No Longer Alone

by NoLongerSober

First published 10th of December, 2020

Sass, science, and surviving shipping! Postage paid! The gruff captain put a certain pegasus professor to the test and learned that she just couldn’t quit. Now come the hard parts: an actual relationship and maybe a villain or two.

Sass, science, and surviving shipping! Postage paid! The gruff captain put a certain pegasus professor to the test and learned that she just couldn’t quit. Now come the hard parts: an actual relationship and maybe a villain or two.

There’s also still a lot to prove. A crafty princess may have guided Tail and Magic Barrier together for basic training, but the stallion has more lessons in mind for the inquisitive academic. Meanwhile, other currents hold sway over the tides. Old friends will play new parts, and new characters are set to step onto the stage. The chess pieces are settling into place, and the queen has her eyes on one state secret. 

Perhaps when they find resolve in the shadows, the physicist thriving in the world of guard service and the captain rediscovering happiness in the modern age will see that they’re no longer alone.

---

Folks, I know this has been a long time coming. Some of you have been poking me for almost four years, wondering when Sober and I (Wing) would get around to writing NLD’s sequel. I hope it doesn’t disappoint. 

Cover art by the amazing dream--chan, and special thanks to some old friends and a new editor who joined the fray. Max Redbridge, welcome to the circle of crazy! Neon/Fate, thank you for your squees, deaths, and fuck yeahs! And Amby!!! Alticron, for giving us Bonecrusher. Tea, you can't have Trigger without you! Thanks to Danger Noodle for the adorable Moon Glow. Word Worthy is sneaking around in the doc, too. We also got some Latin help from everyone's favorite Brasta, and what is an NL story without floof from Dr. Batsy?

Wing’s magical comments about the continuities and timelines can still be found here. The gist remains that NLD and NLA remain in a separate continuity from APD & Co. If you find any typos, please PM them to Wing. It keeps the comment section cleaner. Don’t forget to like, share, comment, and subscribe lol. And finally, reading No Longer Displaced is strongly recommended if you want to have any idea what the hell is actually happening.

Chapter 1 - Sass, Science, and Shipping!

Barrier’s frosty eyes lazily followed the movements of his two cadets as they darted about the training yard of Canterlot Castle. The captain had allowed this round to go on longer than usual, and it became more apparent with each passing moment that those under his tutelage carried completely different fighting styles.

Though he was a cadet in Barrier’s court, the earthy-toned unicorn known as Indar had already achieved the rank of corporal in the Royal Guard—and was likely due for a promotion to sergeant if the powers that be were being honest. Even against the fury of his opponent, the younger stallion seamlessly produced shields in step with thrusts and pivots in a manner that, on the whole, looked an awful lot like choreography.

Indeed, Indar practically danced atop the green blades of grass, and the way he leapt to dodge inbound strikes made the yard seem like a stage. The stone archways bordering the pitch became drawn curtains. The performance became theatre, and the spectacle drew a smile to Barrier’s muzzle.

Bonecrusher, on-the-other-hoof, was an entirely different character. The lime-colored earth pony was the embodiment of full-throttle. She pounded away at anything Indar put in her path, shouted to the skies with every punch, and was relentless in her pursuit. Every motion chewed up the field and spewed clumps of dirt through the gritty grind, but all of that physical energy came with a less-than-reliable mental attitude. A few weeks ago, Barrier had been on the cusp of kicking her out of his class—

“Fucking shit…” The captain’s jovial demeanor quickly faded when he spotted one of Crusher’s hind legs dangerously slide out of position. “Your footwork is getting sloppy, Bonecrusher! Power without control is piss!”

She snorted in response, braced her stance, and lunged at Indar’s shields with renewed vigor.

“At least she’s not giving me lip anymore—” The phrase sent a sudden jolt along Barrier’s spine, and he drew a deep breath before gulping heavily. For a few seconds, he stoically stood, unwilling to add any more commentary to whatever was swirling in his head. At least, that was the case until the sounds of crunching grass pulled his attention rearward.

“Yard’s closed while I’m using it,” the captain grumbled, not even bothering to turn around to see whoever had decided to invade his camp. The steps came to an abrupt halt, yet no retreat followed. “I said the yard’s closed. If you’ve got a problem with it, take it up with the princesses.”

“Permission to fall in line, Captain?”

Barrier’s ears perked, and his tail twitched to the mare’s voice. Instinctively, his head snapped to the side to confirm what he already knew. Decked out in her full armor kit, Tail stood a few meters behind his post. The pegasus greeted the stallion with a beaming smile—an infectious grin that tugged on the corners of his own lips. “We don’t start again for another week, Colonel. You don’t have a reason to be here just yet.”

Tail sheepishly scuffed her hoof on the ground, and her beaming grin gradually morphed into a grimace that projected the seeds of her poorly hidden disappointment.

“But…” Barrier glanced back at the ponies who were wearing themselves out. “You’re here when the yard is mine. And if you’re here, you’re working. Twenty-five warm-up laps, get to it.”

The captain’s order returned Tail’s smile to its proper strength and place. She popped an enthusiastic salute that made Barrier snort, and he swiftly tightened the muscles in his muzzle to reform and maintain a neutral expression through his own saluting gesture.

The pegasus simply giggled at the stern display before she hopped off into her run. Her melody teased the unicorn, coaxing him to keep his sights set on the mare whose lips he had kissed—

“Make that thirty!” Barrier suddenly wailed, stomping his hoof for emphasis. “My cadets came here to get trained, not to listen to some vacationing colonel’s serenade.”

A crack popped from the tip of Tail’s namesake as she flicked it in response. Her legs ramped to a rediscovered beat, one that she had missed during her time away, and she thundered about the track to a vigorous cadence that carried one driving message. Vacation was over.

The wind lightly tugged at dampened clumps of lavender fur, and similarly-drenched locks cascaded like swept ink over Tail’s neck and golden armor. Heated breaths slipped through the mare’s slackened muzzle as she ran about the curved portion of the track. Whispered numbers drifted upon those gasps, reminding the entranced pegasus exactly how many laps remained until her goal would be achieved.

“Ten. Ten. Ten.” The hushed, staccato refrain plucked Tail’s ears when she entered the straightaway. Her stride lengthened, and her wings fluffed as a playful, fiery spark danced along her chocolate-colored iris.

I want you to propel yourself at me at full speed. The memory of Barrier’s first assessment echoed in her mind. She could practically picture the stallion standing in the distance, demanding that she do better. After all, that was his way—her captain, her colleague, her colt—

“We’re going to have to work on your zoning out,” Barrier commented idly while he kept pace at Tail’s side.

A squeak bubbled from the mare’s throat, and she promptly jumped into the adjacent lane before her head swiveled to face the grinning captain. Shock had utterly usurped the burning gaze. Laughter greeted her returned senses, and she scrunched her muzzle at the spectacle of one thoroughly amused charcoal unicorn.

“I’ve been shadowing you for two laps, Colonel, and you didn’t even notice. The whispers were cute though. Admittedly, they’re nowhere near as cute as that squeak and the ruffled feathers, but a captain’s got to do what a captain’s got to do. Now’s not the time for cute. Now’s the time for lessons learned.”

Once again, Tail cracked her namesake and wiped the contorted expression from her face with an audible huff. “And what lesson might that be?” she asked after taking a few seconds to stabilize the rhythm of her gallop.

Mischief crept along the stallion’s snout, producing a smirk that Tail’s sidelong glance did not miss. “This one’s pretty simple, Professor,” he answered in an atypically chipper tone that made the mare’s coat rise in anticipation. “Running is hard when three ponies make an effort to get in your way.”

Not enough time had passed for Tail’s brain to process that information before a transparent umber plane careened into her side and pushed her from the trodden track onto the grassy, inner pitch. Her reflexes and instincts, however, had been honed thanks to Barrier’s course, and her wings swiftly propelled her over Indar’s magical construct and back onto the path.

Upon landing, Tail shot a piercing glare at the captain, whose smug, knowing demeanor screamed to the pegasus that she was in for a long day. Amidst that thought, the thundering clamor of stomping hooves dripped into Tail’s awareness. The heavy steps grew louder through the following seconds, and Bonecrusher’s accompanying battle cry yanked the scientist’s attention to the charging earth pony.

An amethyst scowl was firmly plastered upon the lime mare’s countenance as she pressed on towards Tail.

Months before, the pegasus would have buckled before the behemoth, snorting Bonecrusher and the boisterous rumble that clung to the powerful stride. Today though, the familiar sight pulled Tail’s lips into a lopsided smile. She rolled to the right with a sharp stroke of her wings, planted her hooves back into the ground, and bolted into her sprint.

The ragged scratches of hooves scraping dirt and gravel raked Tail’s ears. The sounds, along with the thomp that followed, came from where Tail had passed Bonecrusher’s position, and the lavender mare did not waste the energy to confirm what she knew to be true: the earth pony had not given up her pursuit.

Tail picked up the pace, hoping to gain some distance between herself and the persistent heavy-hitter, and she was succeeding until a yelp rapidly fled her lungs. Her namesake had been tugged, and her coat bristled to the presence of a warming magic that laced around her hind legs and stopped her right in her tracks.

“Not as easy to dodge casts when there are other factors in play, is it, Colonel?” Barrier added with a snicker that forced a huff through Tail’s muzzle. He began to spin the pegasus with his spell, aiming to pin her armor-covered trunk to the dirt.

To her credit, Tail didn’t fight the motion. She spread her wings, went with the flow, and greeted her captain’s cocky stare with a confident grin of her own. Static traced lines through her fur, and with a desperate flick of those feathery appendages, the mare guided enough electrical charge to disrupt Barrier’s grasp.

She slipped free and tumbled along the track before springing upright to resume her run. “Grabbing my thigh already, Barrier? That’s nowhere near second-date act—”

The flier was interrupted when Bonecrusher leapt between her withers and tackled her onto the grass. “Gotcha, Civvy!” she shouted with pride after jabbing her hoof against Tail’s armor. “And I don’t want to hear a word about your romantic crap. I’ve got enough of it at the Phoenix Fire to last a lifetime.”

Tail wriggled beneath the heavier Crusher and began to crawl towards sweet freedom when the cogs in her brain clicked. She thrust her forehooves into the grass and surprisingly pushed upward with enough strength to dislodge the earth pony from her perch. “You’ve heard?” Tail squeaked as a blush flooded her muzzle. Her sights darted from the shocked pouncer to the softly chuckling Indar—and finally to Barrier, whose gaze averted the probing stare.

“Cadets,” the captain’s response emerged in a raspy voice that barely exceeded the volume of a whisper, “now’s definitely not the time for that. There’s still work to be done and nine-and-a-half laps that need to be stopped. It’s not my fault Luna decided to, once again, be an insufferable brat.”

Tail gasped for air from her prone position upon the track. Her limbs ached. Her lungs yanked in breaths and ached, and her heart pounded with a ferocity that ached. In fact, everything ached, and yet, there could not be a more satisfied smirk etched onto her countenance.

Every scuff mark, dirt stain, and grassy smear that tarnished Tail’s kit and coat had been earned—as had her current position on the field. She had been challenged by Captain Barrier to finish thirty laps, and her right foreleg now stretched across that finish line.

Groaning, Tail turned to her left and eyed the collapsed Indar. The sandy-colored unicorn panted, and his horn glowed from the effects of magical overexertion. “Good show, Ms. Tail,” the stallion commented quietly after wearily brushing his sweat-drenched sunny mane. “It’s nice to have you with us again.”

A grunt burst from Bonecrusher’s throat that slowly dragged the attention of Indar and Tail to the seated mare. Her purplish irides glimmered while she looked upon the sprawled pegasus, and for a few seconds, the earth pony maintained a tentative silence.

