Author's Notes:

One whole year since the Epilogue was posted...what a year it's been. My co-writer and I threw this together because why the hell not?

If you have any questions about this story or the difference this timeline and timeline from A Pony Displaced: Another Path {if you haven't read that yet, go do it! Me love you long time!} feel free to ask and either Alticron or myself will reply as soon as we can. :3

Hope you enjoy guys!

“Barrier?”

The unicorn snapped his head to meet the voice, a weak smile settling on his face as his gaze rested on his wife.

“Are you okay?” Octavia eyed him knowingly, and smiled when he nodded his affirmative.

“Fine, just thinking.”

“About the Empire?” Octavia asked.

The stallion leaned back into his seat, gaze shifting to the sleeping filly on the bench across from the two, her pink mane draped delicately over her muzzle. “Just trying to get myself ready for it all. The whole thing haunted me for a long time, can’t even imagine how Windy will feel about it.”

“I see.” Octavia leaned into the unicorn. “Well, neither of you are alone in this. Verdant and Twilight will both be there, as well as their friends.”

“Yeah. I’m sure everything will be fine.” The unicorn glanced briefly at the clock mounted on the wall just in time for a stallion’s voice to call out.

”The train from Vanhoover is now arriving at platform six!”

“Guess that’s our cue to go see Green Bean.” Barrier glanced at Wind Whistler who remained asleep through the announcement while both he and Octavia were standing up.

“She was up all night,” Octavia smiled and leaned forward to nudge the filly awake…only for the small bundle of fur resting in the mare’s chest-holster to shove her hoof into her sister’s nose, causing her to sneeze and wake up with crossed eyes as she tried to fix her gaze on the hoof still resting on her muzzle.

“Morning.” Barrier grinned down at Wind Whistler who only yawned in response and looked at the pair with half-lidded eyes.

“Uncle Green Bean is here. Wanna go meet him?”

Wind Whistler shifted her gaze from Octavia, to Melodic, to Barrier and then back to Octavia. “Nope,” she finally replied with a yawn, rolling over and closing her eyes once more.

“I’ve got you one of those chocolate bars. The ones with the coffee in them.” The unicorn’s horn removed a piece of the candy in question from his saddlebags and unwrapped it, dangling it above the filly. After a moment where it seemed like she wouldn’t do anything, her hoof shot towards it…only for it to raise itself out of reach. “Gotta get up if you want i-” The unicorn was cut off when the filly latched herself to his face and broke his concentration, the chocolate falling into her outstretched hoof.

“Chocolate! Mine!”

“Captain!”

Barrier turned towards the familiar voice, despite the fact that his vision was a mixture of darkness and powder-blue.

“Hi, Uncle Verdant!” Wind Whistler managed through a mouthful of chocolate.

“Mmpaglh,” Barrier muttered through the mouthful of fur.

“Mrs. Melody.” Verdant bowed his head respectfully; Octavia snorted.

“I keep telling you not to call me Missus. It makes me feel old.”

“You are old.” Barrier finally pried the filly off his face with his magic, leaving her levitating above the group, still gnawing on the chocolate bar.

Octavia’s eye twitched slightly. “I’m the youngest adult here!”

“Ma’am, you don’t look under nineteen to me. You l-” Verdant fell silent as a smoldering glare met his gaze. “Youngest adult here, got it.”

Barrier only smiled when Octavia’s glare was leveled at him. “And to think ponies used to be afraid of my glare.”

”The train from Ponyville is now arriving at platform four!” the same voice rang out.

“Right,” Barrier tapped his hoof sharply on the ground out of habit. “That’s Twilight’s train. As soon as she gets here, we need to board the train to the Empire. They’re still not running entirely regularly, so we can’t afford to miss it. Celestia’ll have my flank if she found out she reserved our seats for nothing.”

“You say that as if you’re opposed to the idea,” Octavia sniped as the group started to move.

“No ma’am,” Barrier stated smoothly. “You’re the only mare for me.”

