“Barrier, something’s wrong,” Octavia called from her spot next to the window. “Barrier!” the mare tapped the stallion on the shoulder.

“Wassat?” Barrier mumbled unintelligibly and rolled upright, glancing at the window. His eyes shot open almost immediately as his mind sprung to life. That was a big shield. “Nothing to worry about right this moment. That’s a damn big shield spell though, wonder what’s going on,” The stallion floated his sword out of from underneath the seats and strapped it on as the train pulled into the station.

As the pair waited for the train to grind to a halt, Barrier found himself thinking back to a couple of weeks prior.

“Barrier, what are we going to do? I always wanted a foal, but I’m not ready. I don’t know anything about raising a foal! What are we go-” Barrier kissed the mare, forcing her into silence.

“Tavi, relax,” he advised, gazing deep into the mare’s eyes. “Do you regret being pregnant with my foal?”

The mare’s eyes widened. “Of course not! I just don’t know what we’ll do! I don’t know anything about raising a foal! What if I me-” The mare was cut off once again as the stallion pushed his lips against hers.

“Relax,” he repeated again. “So long as neither of us regret this - and I don’t, I assure you - then we’ll be fine. No parent is ever ready for a foal. I wasn’t ready the first time, and I won’t be ready this time, but we’ll get through it just fine, so long as we stick together,” The stallion nuzzled the mare gently, fixing her with a soft, reassuring gaze.

“Halt!” one of the guards called out and trotted up to him, spear at the ready. “Sir, you’re going to have to hand over your sword!” Barrier raised an eyebrow in...amusement?

“That’s adorable. You’re adorable,” Barrier had gone so far as to get a country-wide permit to carry his blade. “Do yourself a favor and piss off, mate,” Barrier spoke with a harsh tone, eyes boring into the guard.

“Excuse me?” The guard snapped right back.

Barrier was mildly surprised - that may have been the first guard to show a little backbone.

“I’m going to ask you one more time, hand over your sword, or spend the night in a cell!” The guard moved forward menacingly, causing Barrier to chuckle.

“I like you, you’re alright, unfortunately, you’re an idiot,” Glancing past the guard at a familiar pegasus, Barrier yelled out, “Hey LT! Call off your dog before he spends the night in a hospital!”

“Are you threatening me?” The guard reached forward with a hoof, only for the pegasus to launch into action.

“Stand down, sergeant!” Flash Sentry sped over to the black unicorn.

“You heard him boy, off you go,” Barrier chuckled at the absolute stink-eye the guard gave him as he trotted away dutifully.

“Flash,” Octavia smiled warmly at the pegasus.

“Miss Melody, Barrier,” Flash smiled at the couple and tilted his head.

“So what the hay’s going on, Flash? I get a feeling this-” Barrier motioned to the shield above them and dozens of guards, “-isn’t wedding security.”

“No such luck, sadly. A threat was made against Canterlot. Nopony knows anything beyond that. I should take you to the Captain. He’ll probably wanna see you.”

“I’ll go ahead and take our bags to the guest-room,” Octavia offered, pulling Barrier’s saddlebags off of him.

“I know Caddy, but he could really help out with this whole thing. He’s got as much magic as I do at the very least!” Shining could be heard arguing through a door.

“I don’t care, Shining, I don’t want him involved,” a familiar voice joined it, followed by the door being shoved open and best princess trotting out.

“Cadance, I see you’re giving me an opportunity at Shining, arguing with him like that,” Barrier grinned slyly at the mare, only for her to give him an annoyed look in return before turning and walking away without a word.

“Okay then…” Barrier commented with a raised eyebrow as the mare walked away. “When’s the surgery, Shiny?” He turned to his grandson.

Shining stopped in confusion.

“The surgery to remove the stick stuck up Cadance’s flank,” Barrier explained.

Shining let out a poorly-concealed snort, which cause Flash Sentry to do the same. “It’s not like that,” He turned towards the direction the mare had trotted. “She’s just really stressed out over having to plan the wedding by herself.”

“So, what was that argument all about?”

“Oh, that was nothing. Just arguing over the unicorns helping me maintain the shield.”

“I see,” Barrier didn’t question the obvious lie. “Speaking of which, what’s up with that?” Barrier motioned above them, though one couldn’t see the giant shield-bubble.

“There was a threat made against Canterlot. Nopony knows what or when though, so we just bumped security up as much as we could,” Shining began to walk, Barrier and Flash following behind him. “Gotta say, that family charm you gave me has been a tremendous help. I don’t know if I could’ve maintained the shield this long without it.”