From Tail’s perspective, Crusher appeared as a triumphant, towering mass of green that defied her body’s current logic. The contented grin that had controlled the colonel’s appearance yielded its ground to a sheepish smile. “Your stamina is really something. I’m not looking forward to picking myself up to go home. Everything hurts, but I guess that’s what I get for being gone a week, hm?”

Bonecrusher pursed her lips and aggressively swished her tail. Her sights never wavered from the flier’s frame, and she unloaded another short puff before replying, “Dumbass Civvy, I don’t give a shit about you being gone. It’s you coming back to the fight that bucking means something. I don’t care about you dragging your flank home either. I care about tomorrow being another interesting day.”

Deadpan demeanors swept over Tail, Indar, and the upright Barrier like an arctic breeze. They all blinked multiple times, and the pegasus threw in an additional ear flick for good measure.

The trio’s collective disbelief generated an awkward silence that lingered until the realization drew an atypical bout of laughter from the on-duty captain. “On that note, why don’t we call it a day? I’m pretty sure Tartarus just froze over, and I’d rather not be around for the thaw. Plus”—Barrier shifted his focus to Tail—“I have some personal business to attend to now that a certain scientist is in town.”

Bonecrusher recoiled, lifted one of her forelegs from the ground, and gagged. She craned her neck to boot and stuck out her tongue before leaping over Tail to hoist the exhausted Indar onto her back. “Let’s get out of here before they do something that gets us suckered into bar talk again.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Indar responded, lazily bobbing his hoof. “Hope to see you tomorrow, Colonel. As Bonecrusher less-than-subtly implied, today was quite interesting.”

“Dismissed, Cadets,” Barrier interjected with his frosty tone, prompting Bonecrusher to make a swift departure from the field with Indar still in tow. A firm stare followed the pair until they disappeared beneath the stone archways and into the castle.

Tail gingerly rolled over and glanced towards Barrier as he approached. The stern countenance that encapsulated his D.I. demeanor had faded. Instead, the shallow curvature of a tranquil smile took hold. It was one that Tail found infectious—one that spurred the muscles in her muzzle to overcome the pain. “Somepony looks happy…”

“I was thinking,” he replied as his horn illuminated, “that, with all the talk generated by a noisy princess and a bratty medic, it’d be nice to actually do something as opposed to just being the subject of all the conversation.”

A giggle bubbled from Tail’s lips, and she tenderly batted her hoof in his direction. “And what did you have in mind? Are we going for sweet reve—nge?” She squealed when the stallion’s magic enveloped her body and lifted her from the path, yet the only sound that emerged from the pegasus once Barrier carefully placed her upon his kit-clad barrel was a grateful sigh.

“Once upon a time, a sassy mare carted a passed-out captain across Canterlot because an equally bratty bartender decided to do that thing that he does. Frankly, I owe this sassy mare a lot of things, and while she’s been away, I’ve been thinking about what I could do. At first, I was going to probably embarrass myself trying to return that kiss she gave me at the end of our first date, but now, I had better start by offering her a ride home.”

“Such a charmer,” Tail answered through a chain of melodious laughter. She lifted her draping forelimbs and wrapped them around the unicorn’s neck. Her gleeful bursts subsided, and she naturally transitioned to a happy hum. “Though, if you’d like a mare’s intuition on the matter, you could always be bold and do both. This sassy pony might have missed you too, Barrier.”

Author's Notes:

Here we go again! Because Tail still demanded that Sober + Wing write something. Sorry for the nearly four years of waiting, everyone. Plus side! 166,000 words and 47 chapters to be released on a weekly basis again. Also! We have new metrics from Fate, a.k.a. Neon. The NeonSquee and NeonDeath return, but now, we have the amazing Fate F-Yeah! Apparently, the long wait demanded many squees in the first chapter. Anyhoo, see you next week! Also, since I know someone will correct me, irides is a valid spelling.

Chapter 2 - The Insufferables

Barrier climbed the stairs that led from the landing to Tail and Amora’s living room. The former rested comfortably on the stallion’s back as she quietly hummed a melody that occasionally made the unicorn’s charcoal-colored ear swivel. The carpeted steps joined in as well, adding their own rhythm to the score with light crunches that accompanied the motions of Barrier’s hooves.

Aside from the impact of their presence, the flat was still. Only the light of the setting sun drifting through the windowpanes illuminated the space, and Tail released a relieved sigh at the find. “If Amora were here for this, she would probably have a field day.”

The captain chuckled his agreement as he rounded the corner at the top of the stairwell. “Yeah, she’d—” He immediately froze, prompting the lavender pegasus to curiously lift her head at the abrupt silence.

There, sitting on the couch, basking in the twilight, was Amora. Like a foal set to receive Hearth’s Warming gifts, the white, brown-maned unicorn beamed with an exuberance that quickly drew a vibrant redness to Tail’s muzzle.

“That is not creepy at all, Amora,” Tail commented before she twitched one of her flushed ears, “and aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

The mare’s joyful expression shifted as the sly contours of mischief crafted a half-lidded gaze. “Well, I was,” Amora replied while absentmindedly rolling her hoof. “Then a friend popped into my office and said that she saw something interesting happen at the training grounds today. Upon inquiring, I was told to go home right away. She was kind enough to relieve me of my rounds for the evening. Friends in high places, right?”

Barrier let out a rumbling growl. “Luna…”

Amora snapped her foreleg towards the captain. “Quick on the draw, as always. It’s no wonder why Tail fell for you.” She giggled as her words stoked Tail’s blush. “And, in this case, it seems she took quite the literal interpretation.”

“I’m going to have some words with that alicorn about privacy,” Barrier grumbled. He shot Amora an icy scowl. “After I smother you with damn pancakes…”

A sparkle flashed across Amora’s cobalt eyes, and she popped off the couch and onto her hooves before either Barrier or Tail could blink. She bowed dramatically and gestured around the space. “For your delicious sorcery, I will gladly go for a walk.” The medic snickered as she trotted by the couple, and she took a few seconds to lightly brush her roommate’s mane. “Try not to leave a mess. Biology is my thing, after all.”

“Ams!” Tail squealed, swinging her head around to toss a disapproving glare at the chipper unicorn.

“I’m kidding. I’m kidding.” She retreated a few paces after Barrier set his scrutinous sights on the mare as well. “But you two are cute in that weird, awkward pair kind of way that just works. I can’t help but ship it. Though, as a respectable roomie and lifelong best friend, I’m torn…”

Tail’s curiosity was coaxed out by the natural trailing in Amora’s volume. Her brow lifted, sculpting a quizzical arch, and the corner of her lip briefly tugged at the beginnings of a professorial grin.

On-the-other-hoof, Barrier confronted the developing exchange with dry skepticism. His officer persona had taken hold with its flat, stonewall facade.

“I mean,” the medic continued with a drawl, “I expect Captain Barrier to be the perfect gentlecolt—especially given all of this going on right here—but I can’t help but wonder if I should advise you to leave a sock on the door. And that just opens up the possibility of me dropping the knowledge that Tail really likes silk.”

“Out!” the pegasus squeaked again. Her feathers fanned this time, and she began to lift herself from her perch upon Barrier until her muscles opted to tell her otherwise. She huffed to the aches—and to the antics of her roommate—before mumbling something about sixth date information.

Amora chortled victoriously as she scampered towards the door. She glanced over her shoulder upon reaching the landing to find the watchful eye of Magic Barrier trained on her figure. “Making sure I leave? Clever colt, but just so you know, I won’t be gone long.” With that, the brunette flipped her mane and departed for the streets of Canterlot.

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” the stallion added moments after the door was closed, “but I do not envy your living situation.”

The straight delivery brought a playful smirk to Tail’s face, and she swished her namesake as various counterpoints swirled in her thoughts. After a few seconds, she curled her lower lip into her mouth and lightly bit down once she settled on her answer. “Well, Captain, if you’re aiming for a change of scenery, then I might just take that as an invitation to come to your place.”

Barrier jolted, causing the pegasus to briefly bounce atop the unicorn, and his pupils dilated instantly. “Mistakes were made! Your place is just fine. Mine”—he paused and released a sigh—“is in need of a lot of cleaning.”

“Could also use a door that didn’t shock the stars out of anypony that tried to touch it.”

The captain’s ears briefly dropped as another sigh emerged. “Why do I get the feeling that’s a thing that I’m never going to live down?”

“Mm, probably because you never will. Though, carrying me home definitely makes up for it.” She lazily waved her foreleg. “Now, if you’ll please sally forth, my noble steed. I’d like to actually get out of Sally. Feel free to take your load off too, Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Spiky.”

Barrier nodded and ventured deeper into the abode. He carried Tail to her room and nosed open the entrance to reveal the endless sea of papers, books, and more papers—and, oh yeah, the bed. “There are even more this time!” he exclaimed at the towering stacks. “How’s that even possible?”

A soft, embarrassed whine seeped from the mare when Barrier crossed the threshold. “Well, most of my week in Las Pegasus was spent arguing with the Board about my continued sabbatical. The whole princess thing helps, but there are still politics to be navigated. In this case, I got dumped with the task of writing the retakes for the written qualification exams.”

Both ponies shuddered after glancing at the piles again, but the discomfort was short-lived. Barrier swept her up in his magic and gently moved the pegasus to her bed. “Well then, you should probably get to work. I know it’s not much of a second date, but I can always make dinner—”

Tail abruptly straightened her posture. Her wings flared behind her, and she shot Barrier a wide-eyed stare. “No! No, I should be the one making dinner. You’ve been training all day—”

Barrier lightly booped Tail’s muzzle with his metal-covered hoof, causing the mare to perk her ears and scrunch her snout in that adorable way that made the captain grin. “I know your armor polishing habits,” he added before moving to lift the helmet from her head. “You’re going to need all the time you can get. Just leave dinner to me. Besides, I owe Amora pancakes anyway.”

“Mhmm,” Tail hummed as the stallion guided the headgear over her unruly, cascading mane and onto her mattress. Her lip curled, fashioning a mischievous expression that halted Barrier the instant he caught sight of it. She could see the subtle quivering of his pupils—a sign that his mind was at work—but she didn’t give him the time to respond.

Her hooves pressed against the dark metal of his archaic helm, and she lifted the heavy piece before setting it beside her own. She eyed the equipment while her namesake fell over the edge of the bed. “I’ll just have to polish your armor too,” she continued, tilting her head back towards the stallion. “I know telling you to take it off isn’t much of a second-date activity either, but—”

Warmth flooded Tail’s muzzle. Marked with a bright flush, it drowned her senses and perceptions. Her bedroom faded into something more akin to a white fuzz, and for several seconds, she might as well have been floating atop a cloud. His lips found hers, and she could make out the delicate tingle produced as his forehoof trailed along an edge of her wing.

Is this what a fairy tale is like? Her heart thumped. Some mix of elation and bliss coursed through her body with each beat, and she drew a methodically slow breath when she felt his ever-so-small retreat. “Mm, Sweety,” she purred, “I don’t think you lost a step in a thousand years.”

“You told me to be bold.” A spark flashed along the rim of his blue iris, and he leaned forward to tap the tip of his muzzle against the mare. “Besides, it was my turn to thank you for everything, Ms. Tail. I wouldn’t be representing my house well if I let you do all the honors.”

As laughter poured from Tail’s freshly kissed muzzle, Barrier neatly removed his armor kit in a flurry of magical activity that placed the bits in a sorted pile by the bed. “Leave dinner to me. I’ll leave the polishing and test making to you.” The stallion snickered and pivoted towards the door—though Barrier held his cocky gaze on the mare.

The pegasus suddenly stiffened the instant Barrier’s blue tail dragged along the underside of her muzzle. Again, her heart pounded with a heavy beat, for the maneuver silenced the mare’s laughter at the behest of cherished memories.

“I’ll be ready in thirty minutes,” he spoke in a calm, quiet voice. “I would say be ready in fifteen, but I know that’d just make for a shoddy job. My armor can be really picky.”

