Barrier couldn’t help but glance worriedly out the window as ponies screamed in the distance. He had just finished activating the enchantments set into the throne-room doors, normally inactive; only a pony from the inside would be able to open it. “Tavi,” His eyes silently pleaded with the mare.

“Go, we’ll be fine here. But so help me if you get hurt, I will maim you. I’ll not raise our foal alone, Barrier.”

Smiling apologetically at the mare, Barrier glanced over to Shining Armor, who was still trying to get his bearings. “Remember, nopony gets in without you confirming they’re them,” As the unicorn spoke, he trotted to one of the slotted windows and leapt from it, a quiet pop flooding the throne room moments later.

Barrier’s first encounter was a half-dozen royal guards - two of each type - all huddled around a single-story residential building and desperately trying to fend off twice as many changelings. Seeing he had yet to be noticed by the changelings, Barrier hunched down in the shadows as his horn flared to life. Without warning, the cobblestone beneath the changelings erupted into sharp stone-fragments. The fragments, all engulfed with Barrier’s magical aura, launched upward, punching through the chitin like a hot-knife through butter, their weight reinforced and multiplied by the magic.

“Who’s there!?” one of the guards - the highest ranked, if armor was any indication - yelled out.

“Lower your voice you moron!” Barrier hissed back as he stepped out of the shadows he had been hiding in. “Do you want to bring even more changelings here?” As he spoke, he set about casting disruption spells over all the guards. It was the only thing he could think of to clear them and even then, he wasn’t entirely certain such a method was effective.

The guard wisely snapped his mouth shut.

Barrier could hear a number of voices whispering and whimpering behind the closed door. “You two,” he picked out two of the six guards at random, a unicorn and a pegasus, “Get in there and calm those ponies down. Don’t let anypony in or out unless they can recite three words for you, pole, dog, flash.” The two guards saluted sharply and rushed to obey, not even bothering to question the stallion; his commanding tone and their disorganization was all the reason they needed.

“You two,” he picked another pair of guards, an Earth Pony and a Unicorn, this time, “I want you both to push eastward, towards the market. Pick up any civilians and guards along the way,” Deja vu, Barrier chuckled inwardly, realizing just how familiar this situation was. “Cast a disruption spell on anypony you come across, and once you have enough guards, start sending civilians this way with escorts. Two guards to any group, no matter what. Make sure to tell them the passwords, pole, dog, and flash,” he explained to the unicorn. “I don’t know if it’ll work or not, but it’s better than nothing,” Barrier thought back to the brief encounter with the queen. “These things might have some kind of hive-mind and they feed off of love, maybe other positive emotions, not sure. In any case, you fight to kill, protection of civilians is your number-one priority. And pick out a password yourselves, something to prevent one of these changelings from imitating you,” Both of the guards’ eyes widened, causing Barrier’s own expression to harden. “This is what you signed up for. Welcome to the royal guard,” He turned his back as both of the ponies finally went about their orders, rushing off towards the market.

“You two,” Barrier turned to the remaining ponies - an earth pony and a pegasus, “are with me. We’re going towards the eastern wall. As soon as we hit the wall we’ll circle north towards the castle gardens and from there go into the castle to reinforce.”

“I can’t believe we’re being invaded by a bunch of of bugs!” One of the guard exclaimed as he followed Magic Barrier.

Honestly, a hive of insects could lay siege to the city and you’d be defenseless! Barrier couldn’t help but chuckle as the three of them sprinted along.

Only fifteen minutes passed before Barrier felt a massive wave of energy spreading from the castle. “Everypony, down!” The unicorn’s horn flared to life, creating a shield around the twenty-some royal guards and fifty some civilians they had gathered in the quarter-hour. Gritting his teeth, Barrier’s eyes shut themselves tightly as a multitude of changelings bounced off of the large bubble, sending ripples along it, followed by a wave of pure…something, washing over them, originating from the castle no doubt. As the energy cleared the shield-bubble, Barrier found his mind conjuring up images of Octavia.

“Well, mares and gentlecolts,” Barrier rolled his shoulders slightly, his horn powering down. “Looks like the invasion is over. Guards!” He raised his voice. “Five of you are with the civilians, escort them to the others and wait there for orders.”

“Sir!” A number of guards rushed to follow orders, saluting as they did so.

“Sir, what should we do?” The remaining fifteen-some guards had approached him.

“Crowd control,” the unicorn stated matter-of-factly. “Lots of ponies are going to work themselves up into a panic. Pair off into threes and spread out. Do your best to keep everypony calm and tell them to wait for an official statement from the crown. Presence is everything, ponies need to feel reassured and safe. Tell them the invasion was repelled and that everything is fine,” The ponies trotted off to carry out the orders. “And nopony talks to any reporters!” Barrier yelled out as an afterthought.

