As the two walked through the dimly-lit streets of Canterlot, Barrier noted a pair of thestrals in guards armor; if looks could kill, Barrier would have trisected the two bat-ponies. The two guards, new recruits if he were to guess, smiled nervously, sweat trickling down the stallions’ brow.

“Honestly, to believe I’m forced to associate with a racist drunkard such as yourself.” The mare’s snooty voice started up once again.

Barrier tuned her out as they continued towards the hotel, doubting she had anything particularly insightful to impart and focusing more on his surroundings; there weren’t any ponies, save the occasional Thestral, which he mentally dissected, patrolling the streets. Occasionally, he would catch a glimpse of what he thought was a trio of unicorns, though they were so rapid that he wouldn’t doubt his eyes were playing tricks on him.

The rant continued until the reached the hotel; it was a fairly impressive building, standing nearly six stories high and being decorated in the traditional white and gold of Canterlot. ”Oh thank the gods, you stopped talking.” He commented dryly, as they entered the lobby and fell silent.

Ignoring the snide remark, Octavia trotted to the counter elegantly and spoke to the peach-colored mare at the reception desk. “I have a reservation under Octavia Melody.” She waited as the mare flipped through the book, a frown on her face.

“My apologies miss, it says here that your reservation was cancelled twelve hours ago. We’ve since rented your room out.”

“What do you mean my reservation was cancelled? I made it over a month ago, and I most certainly did not cancel it!”

Barrier once again tuned her out in favor of his surroundings; specifically, the five ponies that had entered the lobby; there were three unicorns and two pegasus ponies. The moment the ponies pointed in Octavia’s direction, Barrier turned to the mare, apparently still arguing with the receptionist, and grabbed her roughly by the hoof. “We’re leaving.” He pulled Octavia towards the door, speaking rapidly as he went. “Don’t say a word.” His voice was cold and calculating, his eyes roving over the five ponies who followed them out of the hotel, and once again taking in every detail he could, mentally trying to work out how to deal with them. No matter what scenario he ran through his head, there was no way to beat them without aiming to kill. Perhaps if he got the jump on them, but he was certain they were aware of him and vice-versa.

“Unhoove me!” Octavia finally jerked her hoof away as they entered the streets of Canterlot once more; the five ponies had disappeared. “You have some nerve, dragging me along like that! Who do you think you are!”

“For the love Celestia, shut the buck up!” Barrier finally snapped at her, raising his voice. “I’ve listened to you bitch for the last fifteen hours!” Octavia opened her mouth to retort only for Barrier to cut her off again. “No! Not a bucking word. I swear on Celestia I will gag you if you speak before we reach our destination! Shut up, follow me, and do NOT lag behind.”

“My father will hear of this.” Was Octavia’s only retort as she followed behind Barrier, practically steaming mad; any attempt to veer from his path was met with magic tugging her back into line; she didn’t seem to notice the stallion’s eyes roaming endlessly, particularly watching alleys and roofs.

As quickly as he could, Barrier directed himself and the mare towards the Sparkle household, taking care to go into the path of every guard he could find. As the house came into sight, his horn flared to life and a veil of light washed over him as he cast a low-level illusion spell on himself; the spell turned his coat white and altered his cutie mark slightly. Trying to ignore the sweat on his brow from the intensity of the spell, he suddenly called out to a pair of passing thestral-guards. “Guards! Attention!” whispering, he turned to Octavia, “Not a word, I’m doing this for a reason.” The tone of his voice told her that he wasn’t joking by any means. Both guards galloped over to him and snapped a sharp salute. “Captain Armor, sir! Apologies, we weren’t aware you would be in our sector tonight!”

“At ease soldiers, I need a favor.” Shining Armor’s voice once more rolled off of the unicorn's tongue. “A group of ponies have been following my cousin and me for the last fifteen minutes or so. As of now, I’m changing your patrol orders. You’re to stand guard outside of my parents’ home until dawn. I’ll see to it personally that you’re compensated for the sudden change in plans.” Both guards saluted, something in their captain’s tone telling them that it would be unwise to refuse.

It was nearly eleven o’clock at night when they finally arrived. Glancing around once more, completely ignoring the thestrals accompanying them, Barrier pounded roughly on the door.

Octavia, while mad before, now seemed to be a mixture of both frustrated and irritated. She did not like being an accessory to a felony-crime, nor did she look forward to waking these ponies at such an hour. Nonetheless, she held her silence. Something about Magic Barrier’s tone and demeanor told her that silence was the best option available. She hadn’t been particularly afraid of the unicorn before, but now something about him radiated a cold professionalism; the change was rather shocking.

“Who is it…?” Night Light answered the door, his eyes half-shut. “Shining? What are you doing here? And who's this mare?” The unicorn’s eyes widened as he noted their guard escorts.

“When dawn comes, knock four times on the door and then you may leave.”

Both guards saluted and stood on either side of the door.

“Can we talk about this inside, Night Light?” Barrier’s image flickered and for a brief moment, strain was evident on his face; he hadn’t even bothered to mask his voice.

“What’s going on?” Night Light stepped aside to let the two ponies in. Only when the door shut did Magic Barrier drop the illusion and collapse to the floor in a panting heap.

“Barrier!” Night Light trotted over to the unicorn, helping him up. “What the hay is going on? It’s almost midnight! And who is this mare?”

“Second, Night…” Barrier plopped on the couch wearily. “Illusion magic can get bent."

Though Night Light remained silent, he was clearly curious, and more than a little irritated.

“Right, in order, I’m a bodyguard for this mare, yes, it’s a quarter until midnight and this mare is Octavia Melody, a musician and my current client, even if she has been…a rather difficult individual.”

“That still doesn’t explain why you dragged me across Canterlot!” Octavia snapped, clearly irritated with the situation.