Barrier eyed his work and released a contented hum at the delightful assortment placed on the counter. He had sculpted flour, salt, sugar, milk, egg, and cinnamon into the delicious decadence that was expected of him. However, it was finding the cherries and the rice cooker that sent things right over the edge of the known frontier.

Atop a trio of plates, cherry-filled, puffy pancake pastries awaited Tail and him—as well as The Pancake Witch Medic whenever she opted to return from her walk. “If they taste as good as they look,” he commented idly as his tail flicked, “I’ll call tonight a success.”

“Barrier…” Tail’s voice crept from the hallway in a muffled tone. A steady rhythm of heavy clanks filled the air, and the noise drew closer and closer to the kitchen. “Barrier…” she droned again before poking her head around the corner and into the stallion’s line of sight.

His polished helmet sat awkwardly atop her crown. Only one of her ears appeared to comfortably fit through its designated slot in the metal, and the mare’s mane flowed from beneath the lopsided gear. “Your armor’s really heavy,” she remarked, taking another clang-accompanied step before lifting her foreleg to show off one of his loosely fitting gauntlets.

Barrier’s pupils dilated. His stare danced along the glimmering gunmetal edges, and the rapid shifts—along with the sudden slack in his jaw—drew a string of giggles from Tail. “Hot,” he added reflexively—before reflexively gasping as though he wished to suck the word back down into his lungs.

A brief silence followed in which Tail’s ear quivered in search of any sound. The joyful smile etched upon her countenance by the unfettered laughter morphed into a cheeky smirk while her eyes basked in the glow of memory. “Hm, I do recall you accusing me of being the one with the roleplay fetish, and yet, you’re the one who finds the reversal hot. Maybe I ought to have you try on my lab coat.”

The unicorn scrunched his muzzle as he rubbed the back of his head with a wandering hoof. “Maybe I could do that after we eat?” Barrier offered through a sheepish grimace. “Provided, of course, that Amora isn’t back by then. I can live with some things, but I’m not sure either of us would survive her reaction.”

The tension in Barrier’s face subsided the instant an amused snort grazed his senses. Warmth and playfulness radiated from the mare, and the infectious demeanor further coaxed the captain from the confines of his more reserved mood. His horn sparked, and two of the plates hovered in the officer’s magical aura. “You have returned from your quest with a relic, valiant knight. Would you care to join me for a feast?”

Across Canterlot, Luna sat upon her throne and awaited the business of her night court. The stern-looking alicorn typically handled affairs after sundown on her own, but tonight, Celestia remained at her side.

The guards that were normally stationed by the Doric columns that lined the marble-floored chamber had been dismissed, and an unsettling quiet loomed that made even Princess Celestia shuffle upon her elegant violet seat. “Sister, are you certain that now is the time?”

The Princess of the Night did not waver. Her composure did not drift from the flat, emotionless facade that faced the otherwise empty room. “Yes,” she spoke with a tone drenched in simmering anger, “there is a price to be paid for abusing one’s station.”

“Indeed there is,” Celestia calmly answered before raising her voice to a rarely used Traditional volume. “Send them in!”

A loud, reverberating clunk preceded the opening of the magnificent purple doors at the front of the hall. A light-blue earth pony entered first. Thin-framed spectacles sat atop the stallion’s muzzle, and his grey mane had been combed until a single, slick contour ran from his forehead all the way to the back of his neck.

“Hello, Your Highnesses,” he said as tranquility fashioned a lighthearted smile upon his countenance. His brown eyes held the distant forms of the sisters as best they could at that age, but despite the difficulty, the sparkles that popped along the old-timer’s irides were the telltale signs that the royal excitement did not fade with time.

The purple unicorn who followed his elder, however, did not seem nearly as thrilled. Proud Valiance scoffed during his approach. His golden sights sat beneath a scowl that cut into his visage with a mental blade meant solely for Princess Luna. The irritation spread to the captain’s tail, for pronounced thrashes of the jet-black appendage spontaneously sliced through the air.

“Gracious Waters,” Celestia addressed the Equestrian Army general. Her maternal softness shined as brightly as her heavenly body, and the timbre immediately encouraged the earth pony to stand a little taller. “It’s great to see you. Thank you for coming on such short notice.”

“Proud.” Luna’s interjection carried an icy bite that commandeered the attention of the two stallions and her sister. “We are not going to delay this discussion any longer. We want to know why you thought it was appropriate to exclude my sister and me from a meeting in which you deliberated the discharge of Colonel Tail. And We want to know now.”

Author's Notes:

Wow everyone. I'm floored by the response NLA Chapter 1 received. Sober, and a few others know this, but I stressed a lot about how the sequel would be taken. NLD blew away my expectations four years ago, and the launch last week did it again. Astoundingly, there were more reads on NLD on December 11, 2020 than on any other day in its existence. It's really nice to see some old faces still around, and I hope you're ready for the grind. 2 down, 45 to go.

Chapter 3 - Princesses, Pastries, and Poundings

The chill in Luna’s voice caused Proud Valiance’s coat to bristle. On instinct, the purple unicorn retreated a step from the pair of thrones, and an uneasy stillness subsequently swept over the court while the stallion gritted his teeth. His chest swelled through a few deep breaths before he snapped his muzzle and his gaze towards the Princess of the Night. “My actions were more than appropriate and well within my rights, Your Highness.

“Equestria is not a dictatorship. The J.C. Staff exists to ensure that the branches of service have a fair say in driving the defense of the nation they protect. Ms. Tail is your pet project, Princess. I submitted a formal request for her to be discharged for her transgressions, which Captain Barrier incinerated. This was apparently an acceptable response in your eyes. Of course it would be. You should have recused yourself from the case from the start.”

Luna ever-so-slightly pitched her nose higher. Her nostrils flared, and her eyes reflected a fiery light that made her scowl all the more piercing. “First, Captain, it is Colonel Tail, and she is far more than a pet project. Her research has strengthened our defensive capabilities in unfathomable ways—”

“An outsider shouldn’t have been trusted to dictate the course of unfathomable by herself!” Proud interrupted. His limbs visibly shook, and he craned his neck while anger tugged at the muscles upon his forehead.

“And she did nothing but prove herself over and over!” Luna quipped, dragging the focus of both Celestia and Gracious Waters with her words. “What more could you—”

“She did nothing but beat up her squadmate, and her perceived successes are nothing more than contrived fictions written by you.”

“Do not interrupt me again, Captain,” the princess sharply retorted. She inhaled slowly and repositioned her forelegs to stretch her height. “Colonel Tail’s accomplishments were the result of her hard work, initiative, and innovation. It’s not her fault that she is capable of dreaming, which is clearly something that you are incapable of doing on your own.”

Proud grunted in response. “Yes, of course, dreaming explains all of it.” He paused, rolling his eyes as he turned to face Celestia instead. “I’m not incompetent, Your Highness. The summoning of Gracious is a dead giveaway as to what this is, so I’ll just appeal to your sensibilities since you are the one who lived through it. Your sister has given the reins of the most important program in our military’s history to an unqualified mare because she simply believes in the power of dreams. You know where that got us—what it’s like when you’re one bad dream away from a nightmare.”

The lights in the hall were snuffed out by the oppressive weight of Luna’s unloaded magic. Her aura absolutely crashed upon the room, and the demonstration plastered worry upon the grimacing faces of both Gracious and Proud.

Celestia reached for her sister and gently set her regalia-adorned forehoof upon Luna’s shoulder. The dreadful magic vanished the instant the alicorn made contact with her incensed sibling, and a brief serenity settled in while a firmly pressed smile spread across Celestia’s muzzle. “Indeed, Proud, General Waters was summoned here for a reason,” the mare explained with a maternal tone that sent a ripple through Gracious’s coat. “You spoke of rights, and I am exercising mine to dissolve—”

“I resign,” Proud blurted, effectively cutting to the chase. He swiftly pivoted on one of his hind legs and concealed the harsh glare that bore into the exit. The captain trotted from the chamber without sparing a second glance for his superiors. The only thing he left them with before he departed was a whispered sentence that skirted under his breath. “One day, you’ll see…”

The door closed behind Proud, and the latch produced an echoing pop that preceded the sighs that fled Celestia’s and Luna’s slouched frames.

“That stallion is a piece of work,” Celestia spoke, maintaining a maternal cadence while her sights drifted to Gracious Waters. “General, I believe it’s time to nominate a replacement, and while I respect the Equestrian Army’s initiative to place an opinionated member in the Joint Chiefs—”

“Perhaps a douchebag should not be selected this time,” Luna interrupted. Her starry, ethereal mane flickered to accompany the anger that laced her voice. The other features of her visage remained flat and uncompromising—as though the stillness of the night itself had manifested to iron out any sign of grace and joy from her face and posture.

Gracious Waters lifted his forehoof and tapped the side of his muzzle. He took a few seconds to glance at each of the princesses, and short grunts followed his brief observations of their demeanors. “Um, yes, Your Highnesses. Unfortunately, Proud did not live up to my expectations for him in this instance, but I guess that is neither here nor there. The most qualified pony for the job is Trigger.

“Of course, we all know how that would develop. He’d do exactly what he always does when it comes to the prospect of being chained to a permanent bench assignment, or he’d just rant about his bar. His wife, though, would be an equally talented replacement, and Autumn Tea might actually be up for the task.”

Amora’s glare cut through Barrier and Tail like the proverbial hot knife through butter, and both ponies remained frozen under the medic’s scrutiny. The stallion was seated at the small, round oak table-for-four while a certain pegasus, still covered in the captain’s oversized armor, sat at his side and fed him what Amora perceived to be a large, pancake-esque pastry.

The alabaster mare’s eye twitched as her sights drifted across Barrier’s muzzle. “You are eating my cherries,” she muttered darkly before taking a heavy step in the pair’s direction. The red filling was, indeed, dripping from the captain’s mouth.

“But you wouldn’t know that. She”—Amora snapped her snout towards the jumpy Tail—“knows better, however. Don’t get me wrong. Part of me is really proud of you for all this. I have yet another reason to visit Princess Luna and regale her with details, but you took my beloved cherries and I don’t understand why.” She paused, twirled her forehoof a few times, and pointed at Tail. “After all, you have one to pluck right there, Captain.”

“Ams!” Tail chirped. The pegasus struggled to hold the sweet confection to Barrier’s mouth as her fluster manifested in a vibrant blush. “What is wrong with you?”

A grin crawled across Amora’s face as her angered facade fully crumbled. “I got bored wandering around town. This is the price you pay for stealing my cherries—and making pancakes without me! I inject discussions about your sex life in casual conversation with your coltfriend.”

Barrier gulped, swallowing his last bite, and pivoted his head towards Amora. “I’m sure in your addiction-rattled brain that seems appropriate, but we didn’t steal your cherries. In fact”—his horn illuminated and a third plate subsequently hovered in front of the unicorn mare—“I made you dinner.”

Amora’s cobalt eyes glimmered upon examination of the delicacy that floated within her reach. The dish was topped with a puffy pancake that had, thanks to the rice cooker, swelled to be even taller than the thickness of her muzzle. Powdered sugar covered the flaky treat, and the aroma of her cherries lingered.

“You sweet, beautiful angel!” Amora squealed as she all but shoved the dinner into her mouth. “Nnngh! Cherries! Pancake!” She munched and hummed in delight before exclaiming with a volume that the neighbors could probably hear, “Forget what I said! I’m not even mad! Fuck whenever you want. They’re your love lives!”

Left, rear, above… Tail’s thoughts darted about her consciousness, and her body swiftly responded to keep her out of the way of Crusher’s and Indar’s strikes. They were aiming to kick the tar out of her. Though, that was fairly standard fare for the lime mare—whose thunderous right hook Tail had, coincidentally, just avoided.

“You have to counterattack!” Barrier roared from his spot ten paces to Tail’s left. “The deck is stacked against you! Running away all day is not going to get you anywhere!”

