//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: A Pony Displaced: Another Path // by NoLongerSober //------------------------------// “Ph’glui mglw’nafh,” Barrier mumbled unintelligently to the pony prodding his side. “Barrier, wake up already…” Twilight groaned out, proceeding to swat him with a book. “Stop movin’ the pillow…” a different voice mumbled out from beneath the covers. “”Alright, you asked for this…” Twilight’s horn flared to life, conjuring up a wooden bucket. *** Speedy Delivery chuckled nervously as the giant, sopping-wet rug grumbled angrily to himself, carefully drawing a circle in the dirt, stopping occasionally to draw intricate runes with the tip of his sword. “No reason she couldn’t have done this…” Barrier huffed as he wiped the tip of his blade of the dirt and slid it into the sheath. “Alright, back-up…” Barrier waved a hoof idly at Speedy Delivery and the two burly earth ponies tethered to the cart. Taking a few steps back himself, Barrier sighed and flared his horn, wincing as his headache flared with it. That’ll teach you to get into a drinking contest with an earth pony… With far less effort than before, the monument steadily floated into the air, surrounded by Barrier’s light-blue magic. “Thy group are here a few days earlier than I expected…” Barrier commented tiredly as the monument was carefully laid to rest on its side in the back of the cart. “Not sure why myself, really. Everything got bumped up last night for some reason,” the pegasus replied, fishing around in his saddlebags. “Normally, the museum wouldn’t purchase something like this without a lot more paperwork from you or even seeing something like this, but…” the pegasus pulled a cheque out of his saddlebags and handed it to the unicorn. “She said you had a colleague who vouched for you.” “Aye,” Barrier replied sedately, glancing at the cheque before neatly folding it and letting it float lazily in his magic. “Alrighty,” the stallion held out a clipboard and a pen, “just sign here and we’ll be out of your way.” Scribbling his name in the flowing rune-like script that was ancient Equestrian, Barrier gave the monument one last glance before sighing and turning back towards the library. “Have a nice day!” the pegasus called out loudly, accompanied by a wave; Barrier just groaned in pain as he tugged the library door closed behind him. “See, don’t you feel better now that you’re awake?” Twilight smiled warmly at the tired and half-lidded expression on Barrier’s face. “Besides, consider it payback for waking Spike and I up last night when you came home drunk off your plot.” Barrier continued to stare languidly at the younger mare, his horn still dimly lit to maintain his hold on the paper. “Barrier?” Twilight waved a hoof back and forth across the stallion’s gaze. “Barrier, anybody ho-” Twilight’s words were replaced with a sound similar to that of a drowned cat as Barrier upturned the bucket of water he’d been stealthily acquiring over her back. “Just fine, minus the headache and dehydration,” Barrier replied with a half-smile as he carefully walked past the smaller, wetter rug and towards the baby dragon standing in the kitchen doorway that was struggling not to laugh. “Thanks for letting me use your shower, Twilight.” Another pony descended the stairs, stopping alongside Barrier. “Pinchy would’ve been mad if I’d come home smelling like booze again. Still, I bet she’ll be thrilled to have a new dad,” the mulberry-shaded pony hip-checked the unicorn, a grin on her face as his eyes widened. “…” Barrier opened his mouth to reply, only for no words to come out. The silence lasted for all of ten seconds before the earth pony giggled and hip-checked him again. “Relax, I’m just kidding! Still, last night was a blast. We should party again sometime. Who would’ve thought Octavia had such a wild-streak in her.” With a slight sashay, the mare headed towards the door. “See ya around, Captain.” The mare gave him a grin before disappearing through the doorway. “Oh thank Faust…” Barrier released a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “I’m terrible with children. The thought of helping to raise one is…” the stallion trailed off when his eyes met the unamused stare of Twilight. “It’s quite a lovely day out, isn’t it? I think I’ll go for a walk.” A pair of clear squirt bottles floated into view, the purple aura signifying that Twilight had something in mind. “In my defense, thou...you did the sa-” Barrier reared back as one of the bottles shot a stream of water directly into his face. “The Tartarus was th-” he was cut off again when another stream found its way down his throat. “Turnabout is fair play,” Twilight stated simply as another pair of squirt-bottles flew into existence. *** Two showers later, Barrier found himself staring at a map firmly tacked to the wall. “First, we will visit…” he drew a quill back in his magic before closing his eyes and launching it forward. “Ow, dammit!” Twilight yelped out, jumping up from the table and her book, angrily eyeing the quill sticking out of her rump. “That’s five bits in the swear-jar, Twilight,” Spike chimed out helpfully, not even bothering to look up from his comic book. “My apologies, Twilight. It wasn’t my intent to strike you, but with how your flank has been expanding in recent weeks it was inevitable.” “Are you calling me fat?” Twilight furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance, the adorableness of the act bringing a slight grin to Barrier’s face. “Not fat, just more ample. In fact, I can think of a pony or two that would find thy...your flank stunning,” Barrier reasoned, unaware that Spike had stopped reading the comic in favor of the better entertainment. “I’ll have you know I take excellent care of my figure! The princess even helped me set up an exercise routine so that I wouldn’t get fat from staying indoors too much.” Twilight’s horn flared to life, conjuring a piece of paper into existence. “Twilight, you haven’t followed your workout schedule since we moved to Ponyville,” Spike offered helpfully. “Any time I brought it up, you’d say you’d figure it out after your friendship problems.” “Uh…” Barrier glanced at the suddenly non-responsive Twilight. “Did you break her?” “Nah, she’ll be okay in about four or five minutes. This happens any time she realizes she messed up her schedule. I use it to get out of chores sometimes.” Even as Spike talked he set about tidying up, replacing the books Twilight had pulled out throughout the night. One title in particular