“Besides Captain Spitfire.” Verdant pitched in helpfully, much to Barrier’s annoyance. “And now that I think about it, didn’t you sleep with S-”

Barrier cut him off with a flick to the nose from his magic. “Keep quiet, or I’ll tell everypony about the time when Celestia ate you.”

Verdant raised a single eyebrow, his lips curving upward. “You mean because you sneezed when you were turned into a mare?”

“Wait,” Wind Whistler finally piped in, having finished her chocolate and set herself to reclining in the magical field. “Say that again?”

“Captain Barrier became a ma-” another flick of magic silenced him.

“Bad Verdant.” Barrier set himself on one of the benches dotting platform four. “Don’t make me regret leaving the squirt-bottle at home.”

“No no,” Octavia spoke this time. “Go ahead, Verdant. I rather want to hear this one.”

Barrier only groaned.

Verdant’s attention fell to the train instead of reciting the tale. “Say, isn’t that Twilight and company?”

Oh thank Faust. Barrier’s own gaze fixated on the gaggle of mares departing the train…and immediately regretted it.

“My party-cannon doubles as a luggage cannon. It’s pretty convenient for trips like these.”

The face of my nightmares…

Verdant met the mares halfway, sharing a hug with Twilight.

“I prefer to use my cunning for luggage transportation.” Rarity flipped her mane as she spoke, as if doing so actually accomplished something.

Applejack was the one to reply, tugging a large cart of suitcases behind her. “By cunnin’, yah mean beatin’ me at poker?”

“Hey, you got off easy!” Rainbow Dash followed behind Applejack, a second cart of suitcases in hoof. “I hated wearing that maid outfit…”

Barrier found his mind flashing to the mental image of Rainbow Dash in a maid outfit; his mind reflexively filed that away for later.

“I thought you looked cute in it…” Fluttershy spoke as softly as ever.

Barrier’s eyes fell on Pinkie Pie once more. “Octavia, is it too early to drink?”

Octavia’s eyes fell on Pinkie Pie as well and then back to her husband. “As soon as the children are asleep.”

Barrier shook the filly in his magic slightly. “Windy, don’t you feel like a nap right about now?”

“I just ate chocolate and coffee.” She fixed her caregiver with a bemused stare. “What do you think?”

“Bah, you’re no fun.” Barrier chucked the filly towards the group of mares, watching carefully as her wings unfurled to catch her…right before a cotton-candy mare jumped up and snatched her from the air.

“Traitor!” Wind Whistler yelled out before being muffled into Pinkie Pie’s chest.

Ah, vengeance can be sweet…

“Hot pony potato!” Pinkie Pie hefted the filly in the air only for another magical aura to snag her from her grip.

“Pinkie, no!” Twilight admonished, setting Wind Whistler on the ground. “We have to get on the train. Princess Celestia was nice enough to reserve our seats and we don’t want to miss it.”

“Nice isn’t the word I’d use for it.” Barrier finally spoke directly to the group, drawing their attention. “The trouble she put me through for this…if I never see another toilet-brush again, it’ll be too damned soon.”

Verdant’s eyes widened slightly. “She made you do a Hatty?”

“We’re not discussing it.” Was Barrier’s only response.

The train to Crystal Empire is arriving at platform two…

“So,” Barrier dropped down directly across from Twilight and Verdant as the others played with the youngest members of the group. “How have you two been over the last year?”

“I’ve been adjusting, for the most part.” Verdant started. “I’ve been making a quite a few trips to Ponyville. Twilight’s been a big help with the whole thing.”

“Has she worn you out with her questions yet? My first days here were…well, she’s a very curious mare.”

Twilight chuckled abashedly. “I haven’t been bothering him that much. We have been doing a lot of studying though. The first thing was to teach him modern Equestrian.”

“And the latest thing is soundproofing spells?” Barrier pointed a hoof at the book in Twilight’s magic, inwardly grinning when she blushed. “Now I wonder what you’d want to know those for.”

“No reason…” she defended weakly, much to the stallion’s amusement.