Easier said than done. The pegasus jerked her frame to the side, dodging another shield plane that Indar had tried to ram into her face. They were like gnats, swarming with their attacks. Except, unlike gnats, they weren’t small, couldn’t be brushed off, packed a punch, and knew her well.

Each time Tail attempted to move to keep Bonecrusher in Indar’s sightline, the stallion would shift and close the gap between himself and the aggressive earth pony. Instead of gaining a brief window to jab at Crusher without worry, Tail was exposed to the constant frenzy of avoiding both physical and magical blows.

The realization actually drew a smile to the surface, even as Tail craned her neck to avoid a blitzing cast that accompanied Indar’s snipe attempt. They’ve grown just as much as you. In the weeks leading up to Tail’s B.C.T. examination, all three of them had been pushed, and the pegasus could now see the benefits of this first-hoof. Her squadmates were thinking on the fly. They had adapted to her techniques. They had excelled, and she would have to get better.

Tail ducked beneath a vicious swing from Bonecrusher. Her forelegs spread wide, digging into the pitch and tearing up the turf, and her barrel brushed against the blades of grass that reached to kiss her armor’s golden sky. The pegasus hurled her wings and spun beneath the looming Bonecrusher. Tail corkscrewed, and her hind leg rocketed out of the snapping shot right into Crusher’s muzzle.

Or so she thought. Her hoof had encountered something that felt remarkably sticky. It gripped her limb, drained the momentum from her lunge, and encouraged a wide-eyed stare the instant it clicked that the magic was decidedly not Barrier’s.

That warming embrace quickly arrived in the second that followed. “Time!” the captain wailed, freezing the trio in their tracks with a bluish glow that rippled over their coats like the surface of a rain-perturbed pond. The captain pulled his flask to his lips after the lid’s popping clink betrayed its opened state and drew the brunt of Tail’s gaze.

Barrier’s coat bristled moments after he gulped down more than the normal stallion’s share. He brushed his face with his armored pastern, and in the seconds that followed, his stare appeared to harden at the behest of his brow’s tightening muscles. “Colonel!” His gruff D.I. tone was unmistakable. “In this case, a delay is defeat. It took you way too long to strike back.

“Bonecrusher, some of your strikes are still too wild, but you and Indar paired well.” He glanced at the other stallion. “And speaking of you, congratulations for pulling off that spell, but I can tell that you’re at your limit.”

“Yes, sir,” Indar replied in an atypically raspy voice.

Tail’s ears flicked to the exhausted sounds, and she grimaced as hindsight poured its cocky edge upon her internal analysis. “Crusher kept me too busy,” she whispered before quickly pushing the lesson to the realm of next time. The scientist within her didn’t need to dwell on something that could be saved for another day. She had learned that one the hard way once before—when the burdens of doubt and failure weighed too heavily upon her mind.

An amber glow ensnared Tail’s iris as her active curiosity picked at the magic that still clung to her hind leg. This was something new to Indar’s repertoire, and the fact that her colleague had developed that while she was away made her heart race with excitement.

“Hey!” Barrier blurted, dragging the pegasus right out of the tufts of mental reverie and back to concrete reality. “I know that look. Save it. They still need to finish this course, and I’m not satisfied.” The unicorn straightened his posture, puffing out his chest while he maintained that commanding scowl. “Bonecrusher! Indar! You let this intruder run circles around you. And Colonel, I’m not going to say you bucked up by getting caught, but I know you can do better.

“In fact, you can all do better, but apparently, you collectively decided to forget. I guess that means I have three rookies in my midst all over again. Such a shame that we have to get back to the basics. Laps! Now! Run until you start wondering if this field is in the center of Tartarus!”

Author's Notes:

Another Thursday, another chapter! I'm pretty sure this is the shortest one in the entire stack. 3 down, 44 to go! Squees and deaths were down in this installment, but my goodness, did Fate f-yeah a lot. Hope you're all continuing to enjoy the story, and if you're celebrating holidays, may they be awesome. We'll see you all on New Year's Eve for Chapter 4 - Chessboard of Love. Hmm, I wonder what character could make an appearance in that...

Chapter 4 - Chessboard of Love

Tail’s sprawling mass, once again, stretched across the imaginary finish line on the track. She gasped as three ponies remained planted atop her back and actively ignored their various states of exhaustion—or amusement. At some point, Barrier had decided that running was not enough and that it was time for another round of the rediscovered sport of combative sprinting!

If the clutching legs around her barrel were any indication, Tail figured that Bonecrusher was immensely enjoying this new activity. In fact, the squashed pegasus convinced herself that it was the sound of giggles bubbling out of Crusher’s muzzle instead of the battle cries of pending doom. Though, the former option was preferable to pretty much anything that she had ever heard come out of the earth pony’s mouth.

“That hopefully knocked the crap out of all of you,” Barrier quipped from his post at the top of the pile. “Certainly gave that the best effort I’ve seen all day.”

A smile blossomed once Tail’s ears caught the words. They flicked to the contented tone that laced Barrier’s voice, and the timbre of that sound coaxed out a happy hum that evolved into a relieved sigh once she felt Barrier step off the stack.

The crunches from his hooves moving along the path briefly serenaded the mare before a squeak drowned out the percussive patter. Tail’s stare instantly wandered across the cheeky grin plastered onto Barrier’s face and drifted to the unicorn’s crisp blue eyes. They stood out against the swaths of red and orange that drenched Barrier’s midnight armor in the hues of the setting sun, and they sucked Tail’s awareness straight into their alluring depths.

Warmth erupted throughout her muzzle once the captain pitched his head downward. Tail’s heart thumped as the next few seconds stretched out into what felt like an eternity, and her feathers ruffled against Crusher’s grasp to the picture of Barrier holding his snout mere inches from her lips.

“Turnabout is fair play,” he spoke, repressing his volume before his attention snapped to Bonecrusher. “I think you can release her. The day is over, which means you’re just stealing my job now. And I’m not sure how much I like that.”

Tail chortled at how swiftly Bonecrusher had ejected herself from the pouncer position. After taking a moment to relish the exalted status of complete pony-pile freedom, the lavender pegasus rolled onto her side and glanced at the earth pony who had even managed to drag the dangling Indar along for the ride. “Three lengths in a flash and a corporal to boot! Not bad, Bonecrusher.”

The lime pony snorted in response and opened her mouth to reply just as Indar’s hoof tapped upon the top of her helmet.

“Let’s get going,” the perched unicorn suggested. “Trigger said tonight was a two-for-one special, and I know you’d much rather enjoy that than waste time when we’re off-the-clock.”

“Fantastic idea,” Crusher shouted enthusiastically. She spun around with a sharp kick of her leg and took a few steps before calling out to Barrier and Tail, “You two should join us if you decide not to be so damn sappy.”

Both officers remained silent as Indar and Bonecrusher made their nightly exits. Shock lingered in the gentle evening breeze, and Tail barely moved in the immediate aftermath. Her body seemed content to lay upon the gritty track, but her ears remained active—catching the soft brushings of mischievous steps.

Just before Barrier’s foreleg came down, Tail rolled away from his attempt at turnabout. She latched onto his outstretched extremity, popped up with a powerful sweep of her wings, and promptly pushed the stallion onto his back to complete her limb-locking pin. “Sweety, I hope you didn’t think I was going to go that easy on you after you telegraphed that. I can’t have you picking up an easy win.”

Barrier gawked at the pegasus. His jaw slacked, and the fur around his neck bristled from the fluid nature of Tail’s maneuver. “Sweet stars, the pony who taught you that must be proud.”

Tail gradually sculpted a half-lidded stare as she lowered her muzzle to the stallion’s nose. “Mm, playing dirty now, Barrier?” she cooed in a flirtatious voice. “It turns out that my teacher is particularly knowledgeable and quite the charmer. Two fantastic dates, and I’m pretty sure I’m about to ask him if he wants a third.”

The mare wiggled atop the stallion, gently grinding her armor against his kit the instant his subsequent smile was observed. She bit her lower lip in anticipation of his answer. Though, she had a strong suspicion that he would reply with an affirmative. What she did not expect was another source of commentary.

“My my, Auntie, you were right about them. I can feel their auras from here. Shining’s been holding things back from me. This is wonderful!”

Both Barrier and Tail slowly turned their heads to the source of the noise. Tail’s pupils dilated as she gazed upon a pink alicorn. She could feel Barrier tense beneath her straddling grip, and she stammered a response. “P-Princess Cadance!? W-What are you doing here?”

Gleeful titters burst from the princess’s muzzle. “You should see your faces! Eyes wide like Auntie Luna’s full moon.” She paused to nudge the older princess who stood at her side. “Why didn’t you bring me out here sooner? This is something that needs my immediate attention.”

Luna simply snickered. “I already told you that I needed a good reason, and now I have one. I’m afraid I’ll need you for this evening, Ms. Tail. Your new laboratory is ready, and I have to give you the tour and briefing. You can show Captain Barrier later. My niece has plans for him.”

Barrier questionably eyed Cadance while Luna left the field with Tail. His scrunched smirk battled the blatantly gleeful grin that was etched onto the alicorn’s face, and he opened his mouth to speak only after he was confident that the departing ponies were well out of earshot. “Whatever Shining told you, it is bullshit.”

The mare’s smile stretched, and her purple eyes sparkled. “Oh, Barrier, if what Shining said is bullshit, that only means he inherited the trait from your side of the family tree.” She flipped her violet, rose, and gold mane with a lackadaisical flick of her lifted forehoof and waited.

A grunt pushed its way through Barrier’s throat, and the stallion lifted his own leg to rub his forehead. “I wasn’t born yesterday, Cady. That look is more than enough to give it away. I’m not ready to have this conversation with you.”

Cadance held her silence. Her gaze narrowed, and after several shifts across his armored frame, the princess met his eyes with a far more relaxed and softened demeanor. The awkward pause lingered like the fading light of the departed sun, and Barrier’s expression contorted as his features sought refuge from the burden of the alicorn’s steadfast, regal stare.

“Faust dammit,” Barrier groaned, snapping his head to the side such that his sightline fell upon the brick archways that lined the field. “You’re turning into a brat just like your aunt. My love life isn’t royal business, so get the thought out of your head now.”

“But…” the mare interrupted with a playful note that pinged the upper edge of her registry. “As your relative, your happiness is my business. And since you just said love, I think I can stretch my case even further than you think.”

The sharp slap of Barrier’s hoof hitting his forehead briefly echoed throughout the yard. He grimaced before gradually turning his attention back to Cadance, who had started shamelessly giggling at the spectacle. “Not funny, Cady. It’s not funny at all.”

With a foallike fervor, Cadance shuffled across the grass towards the stallion. She bit her lower lip while the muscles in her cheeks fought to return the mare’s smile to its full splendor, but the princess overcame the tugs to retain her more reserved composure. “Barrier,” she answered in a motherly tone, “Shiny and I just want to make sure that you’re happy. I can already sense what you’re feeling. There’s no point in hiding it from me. I just want to help you be ready for a modern mare.”

Barrier straightened his posture as he slowly sucked in his next breath. The fur covering the back of his neck stood up, and his ears swiveled and perked. “It’s not the modern mare I’m worried about,” he grumbled. “Tail and I get along fine.”

“Then,” Cadance interrupted, swishing her tail to some imagined beat, “you shouldn’t have a problem accepting a double date invitation—say in a couple nights?”

Tail froze mid-step, drawing a sharp breath that carried with it the musty scent of the stone stairwell she had been descending with Princess Luna. They had swiftly departed the palace’s glamorous levels on an adventure to the lower, often-forgotten floors of the royal estate—where the facade was stripped down to mounted lanterns and the bare rock of ancient Canterlot.

The trek, however, had been derailed by a single statement from the Princess of the Night that left the poor lavender pegasus flustered. “Cadance wants to do what?” Tail asked in a high-pitched tone that might have been mistaken for the confused shriek of a filly had one been present.

