Manehattan. A city where the rich get richer and the poor get trampled underneath. Tall, dull-colored buildings lined the streets. Some offered food, or cheap apartments, others looked to be abandoned. This was a city where anything could be bought if you had the bits and knew where to get it; at least, that’s how his doctor had explained it to him when he asked about it.

To Barrier, it sounded a lot like Old Equestria.

Taking a deep, steadying breath of the morning air, Barrier departed the train, stopping only to grab a map from a nearby kiosk; the first order of business, to find an inn. The train-ride had been an overnight affair and the beds provided were not comfortable in the slightest.

“Excuse me miss, could you direct me to the nearest inn?” Barrier fell silent as the mare sped past, not even giving him a glance. This was turning out more difficult than he had anticipated. He couldn’t find an inn anywhere and anytime he tried to ask a pony for help, they would either ignore him completely, or laugh at him for some reason; it was a frustrating situation and he could feel his temper steadily building at his lack of results over the last hour.

Under normal circumstances, he would not have come to a place such as this; it was far too crowded for his tastes. Sadly, it was the only place he suspected he could get what he was hunting for.

Grumbling annoyedly to himself, he turned to a building with a large sign above it, reading CLUB PON3; Perhaps he would have better luck seeking help inside.

“Hello?”

The building showed obvious signs of habitation, but was eerily quiet. What establishment didn’t conduct before noon?

“I already told you buckers that I’m not payin’ you crap!” A mare’s voice rang out from the back of the establishment. “Now get out before I call the guard!”

Barrier sighed and pressed a hoof to his face. Less than a day out of the hospital and he had already walked face-first into a conflict of some sort. With a trot, Barrier made his way towards the back, instinctively moving silently as his mind tried to work out the details.

“Get that ring on her! We’ll teach this whorse a lesson.” A masculine voice this time, followed by the sound of a struggle.

Pushing the door with a hard shove, Barrier bolted into the room, taking in his surroundings as rapidly as he could.

The room contained five ponies; two unicorns, one stallion, one mare, and two moderately-sized earth ponies, both stallions. The last pony was a pegasus who was huddled up in the corner, groaning in pain with both hooves between his legs. Barrier sympathized with the stallion.

The unicorn mare was pinned by one of the earth ponies and the unicorn was huddled over her trying to fix a ring on her horn while the second Earth Pony stood a short distance away, watching the scene unfold.

Sprinting up to the lone earth pony, Barrier’s horn flared as he turned and bucked as hard as he could, grinning in satisfaction when he felt something give way beneath his hooves, followed by an audible crack.

The ring clamped into place and both the unicorn stallion and remaining earth pony turned just in time to see their compatriot fly across the room like a sack of potatoes.

“Don’t suppose I could convince you gentlecolts to take your friend there and leave, could I?”

Leaving the mare groaning in pain on the ground, both stallions reoriented themselves, taking positions on either side of the new unicorn.

Barrier could feel the adrenaline flood him as the ponies responded to his request by trying to circle behind him; it was a feeling he was all too familiar with.

Not waiting for them to get behind him, Barrier took off towards the unicorn, avoiding the bolts of energy directed at him with chain teleports. Within seconds, he was face to face with the unicorn, much to his surprise. Seeing the unicorns horn light up frantically, Barrier lashed with his right hoof, striking the base of his opponents horn, his metal horse-shoe sending a crack up the length of the horn and sending a surge of magic back down into the unicorns skull; he was unconscious before he hit the ground..

With a rapid-teleport, Barrier vanished and the earth-ponies hooves travelled through empty space. Surprise written across the ponies face, he wildly threw a hoof at Barrier, aiming for his face. Throwing his right hoof in front of him, Barrier redirected the punch and countered with a left cross the moment the right hoof landed on the ground. Almost immediately after, Barrier threw both hooves up and latched onto his opponents shoulder; three times in rapid succession he brought his forehead down on the dome of the earth-ponies skull, being careful not to headbutt with his horn. At the end of the third strike, he teleported above the now-wobbling earth-pony and crashed into his head with a knee; with a thud, the pony collapsed to the floor beneath Barrier, his eyes rolling into the back of his head.

Taking a few shaky breaths to help clear the adrenaline, Barrier trotted over to the mare on the floor who seemed to be coming around.

“Oooh, what the hay happened?” She gingerly touched her horn, wincing as she did so, and sat upright just as Magic Barrier reached her.

Barrier’s first thought as he stood across from the mare was about her mane. Was two-tone blue a really common color or something? This made three ponies he had seen with what in his time was unique. “Are you okay?” Barrier asked as he opened a nearby window with his magic.

“I’ll live. Bastard caught me on the horn.”

With a burst of magic, Barrier sent a dark-red burst of magic into the sky. From what Shining had told him, if the guard saw a red flare that they went to investigate; sort of like an emergency call-button for unicorns to get the guards’ attention.

“Can you get this ring off of me?” as the mare asked, the pony who had been huddled in the corner slowly climbed upright; taking one look at his compatriots and then at the two unicorns, he huddled right back down into the corner.

Chuckling slightly as the pegasus huddled down, Barrier flared his horn. With a pop, the magic inhibitor disengaged and floated off of the mares horn.

“Man, you really did a number on these guys.” the mare approached the earth-pony he had dealt with first. He was gasping for air painfully, but didn’t seem to be suffocating. “Thanks for that. These jerks have been giving me trouble all month and I couldn’t get the guards to do anything about it. I’m Vinyl Scratch by the way, though most ponies refer to me as DJ PON3 these days.”