“Uh-uh.” Barrier’s inward grin became an outward grin as well. “Just be careful playing hide the-”

“Zucchini?” Pinkie Pie shoved the phallic fruit in between the three. “Applejack brought tons of vegetables to snack on during the trip!”

“No thanks, Pinkie. I’m not hungry and I’m sure Twilight already has plans for one later.” Barrier waggled his eyebrows slightly at Twilight, causing her to groan and bury her face as Pinkie headed back to her seat. “So, other than that, what have you been up to?”

Twilight shrugged. “Pretty much the same as always.”

“Cooking classes.” Verdant offered.

Twilight added to the statement right after. “Reading books.”

“Tending to flowers.”

“Reorganizing the library.”

“Writing letters.”

“The occasional trip here and there.”

“Helping Color Splash with whatever crazy scheme she comes up with.”

“Stopping ancient horrors.”

“Same old, same old.” Both finished almost in unison.

Barrier blinked twice before simply nodding. “Sounds about as exciting as my own. I miss the days when I did something other than paperwork.”

“Well, at least it’s better than what you used to do, right?” Verdant offered a half-smile, knowing all too well what was going through the pony’s mind.

“To be sure. Now that most everything is restructured and ponies are going through proper training, there’s not much to do besides cycling border patrols and denying leave requests.” The trio fell into a brief silence before Barrier finally sighed. “It’s been far too long since I saw you last.”

“Yeah,” Verdant leaned his head back. “Wind Whistler’s birthday.”

“Sorry that I couldn’t make it in for Hearth’s Warming.” Barrier glanced at Wind Whistler, who was locked in a staring contest with Rainbow Dash. “Wind Whistler had a cold and… well, you know.”

“That’s okay. My parents actually forgot to set the guest rooms, so only my old room and Shiny’s were actually usable.”

“Anything interesting happen on Hearth’s Warming?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me.” Twilight groaned once more. “Mom still won’t let me live it down.”

Barrier raised an eyebrow. “Did they give you a hard time about meeting Verdant?”

“Not… exactly.” Verdant failed to bite back the chuckle. “Twilight’s really embarrassed about it. It all started when her parents told me a bit about her youth…”

Twilight Velvet pointed at the picture in her album and smiled in amusement. “As you can see, my little girl hated wearing diapers back then.”

Shining Armor snorted to mask a laugh.

“Mom…” Twilight’s face was buried in a pillow on the couch. “Please don’t do this…”

“And she apparently really liked that rug, since she marked it as her own. It took us days to get the stain out.”

“Mom!” Twilight groaned again; Velvet and Shining just laughed.

Barrier didn’t even hide his laugh. “Ah, that must have been fun. For what it’s worth, if Emerald Hills and Viridian Forest were alive in this era and with cameras, I’ve no doubt they show you pictures of Verdant doing the same thing.”

“Hay, I did even worse than that, arguably. I was helping Velvet prepare a salad and I squeezed the ranch-sauce bottle too hard. It splattered all over Velvet and when the others heard her scream, they all ran in and saw…well, they thought I…yeah…all over her face…”

“At any rate, I think the worst of it was when we were headed to bed…”

Twilight yawned wearily from her spot on the couch. “I think it’s about time to head to bed.”

“Ah crap.” Night Light groaned. “Velvet and I were supposed to clear a few spare rooms. Sorry Verdant, looks like you’ll have to room with somepony.”

“That won’t be a problem.” Twilight stated matter of factly. “He can share the bed with me.”

Velvet turned and smiled slyly at her daughter. “Oh-ho! I didn’t think you were already doing that! I’m glad to know you’re getting some action that’s not from your forelegs.”

“Mom!” Twilight’s cheeks lit up. “It’s not like that! I’d just like to have my boyfriend inside me!” Realization waited several long seconds to smack Twilight in the face.

“Uh, Twilight…” Verdant chuckled nervously, glancing at both Night Light and Shining Armor’s raised eyebrows.

“Beside! I meant to say beside me!”