A jovial laugh emerged from Luna’s opened muzzle. She planted her forehoof against the curving wall and braced herself as the melody stretched her smile and brought tears to the corners of her squinting eyes. “Oh, Tail! You cannot tell me that you did not see this coming! It should be no surprise at all that my niece has taken an interest in Barrier’s relationship. She is the Princess of Love, and I guess you two are sending out all the right signals.”

Redness crept over Tail’s cheeks as she gazed up at Luna in complete disbelief. “The Princess of Love… We’ve been on two dates! Two dates! How can the Prin—”

Luna’s cackling doubled in volume as she hunched over. She pushed herself from the wall and shushed the pegasus by finding the colonel’s muzzle with her flailing forehoof on the second attempt. “Amora is right! Sometimes you make it too easy! The answer, Ms. Tail, is that that is the very reason why she is going to ask Barrier for the two of you to join her and Shining Armor on a double date.”

The smaller mare sputtered in response, and her pupils swallowed her shrinking irides. In her mind, the images unloaded upon her imagination, dumping snippets of her wing-flared, flustered self, an awkward Barrier, and a pampered royal all over the place. Pitiful attempts to impress the Princess of Love with her displays of affection towards the captain tumbled about her consciousness with the grace of her first day of combat training. There was plenty of stumbling and a ton of exhaustion.

“Filly, I suggest breathing,” Luna’s voice cut through the scientist’s social simulations. The pegasus was practically hyperventilating when the comment slyly ensnared Tail’s focus, and she peered at Luna with blinking eyes before the diarch continued, “There she is! Now I can restate that there is nothing to panic about.

“Cady was the first to break through Barrier’s shell when he and I returned to Equestria. She is like a little sister to him, so I can offer my personal experience. We might be a little difficult at times, but we always mean well in the end.”

Exhaling, Tail slouched as she continued her descent towards the bottom of the curving stairwell. “Yeah, Princess, I have a younger brother, and the number of times I have cursed in your sister’s name at his antics would probably be frowned upon.”

Tail turned her head upward, gazing upon the alicorn with a keen eye before Luna’s bottom lip curled into her mouth. After a few more paces, a series of suppressed snorts slipped from the larger mare to Tail’s waiting ears. Unbridled laughter soon followed, swallowing the Princess of the Night in a chipper spirit that spurred the colonel’s feigned disdain.

“That just means he is doing his job!” Luna squealed in delight. “And don’t worry, I shan’t tell my sister about your transgressions upon her good name.”

Tail trotted off the last step just in time to deadpan at the diarch’s generous act of mercy. She rolled her eyes while her feathers and namesake flicked about, betraying her internal dismay. “Thank you for being so kind, Your Highness. Never has a princess done such a noble deed before you.”

When Luna didn’t respond immediately, the pegasus sucked on her cheek and pivoted to face the towering alicorn. The humor had been wiped from her visage, and those teal sights peered down the dimly lit hall that stretched before the pair with a knowing that Tail’s senses could not touch. “Drat,” the princess finally spoke up, “I was hoping he’d be here to meet you face-to-face this time around.”

Curiosity prodded the physicist. Her ear quivered as that desire to know perked her light frame. “Meet who?” she asked quietly, listening as her voice gained traction while it rumbled throughout the cavernous space.

Again, Luna delayed her answer. She resumed her walk down the candle-accented corridor until the smooth stone surface of the interior wall recessed. There, amidst the dampened confines of the castle’s most ancient domain, a foreboding pair of Prench-style doors stood. The modern, metal entryway smeared the light from the candles across its blue-tinted surface.

Tail had, for her part, kept pace at the alicorn’s side. She took her place in front of the mammoth structure, and her head gradually pitched her sightline towards the ceiling until the presence of a pinkish seal halted that climb. The picture of a spread phoenix stretched to fill the seal’s circumscribing circle, and Tail couldn’t resist reading the motto that wrapped around the picture’s edge. “E tenebris, invenītō fortitudinem — Out of the shadows, find resolve.”

“The creed of the Equestrian Intelligence Service,” Luna explained after tilting to face the young pegasus. “I was hoping Sir Wing would be here to greet us, but I guess he’s being a shy stallion again. Either way, it was his department that surrendered this space for you to use as your Canterlot laboratory. As they say, Ms. Tail, welcome home.”

Author's Notes:

Happy Soon-To-Be New Year, everyone! I hope you're all hanging in there. Enjoy Chapter 4! There are only 43 chapters left to go. I'm fairly excited as I have a preliminary pass on the inevitable print run coming my way. Oh my, is it juicy. As far as Fate's fate in this one, there seem to be a lot of deaths. :P Anyhoo, thank you for your continued reading and support. See you all next week for Chapter 5 - A Catty Pegasus.

Chapter 5 - A Catty Pegasus

A refreshing rush of air combed through Tail’s coat after the behemoth doors had opened to reveal the physicist’s new lab. Behind the mare, the dark tugs of the dampened, candlelit corridor wrapped about her swishing namesake, but Tail’s gaze defiantly wandered from the ancient realm to home in on her future.

The white ambient light of the interior space practically bled across the threshold, and its warmth slowly pulled the pegasus forward with a beckoning call that only she could hear. This range looked nothing like the facility Luna had assembled in Las Pegasus. A dozen workbenches bathed in an ethereal glow that put the finest Canterlot stores to shame, but that wasn’t even the best part.

Six of the workbenches had already been outfitted with the waveguides she would need to seamlessly continue her research—well, almost anyway. They were noticeably smaller than the unit she had used to create the 20-mm containment vessel, but that certainly wasn’t a deterrent. Quite to the contrary, Tail’s wings ruffled at the scientific challenge that brewed within her thoughts, and it was only Luna’s interrupting giggle that yanked the sky-high flier back to the moment.

Tail snapped her head to her left and glanced upward at the grinning, teal-eyed alicorn. “You can’t blame me for showing an interest in new equipment, Princess. And the feel of this room is just… It’s just so different from how my lab in Las Pegasus felt.”

Light danced about Luna’s iris after the giggle subsided and yielded its ground to a beaming smile. “Then fear not, Ms. Tail. The Crown shall reserve its right to giggle for more pressing matters such as the budding romance between two of its steadfastly loyal officers.”

The smaller mare inhaled rapidly and deadpanned. Her wings spread, and her feathers and namesake flicked about to the rising tide of embarrassment. “You really are an insufferable brat.”

Luna’s mischievous smirk eroded instantly, and a torrent of laughter soon followed. She hunched forward and slammed her foreleg into the floor while teardrops assaulted the corners of her eyes. “By the stars, you two really are meant to be together! The expression! The flat delivery! A certain somepony has learned well from her teacher.”

For an instant, the desire to sigh and scowl blazed across the confines of Tail’s mind. The muscles in her head reflexively twitched to the mounting need, but the physicist repressed the urge. She slid closer to the chortling Princess of the Night, lifted her namesake, and deftly swatted Luna across the alicorn’s crescent cutie mark.

“Rebellion!” the princess squealed from the benign blow. Her wings swiftly flared, and the rush of wind that emerged from the diarch’s span carried enough strength to push Tail a few paces away from the flustered alicorn.

A proud grin gripped Tail’s countenance, and her brow sculpted a smug expression that cut across her glimmering chocolate-colored eyes. “And you and Amora say that I’m easy. You’re already crying foul after one perfectly placed swish. Don’t dish it out if you can’t take it, Princess.”

The playful tone in the physicist’s voice utterly eradicated the shock that had usurped Luna’s figure. “Oh no, my little pony,” she replied in a soft, sinister serenade, “you’re mistaking my shock for weakness. I didn’t expect you to be at this level quite so soon, but I guess I can finally welcome you to the game.”

Silence followed the exchange, and the two mares held their firm stares and straight faces.

Echoes of the day she met Barrier popped from Tail’s memories. The way they held those looks. That dangerous glint in Luna’s eyes is exactly the same as it was back then. Maybe there’s a little bit of catty pegasus in our nocturnal alicorn. Well, this time around, there will be no backpedaling from me, Princess.

For a few more seconds, the stillness lingered until splurts of wind sputtered through the mares’ tightly pressed lips. Once again, giggles and laughter followed, and the sounds quickly filled the massive volume of the lab with an added shot of joy.

“Ahh,” Tail sighed once the fit died out. Her body fell into that post-chuckle, contented daze, and she glanced over at the equally amused, slouching Luna. “So, Princess, are we just going to sit here pretending to do the Barrier thing all night, or are you going to tell me the reason why this room is absolutely covered in this bubbly aura?

“I certainly have a few educated guesses already, including one that I’d probably be willing to drop a few bits on, but I’d rather not make a wager when I can get the information directly from the source.”

One-by-one, Princess Luna replanted her hooves before straightening her posture. “Indeed, being Barrier doesn’t exactly suit you. You are more yourself standing at his side instead”—she drew a breath as the muscles around her chest contracted to repress the resurgent humor—“but that doesn’t have anything to do with your question. Given the cracks you put into the wall of the Las Pegasus lab, Celestia and I decided to have this room triply reinforced—sun, moon, and love.”

Tail nodded and hummed quietly while her sights scanned about her new domain. Eventually, she lifted her head to observe the beautiful, luminescent tiles that comprised the ceiling and replied, “Yeah, it was an unexpected result. Barrier and I have compatible wavelengths”—she paused to scowl at the impish look Luna flashed—“and resonance was definitely expected. I just don’t know how we broke the plateau.

“I redid the calculation seventeen times and even threw conservative systematic errors into the mix. The ninety-five C.L. is still 1.02 A.E.U. I’d rather not have this drift beyond you and your sister, but I don’t think this system can ever see general deployment.”

“Agreed,” Luna spoke with a firm, professional intonation that vividly projected her regal stature. “Much like the Elements of Harmony, that sort of power should only be trusted to those who have the dedication and resilience to wield it effectively. The resilience of someone like the pony in my presence works nicely—especially after the fine showing she gave in her B.C.T. final exam.

“My sources in the Equestrian Intelligence Service say that word of her determination has spread through the entire Canterlot patrol.” Luna paused and briefly held her forehoof to her chin. “On a semi-related note, I do not think you will have to worry about interference from the Equestrian Army anymore. Trigger’s wife will be taking over as the representative on the Joint Chiefs. Gracious Waters came to oversee the appointment himself.”

Tail’s muzzle reddened from the less-than-subtle praise, and her wings and namesake flicked several times before the familiar name reached her perking ears. “Wait, you mean the same stallion that wrote the discourse of war book?”

The princess nodded. “Yes, the very same, and I believe he would like to meet you in person before he returns home. I strongly suggest it. While you do receive royal support, Gracious is a powerful ally to have in your pocket. For now though, why don’t I help you get situated—or at least as much as I can—before my court begins? You’re going to have a lot of work over the next few days, I am sure.”

Feathers instinctively ruffled at the prospect, and Tail lightly waved her hoof to dismiss the burden. “Oh! You don’t have to worry about that. I can take care of things myself, and I should really catch up with Barrier anyway—”

Luna froze the smaller mare with a dramatic lift of her foreleg. Her teal gaze settled upon Tail’s inquisitively wavering frame. “It’s no problem at all, and Cadance still has plans for your coltfriend anyway. You can rendezvous with them later at the Phoenix Fire. Besides, Cady isn’t the only princess that can twist arrangements. I still have plans myself—for you.”

A rushed pace took Tail through the streets of Canterlot as she made her way from the castle to the Phoenix Fire. Somehow, Luna had shunned a portion of her court duties to help calibrate all six of those cute waveguides. A tiny smirk tugged at a corner of her lips. Loyalty was definitely proving to be her favorite thus far. Yes, she had named them after the Elements of Harmony, and the notion forged a quiet giggle as she reflected on the personalities of her latest bits of equipment.

