voice. He was never one to withhold compliments and he always seemed genuine, but the statement just sounded like so much more; the mare couldn’t quite pinpoint why, but it made her heart flutter in her chest. “...thank you, Barrier.” The mare responded with a genuine smile on her face. “Shall we be on our way? No doubt the princesses will be at the theatre shortly, it wouldn’t do to keep them waiting.” She held a hoof out for the unicorn to take, which he did with a smile of his own and no hesitation.

“Barrier, don’t give the guards a hard time.” Octavia whispered as one of the guards trotted away from the entrance to the box-seats towards them.

“I’m sorry, but this area is off-limits at this time.” The guard was one of the grey unicorns adorned in ornate golden armor. He had never noticed it, but their coats were quite similar to his own.

“We have an invitation from Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia.” Barrier’s tone rose as he spoke, giving him a more commanding presence.

“Thank you, sir. You’re welcome to go in, but I must ask that you leave your sword here.” The guard glanced at the weapon.

With a silent nod, Barrier levitated the sword off of him. “You lose my sword, you lose your job.” It wasn’t a threat, it was a promise.

“Yes sir.” The guard saluted sharply.

“Was that really necessary?” Octavia asked, hiding a slight grin at how Barrier had turned over his sword.

Barrier snorted in slight amusement. “That sword cost me more than they make in a week and could quite literally cut through their own swords and armor. At least this way, I don’t have to worry about one of them trying to run off with it.”

The mare shook her head in a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

“Ah, Mr. Barrier, Miss Melody, it’s wonderful to see you were able to join us.” The Princess of the Sun smiled warmly at the two new arrivals.

“Fancy Pants, this is Miss Octavia Melody and Sir Magic Barrier, a Knight of Equestria.” The princess introduced the three ponies, Barrier gazing at her curiously as she did so.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Barrier inclined his head politely towards Fancy Pants, while Octavia bowed respectfully.

“Thank you for inviting us, Your Highness, it’s a great honor.” Octavia addressed the Princess of the Sun and her sister, who had remained entirely silent thus far.

Taking his seat across next to Octavia, Barrier glanced down at the stage, though his mind was no longer on the stage. The way the princess had addressed him had his mind running amok.He supposed that technically he was still a knight, despite no longer being a Captain of the Guard, but she had never addressed him as such since his return, so why the sudden change? Even if he was no longer a guard, as a knight he was sworn to defend Equestria if called upon. Frowning at the sudden anxiety gnawing at his stomach, he decided payback was in order.

Inwardly grinning, Barrier turned to the Princess of the Sun, "Forgive me for asking your highness, but have you put on weight recently?"

And silence.

The play was extremely enjoyable, much to Magic Barrier’s surprise. Twilight and her friends had all played their roles excellently, and by the sounds of stomping throughout the theatre, he wasn’t the only one who thought so. In addition to that, Octavia seemed to have brokered a function for her and her ensemble to play at for Fancy Pants. All in all, it had been a fairly pleasant night, despite the slight unease brought on by his title being used.

Saying their goodbyes and thanks to the two princesses and their new acquaintance, the pair departed.

A satisfied smile sat upon the mare’s features as the pair leaned against each other, walking carefully through the streets. Slowly, the mare opened her mouth wide to let out a yawn left as her eyes drooped sleepily.

Barrier himself had started to get rather drowsy, the day’s travels catching up to him. Turning to the mare to offer to carry her the rest of the way, Barrier suddenly heard a low click, followed by his body instinctively flooding with adrenaline. In the span of two seconds, Barrier’s horn flared to life and he shoved Octavia the opposite way, throwing her to ground, much to the mare’s surprise. No sooner than she hit the ground, another click, this one followed by a sharp twang joined in, further breaking the silence of the night.

Turning her gaze up to berate her lover, Octavia’s eyes widened as the barrier shattered and a flash of pain crossed the unicorn’s face, followed by a twenty-inch piece of wood and metal burying itself half-way into the unicorn’s side, just below his withers; the magical shield had done little to stop the bolt, it seemed.

Barrier could feel the blood pooling in his lung, as well as a headache from the shattered shield; glancing off to the sides, he counted four ponies rushing towards the pair as well as a fifth pony working to reload the crossbow. “Run…” Barrier managed to gurgle out weakly.

Meeting his eyes, Octavia’s blood ran cold. For the first time, she saw genuine fear in the stallion’s eyes. Glancing around at the ponies closing in on them, Octavia swallowed heavily and rushed forward, barreling into Magic Barrier’s knees, bending the joints and hunching down, causing the stallion to roll onto her back. With a strength unique to an earth pony, Octavia took off at a dead sprint, the stallion bouncing on her back.

Barrier could feel blood leaking out of the corner of his mouth and onto Octavia’s dress. Throwing his blurry vision towards the back, he could see a number of ponies rushing after them and steadily gaining, what with him weighing Octavia down. Fighting to stay conscious, Barrier attempted to roll himself off the side, only for Octavia to suddenly shout at him.

“So help me Celestia, if you fall off of me, we will die together!” Her voice was sharp and hard, almost daring him to try again.

Futilely, the stallion attempted to argue, though all that came out was a pained gurgle.

“Guess we die together then…” The thought ran through his head as blackness edged into his vision.

The last things to cross his vision before the blackness enveloped him was the sight of a pegasus dropping down onto the crossbow wielding unicorn, an audible snap ringing out as the unicorn crumbled like a sack of potatoes with a shattered spine, followed by the ponies cloak billowing around him, revealing a cutie mark that Barrier couldn’t quite place and a particularly nice flank. Not the worst image to die with, Barrier reasoned to himself.

