Author's Notes:

So, the next chapter is clop, and also the reason that this fic has change from T to M. My friend Wing wrote the clop, and when I went to upload I was told {despite my explicit permission in the form of pictures and him willing to contact the mods himself} that it wasn't going to happen by a couple of mods. Sucks, but them's the ropes. So yeah, next chapter, NSFW clop. Now, on to my usual AN:

Just...that poor chicken. I don't even know where to begin. I don't think I can subject dead chickens to the fate that is Alticron...they just shouldn't bend that way.

In other news, thanks to Izanagi/Alticron for editing and proofreading, and also another {get used to it, the guy is awesome and I'm a fan} thanks to Wing who also did a good deal of editing. Turns out he is like...OCD about editing and proper grammar, so any time I link him a chapter his OCD-senses get to tingling. It's great and I promise to try and abuse the crap out of it.

Also, this isn't fic-related but I wanted to get out there, just because I can: This guy got owned by a car, who didn't have the decency to call him the next morning. Things are not looking pretty, so if you can, donations are awesome, but if not, spreading it around to anyone you can, would be {and is arguably better} awesome.

“Mark my words, Barrier, as soon as we get to the apartment I am opening that crate.” Octavia all but glowered at the unicorn.

"Hoo." The snowy white owl perched on Barrier's shoulders called out in response to the mare; Fluttershy had been kind enough to bring the owl to Canterlot with her for them, since they were headed back to Manehattan.

The unicorn flipped another page in his magazine and paying her no heed.

“Oh hush you." Octavia glanced at the owl briefly, "Honestly, I can’t help but wonder if you planned all of this out.” The mare huffed and rolled over in her seat, brooding.

Barrier finally relented and replied, “I had actually planned on you opening it the night before Hearth’s Warming. Just got delayed a bit, is all.”

The mare was the silent one this time.

“Oh, don’t be like that.” Barrier levitated the magazine away, tucking it into his bag and draping himself lazily over the mare, jabbing her gently in a rib, getting a slightly-restrained snicker in response. “Cheer up.” He poked her rib again, draping the rest of his weight over her to immobilize her as he began to poke the spot relentlessly; within moments the mare was flailing and laughing.

Aloysius, the owl, wisely departed from the stallions back and watched the pair roll back and forth.

As one would expect, the physically stronger pony had ultimately come out on top, and the two found themselves in a familiar position, this time on the floor of the train. Barrier found himself at a loss for words as warmth flooded his being. With only a moment’s hesitation, he found himself leaning forward. Octavia was apparently thinking the same as the two met in the middle, forming a heated kiss which soon became two, and then ten.

Carefully, Barrier trailed a hoof down Octavia’s spine, working his way towards her flank, only for the moment to be ruined in the form of an announcement: “Attention all passengers, we will be arriving at Manehattan Station in five minutes! Please be ready for departure!” The voice clicked out of existence.

“Ooooh, motherbucker.” Barrier slammed his head into the floor as Octavia climbed off of him, a slight smile on her face as she gazed at the stallion’s predicament.

“I’ll grab your cloak.” The mare giggle-snorted as she reached into the unicorn’s bag and pulled a long cloak and draped it over the stallion, hiding Lil’ Barrier from the world.

“So, did you find anything about our mystery ponies?” Octavia asked as she watched Barrier once more flip through a magazine with a large atom on the cover.

“Nothing in particular. Hard to say if I saw his cutie-mark or if I was just losing it, but it won’t be too hard to find out. Doesn’t seem like there are a lot of pegasi in this magazine. Granted, the chances of me finding him in this magazine hinge on him being a big-name in the world of…” Barrier glanced at the magazine. “Atomic physics.”

“Your dinner.” A voice announced, followed by a blue unicorn levitating a pair of plates onto the table and glancing uncertainly at the owl, who was now pecking away at a hunk of bread.

“Thank you, sir.” Octavia responded politely, while Barrier simply nodded.

“In any case, I’ll probably make a trip to city hall tomorrow and see what I can dig up on the pegasi listed in the magazine. A few of them are listed as ‘of Manehattan’ so there should be something on them there.” Barrier tucked the magazine away once more, placing it in his travel-bags, right next to the pony-sized crate he was still lugging around.

Chewing through a mouthful of pasta, Octavia daintily wiped her mouth with a napkin, much to Barrier’s inward amusement. “Do you think they’ll give you access to their files on these ponies?” The mare raised an eyebrow.

“Pft, who cares?” Barrier swallowed a mouthful of pasta himself. “I’ll ask nicely, and if that doesn’t work I’ll just break in and find what I need on my own.”

Octavia sighed at the stallion’s casual delivery. “Barrier, you can’t just keep breaking laws when it suits you.”

“I know, it’s just so much easier than going through the official channels. Hay, I’d have to message the princesses to get permission for something like that.”