With a flap of her wings, the armor-clad pegasus leapt over one of the many ornate houses. She landed softly in an empty alleyway and used the passage to bypass the nighttime restaurant crowds. Nopony wanted to trudge through the underbelly of Equestria’s capital. The stones weren’t whitewashed here. The mark of the modern elite vanished in these overlooked corridors. They were charcoal and gritty—like my stallion—and they were effective.

Eventually, Tail emerged from the maze about a half a block away from Colonel Trigger’s establishment. As she approached the door, her casual step morphed into a catty crawl. Her eyelids descended, and a foxy demeanor captured her countenance. She rolled her gauntlet-covered forehoof and stealthily propped open the wood slab like a card magician peeling off a double lift.

The drone of inebriated guards drenched the mare’s sense of sound the instant she created a perceptible crack in the entryway. She slipped in, maintaining the spirit of her prowl as she snaked her way towards the bar.

To their credits, the other patrons didn’t rat her out. In fact, they shot the newest member of their family sly looks and nodded her in the direction of her target.

Tail’s nostrils flared while she weaved her way around the tables and other ponies. Her heart thumped at the promise of latching onto that stallion after a long day of training and work. The primal recesses of her mind prodded, producing every silent step—invoking the very nature of what it meant to be a pegasus: proud, swift, and on top.

Finally, she caught sight of the unicorn haunched atop a stool. It was hard to miss his archaic armor kit, and it was even harder to miss the bright and bubbly pink alicorn sitting next to him. Tail crept forward and was about to complete her pounce when Barrier tossed his head towards the ceiling and downed a shot.

“Keep ‘em comin’, Trigs!” the stallion groaned in ecstasy. “Cadance still isn’t done tryin’ to get things outta me, and eleven just isn’t cuttin’ it.”

“Every. Detail,” Cadance reiterated, taking her sweet time to drill a little alcohol-aided emphasis into her words.

Barrier propped his foreleg on the countertop and promptly planted his chin on his curled limb. “So,” he teased, keeping his focus on the alicorn, “this is how the Princess of Love operates? Take a stallion out and get him shitfaced in front of his friends before picking at all of his deepest, darkest secrets?”

“Pbbbbt,” Cady sighed as she sprawled herself over the bar. “If you weren’t such a stubborn stallion, I wouldn’t have to get drunk—wouldn’t have to get you drunk to get all of the juicy details about you and your little pegasus.”

The other patrons responded to the princess’s childish outburst by erupting into a fit of chuckles. Tail, on-the-other-hoof, smirked in silence after she took a step back into the crowd. She didn’t want to interrupt this, especially when it came to Magic Barrier and his royal entourage.

“You getting drunk might actually be worth it, but you’re already at your limit. So there’s not much point in it, now is there?”

Cadance retaliated against the hotshot smile plastered upon Barrier’s muzzle with an overzealous pout. “I can take you any day of the week, Grandpa,” she slurred before pumping her hoof towards the ceiling. “One answer per shot! Whatever Trigger chooses!” She paused to throw a half-lidded stare in the bartender’s direction. “An’ make it a good’un. Shiny’ll get ruffled when he finds out I threw money at you. Makes the sex better.”

Tail snorted at the exchange and watched as the Coltston-wearing stallion behind the bar snapped his head towards the pink mare of honor. His midnight-coated fetlock tugged at the brown vest that covered his torso, and Tail noted the wry grimace that revealed Trigger’s pearly whites.

“That’s what everyone here wanted to know, Cady,” Trigger shouted over the raucous laughter that burst from table-pounding patrons and amused guards. “As for that deal you’re brokering, ya might want to make sure Ol’ Gramps is up for your challenge before I pour the good stuff. I hate wastin’ top product.”

Barrier flinched, drawing Tail’s attention as she leaned forward to get a slightly better viewing angle. His hoof dropped on the dark wood bartop with a resounding thud, and Tail didn’t have to see it to know that Barrier’s hellfire stare accompanied the subtle rolling of his head.

“I’m in,” Barrier answered cooly while his blue, two-toned tail whipped about beneath his stool. “I can drink this li’l mare under the damn table. I wonder if she can even make it through a single question.”

Trigger snickered and lightly shook his head at Barrier’s retort. “You’re in way deeper than ya think, Barry.” His hooves rummaged through the space beneath the counter, and after a few seconds of searching, the stallion retrieved a silver tray, ten shot glasses, and two bottles of hard liquor.

“A little Manehattan Liver-Knives for the stallion,” Trigger explained, filling half of the glimmering glasses with the golden liquid that flowed from the blocky bottle he had grabbed. He set the container aside and reached for the next selection before pouring an emerald elixir from the far more dignified, rounded glass. “And some d’Amour for our resident Princess of Love. May her hot, angry sex with Captain Armor be a story that we’ll never have to hear.”

No pony had to wait very long for the first pair of drinks to be consumed. Both Barrier and Cadance snatched their respective beverages at the behest of prideful magical auras, and both ponies tossed the brews down their throats without a flicker of hesitation.

Barrier focused on Cadance after he set the emptied glass down. She teetered atop her seat, and each time she leaned away from the captain, Barrier would drift closer and raise his foreleg as though he were preparing to catch her.

“Stop being a dad!” Cadance wailed. A happy giggle quickly swept the more aggressive demeanor aside, and the hot-pink alicorn clapped her forehooves together. “I get a question. I get a question. What—what do you see in Tail that makes you want to pursue her romantically?”

“Fuck,” Barrier grumbled under his breath. He faced the cluster of remaining glasses and reached for the second shot out of habit. “Determination,” he spoke louder. “When we first met, she told me she couldn’t quit. I was nothing short of an asshole that day, and she just shrugged it off. Didn’t matter how hard I pushed either. She didn’t flake.”

“Oooo, so she hit your respect button right off the bat.” Cadance’s purple eyes sparkled with excitement, and her light blue magic corralled her next endeavor. She downed the liquor and lifted her muzzle to guide a happy hum from her lungs towards the unseen sky. Again, she swayed briefly before recomposing herself to tackle the task at hoof. “And what about her physically appeals to you the most?”

The captain swallowed his second and third shots. He exhaled heavily as he stretched his spine and forelimbs. “Her wings and feathers. I love them. Maybe it’s only Trigsy that knows up to this point, but I have a huge feather fetish. Might be due to my time with Ember or the texture and softness of them. I don’t know, but they flick all the right switches.”

Tail’s ears twitched as she listened. Her wings—the ones that he loves—fluttered in the wake of Barrier’s admiration. She could feel the burn crawl upon her cheeks, and at least a couple guards made their chuckles heard as they gently nudged her sides.

“And what else?” Once again, Cadance slurred her words after consuming more of the colorful beverage. “There’s always something else. You know that, right?”

Barrier grunted and rolled his eyes. “I know how courtship works, and for your information, it’s her eyes.” As he spoke, the stallion’s tone took on a surprisingly solemn timbre. “They have more weight in them than any other pony’s I’ve seen. She’s got that fire in her—the one that reminds me of them.”

The Princess of Love tried to pick up her fourth glass with her magic, but the normally controlled aura refused to obey her whims. A low rumble rolled from her throat as she continued to try, but eventually, the mare gave up, lowered her mouth to the glass, and slurped the drink.

“Finally!” Cadance squealed while lifting herself up. “Now, do you…” She shook her head, and her brows lifted and fell as confusion carved its presence onto her visage. “Do…” She huffed and fluffed her feathers. “What’s your biggest fear with courting Tail?”

Barrier blinked. He promptly sloshed more Liver-Knives around his mouth and gulped down the alcohol. “Same as every other stallion in history. That I’m not good enough. Tail accepted me after I told ‘er everything. I’ve told her all of it, but I’m still afraid she’ll wake up one day and see me for the monster that I know I am.”

The lavender pegasus jolted as the words careened into her brain. Her chocolate-colored irides caught fire, and one of her wings darted out to the side. She stomped forward, no longer caring about how her interruption might alter the dynamic of Barrier’s interaction with Cadance. He had encroached upon a hallowed ground, and it was her right to do something about it.

The Princess of Love slumped onto the bar during Tail’s approach. Barrier’s attention was fully affixed to the fading princess until the pegasus wrapped a leg around the stallion, spun him around, and planted a passionate kiss on his muzzle that drew out every whistle and catcall imaginable.

Again, Barrier blinked to the fiery stare that bore into his sluggish, booze-filled body. He remained slack-jawed when Tail broke the kiss, and a heated breath dripped from his opened mouth.

“You’re not a monster, Barrier. I told you that already. I will never think that. Ever!” She spread the primaries of her still-opened wing and tenderly brushed them against his face before her eyes targeted a single lavender feather in the bunch. Swiftly, she plucked it from her appendage and tucked it into his mane. “Just so you don’t forget, Feather Boy.

“And as for you, Princess,” Tail continued her verbal bombardment after tilting towards the sprawled alicorn. “I hope that showed you exactly how I feel about my captain. I’ll be taking him home now, so with regards to that double date Luna told me you wanted… Pop’s Place for a 7 PM dinner. Tomorrow.”

With that, Tail hopped from Barrier’s post and sauntered to the door. The crowd parted for the mare and gave her all the room in the world to swish her namesake with all of the confidence she had. “C’mon, Sweety, I’ll walk you home.”

Trigger tapped the countertop near Princess Cadance after nearly a minute had passed since Barrier’s abrupt departure. “Can’t say I’ve ever seen a stallion bolt after a filly quite like that,” he said to the unmoving alicorn. “I hope ya got what ya were hoping to see, Cady. It’s always fun being an asshole with you.”

The mare’s ears swiveled at the comment, and a broad grin split her muzzle. She opened her eyes, quickly peered up at the hovering bartender, and sat up without any sign of compromised motor skills. “Always, Trigsy, and thanks for the juice.”

Author's Notes:

Happy Thursday and welcome to 2021! Time for another chapter. As always, thank you for your continued readership and support. It's honestly hard for us to contain ourselves each week and stick to the schedule. :3 Squees, once again, attacked Fate's emotions. Though, deaths and fuck yeahs had some decent representation. Stay tuned for next week's chapter: Under the Stars.

Chapter 6 - Under the Stars

A melodic hum drifted from Tail’s mouth as she escorted Barrier back towards his home. After every few steps, she’d glance over her shoulder to make sure that the stallion was keeping pace. More often than not, she found that he was. In fact, more often than not, she found that his eyes were keenly following her swishing namesake—and that a blush would usurp his muzzle’s natural color every time he got caught in the act.

“Not fair,” he mumbled in an alcohol-induced drawl. “Cute pegasus, bar kiss, good view.”

Tail giggled at that one, and she promptly paused her stride to give the inebriated stallion the time he needed to pull up to her flank. “Form up, Captain,” she spoke with a tone that injected the standard order with playful mischief. “I don’t want to hear excuses for that when I can make an excuse to turn a bar kiss into a street kiss.”

Barrier’s ears flicked upright, and he stumbled forward as quickly as his sedated body dared to allow. “It’s dangerous to flirt with a drunk colt,” he commented after his meandering trot finally carried him to the correct position at Tail’s side.

“So is going to a bar with Princess Cadance, especially when said bar is owned by Trigger,” the lavender mare quipped while her sights swept over the unicorn’s armored frame. Concern plucked the sportive spring from Tail’s voice and firmed the features of her face. Beneath the gentle glow of a city streetlamp, the amber flare that periodically graced her gaze returned in full force to cast its hold upon the silenced stallion. “And it’s far more dangerous to call yourself monster when I’ve already told you I won’t believe it.”

Wings spread at the behest of the rising passion. Tail’s breaths quickened, and her heart raced while that heat coursed across her nerves like nothing else in the entire universe mattered at all. Her coat puffed at the internalized notion that her captain’s honor was on the line, and she became wholly transfixed by the blue eyes that cradled her attention.