Octavia slowed down as the hooves behind her slid to a stop, following a sickening crunch. Gasping in huge amounts of air, she turned just in time to see a pegasus leap off of a collapsing unicorn for one of the aggressor’s companions. Crashing into him, the pegasus slammed the pony to the ground, driving his hoof hard into the pony’s jaw several times in rapid succession until he was still.

“Get him!” one of the three remaining ponies finally yelled out, prodding the trio to advance towards the mystery pegasus, only for the pony who had shouted to collapse forward, a bolt sprouting from his chest, dead before he hit the ground.

The other two ponies gave pause; it was the biggest mistake of their lives. The mystery pegasus rushed towards one of them at a speed that would make Rainbow Dash proud, twirling himself around the pony’s neck and onto his back, his hooves latching onto the throat in a single fluid movement. In seconds, the pegasus was hunched down on his knees, futilely grasping at the pegasus’ hooves, each attempt at freedom growing more feeble than the last.

Seeing his sole remaining partner in trouble, the final assailant made to rush forward, only for a crossbow bolt to appear in his knee, punching right through the joint with a wet crunch, causing the pony to scream out in agony and lurch forward, holding his bloodied knee.

Trotting over to the fallen pony, the pegasus glanced down at him, harsh brown eyes glinting dangerously in the dim streetlight. With no hesitation, the pegasus dropped his hoof onto the wailing pony, silencing him almost immediately.

“Stay back!” Octavia warned, drawing Barrier’s sword in her mouth and holding it out in front of her as she had occasionally seen him do.

“Relax miss, I’m here to help.“ The pegasus slowly approached, his pose lax and expression as gentle as it could be while his eyes drifted to the unicorn on Octavia’s back, whose breathing grew more ragged by the second.

Octavia didn’t respond as she recoiled slightly, her eyes swapping between her fallen assailants and one of the ponies that had put them down.

“I know you’re on edge and probably in a bit of shock. You have no reason to trust me, and if I were in your situation, I probably wouldn’t trust me either. I am really here to help, though. If you don’t let me, Magic Barrier will die. His lung is collapsed, and I haven’t invented the time travel needed to get him to the hospital five minutes ago.” The pegasus stepped directly underneath a street-light. His cutie-mark and tail were obscured by a dark cloak, though his back, neck, and muzzle were all a faded lavender, whereas his mane was a dark, greyish black. Unlike before, where his eyes had been harsh, they were now a soft, and almost pleasant, chocolate color that seemed to silently plead with the mare to not do something stupid with that sword.

Biting her lip in uncertainty, Octavia glanced at the unconscious stallion on her back. “Very well, but only for lack of an alternative.” The sword clattered to the ground and Octavia carefully trotted up to the pegasus, carefully transferring the large unicorn from her back to the mystery pegasus. “Please, hurry. I can’t lose him…” The mare’s voice, where it had been hard and protective initially, was now desperate and pleading, her eyes filled with worry.

The pegasus turned and gave one solid nod before he whistled sharply, flexed his wings and took off at a speed that would leave the Wonderbolts envious, especially if he hadn’t been carrying over three-hundred and fifty pounds of stallion on his back.

“That stallion would look good in a skirt…” Octavia found the odd thought flitting across her mind and quickly shook it away. Turning back to the sword she had dropped, the mare bent over, aiming to grasp the hilt in her mouth once more, only to bolt upright when somepony whistled at her, blushing angrily as she glanced around, trying and failing to find the source of noise. Glancing back at the sword, she sat down on her flanks first this time, kneeling over to grip the sword in her mouth.

“Not buckin’ bad for a reputable cellist,” a stallion’s voice catcalled the mare, prompting Octavia to clench her jaw upon the hilt of the sword and swing it towards the latest imposition. “I was paying ya a compliment, ya crazy bucker!” he shouted while ducking below the blade. The weapon sheared the very top of his Coltston hat and barely missed the tip of a horn that lurked beneath. “I like ‘em wild, but a colt’s got limits.”

The mare turned to face the stallion, noting how his black coat seemed to absorb the light radiated by the streetlights while his silver mane and cutie mark - a seven-pointed silver star inscribed with the number twenty-two - reflected it. Deep amber eyes met amethyst as Octavia gave him the nastiest look she could muster, no doubt assuming he had been the one who whistled at her earlier.

The stallion grinned widely at the mare. “Oh, you are just adorable.”

She balanced the sword in the crook of her leg. “And you’re repulsive.” Her voice carried a surprising amount of venom as she turned away angrily and took off at a light gallop towards the hospital, mentally noting the stallion running behind her.

“Ya can thank me for kneecapping those asshats later…”

There was no response from the mare - only one clear thought that permeated her focused mind. “Don’t die on me Barrier…”

Author's Notes:

Thanks go out to Wing/Izanagi/Alticorn for editing/ {Wing is OCD so I got him to edit a chapter by having him help write it!} In addition, a huge {see Jon Brower Minnoch} additional thanks to Wing for bot only editing but for co-writing this chapter with me. I'm fairly certain you can all figure out which parts he wrote {they're the good parts} without too much aid. Think I mentioned it a couple chapters back, but if you haven't, check his story A State of Darkness out. Seriously, his characters give me a half-chub. Plus, his signature character, Wing looks great in a skirt. I know it seems like I'm probably jerking him off, but the guy is awesome and his fic deserves way more attention than it has, so help me out by helping him out.

In other news, and stop me if you've heard this one before, two editors walk into a bar, I taze both of them and drag them back to my basement twitching. Figured out why they were cuddling. Alticron somehow got a bobby-pin and they jimmied the damn shackles. Honestly, I should just weld them onto them.