“Doesn’t explain why you were disguised as Shining Armor either, or why there are guards.” Night Light pointed out.

“I dragged you across town, because your father’s fears were well-founded and we needed somewhere safe that a group of ponies couldn’t follow us.” Annoyance was clear in his tone as he addressed Octavia.

“And I was disguised as your son so I could convince those two…” Barrier fell silent, an upset expression on his face. “thestrals, to watch the door for the night. So long as they’re there, the ponies after us aren't likely to try anything.” a tired sigh escaping him, Barrier continued, “I’m sorry to drop in on you like this, Night Light, if I had an alternative, I would have taken it. The specifics are painfully convoluted, but the gist of it is that Octavia and I need a place to stay and this was the only safe place besides the castle, and the night-guard is apparently composed of thestrals…so yeah. Sorry.”

“Just hearing that much sounds convoluted, but I trust you, Barrier." Night Light let an exasperated sigh escape him, "If this was the only option you had, I’ll take your word for it.” Finally addressing the mare, Night Light bowed his head respectfully. ”Miss Melody, a pleasure to meet you. I’m Night Light, close family of Magic Barrier.”

“A pleasure, Mr. Light. I apologize for dropping in uninvited.” Octavia bowed her head in return. Unlike when she spoke with Barrier, her voice was soft and almost friendly, with a more pronounced accent. Barrier could almost enjoy the sound, if it weren’t attached to her.

“Right, well, you can take Shining’s old room, Barrier, and Miss Melody can take the guest room. Upstairs, last two doors on the left.” Night Light yawned deeply, reminding everypony of the late hour. “Help yourselves to anything you need, I’m going back to bed.” With that, he trotted off up the stairs once more, leaving the two ponies in silence.

Glancing down at his hoof, Barrier noticed it had seemed to shake slightly. Stumbling upright, still magically drained, he left Octavia alone in silence for a moment before he returned with a teapot, a pair of cups, and a bottle of whiskey.

“Honestly, have you no shame?” Octavia scoffed, pulling her gaze from the bottle of whiskey and focusing on the teapot which Barrier was heating with a notably dim stream of magic.

“Nope.” Barrier took a shot directly from the bottle before setting it aside and preparing two glasses of chamomile tea. As the leaves steeped, a deep sigh escaped Barrier and he began to speak.

“Okay, look. It’s clear that we loathe each other. I’m not any happier at this situation than you are, so I’ll make you a deal. You cut me some slack and stop being so stuck-up and difficult to be around, and I’ll stop being an ass and do my best not to cause you any troubles.”

Octavia seemed to contemplate the thought before finally nodding her acceptance. “Very well, but I expect you to keep your end of that bargain, otherwise I’ll make your every waking hour difficult.” Was that a slight smirk on her face?

“Fair enough.” Handing Octavia a cup of tea, Barrier drank his own in a few swallows. “I’m going to go ahead and go to bed. I’m exhausted. Your room is the last door on the left. Make sure that your window is locked before bed.” With a tired yawn, Barrier drug himself up the stairs and onto Shining Armors bed; he was out before he hit the sheets, the illusion magic having taken its toll on him.

Barrier groaned as four rapid-knocks sounded from the front door. Rolling off of the bed, he made it to the window just in time to see the two thestrals trotting away and for the sun to shine right in his eyes, alerting him to the migraine. Good kids, for thestrals, he supposed. With a slight rumble of his stomach, he dashed from the room to the bathroom, quickly holding his muzzle over the toilet as he emptied his stomach’s non-existent contents. After several minutes of dry-heaving, he stumbled through a quick shower and into the kitchen, where Velvet was preparing breakfast and Octavia appeared to be enjoying a glass of tea.

Levitating a bottle from his bag, Barrier started to fish out the whiskey, before he turned to see Octavia frowning at him. With a sigh, he replaced the bottle and took a seat at the table where Velvet poured him a cup of tea.

“My, you don’t seem to have slept well.” Velvet commented as Night Light joined them in the kitchen.

“Morning, Barrier, Miss Melody.”

Octavia responded in kind while Barrier moaned unintelligibly.

With a slight chuckle, Velvet levitated a bottle of ibuprofen over to the table.

“Thanks…” Barrier mumbled out as he swallowed several pills.

“So, what will you two do now? I don’t think Velvet or I mind you staying here, but if you’re in trouble, maybe you should talk to Shining. I’m sure he’d be willing to help.”

“Yeah, we’ll have to stop and see him. I have to apologize to him for my stunt last night anyways. What all do you have to do today, Octavia?”

Octavia frowned at the use of her first name. “I’ve practice with my quartet from noon to seven. Before that, I’d like to find another hotel to stay at.” she turned to Night Light and Twilight Velvet. “Your hospitality is greatly appreciated, but I don’t want to intrude.”

Twilight Velvet tittered slightly, “Oh, don’t worry about that, dear. It’s nice having some ponies other than Night Light and me in the house. It gets fairly dreary sometimes when it’s just us.”

Night Light only nodded his agreement.

“Right, Miss Melody.” Barrier smiled slightly at her. “After breakfast, we’ll go see the captain of the guard, Shining Armor. After that, I’ll follow your lead. Deal?”

Octavia looked as if she wanted to argue, but visibly deflated when she remembered they were guests. “Very well.” She nodded curtly.

Barrier smiled inwardly as the four ponies ate in silence.

Things were starting to look up…at least, he was fairly certain they were.

Author's Notes:

Not much to say about this one other than meh. Hit a bout of block on it [and I'm not particularly hapy with any of my chapters] so just meh.

Thanks to:

Izanagi for editing.
Havokwithak for the company and pushing me to finish this chapter. It was a grind. x.x