A Pony Displaced: Homeward

by NoLongerSober

Chapter 109 - A Night of Warmth

It was a cool Wednesday afternoon as Barrier sat on a bench in the community center’s gym. The sole sound that occupied the room was the sound of an old clock ticking on the wall.

The charcoal unicorn’s thoughts twisted a knot into his stomach. Why had he mistaken Sweet Honey for Grimhilde? Why was there no record for his blood work?

Would Punch ever be able to forgive him?

Several minutes passed until the sound of the door opening broke the silence as three of his students entered the room. Bea, Shorty and Nicky all looked somewhat nervous as they approached their teacher.

“Good afternoon, class,” Barrier said as he slowly pulled himself off the bench. “How’s your day been?”

“Well, Ah’ve been pretty good,” Bea cheerfully stated. “Still, it ain’t exactly hard to top the terrible Monday Ah had.”

“Eh, I didn’t spend yesterday huddled ‘round the toilet, I’m good. Right, Shorty?” Nicky said before gently nudging her brother in the shoulder.

“Yeah. Could be worse,” Shorty added as he tried to look away from Barrier.

“Is something wrong?” Barrier asked as he took a step closer. He saw that this made Short Circuit nervously swallow.

“Well, Barrier…” Bea rubbed the back of her neck as she tried to think of a reply. “We talked to Punch and she told us about what happened with y’all tryin’ to blast Honey outta the sky.”

“Oh.” Barrier took a deep breath before sighing in regret. “I am truly sorry for that. It was… a very bad case of mistaken identity. However, it’s not going to happen again. This I swear to you all.”

A smile stretched across Bea’s muzzle while the twins looked somewhat more relaxed.

“By the way, how’s Holly?” Barrier asked as he drew closer to his students, relieved to see none of them looked as nervous as before or flinching.

“Doc’s said she’ll be outta commission for a few weeks, but she’ll get better,” Shorty replied.

“Lesson learned: Don’t get drunk and try to fly, especially if you don’t have wings,” Nicky added with a mild smirk on her muzzle.

“Good to hear. Now, it’s time to get down to business,” Barrier said as he began to stretch. “We’ll start with some stretches before we get into the Weekend Whip training. Bea, I’ll be your sparring partner while the twins handle each other.”

***

As the class was finishing up, Barrier felt fairly well. The training had gone better than he’d expected, with Bea’s speed greatly improving from when she had started while the twins had committed the steps he’d taught to memory. The dark-colored unicorn was only mildly sore after the long sparring session.

After a quick shower, Barrier headed to the manor. As he walked along Starflower Street, he saw a long line of foals that led to his house.

As Barrier reached the front gate, he saw there was more than just the Candy Casino drawing the foals’ attention.

On the other side of the lawn was a sparring session going on between Swiftsword, Verdant and Storm Cloud. In Swift’s aura was a pair of wooden training swords that she swiped at her opponents. Verdant ducked and rolled under Swift’s strike while Storm Cloud backflipped into the air.

“So was that stuff Erica made chicken or oysters?” Storm asked before she dashed towards Swift, tackling her to the ground and flipping her on her back before the unicorn teleported out from under her and reappeared behind the pegasus. Storm was only barely able to dart to the side, away from Swift’s follow-up strike.

“No, what she made was a part of a chicken called the oyster,” Verdant said before drawing his bow from his saddlebag. Swift quickly turned her attention to Verdant and tried to hit him with an overhead strike with her blades. The shamrock stallion blocked the blow with his bow, but Swift ran forward and landed a slide kick on his left foreleg, making him land belly first on the ground.

“Afternoon,” Barrier called out, just as Verdant barely rolled out of the way of Swift’s blades.

“Good afternoon, Barrier,” Swift pleasantly said as she pulled her swords close to her sides. “I was sparring to prepare for the wedding. Would you care to join us?”

“...Why would you need to prepare for battle at the wedding?” Barrier asked with an eyebrow raised as he drew closer.