Octavia returned his statement with silence and a deadpan stare.

“You know, that look is ruined by the sauce on your bottom lip, right?” Barrier smirked as the mare suddenly dabbed away with her napkin, despite the fact that no sauce actually existed. “I promise that I’ll try not to make it a habit to commit felonies. But this is kind of important to me. I’m grateful for them saving us, but today’s friend can be tomorrow’s enemy.”

“I’ll hold you to that. I’d rather not conduct our relationship through prison bars, if it can be helped.” Octavia raised her napkin over her mouth to cover a yawn.

“Suppose we should get home and head to bed soon, huh? That train-ride really takes it out of a pony.” Barrier released a yawn of his own in response.

“Oh no you don’t.” Octavia’s gaze narrowed dangerously. “The first thing we’re doing when we get home is opening that blasted crate of yours. Honestly, you went so far as to carry it into the restaurant.”

Barrier let out a loud laugh at the resolve in the mare’s voice, attracting the attention of a couple of several patrons. "What can I say, he needed a place to sit and eat as well." The owl was perched on the crate with his hunk of bread, staring at the two curiously.

“Whoever invented steps should be executed.” Barrier grumbled as the pair climbed the steps, bags and a crate - which at this point was feeling relatively heavy - in his magic.

“It’s not that bad, is it?” Octavia, two cups of coffee later, seemed to have no problem with the stairs.

“Hay if I know. Guess I’m out of shape or something.” True enough, Barrier was slightly winded and could feel a migraine coming on. Remnants of the trip to Canterlot and subsequent lung-magic injury, he supposed.

“Well, perhaps if you hurry, I can help get you back in shape.” The mare quipped as she flicked her tail in the stallion’s face and jumped up several steps, leaving him behind with a rather filly-like grin.

Snorting in response, Barrier took a deep breath and strengthened his hold on the crate and bags before bounding up the steps after her, only vaguely remembering his doctor’s words about no “strenuous activity”

With the near-gallop up the stairs, the broken elevator held little relevance.

“I should really start drinking coffee again…” Barrier all but drug himself to their room, noting that the door was already unlocked, Octavia no doubt inside.

“Bill, bill, lease notice…” The mare was sifting through their mail.

“Nothing interesting?” Barrier asked as he levitated the crate back into the living room, noting how Octavia’s eyes lingered on it. The moment the crate touched the down, the owl flew around to inspect his new surroundings.

“Not terribly. The electric bill, the water bill, and rent. Another reminder about the lease. Since we’re not renewing, I suppose the last one is irrelevant.” The mare climbed up from the kitchen table, glancing towards the crate.

“Open it.” Barrier chuckled out and dipped into a low bow, holding a hoof towards the crate.

“Hm, I think I’ll open it in my room, alone, since I had to wait so long for it.” Octavia trotted towards her bedroom, motioning for Barrier to follow, along with the crate.

“Now that’s mean.” Nonetheless, the unicorn pulled the crate behind him, levitating it into Octavia’s room.

“I’ll be out shortly, love.” Octavia pecked him on the nose and pulled the door shut. Barrier could faintly hear her working on the crate moments later.

“...well played, ‘Tavi.” The unicorn muttered as he went into the kitchen and set about boiling water for coffee. Glancing at the owl perched on the paper-towel holder, Barrier smiled. "You pretty much have free-reign of the place. All I ask is that you concentrate your droppings on the windowsill. Make the people on ground-level suffer and what not." Barrier opened a window with magic and the owl quickly swapped from the bread-holder to the windowsill.

After nearly ten minutes on light conversation with Aloysius, Barrier heard a pleasing melody running through the apartment as he was finishing his coffee. It was vastly different from what he was accustomed to. Normally, Octavia’s music was more reserved and softer - perhaps to try and reduce the stress on her strings. As such, it tended to be soft and rather melodic, but now it was fast and hectic, though no less glorious. Barrier found himself grinning widely as he took a sip of his coffee and listened to the music go through several more phases over a period of fifteen minutes, shifting from slow to fast and low to high, almost as if the two were waging a battle against each other violently before the apartment suddenly fell into silence.

For nearly ten minutes, Barrier sipped his coffee and strained his ears to catch any noise from the mare’s room before she finally called out to him in a particularly coy voice.

“Barrier, would you come here please?”

Throwing back the remainder of his still-hot coffee, Barrier swallowed and climbed upright, trotting to the mare’s bedroom. Raising a hoof to knock, the door suddenly shot open and a sock-clad hoof shot out, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck.

So that’s what color her socks are… were the last thoughts through Barrier’s head before he was yanked into the room and promptly ignored every piece of advice given by his doctor; the owl fled into the night.

And it was glorious.

