//------------------------------// // Chapter 07 - Punch & Partying // Story: A Pony Displaced: Homeward // by NoLongerSober //------------------------------// Barrier yawned widely as the group made their way towards their new home. He’d spent the morning fetching the keys, thankfully alone. The last few days they’d waited for the transfer to be finalized and to be allowed to pick up their keys. The entire group had fallen under a terrible affliction, though some of them handled it better than the others; Daring had decided that they all needed music in their lives. Barrier often flinched at the thought of the awful sounds she considered music. “We’re here!” Wind Whistler called as she stared up at the large gate and the home beyond. “So we are.” Barrier continued forward, opening the gate and going through them onto the small stone pathway leading up to the estate. “As a bonus,” Barrier scooped Wind Whistler up as she made to bolt past him, “it’s nice and close to a school, for when you’re ready.” Wind Whistler’s eyes widened and she threw on a pout. Barrier only smiled at her, “I’m immune to it at this point,” and set her back on the ground. “On the bright side, you’ll be able to make new friends,” Fleetfeather added as Barrier carefully maneuvered the key into the keyhole and opened the doors. “We’ll need to get some groceries and furniture later, but that’s hardly a–” The door suddenly jerked inward and his view replaced with a grinning pink face. “SURPRI-!” Reacting purely on reflex, the charcoal unicorn ducked, avoiding the swing of a weapon that wasn’t there. As a follow-up he shot back up as hard as he could, driving his right hoof upward with all of his body’s collected momentum and drove his hoof hard into the underside of his would-be-assailant’s jaw, following it up with a rapid left jab into the muzzle as her head flopped back down, driving her stumbling backwards where she collapsed onto her side. Barrier took a shaky breath as the adrenaline settled, though he almost wished he hadn’t as he returned from the brief high to utter and absolute silence… until one of the group finally offered his observations. “Sir…” Iron Forge began. “You just decked Lady Pie in the face. Twice.” “Uh…” Barrier offered dumbly as five other ponies and a small dragon rushed into the room to see what all the commotion was about. They all stared wide-eyed as Pinkie Pie picked herself up and wobbled a bit. “Ouchie…” Pinkie finally managed. “That was really mean, Barrier! For your punishment, you only get a half-slice of cake today!” Despite what had just transpired, the mare spoke in her usual bubbly tone with an envious amount of energy. “You can have more tomorrow, though. There’ll be a bunch of leftovers!” “Uh, ya’ll alright there, Pinkie?” Applejack asked, just as confused as the others without any context. Pinkie fished out a handkerchief and blew hard into it. “Guh,” she showed the kerchief to the ponies; it was covered in red confetti, though the confetti was surprisingly not covered in blood. “Really hope that clears up soon. There should be a lot more variety in the colors.” Finally collecting himself, Barrier spoke. “My apologies for hitting you Pinkie, but what in the name of Faust are you doing here?” “I gave you an IOU for a party, duh!” Pinkie said as if it were common knowledge. “The girls and I got here as soon as we could to set everything up!” “Is that what we’re doing?” Rainbow Dash asked. “All I knew was that I went to bed in my cloud house last night and woke up on the train three-quarters of the way here, along with everyone else.” The other four mares gave varying levels of agreement. “I… right. Fine. This is fine. I need a drink.” Barrier turned to his group. “Anybody else want a drink?” *** After the party had begun, everyone had paired off either to explore the house or in the case of Hat Trick and Winter Gem, each other. Barrier and Twilight sat across from the impromptu dance floor where Pinkie and a mishmash of ponies he believed he had seen around Vanhoover were partying. “How did you all even get in? I’ve got the only key.” “I think Pinkie picked the lock with her mane,” Twilight stated as if it were normal. Barrier sat his drink down and rubbed his temples tiredly. “And you knew we were moving in today how, exactly?” “Pinkie Sense!” The bright-pink mare offered from the dance-floor. Barrier kept his gaze on Twilight. “And what is Pinkie Sense exactly?” “Just… don’t.” Twilight sighed and took a sip of punch. “Trust me. You try to find out and you’ll end up with everything from flower pots to pianos falling on you.” Barrier nodded and lapsed into silence. “So,” Twilight started up a new thread, “how’ve things been with the others so far?” “Well enough,” The charcoal unicorn replied. “Staying in a hotel that long wasn’t particularly comfortable, but they’ve been through worse.” “Really?” Twilight seemed genuinely surprise. “I would’ve thought there’d be some problems after so long in such closed quarters with so many different ponies.” “They’re well-trained.” Barrier shrugged. “How’ve things been by you?” Twilight hummed through a mouthful of fruit punch and swallowed. “It’s been a bit of a mixed bag. We’ve had some fun things happen, like Rarity’s fashion show and watching Rainbow win the Best Young Flyers competition, but… well, I don’t get the sleep I used to.” “Any particular reason for that?” Barrier glanced at his empty cup and then at the punch bowl and shrugged, dropping his cup onto the table. “Just having a hard time adapting, I think.” Twilight lit her horn, refilling both Barrier’s cup and her own from a distance. “I mean, I went from a magic student in Canterlot to stopping potentially world-ending threats like Nightmare Moon and Sombra.” Twilight sipped her punch and seemed to lose a little energy. “I saw so many dead bodies in the empire, Barrier.” Twilight’s tone dropped a bit. “And seeing all those injured ponies in the back of the basement… some of them had given up hope and were just waiting to die.” She pushed her punch away. “It just really shook me.” “It’s never an easy thing,” Barrier admitted. “We were always taught to channel those feelings into anger and let loose that anger onto our enemies. You don’t have the same luxury.” Barrier pulled a half-bottle of whiskey from beneath the table and poured some into his glass. “Just try to focus on the ponies you were able to save.” “There’s another thing that’s been bothering me,” Twilight confessed after a brief bout of silence. “Am I doing well enough to be Celestia’s student?” Barrier snorted slightly but otherwise didn’t interrupt. “I worry almost constantly about this, especially recently. All I can think about is what I could’ve done better. Like, ‘could I have brought Sombra in alive?’