“Well, it’s rather simple.” Swift firmly stated. “A royal wedding is a major political event, and with this being held at the royal palace, it would make it a tempting target for someone wishing to harm or threaten the kingdom, so we must remain on guard.

“Besides, I have been reading Canterlot newspapers and have found out that some - as the reporters have put it - ‘country hicks’ have shown up at major Canterlot events. While I didn’t see them, they were apparently at the gala bothering some of Princess Celestia’s menagerie and disrupting things on the dance floor. Later, a larger group of them crashed the Canterlot Garden party.

“Should these rowdy country ponies show up to disrupt the wedding… Well, I will be ready to do whatever is necessary.”

“Alright. Just try not to kill anyone at the wedding,” Barrier said as he headed past the trio towards the manor.

“No promises,” Swift bluntly replied as she picked up her blades once more. “Now, let us resume our truel.”

The sounds of flapping wings and quick hoofsteps on the grass reached Barrier’s ears as he pushed his way into the manor. As he headed towards the kitchen, he saw Wind Whistler doing her homework while Daring was sitting right beside her with an open text book. Hat Trick was standing beside Winter Gem as she was sticking her head into the fridge.

“Got things cleared with Mrs. Flare. Think Belmont will be alright without you to help out?” Hatty asked as Gem pulled her head out of the fridge, carrying a cup of fruit cocktail in her teeth.

Gem spat the cup onto a kitchen counter before turning to Hat Trick. “Actually, he’ll be fine. Cousin Bailey Sweet’s coming to stay with them for a while since things are apparently getting really crowded at the farm in Tall Tale.”

“Alright, Kiddo. Pop quiz time. Who were the original founders of the ancient earth pony parliamentary government?” Daring asked the pegasus filly, making her set her pencil aside.

“Hmm… It was Minty, Butterscotch, Cotton Candy…” Wind Whistler’s muzzle scrunched as she tried to recall the rest of her answer. “Blossom… Blue Belle and… Snuzzle?” A note of uncertainty was clear as she finished.

A warm smile graced Daring’s face right before she mussed up Windy’s mane. “Right on, Windy. You’ve got that test in the bag.”

“Thanks,” Windy beamed before she picked up her pencil once more and returned to her homework.

“Hey, Barrier,” Daring said as she spotted the charcoal unicorn approaching the table. “How’s it going?”

“Could be better, could be worse,” Barrier said with a shrug before he reached Daring and gave her a nuzzle. “How’s the school work going?”

“Alright, but the history test is gonna really suuuuuuuuuck,” Wind Whistler said as she held her pencil between her teeth. “Couldn’t make it about something cool like the battle against the raptorians or a war. Noooo, we’ve got to take a test on crap like the founders of the earth pony parliament or who was the first llama ambassador to Equestria.”

“It was Cha Cha, by the way,” Daring added, making Windy roll her eyes before turning her attention back to her homework. “So, how’s your day going?”

“Not too bad, all things considered,” Barrier answered before taking a seat. “The class has really improved. Tomorrow, I think I’ll get my mane touched up and see if my suit needs any adjustment before the wedding.”

“Glad to hear,” Daring said as she rose from her chair and had a quick stretch. “Fleet’s out picking up dinner for us and grabbing a couple of movies. Hopefully, she’ll be able to pick up a copy of The Ice Cream Wars. It’s based on one of my favorite historical events.”

“Wish I could study about the Ice Cream Wars…” Barrier heard Windy mutter as she jotted down some notes in her homework. “Not this junk.”

“Well, if you do well enough on your test, I’ll get you a big tub of ice cream,” Barrier said before reaching over and lightly tussling her mane. “How does that sound?”

“Alright, but this is still a pain in the butt,” Windy replied before she looked up to her uncle.

“Say, Barrier,” Daring began as she gently stroked his back with her wing. “I’m thinking after the movie, we could have a little fun tonight. You feeling up for it?” She gave the unicorn a sultry wink, making the nearby filly roll her eyes.