Most of the ponies in the train-compartment watched as Barrier almost dry-heaved with laughter; only Octavia and Wind Whistler seeming disinterested.

“Go ahead, laugh it up. My parents laughed for a straight hour. Thank goodness Spike was asleep then, or I’d never hear the end of it… kinda like now...” Twilight buried her face in her hooves.

Barrier’s laughter died down to a few short chuckles before fading out completely. “I’m sure it’ll fade eventually…well, until the wedding when I’m sure she’ll break it out again.”

“W-wedding?” Twilight half-choked out, drawing Rarity’s attention from across the compartment. “But we just…we’ve only…” Twilight fell silent as her brain seemed to overload.

“Sir,” Verdant replied calmly. “Twilight and I only met in the palace pantry a year ago. We care deeply about each other, but neither of us are ready for that sort of thing.”

“I never said you were.” Barrier replied simply and with a smile. “Just that when that time comes -and I’ll bet bits that it will eventually- that story will resurface in one way or another.”

The three lapsed into a comfortable silence after that, though it was short-lived as a voice rang out in the compartment.

”Pulling into the Crystal Empire Platform momentarily. Please be ready to depart!

“Well ponies,” Barrier hefted himself up, Rainbow Dash following suit. “That’s our stop.”

“Twily!” Shining Armor quickly rushed forward, tugging the smaller mare into a hug while Barrier and Cadance glared at each other venomously.

“Barrier.” Cadance’s tone was sharp as well as smug.

“Princess Heartbutt.” Barrier’s reply was equally hard, the tone carrying an almost-threatening edge.

The two stared intensely at each other before a grin broke out and the two gave the other a short embrace, Barrier speaking first. “How’ve things been?”

“Not bad,” Shining Armor answered as Cadance broke away to greet Twilight. “Hectic, but definitely not bad. Almost everything is finally up to par. It definitely made us kick our flanks into high gear.”

“And toned them rather nicely.” Cadance said with a wiggle of her hips.

“The royal flank looks great, Your Highness.” Verdant Range gave Shining a friendly smile.

“Look, Verdant.” Shining Armor let out a throaty sigh as he turned to face the earth-pony. “I’m okay with you dating Twilight, I really am, but please don’t stare at my wife’s flank.”

Verdant’s expression remained the same. “I wasn’t, sir. I was referring to yours.”

Cadance took over for the alabaster unicorn, allowing him to further talk with Verdant, Twilight seeming to interject herself in their conversation as well. “There are still classes for the crystal ponies to help them get to used to more modern technology and speech, but the ponies working at the castle are all up to date, and most of the Equestrian guards have finally been relieved of their teaching duties. Soon we’ll be completely modern.”

The charcoal-unicorn nodded, knowing how difficult such a transition had to have been. “I’m glad everything finally seems to be going right for a change.”

Cadance continued to speak even as the group began to move towards the city center by some unspoken agreement. “We also set up a memorial for all the ponies that gave their lives to defend the Empire from Sombra…”

Barrier’s smile faded just slightly at the news. “Thank you for that. It’s good to know they won’t be forgotten.”

“Princess?” Wind Whistler tapped the pink alicorn’s hind leg softly. “Does that mean my mom’s name is on it?”

Cadance expression saddened, but her smile remained. “It is. She was one of the first ponies that went on it.”

Wind Whistler smiled back up her before falling back to Octavia.

“The festival today…” Cadance’s tone was notably lower as she continued. “We plan on doing one every year, to celebrate the return of the Empire…and so that we never forget what was lost in the process. I might have also scheduled you to give a speech at the memorial after the festivities have finished.”

Barrier stopped, the group leaving him behind and rushing to catch up with Cadance.

“What do you mean you scheduled me for a speech?” Barrier hissed under his breath.

“I didn’t think you would mind.” Cadance tilted her head, curious at the apparent reluctance. “Who is more qualified to give this speech than you?”

“Verdant Range comes to mind. Princess Celestia or Princess Luna would also be excellent choices.” The unicorn sighed and pressed a hoof to his face. “I’m not exactly a public speaker, Cadance. I’m not good at that sort of thing.”