“Glad to see it being put to use. I told you that you’d need it one day.” Barrier noticed they were heading towards the guest quarters.

“Where’s Octavia?” the white unicorn asked, facing his grandcestor.

“She went ahead to the room. Hey Shiny, why don’t you go ahead and check on Cadance? Seemed like she left a little upset. I’m sure Flash can show me the rest of the way. I need to ask him about his ancestors anyways.”

Shining stared uncertainly at the stallion before nodding and trotting away, leaving the two alone.

The two walked in silence until Shining disappeared from sight.

“Flash, you’re one of Cadance’s personal retinue right?” Barrier gave the stallion a critical gaze.

“Uh, yes, why?” Flash gazed uncertainly at the stallion, having expected something else about his ancestors that he probably didn’t know.

“Have you noticed anything odd lately? Behavioral?”

“Uh, not really. She’s been a lot ruder and short with ponies, but we just attributed that to the threat making her plan the wedding by herself.”

Barrier frowned. The story made sense, but something in his gut told him that there was something up.

“Have Twilight and her friends arrived yet?” Maybe she had noticed something; she was a sharp mare.

“Uh, yeah, a couple of days ago. They’re in the city right now, but they’ll probably come back to the castle for dinner.”

“Right, thanks Flash,” Barrier stopped outside of the room. He could clearly see Octavia inside of it. “And listen, keep a close eye out. Something doesn’t feel right, and my gut tells me the shield won’t stop whatever it is,” It was an odd sense of foreboding, hard to explain to most ponies, especially ponies who’d never seen real combat enough to develop the sense.

“Oh, and the practice ceremony will be in an hour or so, if you wanna watch!” Flash called out as he departed.

“How’d it go?” Octavia asked from her spot on the bed, not bothering to glance up from her book.

“Mm, something doesn’t feel right. The extra protection was definitely justified. I think there might be something wrong with Cadance as well. Hay if I know, something just feels off.” Barrier flopped down onto the bed; it was nice.

“You’re going to poke your nose where it doesn’t belong, aren’t you?” the grey mare asked casually, turning the page with a hoof.

“I…” the stallion had started to lie, but his ears flattened against his head as the mare turned to face him with a flat expression, ”...plan on talking to Twilight about it, asking if she’s noticed anything. She’s been here two days longer than us.”

Octavia closed her book and rolled closer to the stallion, wiggling herself into his forelegs. “Must you? Can’t the guard handle it?”

A twinge of guilt welled up inside the stallion. “Were this anything else, than I wouldn’t mind, but if something is going to happen, it’ll probably be at the royal wedding. Not to mention that it’s my grandson’s wedding,” Barrier nuzzled the mare sadly. “Sorry, I know I’m not easy to tolerate.”

Octavia sighed and buried her head on his withers. “Never apologize for being you, Barrier, I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

After a brief nap with Octavia, Barrier found himself trotting towards the throne room, to observe the practice ceremony. As he approached the wide-open doors, Shining’s voice rang out.

“…wouldn’t bother showing up to the wedding at all…”

Barrier hid himself behind one of the throne-room doors as the stallion trotted out.

A brief silence, before another familiar voice, “Come on ya’ll, let’s go check on the princess.” Five of the elements plus Spike, Barrier noted.

“You have a lot to think about.” Barrier recognized the voice as that of the sun-princess. What the hay was going on in there, and why had he hid?

As the Princess trotted by, he slowly stuck his head out from behind the door, making his way towards the throne room, where he could now hear Twilight sobbing softly.

“I’m sorry…” He made out. Just poking his head around the corner, he noticed a familiar pink mare.

“You will be.”

A menacing voice severely out of place on the mare, Barrier noted. Carefully looking around the corner, he saw Cadance walking away and Twilight sinking into the floor, surrounded by green flames. It was then that Barrier did one of his stupider acts; he ran and jumped headfirst into the fire, disappearing alongside Twilight.

Barrier groaned as he opened his eyes, a slight headache setting in.

“Hello?” Twilight’s voice called out, echoing off the walls. “Is anyone there? Where am I?”

Barrier opened his mouth to call out, only for a green light to illuminate the room as Cadance’s face appeared in the crystals.

“The caves beneath Canterlot,” the mocking voice reverberated around the chamber. “Once, they were home to greedy unicorns that wanted to claim the gems that could be found inside, but it is now,”-a sneer appeared on the mare’s face-“your prison.”