caught the stallion’s eye, his magic flaring to tug it from its spot at the top of Spike’s stack. The Sacking of Gallopfrey… Barrier couldn’t help but frown at the poorly-yet-aptly named title as he flipped through the book, carefully skimming it, mind fighting to translate the text. "...the griffins, desperately" Barrier squinted intensely at the text, trying to recall his short lessons with Daring Do. "trying to stave off...famine took the only course of option they saw: turn their enemies into prey. After a dozen bloody conflicts over the course of a year, the griffins finally managed to gain a foothold in Equestria by conquering the city of Gallopfrey. Lead by Brigadier Grimhilde LeGrande in 3058 A.D. In the dead of night, the entirety of the city guard was exterminated before the sun had risen. Estimates indicate that over eighty-one percent of the buildings were reduced to ash and rubble. The civilians were taken as prisoners of war, however, Brigadier LeGrande committed the first of her war-crimes by killing the bulk of the prisoners to be used as food. The act was kept hidden from King Alarick through a carefully-laid web of bribery and threats." Barrier's mind was far too busy to realize that he was now reading the modern script with minimal effort. "The city remained under griffin control until the twenty-third day of 1 P.N. when Princess Celestia personally led an attack into the city, killing several hundred griffins and freeing the surviving prisoners. Brigadier LeGrande survived the assault only to be dragged to King Alarick in chains, where Princess Celestia demanded an end to the conflict under the threat of personally becoming involved. A tentative peace-treaty was signed less than a week later, bringing to a close almost thirty years of sporadic-but-open conflict." Licking his dry lips, Barrier snapped the book shut with a shaky breath, carefully levitating the book over to the young dragon. “Thou art … You’re a good dragon, Spike,” Barrier stated softly as he turned towards the door. “When Twilight…” the stallion eyed his niece, “awakens, I suppose, tell her that I’m headed for the train-station to check departure times for my trip to … somewhere.” Barrier nosed the library door open, mind only vaguely registering Spike’s chirp of affirmation as the door swung shut behind him. I should have been there… Barrier found himself drifting into thought as he walked, as seemed to be habit. How many foals died because of your lack of foresight? Barrier snorted angrily. Two-hundred and forty-seven confirmed with forty-some that were never found. Slavery or worse, no doubt. Barrier had personally compared the reports with the town registry and committed the numbers to memory. “Barrreeey~” The familiar singsong voice snapped Barrier out of the morbid speculation in favor of desperately glancing around for the source. “Why so sad?” Barrier lept backwards as Pinkie’s face - and accompanying creepy grin - seemed to wink into existence less than an inch away. “I’m not sad, Miss Pie, just…tired.” Liar Barrier started forward once more, body sagging slightly as he became aware that his head was still sore from the previous night’s events. “Hmm…” Pinkie hopped in front of the stallion and locked eyes, staring intently even as she continued to hop backwards. “Okey-dokey!” The mare grinned and hopped back into line alongside him. “So, where’ya’goooin?” “To the train-station, Miss Pie,” he replied curtly, closing his eyes in a vain effort to ease his now-throbbing skull. “Ooh, are we gonna play jump-the-tracks? I love to play in the train-tracks, but the train-ponies always get mad at me saying that I’m gonna get myself hurt or somepony else hurt or I’ll cause damage to the train and -” “No, Miss Pie.” Barrier gnashed his teeth against each other in frustration. “I am going to purchase a train ticket before I depart tomorrow.” “Depart? Whatever for?” I wonder if Princess Celestia would understand if I turned these ponies to ash… the stallion wondered silently to himself as Rarity joined the pair. “Miss Rarity,” Barrier bowed politely; hungover or not, decorum had been beaten into him, “I’m leaving town tomorrow in an effort to find somewhere I belong.” “Ah,” understanding blossomed on the marshmallow’s face. The two were prevented from further speech when Pinkie gasped loudly, shot up into the air, and hung there for all of three-seconds before disappearing in a comedic poof of air. Don’t question it, don’t question it, don’t question it, Barrier desperately tried to shove the event to the back of his mind, only for the tuft of pink cotton to appear in front of him again, a bottle of water held out to him. “For your hangover!” The mare grinned, “Now then,” she shoved the bottle into the stallion’s chest, “I, have a farewell party to plan!” And with that, she was gone. Again. “So, you’re leaving…” Rarity continued as if nothing had happened. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” Rarity fluttered her eyelashes and leaned in slightly, a soft and almost-alluring smile present as she awaited the response. Is she…is she flirting with me? I think she’s flirting with me. “I’m afraid not, mistress.” Barrier smiled in response, as etiquette dictated, “I’ve too much to see in this new world to consider a-settling down at the moment.” I must be almost twice your age, filly. “I owe it unto myself and the ponies that fought alongside me to see what we were fighting for.” To say nothing of this town steadily driving me to insanity. “I see,” Rarity pouted very briefly. “Well, I can’t fault your reasoning, Sir Barrier.” “So, what brings th...you to the train station at this time of day?” Barrier made his way up the steps and onto the platform, angling his stride towards the ticket-booth. “My parents are coming into town with my little sister. I’m taking her for the duration of their vacation,” Rarity explained, joining him at the ticket counter. “What trains run tomorrow?” “Uh…” the brown-coated, brown-maned pony glanced down at his book before replying with a slight accent. “There’s a seven thirty to Manehattan, a twelve o’clock to Trottingham, and a seven-twenty to Appleloosa.” “One ticket unto Appleloosa, please.” Barrier turned to fish the bits out of his saddlebags as well as watch the train roll into the station. “Would you like to meet my parents and little sister?’ Rarity asked sweetly, fluttering her eyelashes once again. Say no and apologize! “'Twould be a pleasure, Miss Rarity.” Have I become a gelding whilst I wasn’t looking?