As the trio trotted through the caverns in silence, Barrier couldn’t help but find his thoughts drifting back towards the last discussion he and Octavia had regarding the unexpected pregnancy.

“I don’t even know where to begin!” Octavia was once again working herself up into a panic. “There’s so much preparation!” The mare was walking around on three hooves, a pencil in her mouth and notepad in-hoof. “We’ll need a crib, bottles, diapers, oh heavens there’s so much we need to do to prepare.”

“I think you just channeled Twilight,” Barrier commented idly from his spot on the couch.

“Why are you so relaxed about this, Barrier?” Octavia plopped down tiredly onto the couch next to him.

“Because it won’t do us any good to work ourselves up over it,” The unicorn sat his physics magazine aside, having been reading one of Wing’s articles; it was surprising how many practical applications they had. “Let’s just calm down and go through it slowly and calmly,” he took a slow and deep breath, urging the mare to do the same, “Now, we need a crib, bedding, diapers,” Barrier watched as the mare scribbled the notes down, noticeably calmer than before. “We’ll need pacifiers and a feeding pillow.”

After nearly an hour of discussing the various things they would need in nine-to-ten months, the pair finally headed off to bed, though sleep didn’t come quite as quickly as the unicorn had hoped.

“Barrier?” Octavia whispered, her voice cutting through the dark room.

“Mm?” Barrier asked from his spot behind her, shifting a forehoof slightly.

“I’m afraid,” Octavia started, pushing herself further into the stallion. “What if we’re not good parents? What if something goes wrong during the pregnancy? What if-” the mare fell silent as the stallion nipped her ear gently.

“A pony once told me that the greatest mistake you can make in life is to constantly worry that you’ll make one,” Draping his head over the mare’s shoulder, Barrier pulled the blanket tighter around them with his magic, rubbing the mare’s belly and side with a forehoof, helping to lull her to sleep.

“Barrier, is everything okay? You look like there’s something on your mind besides all this,” Cadance broke the stallion out of his reverie; he and Twilight were looking around for another marker.

That’s a good question; was he? Despite his calm presence around Octavia, calming the mare whenever she worked herself up into a bundle of anxiety and worry, he himself wasn’t faring much better; he was simply better at hiding it. Ever since they’d received the news, he’d had a ball of anxiety wound up tightly in his stomach. The pair hadn’t told anypony about the pregnancy yet, not having a great many friends, and only a small number of them being local.

“No, not really, Caddy,” he admitted with a humorless chuckle. “Besides all this,” he vaguely motioned around them, “Octavia and I got some fairly unexpected news that we weren’t really prepared for,”

“Did something happen?” The mare’s response was quick and laced with worry.

“Yes and no, I suppose. Octavia took an antibiotic that made her birth-control useless and is now with foal.”

“Barrier, that’s wonderful!” Cadance broke the silence, snapping Twilight’s attention to their conversation as she found the marking they were all looking for.

“Come on, talk and walk, we’re on a schedule,” Barrier motioned forwards, both mares trotting behind him.

“What’s going on?” Twilight asked, following in line with the two, assuming Magic Barrier had found the marking.

“You’re going to have an aunt or uncle in nine months, give or take,” Barrier explained, “and I’m not entirely sure how to handle it,” the stallion turned to Cadance, “I’m not adverse to the idea, and neither is Octavia, we just weren’t expecting it. She’s always working herself up into a tizzy over it. I usually try to calm her down, but honestly, I’m not much better off myself.”

“It’s a big responsibility, but I think you’ll both do fine. Besides, didn’t you have a kid before?”

Barrier smiled sadly in response to Cadance, causing the mare’s ears to fold back against her head. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring it up…”

“It’s fine,” A deep, steadying breath entered the stallion’s lungs, “I had a daughter, but I was still highly active in the Royal Guard at the time and didn’t see her near as much as I felt I should have. Always out on…” the stallion hesitated before deciding on a word, “missions.”

“Wait!” Twilight’s mind took a surprisingly long time to process the information presented to her, “I’m going to be a…” Twilight hesitated, her brow furrowing in confusion. “...niece?” That just sounded confusing.

“Yeah, I was pretty surprised as well…” The unicorn’s voice trailed as his eyes travelled up to a shaft of sunlight. “There!” He took off at a gallop towards the light. They had wanted to gallop before, but he insisted that they should conserve their energy; Cadance, in particular, was looking fairly haggard. Regardless, both mares rushed to keep up with him.