Seven times. They had went seven times, before Octavia finally fell asleep. He hadn’t been this sore since boot-camp and even that had paled in comparison to the aches he now felt. The first time had been incredibly sensual and meaningful, but after that things got progressively more primal.

Barrier winced as he made to sit upright, his stomach protesting at the effort as well as the mare’s grip around his midsection tightening.

“Guess I can skip my morning exercise.” Groaning, Barrier flopped back onto the bed and glanced at the messy-maned mare next to him. The night had taken its exertions on the both of them, it seemed. With a weary yawn, Barrier wrapped the mare in a hug and kissed her gently on the head before his horn lit with a thin layer of magic. Eyes narrowing in concentration, he teleported from the mare’s grip and into the kitchen, the teleportation leaving no pop as usual.

Listening closely to make sure the mare hadn’t awakened, Barrier smiled when no noise was forthcoming. With an unnecessary flourish of his horn, the unicorn’s horn once more flared to life as the various pans and bowls came to life and set about making breakfast. As his consciousness split into dozens of tiny segments, he sleepily made his way towards the greatest invention in over one-thousand years: the coffee maker.

“Hello precious…did you miss me?” Barrier sensually caressed the side of the machine as he poured the water in with his magic and the coffee grinds in with his other hoof. “I missed you, yes I did.”

“Replaced me with the machine already, have you?”

Barrier let out a masculine scream as he jerked around to find Octavia staring at him with obvious amusement. “What can I say, she’s a damn fine coffee maker.” Barrier stared at the coffee maker with obvious affection. “Not quite fine enough to replace you though.” Barrier leaned forward, meeting Octavia half-way with a kiss. “Breakfast should be done in fifteen or twenty minutes.”

Behind him, pancakes were pouring and flipping themselves and hay-bacon and eggs were all frying up, the stove functioning at maximum capacity.

“Surprised you’re up this early.” Barrier commented as he took a seat at the table, plates, glasses, and silverware all making their way over. Now that he looked at her though, she looked absolutely vibrant, rather than tired. Sure, she was walking a little lopsided, but otherwise looked radiant.

“Mmm.” Was the mare’s only response as she joined him at the table, a cup of coffee floating its way over to her.

“I’ll have to go run errands after breakfast.” Barrier commented idly as food sizzled in the background. “Care to join me, or would you prefer to recuperate at home?”

“We’ll see how I feel after breakfast.” The mare yawned adorably, scratching her mussed up mane as she did so. Barrier couldn’t help but smile at the unintentionally adorable display.

“That is far too convenient.” Octavia noted as breakfast floated to the table and landed neatly between the pair, a plate of pancakes landing in front of the owl who had also joined them. “Is that standard unicorn curriculum?” She asked as she began to put together her plate.

“Actually,” Barrier was already killing a piece of hay-bacon. “They taught us that in the guard.” A brief yawn of his own broke out as the coffee began to take full-effect, his eyes sharpening in the process. “Was supposed to help unicorns fine-tune their levitation for us with precision weapons like bows or javelins. Most unicorns were able to manage three to five things, but every now and then you got ponies who could hit a dozen. I think the most I hit was fourteen at once. I’d imagine Twilight is even more capable than me.”

“Wouldn’t you be more capable than Twilight? You’ve had far more experience than her, haven’t you?” Octavia had neatly wrapped her eggs and bacon in a pancake, making a pseudo-burrito of sorts.

“Mm, yes and no. In the Sparkle family, females usually have a slightly smaller mana pool, but far more general capability, whereas males like Shining Armor and myself have a deep mana-pool, but less versatility. In a magical duel, I’d likely beat Twilight with a good bit of effort. In a sheer display of magical prowess though, she’d likely blow me out of the water.”

“You sound like you’ve given it some thought.” Octavia noted with interest.

“I’ve given it a lot of thought.” It had been part of his job at one time. “Twilight, from what I’ve seen, has an amazing potential for magic. It’s her talent, after all, but her greatest strength is her greatest weakness. She was a wider range of spells than Shining and I do, but because of that she studies multiple spells rather than a dozen or so. She has access to more spells, but I can use the ones I know far better because I’m accustomed to having to use them for far more than their intended purpose.” Barrier shoveled the last of his breakfast down, followed by draining the last of his coffee. Still sore, but damn if he didn’t feel better. “It’s all about ingenuity, and having access to a wide array of spells doesn’t lend itself to that.”

“I see.” While Octavia didn’t understand the intricacies of magic, she could grasp what he had said. Finishing her own breakfast, she stood up and yawned. “I believe I’ll stay here today. I’ve much more to learn about my new instrument.” Amethyst eyes met cerulean with nothing but pure, unadulterated love.

Barrier simply nodded, a pleasant smile on his face. Levitating the now-empty dishes to the sink, he set his magic to rapidly cleaning them as he trotted into the bathroom, Octavia following.