“Honestly, how did the Royal Guard ever get this bad?” Barrier muttered to himself in irritation as he made his way towards the castle.

The following day…

“Yo!”

Barrier turned to see Vinyl Scratch making her way over to him.

“Long time no see, man!” The mare took up a drink in her magic. “What brings you here? Never seemed like the kinda guy who’d hang out at a wedding reception.”

Barrier chuckled at the mare’s light-hearted tone. Something about the way she spoke just radiated fun. Man, if he hadn’t met Octavia first . . . “I’m not. Shining is my grandson. If it weren’t for that, I probably wouldn’t have come. Plus, I don’t think ‘Tavi would’ve let me skip.”

“Good thing ya’ didn’t. Don’t even wanna think about what would’ve happened if you and that Sparkle girl hadn’t ousted the changeling queen,” Vinyl threw back her own drink with all the skill of an accomplished alcoholic. “I was there when you all burst into the throne room and for the fight. Gotta say, your mare dropped the queen like a bad habit.” The mare chuckle-snorted as the image played itself out in her head. “So why'd ya break her horn?” Vinyl asked as she poured herself a glass of wine.

“Threat neutralization,” Barrier stated sadly. “She was able to overpower Princess Celestia. Granted, the Princess was a moron for trying to fight like she did, but if Chrysalis had recovered from Octavia breaking her baby-makers, she’d have been just as unstoppable as before and twice as pissed off.”

Vinyl’s light cream-coat paled to pure white and she chuckled nervously at the stallion, taking a few steps back.

“I’m not apologizing or taking it back, Princess,” Barrier commented without turning around, pouring another glass of wine. “It was stupid and you know it.”

Celestia frowned intensely at the back of the stallions head. “Yes, perhaps it was unwise to try and rely on brute force,” She finally conceded, watching the unicorn throw back yet another glass of wine.

“So, have you apologized to Twilight yet?” The unicorn asked without ceremony as he skipped the glass in favor of a wine-bottle from underneath the table.

“Must you be so blunt?” The irritation was clear in the mare’s voice.

“I’ve got plans tonight, this wine is weaker than water, and I’m not terribly pleased with you at the moment, so forgive me if I’m just a little short,” Barrier yanked the cork out of the wine with his magic and took a sip. Taking a particularly deep breath, the unicorn closed his eyes. “Fine, I’m sorry. Now what do you need?” His tone shifted from near-contempt to neutral and disinterested.

Visibly grinding her teeth, the princess responded, “A number of things bring me here tonight. First and foremost is to give you my thanks for your role during the invasion. It has come to my attention that you had a major role in helping civilian ponies as well as bringing down Queen Chrysalis, in addition to preventing a widespread panic. For that, you have my thanks. In addition to that, as Shining Armor is now married to Princess Cadance and Canterlot will need a new Captain of the Royal Guard, I would like you to take that role once more, if you’d be willing.”

"Really now? The council agreed to that?" Barrier raised an eyebrow.

"Luna may have...convinced them, that you would go public with knowledge displaying the obvious ineptitude of the council and Royal Guard if they did not make efforts to reform the guard. They were all convinced you would be the best pony for the job after that."

Of course she did... Barrier pressed a hoof to his temple and sighed loudly. “We’ll see,” In truth, Barrier needed a better job. Being a bodyguard paid well, but the work wasn’t always consistent and it kept him away from Octavia for extended periods of time. It was certainly no way to raise a foal, being away from home for weeks and months at a time…he knew that much. “If there’s nothing else, I have plans for tonight,” Barrier waited a brief moment until the princess stepped aside, allowing him to pass.

“Taaaaaviiiii,” Barrier all but draped himself over the mare, causing her to snort slightly and the pony across from her - Fancy Pants, Barrier believed his name was - to smile in slight amusement.

“Honestly,” the mare took a step forward leaving the unicorn to fall to the ground where she looked down at him with slight amusement. “I can’t take you anymore,” She glanced disdainfully at the wine bottle. “I see you’ve wasted no time enjoying yourself, have you?”

“Tch, if you can call this stuff enjoyable. There’s no burn,” With a grunt, Barrier climbed upright, nodding his head in acknowledgement to Fancy Pants. “Sorry to interrupt, but something came up that I had to ask your opinion on before I can answer. Plus she expects an answer fairly soon, I’m sure.”

“I’ll give you two some privacy,” Fancy Pants offered, “It was a pleasure, Miss Melody,” He tilted his head before turning and trotting away.

“So…?” Octavia looked at the unicorn expectantly.

“Well, Celestia offered me a job.”

“Oh?” The mare raised an eyebrow.

“With Shining Armor marrying Cadence, he’s gone from Captain of the Guard to Prince Consort or something like that. Celestia offered me the position.”

