“Halt!” One of the guards held a hoof up, stopping the approaching pair. “This area is off-limits while the guards conduct an investigation into th-” The guard was cut off by the mare.

“So help me, if you do not step aside this very moment and allow me access to my special somepony, I will break you in ways unfathomable.” All the while, the mare’s gaze had bored hard into the guard. He swallowed heavily and began to shift nervously, unable to break his own gaze away from that of Octavia’s.

“Buck Luna, didn’t they ever teach you guys never to come between a mare and her SSP? That’s like Lesson Zero, amateurs.” Trigger ceremoniously ribbed the rookie into submission while Octavia stood in what could adequately be described as a fuming mess. She was doing her best to ignore him, but the obsidian stallion did not particularly mind. His pegasus cohort had assuredly gotten Magic Barrier there in time, and that would prove reward enough.

“Stand down soldier,” a firm and familiar voice called out, breaking Octavia’s death-gaze on the assaulted guard.

Not even waiting for the stallion’s reply, Octavia pushed roughly past the guard, the black unicorn trotting carefully behind her, a slight grin on his face.

“So, is Barrier a squealer?” The black unicorn asked with what appeared to be genuine curiosity.

“Shining.” Octavia mostly ignored the two unicorns, instead going further into the hospital.

“And you are?” Shining asked, his eyes resting on black unicorn.

“The stallion that made you all look like colts,” Trigger quipped as a satisfied grin usurped control of his countenance. “Well, at least one of them. Be sure to put a nice thank you note in the papers for it. I’m sure ponies will get a damn kick out of it.” He shrugged off the well-known captain and reaffixed his sights upon the grey mare. His biting amber eyes softened to effective grip of concern as he continued, “Magic Barrier will be fine. When he’s up and about, please be sure to tell him that the DOC sends its regards.”

Shining glared at the Coltston-wearing unicorn with an expression that fell somewhere between rage and confusion. He clenched his jaw in annoyance at the stallion’s brash behavior and blinked a couple times as the darkened spirals of teleportation magic whisked the smirking pony from his presence.

“Thank you…” Octavia whispered softly as the stallion vanished, the last dregs of adrenaline leaving her body, causing the mare to visibly slump and Shining Armor to snap out of his frustrations and support the mare, preventing her complete collapse.

“Come on, let’s get you somewhere you can rest while we wait for news on Magic Barrier.” Carefully levitating the sword out of the mare’s loose grip, Shining walked forward, slowly guiding her.

“Will he be okay?” Octavia asked, allowing the stallion to guide her to the waiting room. Much to her surprise, Princess Luna sat in the lobby, boredom clear on her face.

“He should be fine. The doctors said that the bolt popped a lung and caused blood to spill into it. They’re going to drain the blood and then fix the lung up. He should be fine by morning, if a little sore.” Shining explained.

“Your Highness.” Octavia bowed wearily. She had already been borderline asleep before the whole attack, to say nothing of the subsequent adrenaline-rush and following crash; it took what little energy she didn’t have left to address the princess.

“Rise, Octavia, you’ve no need to bow in a time such as this.” The princess raised a hoof, waving the mare off. “Tell us, Shining Armor, has any new information become available?”

“I’m afraid not, Your Highness. There was mention of a ‘DOC’ by another pony, but he teleported away before I had an opportunity to question him. I’m afraid we won’t know anymore until Miss Melody awakes.” The stallion glanced at the sleeping form of Octavia, sprawled out on the floor.

The princess’ eyes widened at the mention of the ‘DOC’, and she almost vocalized the fact that her sister had disbanded the ‘DOC’ nearly nine centuries ago.

“We see.” The princess acknowledged. “Very well, we shall return to the castle. Inform us or our sister as soon as she, or Magic Barrier awakens. Until one of us comes to speak to them, I do not want either pony disturbed. Is this understood, Captain?”

“Yes ma’am.” Shining Armor saluted smartly.

“Very well then, we suggest thou get some sleep Captain, you’ve no doubt a very long day ahead of us.” The princess, with a flourish of her horn, vanished in a flash of light.

Octavia blinked in irritation as the sunlight began to filter dimly through the windows of the waiting room. “Barrier, close the blinds…” The mare muttered unintelligibly, rolling over to try and escape the morning light. “Barrier…” The mare groaned out, reaching over with a hoof, expecting to find the stallion. When her hoof caught nothing but air, she tilted her head up wearily and her eyes widened as the night’s events raced back to her. Without ceremony, Octavia shot bolt upright and all but galloped to the front desk.

“Can I help you?” A pale-blue mare with her mane in a tight, dark-blue bun asked without looking up from her paperwork.