“Well, Aunt Celestia has a sore throat and Aunt Luna threw her voice out while singing in the Royal Canterlot voice. I think the song was…Master Exploder, maybe.”

Realization seemed to dawn on Barrier’s face. “So that’s what I heard in Manehattan.” By Faust and Zacherle, how did Canterlot fare?

“So,” Cadance halted the group with a stomp of her hoof, motioning to the palace doors as well as the stalls and decorations that were being set up around the perimeter. “Can I count on you to give a speech?” Cadance gave the charcoal pony the most heart-wrenching eyes she could muster; Barrier stared at her flatly in response.

“Princess, I live with Wind Whistler. You’ve not got anything on Wind Whistler when she wants something.” The unicorn sat down and closed his eyes. “But, I’ll do it. I owe the ponies of the Empire that much.”

Cadance smiled appreciatively. “Well then, now that that’s settled, how about we help the ponies get this all finished up and have a great time?”

The group responded with a collective ‘yeah’ before splitting up to help out. Meanwhile, Barrier remained on his flanks, seemingly lost in his thoughts.

“Barrier? Barrier!”

The unicorn snorted and quickly turned to face his wife. “Apologies, Octavia. You were saying?”

“I was asking if you were okay.” Octavia placed a hoof on her husband’s withers. “You’ve been in something of a daze since shortly after our arrival.”

“I’m fine, just…tired I suppose. Cadance wants me to give a speech at the end of the festival. Being asked to do it really made me think about everything that’s happened. I just feel old, I suppose.”

“You are old.” Octavia hip-checked the stallion. “Now, enough brooding. You’re missing the…music.” Octavia almost spat the last word, drawing the unicorn’s attention to the cacophony of instruments in the background.

“Gods, those are…” A particularly loud horn rang out, though nopony seemed to pay it any heed. “Atrocious is not the word for this noise.”

“Quite.” Octavia agreed, nudging the unicorn along. “Come, why don’t we make our way to the palace?”

“Be glad I got them to come with a new version of the Imperial March,” Cadance piped in, almost winking into existence like a certain party pony. “I swear, it sounded like music to invade a country to.”

“Cadance,” Barrier pressed a hoof to his chest and took a deep breath, “There is no quicker way to get a black eye than to sneak up on me like that.”

“I’m actually quite surprised you held back,” Octavia tittered. “Progress.”

“So,” Cadance took up stride alongside the two ponies. “there’s a ruby-reaper-eating-contest before everypony gathers for dinner. Wanna go watch it?”

Barrier glanced at Octavia who after a moment of hesitation nodded. “Very well Cadance, lead the way.”

“Good. Shiny is participating.” Cadance squealed slightly. “It’s going to be great.”

“Though I have to ask,” Octavia turned to face the alicorn of love. “What’s a ruby reaper?”

Barrier and Cadance grinned at each other in absolute silence.

“Begin!” The crystal pony slammed a hoof to the ground, signalling the start. Almost immediately, all of the ponies took a red crystalline pepper in hoof and crammed it into their mouths. As per the rules, they all chewed for several seconds and swallowed. Thus began the battle of wills.

“Twenty bits that Shining cracks first.” Barrier held up a twenty-bit piece. Both Cadance and Octavia stared at him. “No bet.”

“Prince Armor is out!” The referee announced, watching with a slight smile as Shining Armor attempted to drown himself in a bucket of milk.

“Second pepper, go!”

The contestants all started on their second pepper; by now all save two of the contestants appeared to be rethinking their life decisions; Verdant Range and a familiar yellow pegasus.

“Fifty bits on Verdant.”

Cadance glanced at the contestants and then back at the charcoal unicorn and nodded, fishing out fifty bits of her own.

“Verdant!” Barrier’s voice rang out clearly over the noise. “I have bits on you, don’t lose!”

“No pressure.” Octavia smirked when the participant in question glanced at the crowd nervously.