Twilight backed away nervously, turning to run, only for her run face-first into Barrier’s chest.

“Easy kiddo, it’s fine.” Barrier wrapped a foreleg around the purple unicorn and lit his horn, illuminating the rest of the chamber.

“Oh, what’s this? Hah! It seems I killed two birds with one stone! How fortunate!” The mare laughed cruelly.

“You know this won’t end well for you, right?” Barrier asked levelly. “I am personally going to punch you square in the jaw.”

The mare laughed again. “It’s no use. No one will ever think to look for you here! This will keep both of you out of my plans…” The mare all but muttered the last part.

“Plans? What plans?” Twilight asked with a touch of uncertainty.

“The plans I have for your brother, of course.”

Twilight broke away from the larger stallion, an expression of rage overtaking her. “Don’t you dare do anything to my brother, you…monster!”

“Only way to stop me is to catch me!” The Cadance-impersonator taunted, laughing maniacally all the while.

Twilight powered up and discharged a wild blast of energy from her horn, ricocheting off of various crystals. Almost instinctively, Barrier threw a barrier up around himself, while Twilight launched several more telekinetic blasts, finally shattering the far wall.

All the impersonator did was cackle madly and vanish.

“No, wait!”

Barrier glanced up at the voice, his eyes focusing on a haggard-looking pink mare that Twilight was getting ready to absolutely trash. With a flare of his horn, Twilight crashed face-first into a barrier, halting her charge. As she scrambled to her feet, the mare turned to Magic Barrier with rage in her eyes. “Are you out of your mind?!” Twilight yelled, approaching the stallion.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Barrier spoke with a booming, authoritative voice. “stand down!” It wasn’t a request or a suggestion, it was an order.

“Barrier, she’s the one who trapped us here!” Twilight tried to argue.

“She’s also incredibly haggard, starved, and radiating little to no magical energy,” Barrier pointed out. “All things you’ll notice if you take a moment to look at her,” Barrier trotted over to his shield, glancing at the terror-stricken mare. “What did we argue about when I was in jail with Octavia?” Barrier’s eyes locked onto the mare, watching for any form of trickery or deceit.

The mare’s gaze flattened for a brief second. “He’s mine, Barrier, that’s all there is it to it. You’re not mare enough for Shiny.”

“Oh, that’s her.” Barrier chuckled slightly and turned to Twilight.

“Twilight, please,” Cadance pleaded, seeing the distrust in the unicorn’s eyes. “it’s me,” Cadance did an odd little dance, which caused Twilight’s eyes to widen and mimic the dance.

“Sunshine, sunshine…”

Barrier watched curiously; as the pair finished, he lowered the shield and grinned lecherously. “Thanks for the show ladies, but I don’t think my mare would approve.”

Both mares blushed intensely.

“Now, as much as I love to watch you two shake your flanks, we should probably get out of here and crash the wedding,” The charcoal stallion suggested.

“But how? I’ve never even heard of this place, and I can’t seem to teleport out.” Twilight tilted her head sadly.

“I haven’t either,” Cadance admitted.

“Well, lucky for both of you, I have.” The stallion walked past the two and began examining the walls. “The followers of Nightmare Moon used this place as a hideout after their failed attack on Canterlot. Just gotta find one of their...arrows!” As Barrier said that, he triumphantly pointed at a set of arrows scratched messily into the wall. One was a simple arrow, pointing to the left, whereas the other was pointing to the right, and had two heads on it.

“Two arrows means that there’s a friendly presence in that direction, where one arrow means that it leads towards the surface.”

“Then if we follow the arrows, we can get to the wedding in time to save my brother!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Ladies,” Barrier grinned. “let’s go crash a wedding.”

Author's Notes:

So, uh...well, Alticorn is sick. I don't think the kidney removal went as well as planned. I mean, we have the working plumbing but...I don't think that shade of green is natural on a person. Izanagi is mostly non-responsive. He still edits but...well, I think he's a husk at this point. Albeit, a husk with a single purpose, but a husk none the less.

So, the bad news aside, thanks to Izanagi, Alticorn, and ChasingResonance for editing. Also, ChasingResonance is now classed as an APD editor. S'great. He should be able to help me keep the others in the basement. Here's to hoping he doesn't join his brothers-in-chains.

Oh, also, maybe 2 chapters left I declare this story complete. Sad day.

Uh, comment/like, etc,. Good times.

P.S
Two chapters released today in celebration of getting on the front page. Sure it's at the bottom of the page, but I can't complain.