“I’m looking for a unicorn named Magic Barrier. Black coat, two-tone blue mane, sword-and-shield cutie-mark, ice-blue eyes. He was brought in late last night with a punctured lung.” Octavia rattled off the information without taking a breath, causing the nurse to look up from her paperwork.

“He’s in room two-twenty-seven, but under…”

Octavia trotted off, completely disregarding anything else the mare had to say.

“Miss, this room is off-limits.” One of the two guards outside the room had moved to block Octavia’s entry, only for his companion - a very familiar pegasus with an orange coat and two-tone blue mane - to wave him off.

“It’s okay, she’s cleared to see him.” Flash Sentry stepped off to the side to allow the mare inside the room, following her inside.

Magic Barrier slept comfortably on the bed, the only indication of the night’s events being a short square of gauze covering his chest and a second square over his shoulder, where the bolt had struck.

A sad smile perched on her face. “That should’ve been me, you know?”

“Uh, ma’am?” Flash asked uneasily.

“The arrow, I mean. He shoved me to the ground and threw up a barrier around us to try and stop it. It all happened so fast that I didn’t really know what was going on until he hit the ground and told me to run.” Octavia sighed and rested her chin on the edge of the bed, near Barrier’s head.

“It was impressive, you know?” Flash took a seat a respectable distance from the mare. “You ran nearly four miles with him on your back, from what I understand.”

“There was no alternative.” Octavia’s voice was muffled slightly as she draped her muzzle over the unicorn’s chest, careful to avoid the gauze. “He would have done the same thing for me.”

“Can you tell me anything about him? Last time he looked at me, it looked like he knew me, but I can’t remember meeting him. Was kind of creepy, how he stared at me, though. Felt like I was trying to meet some impossible standard.”

Octavia chuckled slightly, “I honestly think he does that just to mess with ponies. In any case, he sort of does know you. He and your great-grandfather served together a millennia ago, after all.”

Flash’s muzzle scrunched in confusion. “What? He’s only like...twenty-something.”

“One-thousand and twenty-seven years old, to be exact.” Octavia shot upright, glancing down at the unicorn she had previously been resting on.

“Morning.” The unicorn smiled sheepishly at Octavia, who was frowning at him for having scared her.

“Wait, one-thousand and twenty-seven years? You mean that rumor was true?” Flash’s expression shifted to sheer confusion.

Barrier inwardly grunted as the voices rerverberated around his aching skull.

“I feel like I’ve been going over this story way too often lately. I was a guard before Nightmare Moon, I got banished with Nightmare Moon, I returned with Nightmare Moon. The end.” The unicorn huffed out in mild irritation.

“So when you said he served with my ancestor…” The pegasus turned uncertainly to the earth-pony,

“She meant it literally. More specifically, your ancestor was one of my best friends and you look a lot like him.”

The room fell into silence for several minutes before Barrier asked a question that had been burning in his mind for awhile. “So Flash…got any kids?”

“So neither of you can remember anything about your mysterious saviors?” The princess of the sun sat across from them in the chair previously occupied by Flash Sentry.

“Sorry, Your Majesty, I lapsed into unconsciousness before they appeared.” Barrier tilted his head apologetically.

“And I was far too caught up in getting to the hospital to learn anything about the ponies beyond their race, for obvious reasons.” Octavia bit her lip in uncertainty. She didn’t like lying to the princess, but Magic Barrier had insisted they keep what they knew secret for reasons he had yet to explain.

“Very well, I suppose that concludes this interview. I wish you both a swift recovery.” The princess looked at the two with an uncertain expression before she and both of her guards departed, leaving the pair in silence.

The moment the door closed and the sound of hoof-steps faded away, Octavia turned to the unicorn. “I hope you have a very good reason for convincing me to lie to the princess, Barrier.”

“Sorry, I didn’t want to put us in that situation, but when you told me the DOC sent its regards, I couldn’t help it. Chances are, Princess Celestia doesn’t know about them, and if what I’ve heard about the special forces being disbanded eight-hundred some years ago, it’d be best if it stays that way.”

“I don’t understand, what the hay is the DOC?” Octavia asked as she departed her chair in favor of crawling into bed next to the stallion.

“Dark Ops Corps.” Barrier explained. “They’re Equestrian Special Forces...uh, unofficially I guess. “ Barrier shifted to allow the mare more room to get comfortable before scooting in close once again and throwing a hoof over her.

“And you decided we should withhold knowledge of their existence from the Princess, because…?” The pair were a tangle of limbs, muzzles facing each other.

“Because she’d probably try to disband them, which would make their jobs harder. Besides that, they risked a lot saving us, the least we can do is not oust them. If they wanted the princess to know, they would’ve told her. Besides, didn’t you say Shining Armor told Princess Luna about the DOC last night before you fell asleep?”