Seconds of silence lingered upon their score, and eventually, the pegasus scrunched her muzzle, sharply inhaled, and waited for Barrier’s response. Yet Barrier stood still. The only hints that showed were subtle movements of pupils that outlined Tail’s cheeks, skirted her exposed feathers, or fell into her emblazoned stare.

Finally, it clicked. Barrier broke the silence with a gasp, lowered his frame, and nudged the pegasus even after he drew a squeak from her. He pressed forward, lifting her forelegs from the ground and pinning her back to that glorious streetlight.

Those unfolded wings stiffened as Tail felt the warmth of Barrier’s muzzle upon her neck. The sensation contrasted sharply with the dull feel of the pole pressing against the protective plates that adorned her back—or the weight of his armor clashing with the resistance that her own kit had to offer. His heat was far better, and the mare couldn’t help but shiver when the tip of his muzzle lightly tapped against her own.

“Your attitude,” he whispered with a volume just loud enough to tug upon Tail’s ear tips. He shifted his head forward to deposit a kiss upon the mare’s waiting lips. “Your personality. Your intelligence. Your dedication—”

It was Tail’s turn to blush. Crimson clearly showed on her muzzle and quickly spread to her ears as Barrier renewed his advances with increased vigor after each of his declarations. Somewhere buried in the depths of her mind, Tail’s foalhood counterpart flailed and squeed at the fulfillment of a reminisced romantic fantasy. In the present, her forelegs had moved of their own volitions to wrap around Barrier’s barrel.

“—are all dangerously enjoyable.” The captain brushed her mane with a wandering hoof and delivered a firm, punctuating kiss that drove home his arguments.

The mare’s hind legs quivered as the swelling tide of love drowned out the harsh taste of alcohol that still stuck to Barrier’s tongue. Her limbs relaxed, and she briefly slouched against the light post until the stallion’s free foreleg corralled her barrel and pulled her close. Time was ...a meaningless component of the spacetime four-vector… during that memorable moment, and when Barrier eventually retreated from his kiss, Tail peered up at her captain and held a silent, bated breath.

Had it not been for the barely perceptible curvature of the unicorn’s contented smirk, Tail would have immediately leaned forward to reclaim Barrier’s lips. Instead, she surrendered to the details that he gave her in that moment—from the tangible beat in his chest that transmitted through their embrace to the sparkle of mischief in his blue eyes that gave away a blossoming secret.

“I don’t think I want to go home yet,” he continued in a gruff murmur, revealing the truth behind that effervescent glow.

Tail laughed, tightening her own hold on the stallion as her muzzle crept towards one of his ears. “After a move like that, Magic, neither do I…”

The bushes and shrubs of the Canterlot Gardens whipped past Tail as she darted over the grounds. Streams of colors, drawn by flowers of all hues and shapes, blurred across her vision, and the pegasus took a brief moment to glance over her shoulder at the chasing Barrier. “Almost there,” she chimed, planting her left legs to make a push to the right.

Tail’s hooves navigated a gentle slope that rose above the borders constructed by the garden’s hedges. Forget-Me-Nots dotted the hill, and the way in which the soft blues captured the moonlight put a smile on her face. This was a place where they could put every bit of the city outside of their minds—where the ground peaked above the horizons etched by society and pushed her closer to a beloved sky...

That smile evaporated, and widened chocolate eyes accompanied the sudden presence of Barrier’s weight upon the mare’s back. Tail tumbled to the grass, and Barrier’s chuckling tones bit at her ears when he rolled her over and claimed his perch. That’s a pegasus thing, she reflexively thought as she peered up at a proud, less-inebriated grin.

“Gotcha,” he calmly announced in that gritty tenor that made Tail’s feathers ruffle.

The more she stared at that smug smirk, the more her muzzle scrunched. Finally, the pegasus lifted her leg and pressed her hoof to Barrier’s nose. “Sweety, you can’t count it as catching me if I’ve already crossed the finish line.”

“Is that so? Well”—the stallion paused, and his sights aimlessly wandered as though he were in deep thought—“Cady might say that love’s a battlefield, and where one places the finish line is up to interpretation. Right now, an observer would say I was winning.”

“We’re not on a battlefield, Barrier,” she snorted and defiantly flicked her namesake, “and you should be happy with that. Don’t forget, I outrank you now, Captain.”

The unicorn’s ears twitched in the wake of those words. It was his turn to contort his muzzle to the point that Tail believed he had started chewing on his cheek. A halfhearted scowl cut across his brow, and he yanked a breath into his lungs before delivering his rebuttal. “I thought we said no ranks outside of training.”

“I wasn’t the one who said love is a battlefield,” she purred in a singsong voice before her wingtip delicately ran over his chin. “And what kind of mare would I be if I let you have it both ways?”

Barrier ducked beneath Tail’s wingspan and rested his head atop the floof that escaped the purview of her golden breastplate. “The most amazing mare ever?” The cadence of his question quickened as a sidelong glance detected the deadpan response emanating from the pinned flier. His timbre took a shift of its own, morphing into something reminiscent of a pleading colt. “Can I at least count the streetlamp kiss?”

Tail settled back into the grass and softly sighed. She set her right forehoof just behind his ear and began to brush his mane—careful not to dislodge the feather keepsake—as the fresh memories of that kiss saturated her mind. Amidst those dreamy reveries, her attention gradually drifted to the stars above until the only earthly things she felt were the green blades poking up from beneath her body, Barrier’s radiating warmth, his occasionally tilting head, and the hairs with which she played. “Yes,” she eventually answered. “I’ll definitely give you that one. I’ll give you that one for quite some time.”

Several more seconds passed during which Tail’s focus gallivanted across the heavens, and the imaginary journey remained a silent one until the unicorn opted to accompany his date.

“Luna used to hide messages in them while we were on missions,” he commented quietly after dragging his muzzle towards Tail’s neck. “It was her way of keeping tabs on us from afar, and it was pretty useful when it came to the griffs. They thought that gift was just an equine myth.”

Like a slowly rising tide, a murmur brewed in Tail’s throat before a nostalgic wind dripped from her muzzle. “When I was younger, the stars really steered me to science, and… they strengthened my relationship with my dad too. We used to stargaze together a lot, and eventually, he started going out of his way to take me to the Ambler Planetarium to see all the exhibits and stuff. If we ever got to hear a cool lecture, he’d get super excited about the research going on around him. It was kind of inspiring to watch a scientist of his caliber jump around just like a foal.”

The pressure from Barrier’s subsequent snort jostled the fluffy tufts of Tail’s coat. The mare halted her petting and pivoted her head to take in the stallion’s sheepish smile. “What?” he answered the inquisitive expression that comically squished her countenance. “Am I not allowed to chuckle when you make it obvious where you got it from?”

Tail coiled her forelegs and reflexively puffed her cheeks. “Being told I’ve turned into my dad is absolutely the most romantic thing ever, Sweety,” she replied with a tone drenched in lighthearted sarcasm.

“Complain all you want, but I have yet to meet another pony who gets as worked up about science as you. I haven’t met a pony who takes to military history like you do either. We live in a magical world, but, if you ask me, that spirit needs a different kind of magic.”

The muscles in Tail’s face relaxed once those words reached her ears. Now, this I can work with, she thought, mischief stretching a corner of her lips. “I was just lucky to get an inspiring teacher who figured out how to get me moving. He’s a different kind of Magic, indeed.”

Barrier snorted again and shifted more of his weight atop the pegasus. “I sense your roommate’s terrible influence all over that one. Maybe we should finally do something about all the insufferable brats in our lives. Then we’d be free—” The stallion abruptly stopped, planted his mouth into Tail’s lavender fur, and groaned. “I can’t believe you agreed to that dinner with Shining and Cadance.”

“Mm,” Tail replied, draping her folded forelegs over his scruffy neck, “we don’t have to worry about them. The best part about this spot is that it’s just the plants, the sky, and us. We’re both going to have a lot on our plates tomorrow, so I propose that we let it be for now. Tonight, I want someone special to watch the stars with me.”

A minute passed in which the two ponies remained still. The mare’s chest gently rose and fell under the unicorn’s bulkier frame, and her mind swirled around the prevailing notion that sat bare upon her declaration. You’re the special someone…

Barrier swallowed hard, and the tension that surrounded the gulp flirted with Tail’s senses. His face started to noticeably flush, and the instant Tail’s demeanor transitioned from a concerned grimace to one that flashed a hint of awareness, the stallion’s horn lit.

Lavender fur rose to the tingling wave of magic that swept up the pegasus in its grip. Tail stretched in its hold once Barrier rolled onto the grass, and she uttered a quiet peep as the levitation spell deposited her back atop his waiting chest. She shivered blissfully as his muzzle brushed against her ear in piecemeal advancements that carried an aura of evaporating shyness.

“I would love to watch the stars with you,” he whispered. His forelegs wrapped around her torso before the remnant sparkle of his sorcery faded. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to do this with anypony, and”—he paused and drew in the blueberry-like scent of Tail’s flowing mane—“stargazing was a family affair for me too.”

The relaxing physicist smiled contentedly as her sights once again greeted the numerous twinkling lights. “Is that so?” she playfully hummed. “Did you gaze up at them with Captain Armor, Grandpa, or are we talking a different kind of family affair?”

Tightening his hold on the smaller pony, the stallion grumbled, “You know I’m not actually his grandpa. One of my siblings gave birth to that branch of the family tree, and Cadance and Velvet skewed it more and more. Punishment for not accepting uncle, they said.”

In her head, Tail imagined little cartoon ponies jumping around Barrier while shouting teasing declarations regarding his grandfather status. One of them was, of course, themed in the color pattern of Princess Cadance. Another was Shining Armor, and the remaining participants were vague blobs of purple and blue that were left to the devices of Tail’s internal narration.

Bubbling laughter filled the air as the duet of her creativity and Barrier’s percussive rumblings pushed the mare past the brink of restraint. “From what I saw tonight, I’d say that you and Princess Cadance have quite the interesting relationship.”

“Yeah,” Barrier answered, his tone calming as he let the single word cling to the wind. “She’s a pretty important pony to me. Family is pretty important to me. It was the only thing I had left after I came back. But, to actually answer your question, this was something I used to do with my mother, so I guess we’re on even ground, Ms. Tail.”

“Well then, here’s to a resumed tradition, Mr. Barrier.” Her volume gradually diminished until a gentle stillness hovered around the pony pair. The pegasus’s heart thumped through the brief rest, and each quiet beat coaxed to the surface a more vibrant blush. Tail’s lips quivered, and the mare’s mind churned in search of the perfect lyrics. “I hope you know… there’s more for you here now.”

Author's Notes:

Ohhh, another squee-dominated chapter declared by Fate. Let's go! Happy Thursday everyone! We're almost halfway through January, but we're nowhere near halfway through NLA. ;) We hope you're still digging the story so far, and every week, it is a trip to see your comments and rando DMs. I opted to wait a while before dropping a link to this one, but if you're still in the game 15000 words in or so...

We have a Discord server, located here: https://discord.gg/4u8h8Z6. Rules be pretty simple. Server has been chill. (Let's please keep it that way.)

See you next week for Chapter 7 — A Caliber's Debts!

Chapter 7 - A Caliber’s Debts

The gardens of Canterlot seemed like a distant memory as Tail meandered alone down a dusty road in Las Pegasus. A giant crescent moon just peeked over the horizon, and its argent smile flirted with the wooden rooftops of the old-style shops that lined the street. For whatever reason, Tail was the only pony that dared to drift about the dry, desert night, and sure enough, every building she passed peered back at her with blackened windows that echoed the stillness.

“What am I doing here?” the mare spoke in an airy tone as she swiveled her head in search of a familiar face. When no answer came, Tail staggered forward. A groan crawled up her throat as she slogged through the city. Her eyelids drooped, and she struggled to maintain a straight path, for the sands of a groggy nemesis toyed with her balance.