“That’s wonderful! You often said that you’d prefer to change careers if the opportunity presented itself,” Octavia seemed genuinely happy, though she frowned when she realized Barrier didn’t share in her enthusiasm. “Judging by your reaction, I’ll assume there are stipulations to this job.”

Barrier chuckled nervously. “Most likely. I don’t have the specifics but I’d probably need to either travel to Canterlot or find a more effective way to commute. Train takes way too long for it. And since we just bought our house in Manehattan…”

“Ah,” Octavia frowned as the realization hit her. “We’d have to move to Canterlot.”

“And it’d be busy for a good while too,” Barrier glanced around to make sure nopony was eavesdropping. “There are some massive reforms that the Royal Guard needs to undergo, and if I become Captain there will be a lot of ponies that will really hate me.”

Octavia trotted towards the tables that Barrier had been at moments prior, “Well, what do you want to do?”

“Honestly, I want to take the job, if only because Equestria needs it pretty badly at this point. If it isn’t handled right we may have a war before the year is out. The changelings attacking are going to make us look weak - rightfully so, mind you - to the rest of the world, and that’s bad.”

“Well, if this is something you feel you need to do, we’ll figure it out, Barrier. I certainly can’t fault you for wanting to protect Equestria,” The mare eyed him critically before smiling, “No, I think it would have been odd if you didn’t want to protect Equestria.”

“Well, if it isn’t Octavia Melody and Magic Barrier,” A brilliant gold pegasus landed across from the pair, addressing them in a scratchy voice. “Heard you two got to meet the Queen.”

“Evening, Spitfire,” Barrier held up the bottle of wine in greeting.

“Ms. Spitfire,” Octavia inclined her head respectfully.

“And to answer your statement, I suppose we had a minor role in the invasion. What with Octavia defeating the queen and me trying to organize a defense for the city,” Barrier watched as the golden mare took the bottle of wine and emptied it in a single swallow. That’s impressive… Barrier couldn’t help but wonder what else she was capable of.

“Minor?” The mare raised an eyebrow in obvious amusement. “You,” she pointed a hoof lazily at the unicorn, “saved the real Princess Cadance, crashed the royal wedding, and went hoof-to-hoof with the queen of changelings,” She turned her hoof to Octavia, “and she defeated the queen with the buck of legends, if my sources are correct,” Her hoof dropped back to to the ground. “And that’s minor?”

“Fairly minor, yes,” Octavia reaffirmed. “We were simply in the right place at the right time,” And that whorse tried to touch what is mine. Nopony touches what is mine.

Spitfire trotted in between the pair and threw a hoof around each of their shoulders. “So, either of you ponies got plans after the reception?” There was an obvious lead in her voice that set off dozens of alarms in Magic Barrier’s head. He wasn’t sure if they were good or bad yet.

After that...situation, Barrier found Octavia and himself trotting through the Canterlot Gardens with little more than moonlight to guide them.

“Not that I’m complaining,” Octavia leaned into the stallion wearily, “but why are we leaving the reception? I thought it still had a few hours left.”

Barrier smiled slightly as he placed a hoof on his vest-pocket, feeling the bulge. “Well,” the stallion broke away from the mare, standing in front of her and meeting his eyes to hers, “uh, well. This is a lot harder than I expected,” Licking his dry lips, Barrier started again. “Octavia, we’ve known each other for quite some time. You’ve seen me at my worst and at my best, you’ve done more for me than I’ll ever be able to repay in one lifetime, and for some reason you still put up with me. It may be too soon for something like this, I’m not really sure, but,” Barrier took a deep breath, steeling himself.

“Octavia Melody, will you marry me?”

As he spoke, he found himself kneeling down and levitating a simple silver bracelet.

Octavia blushed intensely and opened her mouth to respond, only for her breath to leave her.

Barrier, maintaining his position, gasped in slight surprise when Octavia threw herself at her and gave him her answer in the gardens.

And it was glorious.

Author's Notes:

So, this is it. The final chapter. Not entirely sure where I'll end up after this, but there are a handful of ideas for a sequel to this that may or may not be a thing. Hell if I know. I have a hard time committing to things, and I've made it fairly clear to myself while writing APD that I'm terrible at such things. So, yeah. Thanks for sticking with me til' now, hope you enjoyed the ride, and maybe, just maybe, we'll see each other in the future.

Thank you to my full-time editors Izanagi, ChasingResonance and Alticron, and thank you to my part-time editors DerRotSpassvogel, and Nopony_Important. If I missed anybody, I apologize. Hit me up and I'll add you in.

Another huge thanks to my friends Jack and Tommy. Jack was the driving force behind getting this thing started and Tommy saved me from making some errors that likely would have tanked the story altogether, so thank you both.

Lastly, thank you to anyone who read this far into the fic. S'been a ride and you guys have kept me going, so thanks.

Well, that's all I had to say. An epilogue will be up tomorrow, as well as something else.