“I vaguely remember him mentioning it to her, but it was very late and I was very tired.”

“Then it’ll be fine. If Princess Luna thinks they’re a threat, she’ll tell her sister. Chances are, she sees them like I do, though.”

“And how do you see them?” The mare asked as she nuzzled into the stallion’s shoulder.

“I see them as a group of ponies able to handle the shadier sides of the realm. They can do what Princess Celestia is too overconfident to see needs done.” Barrier’s voice dropped towards the end, a light sleep beginning to take him.

“You’ve a lot of confidence in ponies you know nothing about…” Octavia muttered in response, drifting off to sleep herself.

“Mr. Barrier, it’s come to my attention that you’re awake!” A pony pushed the door open and trotted into the room, throwing both ponies out of the oncoming sleep.

The couple once again sat in Shining Armor’s office, this time inquiring as to whether or not they would be needed for anything before departing back to Manehattan.

“Relax, you’ve got nothing to worry about since you didn’t kill the ponies. Would sure like to question the mystery-pegasus and his unicorn friend, though.” The bitterness was clear in Shining’s voice. While grateful the pair had rescued the two, he already didn’t like the unicorn.

“While I’m thinking about it…” Barrier levitated a quill and inkwell from Shining Armor’s desk and quickly scribbled down a drawing. “Do either of you recognize this?” He had scribbled a rough yet legible drawing of an atom.

“That’s an atom.” Octavia was the first to reply. “Not that I mind, but why would you choose now of all times to ask about that?”

“I saw it shortly after I came back with Luna and I couldn’t remember where or what it was. Mostly forgot about it, but for some reason, it came back to mind just now. Figured since we’re mostly done with the business portion I’d ask.” The stallion shrugged noncommittally and turned to Shining Armor. “So Shiny, I didn’t see you at your sister’s play last night. Is it correct to assume you were out with Cadance?”

Shining gazed at the unicorn flatly in response. “Yeah, I proposed to her.” He admitted. “The night was going great and she said yes, then the guards show up at my door telling me there’s been a fight and that you were shot, absolutely ruining the mood and forcing me to leave her side. I’m also at work on Hearth’s Warming Eve filing paperwork.” The flat gaze intensified.

“Well, at least she said yes. Sorry about the whole arrow-to-the-lung thing. Trouble is an old drinking buddy of mine.” Grinning, Barrier climbed out of the chair and stretched, wincing slightly as he did so. While the magical healing had done wonders, he was still sore and the doctors had advised him to avoid any strenuous activities, lest he tear the magical sutures.

“Happy Hearth’s Warming, Shining.” Octavia smiled weakly at the stallion, who smiled softly in response.

“Be careful you two. I’d hate to spend all of today writing up and filing another report.” Shining commented as the pair left his office.

“Barrier…” Octavia waited until they had left the castle and were mostly alone. “Do you ever regret being with me?” The hesitation in her voice was clear, causing Barrier to stop.

“I, what?” Barrier began, uncertain how to reply. The hesitation and uncertainty in the mare’s expression was enough to make him lurch forward, wrapping her in a tight embrace. “I don’t regret it for a moment, and I don’t ever plan to. ‘Tavi, what brought this on?”

“I’m sorry, it’s just…” The mare blinked back tears, shaking her head a bit in an effort to clear her thoughts. “This marks the second time you were injured in my stead.” The mare seemed to pick up steam as she spoke, “If you weren’t with me, you wouldn’t have been shot.” The steam disappeared and Octavia glanced forlornly at the ground. “It would be better if I simply le-” The mare was cut off by Barrier roughly pressing his lips to hers, silencing any further speech.

“Don’t ever think that it was your fault.” Barrier replied sharply as he broke the kiss. “If I had it to do over, I wouldn’t change a thing. Besides, if you left me, I’d just stalk you.” The casual delivery towards the end got a light chuckle out of the mare.

“Thank you.” Was her simple response as she pressed her side into his and the pair once more trotted off.

“So, Tavi’, what can you tell me about these atoms?”

Author's Notes:

Another bit co-written with Wing {the guy gives me a vocabulary-boner} so go give the guy love. Preferably all over his face and lower-back.

In other news, Alticron actually did it. Figured I'd make them go hungry last night for disobedience, but when I walked in this morning to check on the chapter status Alticron was chewing his way Izanagi's friggin' ankle. Ultimately had to broker a deal where I give him a whole chicken once a week to do whatever it is depraved individuals do with two free holes with and he won't eat Izanagi. Think I got the worse of that deal. Least they're still editing and proofing.