“You’re not going anywhere…” Three voices spoke out in unison as the group approached the exit.

Barrier kept running, mentally noting three unicorns, two of whom he recognized. Lyra, the eccentric unicorn, Colgate the dentist, and another cream-colored unicorn that he didn’t recognize.

“Keep going,” Barrier sprinted even harder, Twilight and Cadance both struggling to keep up, not used to such bursts of energy.

All three of the mares’ horns lit up, their eyes glowing green. Without hesitation, Barrier threw both of his forehooves out, striking two of the mares in the horn, one with each hoof, while his own horn flared to life, smacking the third mare in the horn with a thin shield; all three of the mares screamed out in pain and collapsed, though none of their horns showed any visible damage; Magic Barrier, Cadance, and Twilight kept running, though Cadance glanced back at the mares in obvious worry.

“Focus, Princess, they’ll live!” Barrier shouted back as the trio exited into the castle gardens.

“The gardens? How did I never notice the entrance!” Twilight asked as trumpets blared in the distance.

“Ask questions later!” Magic formed around the unicorn’s horn. “Teleport, mares, the wedding depends on it!” Barrier disappeared with a flash of light, appearing some twenty-five feet ahead and them and repeating it rapidly; both mares followed suit.

“…my great honor to pronounce you-”

“Stoooop!” Twilight’s voice yelled out as she burst into the audience chamber.

Everypony in attendance turned in surprise to the mare, the pink mare at the altar beginning to speak only to be cut off. “Wh-”

“Ima break your jaw, bitch.” The entire crowd gasped, everypony’s jaws opening wide, Celestia’s included. The stallion was only slightly winded, something else he find mildly odd, given how much magic he had expended in the various rapidfire-teleports.

Princess Celestia was the first to regain her composure. “Magic Barrier, are you out of your mind?!” she yelled, her voice bordering on the royal-Canterlot in terms of volume.

“And you!” Barrier turned to the Princess of the Sun with a surprising amount of venom in his voice;the princess shrunk back slightly in surprise. “I expect you to apologize to Twilight when this is all said and done!” Though Twilight hadn’t vocalized, Celestia and her friends had drove the mare to tears, all because they were too blind to see what Twilight saw. “And you five,” he turned to the Elements of Harmony. “I expect you all to apologize as well. In, three…two...one…” Cadance galloped in almost entirely out of breath.

“Auntie!” Cadance tilted forward slightly, taking in huge gasps of air. “She’s a changeling!”

The impostor frowned and erupted into a burst of green magic, laughing evilly as her real form was revealed, chitinous armor, a striking pair of harlequin eyes, and a dark-cerulean mane.

Any other time, Barrier would have found the creature quite attractive. Now however, he was merely contemplating on how best to break her jaw.

“Right you are, princess,” the mare’s voice was almost painfully ‘evil’ and Barrier found himself pressing a hoof to his face.

“Cue monologue,” Barrier commented in a mildly bored tone, drawing the ire of the changeling queen.

Well, this went bad quite fast, Barrier noted.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight cried out in fear as Celestia was brought low by the queen who first stared in absolute surprise and then began to cackle madly .

Son of a bitch, here we go again… Barrier found himself thinking back to Nightmare Moon as he did what he best: something stupid.

“Twilight, you and the girls get the elements!” He turned to the pair of guards by the door, staring at their fallen leader with obvious fear. “You two, guard the Elements of Harmony with your lives!”

“And what makes you think I’ll simply let you go?” the mocking voice sneered out.

“A stupid whorse says what!” he yelled out, charging towards the queen.

“Excuse me!” The queen back-peddled as if struck.

“Close enough!” Barrier retorted, the queen throwing a bolt of energy at him in irritation, only for him to vanish in a flash of magic.

True to his word, Magic Barrier threw one hell of a haymaker, catching the queen in the side of the jaw as he reappeared in front of her. He had guessed where her jaw hinged to the rest of her skull, and was not disappointed. The queen’s head snapped to the side and her jaw audibly cracked, causing the guards and Elements to cringe.

“Go!” Barrier yelled at the Elements and guards once more as all eight ponies rushed to obey.

With a burst of magic, Chrysalis’ jaw snapped back into place which sounded quite painful.