“Garden Hose, out!” the announcer’s voice rang out. “Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, out!” After only the second round it was down to two contestants. A butter-yellow pegasus who seemed to be looking at her bowl of peppers almost impatiently and a green earth pony that was sweating like a whorse in church.

“Pepper number three, go!”

The audience waited with baited breath as the ponies chewed…and waited, neither of them backing out.

“Pepper four!” The referee clopped his hoof again.

For a long minute it seemed like neither pony would back down…until with a cry of agony, Verdant Range finally buried himself in the bucket of milk… and then the bucket of milk next to his.

“Damn…” Barrier muttered to himself as he handed the bits to Cadance.

“This game’s winner is…Fluttershy!”

The crowd began to cheer, the yellow pegasus seeming to shrink into her seat in response.

“Don’t worry, these bits will be put to good use,” Cadance promised as ponies began to filter out of the stands. “Come on, it’s time for dinner you two! Barrier gets to give his speech before we all eat.”

The unicorn grumbled to himself, but followed closely behind his two escorts.

Barrier took a deep breath as he glanced at the absolute giant of a table that had been built outside of the Crystal Palace, due to its size. He vaguely registered Cadance saying something and motioning to a pillar at the head of the table, cloaked beneath a white cloth and standing almost six ponies high and three wide.

“Attention everypony!” Cadance tapped the microphone several times, getting a loud feedback that quickly silence the crowd. “I want to thank everypony for coming to tonight’s celebrations!” Cadance waited several moments for the crowd to fall entirely silent once more. “We’ve all gathered here tonight to celebrate that on this day, one year ago, this great Empire returned, as well as the defeat of an evil tyrant!” Once again the crowd drowned her out, this time for several minutes. “However, before we continue, I ask that we have a moment of silence for those lost, as well as those who fought and gave their lives to defend this great city…” Nopony cheered that time, though even from her spot at the podium, Cadance could see Twilight comforting Verdant Range. “Now, before we begin the feast, I have asked a pony that some of you may recognize as Captain Magic Barrier of the Equestrian Guard who, along with the valiant efforts of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, finally succeeded in freeing us from Sombra’s cruel clutches. Captain Barrier, if you would address the crowd?”

“Barrier!” Octavia elbowed the unicorn sharply in the ribs. “Cadance called you up!”

With a nervous swallow, the unicorn stood up and made his way towards the podium almost on autopilot. It wasn’t until he became aware of the countless ponies in his vision that he realized where he was; the unicorn gave the microphone a sharp tap before starting.

“Uh…” Barrier ran a hoof through his mane and sighed into the microphone. “Some of you may know me from a really long time ago, but I guess most of you know from my most recent endeavors here in the Empire.” Barrier’s horn flared, retrieving a glass of… something, as he continued to speak. “For a very long time, the disappearance of the Empire weighed on my soul. I viewed my inability to protect it as my greatest failure. I felt like I’d let down the ponies important to me that were lost with the empire.”

The unicorn took a long swallow of his drink and duly noted the slight, bitter hint of alcohol.

“I didn’t think the day would come that I could put all of those feelings to rest, but lo and behold, here we are.” The silence continued. “I’m grateful to have this opportunity to be here with all of you, and I owe a debt that cannot be repaid to the ponies who sacrificed themselves so we could all have this opportunity.” Barrier blinked several times in quick succession. “I don’t really know what else to say, so just… thank you to everypony here and thank you to those that can’t be.”

The unicorn raised his glass. “A toast!” He waited several moments for ponies to gather drinks. “To old friends,” He pointedly met the eyes of Princess Celestia and Luna, as well as Verdant Range. “To new ones!” He deliberately smiled and nodded at each of the element bearers, “To family,” his gaze found Octavia and Wind Whistler, as well as Melodic that was held in the crook of Octavia’s hoof. “To all old love,” he saw Cadance and Shining both smile warmly, “and to the new,” He nodded to Twilight and Verdant. “And to the ponies that gave everything they could to ensure we could all be here. May the light of the Crystal Empire shine ever brighter, and may it be a beacon to a brighter tomorrow.” Barrier threw back the last his drink as the crowd began to cheer and drink in earnest.