“Certainly,” Barrier answered before he rose up from his chair and nuzzled her neck. Just as he planted a kiss on her cheek, the sound of the front door opening drew everypony’s attention to the sight of the cycloptic mare heading up to the table.

“Hey, Fleet,” Daring said before she pulled away from Barrier to give her marefriend a nuzzle and kiss on the cheek. “How’d your trip go?”

“Very good,” Fleet replied as she took off her saddlebags. “I got some food from Burrito Burro, The Ice Cream Wars and I had a check-up at work. Turns out I’ve got a minor ear infection. Thankfully, I got a prescription to take care of that.”

“Great to hear,” Daring said as she patted Fleet on the back. “Barrier and I were thinking of having some grown-up fun tonight—”

“Just say ‘have sex’. Everypony in my class already learned about it in school,” Windy grumbled without taking her eyes off her homework.

“Um… Anyway, wanna join in?” Daring asked the one-eyed mare.

“Sounds like a plan,” Fleet replied as she placed her saddlebags on the table. “Barrier, could you gather everypony so we can have dinner?”

“With pleasure,” Barrier said as he caught a quick whiff of the food in the saddlebags. “Hmm… It smells delicious.”

***

With a tasty dinner and an exciting movie long over, Barrier found himself being guided into his bedroom with two wings on his back. The room was darkened with the only light coming from the moon and stars outside the bedroom window.

Barrier hopped onto the soft bed, followed shortly by Daring. The charcoal unicorn rolled onto his back while Daring clambered on top of him. He soon found her forelegs planted beside his head before she lowered her head to his with their lips meeting in a fiery embrace.

The unicorn soon found Daring’s tongue beginning to poke against his lips. Before he could open his mouth in reply, his ears stood at attention as he started to hear the tingle of magic above him.

In a flash of green, a scroll appeared in the air before bouncing off the top of Daring’s head and landing the bed.

“Oh, bewitching bells, what now?” Daring grumbled as Barrier’s’s horn flicked on the lights. With the room lit up, Daring picked up the scroll as Fleet hopped onto the bed with them.

Quickly unfurling the scroll, Daring’s eyes began to dart over the message as she scanned over the letter. As she read, Barrier could start to see her jaw slowly drop and her coat turning pale.

With a frustrated sigh, Daring tossed the letter to Barrier and hopped off the bed. “Burn it.”

“Daring, what’s going on? Fleet asked as Daring headed for a closet she and Barrier shared.

“The translators finally finished that decryption and we know where Dazzleglow’s tomb is, along with the magic coins,” Daring answered as she pulled out a saddlebag and her adventuring attire. “I’ve got to get onto the next train to Dodge City so I can head to the badlands.”

“Daring, it’s nearly midnight,” Barrier said before he teleported to her side. “I know we’ve had to ship out at all sorts of hours, but do you really think any trains will be running to Dodge City at this time?”

The golden pegasus paused to consider what Barrier had said. “Probably not,” Daring sighed as she took her outfit and saddlebags.

“Let’s get some rest before you have to head out,” Fleet said as she glided over to Daring and put a wing on her back. “If you’re going on a possibly dangerous adventure, it would be a good idea to be as well rested as you can be.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Daring replied as the sky-blue mare guided her back towards the bed. “Still, it might be a good idea to have what fun we can before I have to leave.”

Soon, all three ponies were together on the bed.

What would come next was the last glorious night before the wedding.

Author's Note:

Alticron: Welcome back to the latest chapter, folks. The royal wedding draws ever nearer and Daring needs to take off on an adventure. Who knows (Besides me and my editors) what could happen next?

Not much else to talk about here, but I do have art made for the cousin that Winter Gem mentioned. Here's Bailey Sweet.

As for next time... Well, I'm sure you can guess. See ya then.

Comments

[redmar]

Hopefully Getting to Dazzleglow's Tomb and the Magic coins will be less of a hassle than the wedding is going to be.

[Xanderfox]

Country ponies messed up the gala and a garden party you say? How ever could that have happened?