“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Scratch.” Barrier tilted his head formally. “I’m known as Magic Barrier.”

“So, not that I’m complaining, but what’re you doing in a club at this hour? We don’t open for like seven or eight more hours.”

“I actually entered to ask for directions. Fate must have a sense of humor, as I walked into this,” he motioned to the collapsed ponies, “not twenty-four hours out of my month-long hospitalization and I’ve already gotten into a fight with multiple ponies.” Barrier fell silent as the front door of the club opened and a voice called out.

“Did somepony here call for the guard?” A stallion’s voice came from the front of the building.

“We’re in the back office!”

By the time the guard had collected enough information, it was well past noon.

“Ah, that explains why nopony would help me.” When he had explained why he came into the club, Vinyl had explained to him that the term ‘inn’ was rather archaic and had long-since been swapped for motels; only a handful of rustic towns in the outskirts of Equestria still had inns.

“So, you said you planned on moving here? Any particular place you’re lookin’ for?”

“Somewhere out of the way where ponies won’t ask any questions or bother me under any circumstances.”

“Well, you picked the right city for that. Most of the ponies in this city couldn’t care less as long as ya’ don’t cause problems.”

He and Vinyl proceeded to talk for several more hours, Vinyl giving him a brief rundown of what he needed to know.

By the time all was said and done, it was nearly three in the afternoon; his stomach was not happy about that.

Vinyl trotted towards the door with her new employee. “I gotta start getting things set up to open. You should swing by sometime.”

“I suppose I can manage that. Til’ then, Miss Scratch.” Barrier bowed his head slightly and trotted out the door.

Settling for an early dinner at a small cafe, Barrier ate a quick meal consisting of a grilled-cucumber sandwich and a bowl of vegetable stew, before he once more took to the streets, this time having no issue finding a place to stay, now that he knew what a motel was.

With a quick fee of forty bits, he had a room for the night in downtown Manehattan; the room itself was okay, but the neighborhood was not. The streets reminded Barrier of why the royal guard in his time had night-patrols. Using the few remaining hours of daylight, Barrier took a brief walk around the decrepit neighborhood, making mental notes of alleyways and manhole covers, mentally mapping out choke-points and escape routes should the need call for it. As he did this, he unintentionally stood straighter and pushed his chest out slightly; it was something that guards did while on patrol even in this day and age to make their presence more pronounced. Were he still a guard in Canterlot, it wouldn’t have mattered, but appearing as guard in a particularly rough patch of Manehattan did not cater to one’s well-being.

Walking along, Barrier could feel various gazes on him, some from the alley’s, some from the buildings that surrounded him. Most didn’t bother him, but some triggered innate instincts; he felt as if he were some prey-animal walking into a lions den.

Deciding he had a suitable mental map of his immediate surroundings, he turned and walked back towards his motel as confidently as he could, making sure to lock his door before he sat down on the stiff bed. A part of him felt he shouldn’t stay the night here after his earlier trip, whereas another part of him was too tired to care. Ultimately, he decided it was too late to find another place to stay; the sun had already set, giving way to Luna’s moon. Shifting himself slightly, he fell into a deep sleep, his conscience giving way to dream.

No matter how hard or fast he ran, he couldn’t catch up to them; he could see both his wife and daughter - Radiant Smile and Radiant Sparkle - in the distance and no matter how hard he sprinted, they kept growing in distance. As the duo vanished, Barrier fell to his haunches panting desperately for air, not evening noticing as his surroundings shifted from the plain-white to the ruins of the Everfree castle. In front of him were a pair of ponies; his wife, a slender pale-blue unicorn mare with a matching mane and tail and piercing green eyes, and a small, charcoal-grey unicorn-filly with the pale-blue mane of her mother and the piercing blue eyes of her father. Glancing up with teary eyes, he watched helplessly as the pair rapidly grew old and turned to skeletons and then dust in front of his eyes. Forcing his eyes shut in an attempt to stem the flow of tears; even though he was well aware it was a dream, he could do nothing to stop it.

With a speed that would give most ponies whiplash, Barrier turned around to see the one pony he wanted to see least in all of Equestria.

“Leave. Now.” Barrier’s voice was low and dangerous.

The mare backed away several steps before staring at the ground dejectedly. With a deep steadying breath, she straightened her back and matched eyes with the unicorn. “I cannot, Sir Barrier. Regardless of what thou think of me, it is our solemn duty as princess of the night to ensure that dreams such as the-”

“It was not a request, Luna. Leave, or I will remove you myself.” Barrier horn flared dangerously “My dream, my rules.”

The alicorn stared at the ground dejectedly, hurt clearly written across her face. “Of course, Sir Barrier. My apologies for intruding on this night.” With a flash of her horn, the alicorn had vanished.

His horn fettering out, Barrier collapsed onto the cold stone floor his dreamscape had produced, sniffling slightly. Part of him felt guilty for how he had reacted to the Princess; the expression as she left…he did that. What would his family think? What would his daughter have thought? With another choked sob, Barrier curled up into a ball and waited for his return to the waking world.

Author's Notes:

Not much to say on this one; had it done for like a week now so I forgot anything I had to say. I should probably write these things up beforehand.

Thanks to:
Izanagi for being the bad-ass editor that he is.
Havokwithak because challenge accepted!