Barrier took a shaky breath as he sat down next to Octavia once more, ponies eating and drinking with a newly-found vigor.

“A wonderful speech, Captain,” Luna addressed very hoarsely. “Had I known you had the talent for them, I’d have had you give them more frequently.”

“Princess Luna.” Barrier bowed his head respectfully. He noticed her sister next to her. “Princess Celestia. I’m sorry you’re sick on such an occasion.”

“She’s not sick,” Cadance admitted, joining the group.

Barrier’s eye twitched slightly. “Then why didn’t you ask her to give the speech?”

“She’s not sick, but her throat is really sore,” the pink alicorn explained.

Barrier took a deep breath and slowly exhaled to help vent his frustration. “And why’s that?”

“Well, she and I had a ruby reaper eating contest of our own, but we never stated that you couldn’t swallow the peppers whole. Like I did. What made it worse was that she couldn’t actually keep her seven peppers down, so on the return trip…”

“Ah,” Barrier winced in understanding and smiled apologetically towards the solar diarch, only to notice the notepad she was holding.

“Were I griffin, I’d be making a fist with the middle talon extended at Cadance right now.”

Barrier refilled the glass he’d toasted with and quickly threw another glass back.

“Honestly, where do you put all the alcohol you drink?” Octavia swatted at the unicorn as he downed a third glass of the Crystalberry Wine.

“I have a separate stomach for alcohol.” Barrier smiled and quickly pecked his wife. “Say, where did Wind Whistler get to?”

“That…” Octavia glanced around. “Is actually a very good question.”

A half-choked sound escaped from Celestia as something skittered up her back and came to a stop on her head; Barrier found his gaze drifting upward, where it registered the small powder-blue pegasus…that had just stolen Princess Celestia’s crown off of her head.

“I’m the queen of the worldddd!” Wind Whistler slurred as she reared onto her hind-legs…and fell backwards into the princess’s magic.

“Barrier.” Octavia’s voice was tinged with disbelief. “Did Wind Whistler just drink herself silly and commit treason?”

“Yes.” Barrier slowly and deliberately swallowed another glass of wine. “Yes she did.”

“Oh crap,” Realization dawned on Cadance’s face as the filly burped drunkenly in Celestia’s magic, the solar diarch dangling her upside-down at eye-level. “I forgot, minors are allowed to drink wine at celebrations in the empire. I should probably fix that in the morning.”

“So, Princess. How many favors do I have to call in to get Wind Whistler pardoned?” Barrier turned to face his ruler.

Celestia quickly scribbled another note.

“You’re running out of favors very quickly these days Captain…luckily for you, I shall pardon the filly due to her diminished inhibitions and on account of her being absolutely adorable. Besides that, I believe her hangover will be punishment enough.”

“You have my thanks.” Barrier glanced at the bowl of wine in the center of the table. “Right, what say we have a drinking contest and see how many of us can join her in her suffering tomorrow?”

“No thanks.”

Celestia was the first to reply, scribbling away at her notepad.

“My throat is sore enough.”

“As is mine,” Luna agreed.

“I can’t drink,” Cadance smiled sheepishly.

“What? Why?” Twilight finally spoke up, head tilted in curiosity.

“Shiny and I did what Barrier did, only this time, it was intentional. Oh, and there were no ear infections involved either.”

Twilight’s head tilted to the side even further. “What do you mean?”

Cadance sighed and shook her head in amusement. “I’m pregnant, Twilight.”

Twilight’s eyes widened and suddenly the mare yelled. “You’re pregnant?! I’m going to be an aunt?!”

“Well then,” Barrier’s horn flared and lifted a multitude of glasses. “How about those of us who can drink have one last toast? To your baby’s health and to a bright tomorrow for the empire?”

Rainbow Dash was the first to speak up, though judging by her slurred speech, she was already more than a few in. “Here here!”

Everypony with a glass raised it.

“To the future, and many a day like this to come!”