Her mind felt stretched beyond its natural limit—as though the streams of her consciousness were actually fibers that could be pulled until she was left with troubling pockets in her mental landscape. Each step brought additional weight that crashed upon her lean frame. Hind legs failed to support, forelegs failed to steer, and Tail’s surroundings began to swirl like water careening around the event horizon of a drain.

“Where are you?” she murmured right before the sound of Barrier’s voice barely brushed against her perking ears.

“...with a marginally sober stallion in a park…”

Tail’s wings had spread to the fleeting words, and she quickly stumbled forward at the sign of life only to spill onto her side when the silence resumed. An exasperated sigh burst through her parted mouth and flaring nostrils, and her legs strained as she battled against an oppressive, invisible weight that seemed to keep her prone.

“The Tartarus is this?” she groaned. The muscles in her barrel tightened when she tried to lift her body once more, yet nothing budged. She continued to struggle—and crafted a defiant scowl as her efforts to will her limbs to just do something! resulted in a racing heart and mounting frustration.

“Oh, come on!” Tail roared again. Her extremities felt like utter deadweight, and the grit of the Las Pegasus road drenched her sense of touch as the grains of dirt infected the mare’s lavender coat. She scrunched her muzzle in discomfort, but thankfully, the cringey ordeal did not last for long.

“Can’t have a fussy date…”

Warmth cascaded over Tail’s rebellious legs as the added statement flirted with her ears. The barren ground popped from her awareness as she was rolled onto her back, and a vibrant, sunny sky greeted the suddenly stunned scientist. Blades of grass sought refuge in her fur, and a soft, breathing mattress kept her quite snug beneath Celestia’s star.

“Barrier…” Her whisper rumbled throughout the wilderness. While quiet in volume, the name carried a surreal energy that made the ground tremble. She did not need to look back to identify the stallion who tightly held her. He could make it… even here… and that was more than enough. It no longer mattered that her limbs misbehaved, and the strange discontinuity in how she arrived at this place from Las Pegasus barely registered as a problem.

“Much better. You know a stallion could get used to having an adorable mare sleeping on top of him.”

Tail’s namesake swished, and she slowly turned her head to lightly nuzzle into his fluff. “I’m not asleep, Barrier,” she hummed. “You haven’t run me into the ground today, so how could I possibly fall—”

“But now I’m going to have to figure out exactly what to do with you,” the stallion continued speaking as though Tail hadn’t answered him at all. “There’s a lot I need to think about when it comes to you.”

Tail pursed her lips while her attention settled on the serious timbre that had usurped the unicorn’s tone. A torrent of words assembled in her head while gentle tugs at her mane marked the tender brushings Barrier had unleashed.

“How can I prepare you for the next step while maintaining this? Taking you to the next level and making sure you’re best equipped”—he gulped and took an audible breath—“to become my successor. Moments like this… are distant and rare for me, and I would be lying if I said I felt like I deserve them. I would be lying if I said I wanted you to be like me. I just don’t know how I can make you better. But then, you keep surprising me. You keep sticking up for me. You keep defying the odds.” He descended into a whisper that Tail somehow perceived as a roar. “You are the most important pony to come into my life in over a thousand years. You’re the sun to my sky.”

Tail’s body clicked. Her lungs swelled, and she inhaled with a ravenous ferocity that made it seem as though she had lingered on the verge of drowning. She rapidly sat up, and her head darted about to haphazardly throw her gaze around yet another location. A darkened room—devoid of Barrier’s tender warmth—greeted her, and Tail was left to confront an aura of an entirely different caliber.

Something old and something powerful waited in the shadows. It cast an eerie, mysterious darkness that contorted Tail’s features into a concerned, gaping stare. The mare reached out for the unknown, towards what she interpreted as a figure, and from the depths of that outline, a cylindrical form began to take shape in front of the pegasus’s widening chocolate eyes. It drew closer and closer over the course of a few seconds until a decidedly metallic surface finally came to rest against Tail’s outstretched hoof.

The scientist jerked from the sensation, and her ears instinctively flopped as curiosity naturally accompanied the unease. She delicately guided her hoof over the sloped surface and felt the seams and grooves that covered the unidentified, mystically shrouded object. Her muzzle quivered, and her lips wiggled as the question assembled in her mind. Though she did not have to ask.

A single explanation emerged from the voice of an older mare that carried wisdom in every facet of its tones. “Resolve.”

Ragged, staccato notes sprang from Tail’s muzzle as she heaved her torso from a firm mattress and assumed a seated position. Her hair, a quilt, and some silky sheets cascaded off her naked figure as her dilated pupils absorbed the first images of unfamiliar surroundings. Her sights initially fell upon a star motif carved into the bed’s hindboard. Its finer details had been snatched by the veil of greyscale that shrouded the chamber, but the swirling pattern of geometric designs spoke to her scientific instincts and allowed the beat of her respiration to shift to a much gentler tempo.

I’m awake this time… she commented to herself before her attention wandered to the source of the room’s darkness. To Tail’s left, heavy drapes hung over the windows, and only a trickle of exterior light managed to infiltrate. Even then, most of those intrusive pre-dawn photons abruptly fell upon a small, simple sofa placed directly in front of the window. The furniture’s finer features were robbed again by the dim environment, but Tail could discern the outlines of two armor kits stacked atop the light-grey cushions.

Tail blinked several times while this latest clue chipped away at the gap in her memory. Her feathers ruffled, and she stretched her neck as though she could crane for the story she yearned to reclaim. Her eyes dashed about, randomly hurling her gaze across the room and over numerous faint shimmers that tried to answer the mare’s call.

Armor… Stars… Stars… Garden! I must have fallen asleep with Barrier!

Tail’s mental page had turned, and her awareness immediately snapped to a sea of barely noticeable reflections that crowded the space. Her coat bristled once she identified the sources of each of those pinpricks, for every dot of light that condensed in the darkness came from the surface of an emptied bottle. Booze. Booze. Booze. Booze, the mare’s mind rattled as Tail obsessed over the glass contours. She finally caved in and leaned over the side of the mattress to pluck one from the floor—where she found the only comfort she could with that situation.

It’s dusty. All of them were dusty—as if they hadn’t been touched in weeks—as though whatever beast that had wrought this havoc had at least departed. With this train of thought established, Tail lowered her guard and twisted her hips to reach the wooden nightstand located beside the bed. She was okay with leaving the bottle there—at least until she saw what was placed atop the oak.

A dark cloth occupied that spot. It had been neatly folded several times over to form a makeshift cradle, and atop that soft fabric, her feather sat. “I told you. You’re not a monster,” she whispered aloud after quietly setting the bottle back on the floor.

Tail finally rolled to face her opposite side. There, Barrier rested beneath his quilt with the most contented smile on his muzzle that the mare had ever seen. The peace in that soft grin melted the mare’s heart, and the fragments of that troublesome dream faded into the land of the forgotten as she nestled into the warmth his barrel had to offer.

Her hooves drifted over his neck and ventured through his mane, pausing only to acknowledge the waking purr that seeped from his muzzle. “Oh, Barrier,” she cooed, trying to coax him from his slumber.

The stallion in question shifted slightly. His foreleg flopped around Tail’s back, and a light pressure held the pegasus in its cuddly confines. “Mm, no nightmares,” he muttered softly before Tail was further snatched by his embrace. “My Blanket.”

While lazily swishing her namesake atop the silvery sheet, Tail snickered at the new name. “First time you bring me to your place and I’m relabelled as an object? Your old-time dating customs are something else.”

Barrier opened one of his icy-blue eyes and quickly set his stare upon the physicist. That contented smile quickly spread into what Tail could have interpreted as a suave grin, and a throaty reply promptly emerged. “Nickname.”

Tail shuffled towards the headboard and repositioned her snout until her nose lightly tapped against Barrier’s. “Nickname, huh?” Even with the little light, her irides reflected a mischievous glow, and her lips followed suit by crafting a countering smirk. “I wonder what nickname I should give a stallion who’s soft, warm, huggable…”

“Mm, don’t know if it’s a good thing that I’m curious. Feels like I should be a bit terrified, and I might add that you’re the soft, warm, and huggable one here, Blanket.” Barrier lifted his foreleg, snagged the displaced quilt, and draped both his limb and the cloth back over the reclined flier.

The mare bit her lower lip after she was engulfed by the cozy domain. She wriggled in the unicorn’s gentle hold and threaded her forelegs around his body. “Well, I guess I can be your Blanket if you’ll be my Magic Bear.”

The stallion’s ear flopped and he tilted his head. “Magic Bear? Does that mean you want me to roar or something?”

Tail sharply inhaled and buried her muzzle into Barrier’s chest to suppress the laughter that rose despite her efforts. “Oh, my sweet stars, Barrier! It’s a play on the teddy bear thing Princess Luna teased us about, and while I don’t want to give her the satisfaction, the name really fits.”

“So…” Barrier began his response after yielding a quiet chuckle. “Relabelling a pony as an object with utility is bad, but relabelling a pony as a foal’s toy is fine?”

Tail giggled once more and stretched so he could catch her half-lidded glance. “You can always roar for me if you want to. Who knows? I just might like it. Though, I’m fairly certain that’s not exactly a third-date activity either. This coziness most definitely is, so I’ll take it and offer my thanks for being such a good caretaker. It’s quite sweet of you.”

Barrier flicked his tail in the wake of a quick peck to his cheek. “Least I can do for the mare who defends me like no other,” he answered quietly, rolling his head to sneak a peek at the drapes. “Nngh, but I’m not looking forward to getting up. Going to be a busy day with Bonecrusher and Indar, and I recall a certain filly promised a double date with a princess at 7 PM. I’m definitely going to have to add royal planning strategy to your executor curriculum.”

The pegasus grumbled, knowing that daybreak would soon be upon them—and that Barrier’s presence would be needed on the training field. She basked in his embrace for as long as she could and huffed once her mind finally admitted that it was time to get up. “I’ll probably be spending most of the day in my new lab. I hope you don’t mind, but I think Princess Luna has more in store for me.”

Barrier grunted and rolled his eyes. “She always has something in store. Don’t know if it’s a princess or an alicorn thing, but all of them are conniving little shits.”

Tail hummed affirmatively as amusement drew out a simpering countenance. “Well, maybe once she’s done, you can come down and see the place, and then we can go to Pop’s to meet Princess Cadance and Captain Armor. And”—her tone and pacing promptly picked up a more playful character—“you can add whatever you think is necessary to my curriculum, but I’ll stand by my actions last night until rainbows shine in Tartarus.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” Barrier replied before giving the mare a gentle nuzzle. “You can take a shower if you want. It’s the first door on the left as you go into the hall. In the meantime, I can get a quick breakfast going for us. Thinking Prench toast. Something other than pancakes this time.”

The pegasus planted her forehooves into the mattress and pushed up, stretching her figure in front of the unicorn while her back briefly held a catty curvature. She watched him as he stared up at her with a dopey grin etched onto his muzzle, and she couldn’t contain the blossoming, beaming expression that utterly betrayed her emotion.

“Sounds good to me, Magic Bear.” She tittered and rolled from the bed as her namesake recovered its impish swish. “And you weren’t kidding when you told me your place was messy. I’m going to have to teach you the modern art of Canterlot recycling.”

Barrier swiftly sat up. His eyes widened, and his horn sparked to life. “Shit.”

All the while, Tail chortled as she watched the stallion scramble out of bed. “Hehe, it’s like I already told you. There’s a lot more here for you now.”

Author's Notes:

Time for another Thursday! Let's go! As always, thanks for the continued support and reading. I love the discussion things have generated here and on Discord. Always brightens my day, and I'm stoked that I can finally post another chapter. Y'all know the drill. Fate Metrics below! Have fun, and see you next week for Chapter 8 — Showers & Steel.