. Just something like that. I just don’t want to be like her last student. I heard some things about her and well…” “Twilight.” Barrier spoke firmly, cutting her off. “You are doing more than well enough to be Celestia’s student. You reunited Celestia with her beloved sister and saved a literal empire’s worth of ponies. Believe me when I say you are perhaps the most amazing mare I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.” Barrier glanced briefly at the dance floor, where Pinkie was spinning Verdant around at a blinding pace. “You even helped reunite me with what I considered most important and had given up hope on. None of us in Equestria, myself included, can ever thank you enough.” Barrier didn’t notice the light blush that had formed on Twilight’s muzzle, instead turning back to his drink and then glancing around the room. His gaze fell on Fleetfeather after a brief scan and he turned back to Twilight. “If you need to talk about anything, don’t hesitate to come to me, Twi.” He shot her a slight smile as he stood up. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to help, but I can at least listen.” He took advantage of the mare’s contemplative silence to break away from the table, towards Fleetfeather. Nudging her slightly with his hip, Barrier drew the one-eyed mare’s attention. “You look like something is on your mind.” Fleetfeather didn’t verbally respond, she instead motioned her hoof towards a corner of the room where Wind Whistler and a hoofful of other foals were playing. Barrier only recognized Crispy Wings, the pegasus colt he’d met earlier that month, though there was something familiar about the tiny, hot-pink unicorn that he couldn’t place. “It’s good to see her being a foal.” Barrier rubbed his chin and sighed. “Faust above, what that child’s been through.” Barrier quickly trotted away and retrieved his punch from where he’d left it, sipping the mixed drink and letting a sigh of relief escape him before returning to Fleet. “It’s not home just yet,” Fleetfeather responded. “But I feel that it will be. Far sooner than I imagined, if only for Wind Whistler’s sake.” Barrier hummed his affirmation from the depths of his cup. “Seeing her enjoy her time with the other children, knowing we are at peace…” Fleetfeather snagged the cup from Barrier. “I can’t help but smile. It’s not the best scenario I had envisioned, but it is far from the worst.” She sniffed his drink and winced, giving him a sideways glance. “What foul mixture is this?” She sniffed it again. “I daresay it would be flammable.” “That’s probably the stuff I mixed.” Berry Punch grinned as she approached the pair. Barrier nodded his affirmation to the pegasus. “Aye, it’s from the adult’s punch bowl. I cut it with a bit of whiskey as well.” Fleetfeather briefly eyed the mulberry mare and sighed. “I feel like you’ve been drinking more lately, Barrier.” Barrier shrugged; Berry thought for a moment and responded. “He was drinking when I met him. I just assumed it was his thing. Anyways, Octavia asked me to pass a message to you if I saw you again. She was pretty ticked when you said you’d stay in touch and never so much as sent her a letter.” Barrier’s eyes widened and he groaned. “I forgot all about that.” “You do that a lot,” Fleetfeather quipped. “In my defense, I was always on the move until the last month or two, and even those days have been busy.” Barrier retrieved his cup and threw back the last of it. “Can you pass my address on to Octavia and tell her I’ll start writing her as soon as I am able? Things have been busy.” “I’ll let her know,” Berry promised and turned back to Fleetfeather. “Y’know, if you want something smoother, I’ve got some Green Label stowed away. Probably enough for six or seven glasses.” “Green label?” Barrier thought for a moment. “That sounds familiar…” “That’s the last thing we drank before waking up on Twilight’s couch together,” Berry offered helpfully and with a cheery grin. “Oh?” Fleetfeather glanced at Barrier with her one good eye. “It sounds like there’s a story to be had there.” “Suffice to say I think we’ll be fine without Green Label…” He glanced around and frowned. “Fleet, have you seen Swiftsword?” “Last I saw, her and a bunch of other ponies had headed into the back of the house.” Fleetfeather glanced around as well before pointing Barrier in the direction of the stairs. “Hm. I’m going to go check on her, just to be certain. Best not to leave any of them out of sight too long in a crowd if I can help it.” As he spoke, Barrier broke off from Berry and Fleetfeather who fell into a conversation of their own, Berry explaining the single meeting they’d had that resulted in sleeping next to one another. So far so good, Barrier thought to the apparent state of the cadets he’d been able to watch as he checked the doors one at a time. They’d done well when stacked against modern ponies, but he had no idea how to begin to integrate griffins. Verdant and Pinkie seemed to be getting along marvelously, and Forge had met up with Snow from the diner. Hat Trick and Winter Gem were… somewhere. Nudging another door open, Barrier winced when the all-too-familiar sounds of Daring’s music -if one could call it that- reached his ears. “We’ve got a good combination, and perfect communication!” Swiftsword sang out with a surprising amount of skill. “Always at a high tension!” Barrier slammed the door and groaned, making his way back down to Berry Punch and Fleetfeather. “On second thought, crack it out. Let’s make this a night to forget. Break out the strongest stuff you have and we’ll see if I can’t drink you under the table.” Berry Punch grinned in a manner which would’ve put Nightmare Moon and Sombra to shame.