“You dare!” Chrysalis was absolutely livid, firing a bolt at the unicorn-who dove to the side-leaving a pile of molten stone where he had just been moments ago.

Barrier’s ears swiveled towards the windows as the sound like shattering glasses rang out as Shining Armor’s barrier failed, the white stallion collapsing in exhaustion.

“Go, my army, feed!” The queen yelled out as if she were speaking to someone that wasn’t in the room. “You have fai-” The queen fell to her side as Barrier lept onto her back and wrapped his forehooves around her neck. Her eyes widened as a vice-like grip wrapped itself around her throat, squeezing the life out of her. He wasn’t trying to put her to sleep, if the pressure was anything to judge by. He was trying to break her neck. The pressure on her chitin had her slightly worried and she lit her horn to deal with it, only for a hoof to lash out and strike the mare in the horn the moment it lit up, before immediately bracing the other hoof once more.

“Go to sleep, queeny…” Barrier whispered into the changeling’s ear softly. “Sleep…” He whispered, an audible crack ringing out, followed by the queen opening her mouth in pain only for a pained gurgle to come out; she was out of air and her chitin, while holding, had cracked.

Desperately, she fixed her eyes on the collapsed Shining Armor. With a mental command, the stallion struggled to his hooves and charged his horn, shooting a kinetic blast at his grandfather.

Barrier’s hold on the queen failed as the burst of energy tagged him painfully in the side, cracking a rib. In less than a second, the queen was standing over him, her hoof pressed violently on his horn.

Tavi… Barrier glanced sadly at one of the only ponies left in the room, most having fled.

“I must say,” the queen struggled to catch her grasp, rubbing her cracked chitin painfully. “I didn’t think any of you ponies had such capabilities,” The queen punctuated each word with a solid strike to the unicorn’s jaw, causing his head to bounce up and down on the concrete like a ball. “It’s a shame I have to kill you,” she sneered, applying more pressure to Barrier’s horn, causing him to groan in pain as his head spun, “even now I can feel your love for that useless earth-pony,” She glanced at Octavia with obvious disinterest. “Shining Armor is quite the catch, but you…” She licked her lips in a manner that made the dizzy unicorn beneath her squirm. “Well, maybe I’ll keep you after all. Just have to deal with this nuisance…” She put more pressure on his horn, lowering her head and snaking her tongue to his snout. “I’ll enjoy break-” The queen’s jaw snapped shut on her tongue and her eyes became a pair of harlequin saucers.

“Hooves. Off,” Octavia spoke in a flat and threatening tone as the queen crumpled to the ground, trying to cry out in pain, but only managing pained dry-heaves. It looked like she wanted to throw up, but her body was unable to.

Octavia, a mare who spent near eight-hours a day on her hind-legs, had steadily snuck towards the queen after she showed such disinterest in her. Queen Chrysalis, paying no heed to the “useless earth-pony”, hadn’t noticed when Octavia crept behind her, braced herself on her forehooves and delivered the buck to end all bucks.

The invasion was over, and Queen Chrysalis only had a pair of imploded ovaries to show for it.

Crawling to his feet, Barrier quickly trotted to Chrysalis, who only glanced up at him in pure, unadulterated agony.

Without a shred of remorse or hesitation, Barrier brought his hoof crashing down on Chrysalis’s horn, his entire weight behind the stomp. With a snap and a violent discharge of magic, her horn snapped like a twig and she slipped into what was, without a doubt, a merciful unconsciousness.

“Ugh,” Shining Armor shook his head painfully. “What happened, is the wedding over?”

“No such luck…” Barrier muttered as he affectionately nuzzled Octavia, kissing her lightly before he trotted over to the window and glanced at the countless waves of changelings assaulting ponies.

“Now…what in Tartarus are we going to do about all of those?”

Author's Notes:

Chapter 37, 11:25 AM,

The disease is spreading. Izanagi got hit with it last night. Both Alticron and Izanagi are mumbling editing machines. They don't sleep, eat, or use the toilet. I know I should be worried but I honestly can only think of how to commercialize this disease. Truly a blessing.

So, as always, thanks to Alticorn/Izanagi/ChasingResonance for editing and proofreading. 1 more chapters, not counting the epilogue. Not entirely sure how I feel about this. What's your guys thoughts? Too soon/abrupt?